Musings from Graceland

WHY ARE WE GOING TO SWAZILAND?

Danielle Brower, Our Swaziland trip team leader, posted this on her blog today as we count down til departure at the end of this week:

Everything our team and supporters have done this summer – blood, sweat & tears – is for this.

In two days we depart for Swaziland.

Yeah, we’ve done a lot of work to prepare for the trip, but the reality is that in & of itself none of that work matters without us going & sharing Jesus with the children of Swaziland.

This is not a missions trip for us to ‘see Africa’ & get closer to God, though I’m sure we will. This is not to pat ourselves on the back so we can say, “Look what we did for God!”

This is not a vacation. It will be hard & will be a challenge, for most of us, one of the greatest challenges of our lives.

It is not even to deliver supplies & provisions for the Beveni kids, though we are blessed to take them so much that will bless their earthly lives.

So why are we going then?

We go as ambassadors of Christ. We go to bring the message of hope to a dying nation. The hope we bring is that Jesus loves them & wants to spend eternity with them, that He has NOT left them orphans!


Below is a message from one of our teammates, Erica Zeiler. Erica spent time last year ministering in Swaziland with Adventures in Missions. As you read this, you might find your heart breaking. Let that hurt motivate you to PRAY long and hard for the children of Swaziland, including the precious Bheveni kids.

Here is Erica's reality check:

Reality Check…. A Closer Look at Swaziland Statistics

I recently read that if you are a 15 year old in Swaziland, your chances of living to the age of 32 are 6%! SIX PERCENT!!! Translated…that means your chances of dying before you turn 32 are 94%. You are probably more likely to be struck by lightning or attacked by a hippo than live to be 32 if you live in Swaziland…all because of the AIDS crisis. Of the 900,000 people in the country, the orphan population is closing in on 200,000. And half of all 20 somethings have AIDS already. But the one that hits me hardest is the first statistic….6 %!

To put this into perspective, I have just finished packing 140 bags full of school supplies and vitamins. God has provided enough money, through so many generous people, for our team to also be able to buy each child a pair of shoes for school, have a party with a cooked meal for them while we’re there, and give out a ton of clothing…but reality is still there. According to that first statistic, only 8 or 9 of those kids will live to be 32…meaning that 132 of the kids I will meet next week will probably die of AIDS (or some disease like TB resulting from a weakened immune system) before they are my age! God, have mercy!


So what has God called us to do in this seemingly hopeless situation? Without wanting to be too morbid or a Debbie-downer, the thing that I keep coming back to is that we must prepare them for eternity. Yes, we can encourage them in school, help them set goals, encourage them to dream about their future, provide them with food, clothes, and school supplies…but we must balance that with the reality that some experts have said that with the current birth/death rates the way they are, Swaziland won’t exist by 2050 because AIDS will have ravaged it beyond repair. And James’ words come ringing true to my ears….


“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." (James 4:14).


And for children in Swaziland, this verse describes the frailty of life all around them, that they will be looking at death and eternity all too soon.


So as we go next week… prepared to bless the socks off of the kids and the gogos (“grandmas” that cook, teach, and care for the kids at the carepoints), as well as those we will meet through house visits…in the back of my mind I will be thinking about the best gift that I can give them…the gift of the Gospel that we have been entrusted with. As much as I anticipate seeing their joyful faces when they receive clothes, shoes, and school supplies, the look on their faces when they realize they can have eternal peace and be with the Lord beyond this world is beyond description. To look in the face of a 28 year old woman who has “the peace that passes understanding” as she prepares for her death, to sit with a grieving gogo as she realizes her new responsibility of parenting her orphaned grandchildren…the only thing that can get anyone through those times is trusting in the sovereignty of God and the eternal hope that we have in Christ.


As we go to teach Vacation Bible School and love on these kids, I hope to be used by God to pour into them, pray for them, teach them, and encourage them as if they were a terminally ill child in the hospital…because they are…statistics have given them only 25 more years to live at most. Yet I go hopeful, because as we trust in what Christ did for us on the cross, we can cling to the promise that “the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away…for He is making all things new."(Revelation 21:3-5)


This world is temporary because we were created for another world with unhindered intimacy with the God of the universe…and we can begin to live in that now!

To read about Erica's experiences in Swaziland, visit her AIM blog: http://09sw0908rl13.myadventures.org/?category=All_Articles&byauthor=1919&byauthorname=Erica%20Zeiler

To receive email updates before we go and as we are in Africa, go to Danielle's blog: http://moms4change.net/

And pray, alright? Really, really pray.