The Deep End

Have you ever ended up in the deep
end in life and you don't know how you got there? I returned to Swaziland after
the holidays in mid-January and was PUSHED IN! I had heard before I had left
that I would have a lot to do when I returned and I knew that my role here in
Swaziland would be changing, but I had no idea what that really meant. I was
not prepared, I'm not sure I would have known how to prepare, all I know is
that I ended up in the middle of it and not after a few weeks or even a few
days of adjusting to being back.

            Adventures
in Missions Swaziland/ Children's HopeChest has taken on four new care points
in the Manzini area. These care points had previously been covered by another
Christian organization here in Swaziland that was not able to continue their
support of these care points. They considered what the Lord's will was for
these care points and He opened the doors for us to come in and partner with
them by taking on these four care points. It was a huge blessing and answer to prayer
for them. When I returned I was informed that I would be overseeing everything
at these care points.

            I was
excited for this new adventure in my ministry, however I was also immediately
overwhelmed by what all needed to take place that I was now responsible for.
Some of the things that I am now overseeing include preschool classes at the
four new care points. This is what I came for but I have been in a development
stage with that at our original care points. Trying to see where they are and
what we can do to improve that. With this new role, that is on hold for now.
The organization that had previously run the care points had been teaching
preschool, so we acquired 6 teachers for 8 classes. Each care point has 2
classes of preschool, so we still needed 2 teachers. I returned to Swaziland on
Sunday, met first thing Monday (unexpectedly) with the teachers, and schools
here started on Tuesday! So we were a little behind. I had no idea about
curriculum or how they had run things before so I was feeling very overwhelmed
at that point. We decided to start registering the children for preschool the
first week and then they would start, just teaching basics without a curriculum
the following week.

Life at the Surface

            We are now
about a month into things and I am feeling like I might be able to come up for
air. We have begun the process of ordering curriculum for this year and have
hired one more teacher (the last care point has a smaller class, so we are
delaying hiring a second new teacher.) I have been able to hire an assistant
who has previously worked with both the teachers and the curriculum. I have
enjoyed the moments when I have been able to "sit" with my teachers and look
forward to more of those times as things even out. Our next big adventure is profiling
the kids at these new care points and praying for a church to sponsor their
care point and individuals to sponsor the children.

God Moving

            As I was
walking through all of this I was reminded of the passage in Ezekiel 47 which
talks about a vision the prophet had about a river coming from the temple. When
he entered the river he first went ankle deep, then knee deep, onward to waist
deep and finally he was in the middle of the river, where he could not touch
anymore. In that place he had to give up control. I have heard it taught that
this is like our relationship with God, we only go in as far as we are
comfortable. For me I looked at this time in my life and thought, well, I guess
if we don't jump in ourselves God will find someone to push us in when He knows
that we are ready! I also looked back on one of my favorite scriptures from
Isaiah 43:1-7. The Message Bible caught my attention when I read verses 2 and
3, "When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough
waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it
won't be a dead end - Because I am God,
your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior."

            I wrote
briefly to my family letting them know that I had gotten home safely and all that
was going on in the first days. I mentioned that I felt like I was in thrown in
the deep end. My dad's reply was "well it's a good thing we taught you to
swim." Yes, it is.

Please pray with me:

~ For wisdom in all the things that I need to be taking care
of and as I manage our new staff members.

~ For God to open doors with the women I am now working
with.

~ For wisdom in how to continue working with the preschool
teacher at the other care points now that I am focused in a different area.

~ For language skills as I am taking lessons to learn
SiSwati