Friends, family, supporters ❤️,
I am so glad to finally be reporting to you from Manzini, eSwatini! I’m sorry my first blog post is so late. The blog was having some trouble being set up and I also have been just living in the moment and processing all that’s going on, so thank you for your patience. 🙂
I believe I’m kind of getting the hang of missionary life! I’ve been embracing the dirt, finding random bug bites I find on my arms and legs (I’m pretty sure I just figured out what bug they’re from so all is well haha), sweating all the time, having cell phone service being very limited, eating on a budget, enjoying the community, growing in my relationship with God, and growing in my boldness in sharing God’s word with people.
My team and I have been here since February 1st. We completed two great weeks of training camp in Gainesville, Georgia. There we had awesome worship sessions and great messages ranging from who we are in Christ to evangelism practicals and apologetics. Our squad immediately started having fun together and we all bonded super quickly. We played lots of games and cards in our free time!
We left to travel for two days straight full of joy and faith. Layover in the London airport = 12 hours. Total time in a plane = 18 hours. But the flights each left around 10pm, so it helped that we got to sleep on the plane!
On Mondays we have “market ministry day” where we follow the Lord‘s leading to minister to people throughout the city of Manzini. Then Tuesday through Friday we help at three different care points. Care points are establishments sponsored by non-profits (including our organization; Adventures in Missions) for children in the community to come get meals and play outside in a Christian atmosphere. The kids I’ve met here are abundantly, smart, hardworking, kind and loving. Kids are kids no matter what culture you’re in! They’ll find a way to have fun with each other regardless of the setting or materials available. They love to play, be challenged and be loved. At one care point some of my squad members had the idea to make a soccer field for the kids! We’ve been raking and ripping up the weeds and are almost done now. The kids all started playing soccer on the unfinished field yesterday and it was so sweet!
The market ministry days we’ve had have been amazing as well. Most everyone we meet in stores and on the streets are so friendly and willing to talk, it’s been so easy to start conversations! It’s so fulfilling and rewarding to listen to individuals, share scripture with them and pray for them. They’ve all been so genuinely grateful. The Holy Spirit is faithful in that way to direct us to people and give us the words we need to share Jesus with them and encourage them. (And give us wisdom on how to stay safe!) It’s been so exciting!!!
For instance, I’ve gotten to pray with a sweet teenage girl who worked in a fabric shop that she would get the school fees she needed. Me and my friend Brigette also got to encourage and pray for a store worker we met that true joy and fulfillment can only come from God and His presence, not necessarily just sales. We’ve had lots of other encounters like this too!
The church services we’ve been at have been cool as well. There is a translator to translate English to Swazi or vice versa. There’s little holes in the roof that can cause little sprinkles during church if it rains. We see cows roaming outside the windows and they give the kids little mangos as a treat after service. It’s fun to see the little differences in culture while knowing we worship the same big God! For worship songs, they’ve just been singing and clapping due to their instruments being stolen not too long ago. My friend Nikki had brought her guitar along with her a couple Sundays ago to lead a worship song that day. After the service, she gifted the church her guitar. 🙂
Altogether, this trip has truly been better than I could have even imagined. One of my favorite things is just how much fun our squad has together. We had a great worship night the other day and will try to fit in a capture the flag game in later today! It’s been such a good experience to be growing with seeking Christians from all over the United States. Also, Valentine’s Day was so fun! They guys on our team cooked dinner and got us cards and cake- they did their best to make us girls feel loved. I believe God showed His love to all of us in a special way that day.
I’m continuing to let God do His thing in me and it’s been such a joy to get to know Him in these new fresh ways. He is faithful to be taking us deeper in Him and His love, and I believe God’s just getting started with all He’s doing in me!
We are leaving for our last stop to Jeffery’s Bay, South Africa on February 28th. We’re leaving eSwatini after just one month because another team from Adventures in Missions is coming into eSwatini and they need the homestead we’re staying at. I’m so excited to see what God’s going to do in Jeffery’s Bay as well. In J Bay we’ll be helping at a school called Global Leadership Academy with their after school program. We will of course also be looking for opportunities to share God’s word to the students we’re working with as well. Nothing is impossible with God, and we want the kid’s faith to be solid in Him and His love!
Please feel free to continue to pray for even more open doors for us to share Jesus’ healing power and salvation message to everyone who needs it.
A couple fun random things:
- they have geckos like everywhere, including on the walls in our house. They’ve been all named lol.
- They have big snails haha! 🐌
- We saw a monkey crossing the street on our way to ministry
- We’ve seen 3 rainbows!
- There’s a chicken and her three chicks that hangout around our house, it’s so cute.
- They don’t really have a middle class. Everyone is either in poverty or is upper class.
- KFCs are fairly common and are so esteemed by people! If they want to go out to eat somewhere fancy- they choose KFC haha.
- Swaziland has the last monarchy in Africa. The king currently has 15 wives.
- They drive on the left side of the road and the roads are also in awful condition ha.
- It’s very mountainous and green! The views are always beautiful. They have awesome birds and colorful butterflies.
- There’s lots of cactuses, big aloe plants, mango, guava and lime trees.
- We’ve been making friendship bracelets which is so fun!
- They have unique soda flavors! Haha.
Also if you feel inclined to give toward my trip, we could go the Venmo route! 🙂 I paid my remaining fundraising balance of about $2,000 back when I began this trip in January. If you wanted to support me though giving financially, please feel free to Venmo me as a way of reimbursing what I paid out of my personal funds. (I heard that as long as you put “donating towards mission trip to Africa through Adventures in Missions” or something similar in the description, you can screenshot that as a receipt for your giving.) 😃❤️ my Venmo tag is @Gina-Seifert-3 if you need it.
I love you all! As always, please let me know if you need prayer for anything in your life. Thank you for being in my life and for your interest in keeping up with my Africa experience!
One other thing- please feel free to email me ([email protected]) or message me on WhatsApp if you want to say hi! ❤️ I try to find wifi every chance I get but it’s pretty limited here so I will respond when I’m able! 😃
So much love to you all!
Gina
