When my World Race squad was in Swaziland back in January, a few of my teammates had the opportunity to minister to a woman named Dudu. Dudu is 27 years old and has been living with AIDS and TB. Back in January her situation seemed hopeless and the hearts of my teammates broke over this woman's condition. The loved her and cared for her, and even spent time with her in the hospital. I never met her back then, but heard story upon story about her. Their time spent with her was also a process of "learning to die" with her, and understanding what it means to minister to someone who is past medical help. They left Swazi thinking that she would pass away very soon.

                Since returning to Swazi, I was completely surprised to learn during our first week that Dudu was still alive, living across the street with her mother, father, sisters, and her son. When I found out, I was completely overjoyed. I couldn't believe that this woman who I heard so much about in January as being on her deathbed was still here. Her situation was still heartbreaking, spending most of her days lying on the bed and struggling to speak, but she was still here. Our girls struggled a little in the beginning with how to minister to someone in her condition, but as the weeks went by they grew in their ability to love her and care for her in beautiful ways. I saw the Lord sustaining her and saw it as a gift that we got to love her. Even last week, her son turned one year old and we were able to throw him a birthday party. That was the only time I was able to go to her house and I got to sit with Dudu, feed her birthday cake, and hold her hand. She is so incredibly beautiful.

                Every day that the girls go to Dudu's, they never know what to expect. On the ‘good' days, her family sits her on the porch and she is able to speak a little; and on the ‘bad' days, she is confined to her bed and it takes every ounce of energy to eke out the smallest of sounds. This past Wednesday, our girls went over to her house for a visit. Dudu was lying in her bed looking so small and weak. Even though her condition looked bad, it is usually the most common. They sat with her, prayed with her, and read her letters they had written for her. Though those days are hard, it is beautiful to be able to sit with someone in their pain and let them know how much God loves them, that they are not forgotten.

                A few hours after the girls had gone to see her, one of our translators came to our house to tell us that Dudu had passed away. Our girls just broke. Though this news wasn't necessarily unexpected, we really didn't think it would happen. There was sadness and anger and helplessness. Having to face the reality of death in this place is almost unbearable. To see this beautiful, 27 year old woman with a one year old child be taken away from this world in such a painful way is heartbreaking. Everything about it shows the injustice and sin of this world, and being faced with it in such a real way can be incredibly overwhelming.

                In the midst of all this sadness, our role in her life was not finished. Erica and I drove Dudu's family, along with Dudu's lifeless body to the funeral home and helped her mother and sister pick out a coffin. I don't think the gravity of all of that has settled in yet, but I can truly say I felt so honored to be able to do this for Dudu. I know her life has touched so many people. Countless teams have come through this place with the intent of ministering to her, but I feel like she has been able to minister to them as well. She taught them how to love and serve and understand not only the reality of death but the beauty of praising God in the midst of it. She taught them how to sit with her in her suffering, and love her when there was nothing else to do. Every team left this place saying goodbye to Dudu and didn't know how long she had; but we were here to say the final goodbye, knowing that the next time we meet we will never have to say it again.  And even though it is hard to be here right now going through this loss, I rejoice in knowing that she is in Heaven, standing before her Father, praising His name and no longer living under earthly pain. Her body has been restored and it is beautiful.  

In the parable, the Priest and the Levite were both characters who one would assume would have helped the man on the side of the road; but they both crossed the street trying to avoid him. I think I have always thought of them of just not having the heart to help. But, if that were the case, why did they cross the street? If they had no feelings toward this man, they would have no problem walking right past him without even noticing him; but they did notice him.  "Maybe they were late for meetings; maybe they thought someone else would be a better source of help. But surely they at least felt sorry for the man, right?' Perhaps. But it was only the Samaritan whose heart went out to the man and who took action on that heart tug. Because of the Samaritan's hands-dirty work, the man by the side of the road received medical help and was cared for in ways he could not have accomplished on his own. He was given hope. This isn't just a story about being nice to your neighbor or even merely a story about determining who is your neighbor. It's a story about doing the work of God's kingdom – the work that leads to hope. The work that leads to life (Davis, 91)."

Being here in Swazi I find myself constantly surrounded by need, and not the "I need a new ipod because mine is out of space" need. What I'm seeing are basic human needs that I was taught everyone should have: "I need food. I need clothes. I need a place to sleep." Trying to obey this parable in a land of obvious need is so overwhelming it can become almost paralyzing. I look at every "neighbor" I come in contact with and want to help. But, over the last few years I've come to learn my role in these situations and how I can help by bringing them to the ministries in the community that are here for the long haul. It is definitely hard at times, and a lot of times heartbreaking, but I know that the work we do here is pleasing to the Lord. But there is still that part of me which struggles with wanting to jump in to every situation and meet every need.

As you all know, my team is only here for three months, and we are on a tight budget. Being able to meet financial needs in the community is not why we are here. But the other night God gave Erica, Sydney, and I a "Good Samaritan" moment. It was Wednesday night and Erica and Sydney were down at Pastor Gift's house with a group of the girls for a night of fellowship. One of our translators came to the house and told me Pastor Gift needed to see me. When I got to the house he pulled me outside with one of the GoGo's (grandmothers) from one of our weekly care-points. He was explaining to me that there was a woman at her house with AIDS and cervical cancer. Her family had been saving up money to send her to a hospital in South Africa, but the pain was getting so bad that they had an immediate need to get her to a closer clinic. This Gogo was asking me to drive this woman to a clinic about an hour away. I found myself in a hard place, and immediately pulled Erica and Sydney outside. Everything inside of me wanted to take this woman to the clinic, but what about all the other people we've turned away with very similar requests? And are we being wise with spending gas money and have two of us leave the team for the day to drive this woman? In the midst of all these questions in my head I continued to hear God over and over again saying "she is your neighbor". The three of us leaders quickly and unanimously agreed we had the means to be able to do this.

In the morning Erica and I went and picked up this woman, Angeline, from her homestead around 6:30am. When we arrived at the house it was like any other house we had been to – kids playing in the front, 3-4 houses next to each other, and cows and guinea fowl walking around. We pulled the car up an unlevel path to the farthest house, to pick up Angeline. Within seconds, three Gogos were in the car making a "bed" in the middle of the van. There was a foam mattress and blankets with a pillow. Then they re-entered the house and came back out carrying Angeline to the car. She was too sick to walk, even to lift her head, and looked like she was in constant pain with her eyes fighting back tears. The Gogos loaded her into the car and then followed her into the back seat. Once everyone was in I had to slowly navigate myself down the uneven road to make sure it wasn't too bumpy for her in the back.

The drive to the clinic was pretty smooth and we made it in about an hour. We parked in front of the entrance and pulled a gurney around to load her onto. Once Angeline was out of the car, the Gogo's wheeled her to the large crowd of people lining up all the way outside to receive medical care. The clinic staff wouldn't let Erica and I wait with them so we parked the car outside and waited. For the next 4 hours we found mini-adventures to occupy our time, but my midday we were called back to the clinic for pick-up. Luckily Angeline was able to stay at the clinic, and after unloading the car of blankets and a little food to keep with her, we drove the Gogo's back home.

It was when we dropped them off that I truly started to feel the weight of what we just did. Angeline's father came out to our car and thanked us over and over for what we did. The look of gratitude in his eyes was so pure and genuine. In that moment I felt the emotions of the day. What felt like another day for us was in reality a life changing day for Angeline. That morning, at 7am, we were her ambulance. We were able to take this woman who was suffering to people who could relieve the pain (even if only for a little while).

The woman "by the side of the road" received medical help and was cared for in ways we could not have accomplished on our own. She was given hope.

My prayer for myself and for really anyone who calls themselves a Christian is that we open our eyes, see the people who God has put on the road before us, and choose to not cross the street. I pray we would be aware of immediate needs in front of us and listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit in how we should respond and share the hope that is the Kingdom of God.

*Davis, Tom. Red Letters.

One of my favorite things about being back in Swazi is seeing some of my kids from when I was here in January. I was only here for less than 2 weeks, but these kids touched my heart so much. The moment I returned I was on the lookout for a few specific ones (but let's face it, I love them all); and within the first few days I found them.

                                The first boy I was looking for was a little boy named "Dadada" (or I like to just call him trouble). Back in January I spent a lot of my time chasing him around the care point and throwing him in the air. He was incredibly sweet and had the cutest smile that kept you from ever getting mad at him. I ended up finding him instantly our first day here and we quickly resumed our relationship of me chasing him around the house and throwing him upside-down and tickling him. I usually get to see him every day and I love the special connection I feel when he looks up and we make eye contact and this huge grin comes across his face.

                              

This past weekend we drove our team into Manzini for a "communication day" so they could use the internet. It is about an hour and a half drive down just one main road. On the way back to Nsoko I was driving a van with around 8 of our girls. We were only about 20 minutes from home when we drove past a police checkpoint. An officer had waved for me to stop to the side and I assumed he was just going to ask where we were going or whatever and send us on our way. It didn't seem odd to me that he made us stop and I had no idea anything would have been wrong.

                The police officer came over to my window and asked to see my driver's license. At that point I knew I must have done something wrong and automatically assumed I was speeding (which I usually never do...). Luckily I had my license on me and grabbed it from my bag and walked it over to him on the other side of the road. Anyways, he soon informed me that I was "overtaking on a solid line", aka I had illegally passed a slower car. Now, I have been driving here for the past two weeks and had no idea they had laws about passing. Every car on the road seemed to pass whenever they felt like it and I decided to just follow that example. I tried extremely hard to play the ditzy card and explained that I had no idea that there was a law about passing and that I have only been driving in Swazi for a short time (and I might have even said that we don't have laws like that where I am from...woops). He was giving me no sympathy and was trying to tell me that illegally passing a car is a very big offense in Swazi, "a very big offense".

                So here I am, on the side of the road in Swaziland, with a group of my girls across the street staring at me with a policeman. He wasn't offering much information so I asked him what the next step was. He then informed me that I would need to go to court. Court, seriously? I told him that there is no way I would be able to make it to court. He said I would need to go the next morning to a town that is about 45 minutes away from us. I asked him if there was another option because there is no way I could do that and he said that I could then just "fly away" (and he included hand motions of ascending into the sky). I could tell this conversation wasn't going anywhere helpful so I asked if there was a fine I could pay right then. He then involved the other officer who was on the opposite side of their car.

                Now I found myself talking to a policewoman who was essentially giving me the information I already knew, that I would need to go to court. When I informed her that there was no way I was going to do that, she pulled out her Swazi traffic rules book to prove to me that what I had done was illegal. I had to explain to her that I in no way doubted that what I did was wrong, but that we would need to come up with another solution of how to take care of this (I had no idea trying to bribe Swazi police officers would be so hard). She then made a quick phone call and told me it would be a 60 rand fine (less than $10). Hello! That is much easier then court. So, I ran back across the street to the van and quickly got the money while she wrote out my ticket (which by the way she wrote my name down as Pamela Jean, my first and middle name, and in no way included my last name). I then handed her the money, took back my license, and got back on the road.

                     

I first came to Swaziland in January while on the World Race. Out of all the places we went to on the Race, Swazi was probably the poorest place I saw. It seems like the poverty here is greater, hope is lost, and everywhere you turn you see a need. After having my heart broken for this place back in January, I was excited to return to help bring the hope of Jesus to this place. Being back here has been incredible. The Lord has showing me so much about His goodness and His grace, and I love the people in this community. As much as I love being here, my primary ministry is my girls I am co-leading. I am here to help them walk through all they are seeing and experiencing, but my heart still breaks for this country.

Here are a few ways you can be praying for Swazi:

Pray for Hope:

                Hunger is everywhere. Most of the people in this community only receive one meal a day (sometimes not even that). The "care points" we have been working at are places where anyone can come and receive one meal every day usually consisting of rice; but for some people, it is too far to walk, or they are too sick to get themselves there. Most of the people in this community rely on the government to distribute food every few months, but a lot of the time the food comes late, if at all.

Work in Swazi is very hard to find. This past week we witnessed a protest in some sugarcane fields located right across the road from us. Men marched down the street into the fields and set them on fire. For most of the morning we could see a cloud of smoke and path of fire running through the fields. This protest was held because the land owners had purchased machines to replace the jobs of these men. Jobs are extremely limited here, and now people need to fight for the ones they once had.

Children need to be loved. A few nights ago we had a young girl, 14 years old, who showed up in our window. I recognized her from one of our care points that was almost two miles away. She had walked alone in the dark with no shoes on the dirt roads. Her father is in the hospital and his girlfriend had kicked this young girl out of the house with none of her things. Now she was at our house, with nothing, and over 7 months pregnant after getting raped by her uncle. She has been staying with Pastor Gift and we will hopefully be able to get her into some sort of halfway house where she can be taken care of and receive counseling. It is great that we have been able to help this girl, but sadly, this is a common story. There are a lot of children in this community in abusive homes, girls gettingpregnant extremely young (usually because of rape), and a huge lack of parents due to sickness related to HIV/AIDS.  

There is so much need in this place and at times it can feel extremely overwhelming. I know I am only here for three short months, but I know that this is what the Lord has called me too, and I want to bring His hope. Please pray for the people of Swaziland and for our role in being here. Pray that we would bring the light of Christ into every place that we go, and that the people here would have hope in knowing that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them.

Romans 8: 38-39

" For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."