Love in Action!!!

Just wanted to share the story of one of our cooks who is the epitome of being God's hands and

feet!!!

Thuli Mdluli is a cook at one of our CarePoints. She has compassionate heart, and has shown this by extending care for 3 kids that don’t even belong to her.

John was abondoned by his mom, and left to his father (who is now re-married). The new wife wanted to leave him because John was not her son. The father decided to harm John, in fact he tried to kill him by throwing John in a homestead where there were fierce dogs. Momma Thuli “Two-lee” rescued him. She took the small boy to her homestead where she is also living with Phephile “Pay-pee-lay” and Muzi “Moo-zee” and Rosenna who are all double orphans.

Thuli is a volunteer cook at the CarePoint, and is taking John with her everyday. he is too young to attend the pre school class because he is only 3yrs old. The boy now flows with joy. He recently sang a song that they sing at bible clubs and he shared a Memory verse from the bible club…we are so amazed at how he can take the Word in his heart. It was cute, ,he was stammering saying 1John 16:16 “I…chose… you… to.. go… and… bear fruit “, the recovery that the Lord is bringing in the child’s life is awesome. May He be praised.

Phephile and Muzi came to stay with Thuli when they were 3 and 5 yrs old, now Phepile is 18 yrs and Muzi is 20yrs old and they are very active youth at the CarePoint. Their education is being sponsored by a nearby school. (the schools are required to leave open X number of slots for double orphaned children-and are not supposed to charge them for education)

Rosenna, (now the 4^th child) has also lost both of her parents. She is 5yrs old and Thuli rescued her from her uncle. The wife of the uncle did not like and did not want anything to do with Rosenna. She was abusing the child emotionally and physically in unthinkable ways. She would strangle her and torture her by putting a hot iron on her forehead. Even now she is still healing from the physical scars. But God is restoring her. She is now a happy child(our goal for all of these kids), and is attending our CarePoint school and bible clubs and playing with other kids and feeling the love of Christ through Mama Thuli!!

These kids are the NORM here in Swaziland. I wish we had to dig hard to find stories like this, but for now-that is not so. The PIECE of hope we cling to is that because of great women like Momma Thuli, these kids have love back in their lives. The PEACE of hope truly passes all understanding.

Birthday Away from Home!

A few things usually hit you harder than others when you are a missionary. I know my first year in the field, the fact that my birthday was now in the winter instead of the summer hit me harder than I expected. Instead of being a couple of days before the longest day of the year, it is now a couple of days before the shortest day of the year. It doesn't effect me as much anymore, I'm getting use to it. Sometimes being away from family on special days are hard.

This year I was blessed to be loved on more than I could have ever imagined even though I live on the other side of the globe. As seen in my previous post, I was thrilled to have my mom come to Swaziland for an early birthday present. It was great to get to share my life here with her and hopefully help her feel like I am closer by being able to picture my house, my friends, my work and the CarePoints I work at.

And then my birthday fell on Father's Day Sunday so I got lots of hugs and birthday greetings at HPC church in Swaziland.

And my home church, the Oasis Church, in Loganville, GA included a greeting from me in their bulletin and prayed for me during their services.

Between my home church, friends, and family I had a record number of FB posts to my wall wishing me a wonderful birthday!!! So many, I had trouble getting them all read!!! To finish my day I had two wonderful young friends, Bethany and Tamara who baked me a cake and came over and made me dinner.

I might not have my family or stateside friends with me but that did not stop me from having an amazing birthday on the other side of the world!!!!!

The Lord continues to amaze me and bless be abundantly!!! Thank all of you who sent me birthday wishes, prayers and blessings!!! And thank those of you who read my blog and let me share my life!!

I Am Blessed!!!

Sorry I did not post last month. I would like to give you a good excuse but my only argument is I have been so blessed lately I was unable to find the time! Please forgive me and not be too jealous!

Last month, my mom left the states and used her passport for the first time to come halfway around the world to experience my home and ministry in Swaziland!!!! I have long passed the life expectancy in Swaziland (33.2 yrs quoted in 2010), so for me to have a mother who is still alive was an exciting revelation for most of our staff and teachers. After my mom left, one of our staff commented that she had excepted a frail, old lady that they would have to hold out a hand to help. Another was telling someone "Her mother is soooo strong!! She is stronger than Make Sandra!" (which she is). I took pleasure in telling everyone that my mom will be 77 in July and watching mouths drop open as they said "How!" (which translated would mean "Wow", "you're kidding" or "impossible" in America).

My mom helped decorate my home, took me on a shopping trip to Nelspruit, went to our teacher's meeting to meet all the CarePoint staff, attended our office staff meeting, a missionary gathering, went on community walk in Mangwaneni, helped weed and plant flowers at my CarePoint, went to my missionary ladies bible studies, saw wild animals and went on vacation in cold, wet, yet beautiful Cape Town.

So now you know why I found no time to post. I was out of our office a lot more and was blessed with lots of hugs and sincere words of missing my presence while I was gone. It is so wonderful to feel loved and appreciated . . . and yes spoiled. No one can spoil you like your mom!!! Here are a few of the

literally hundreds of pictures we took!

Did I mention she got to meet Ambassador Earl Irving while she was here!

Missing you mom!!! Thanks for coming and sharing my life for awhile!!!!