Updates from the Jobsite

We received an e-mail from Heidi Miller which offered various updates regarding what has been happening with the team in Swaziland. Here are some excerpts from her message:

Daily Schedule: Breakfast is usually around 7:00 and the men are typically at the jobsite by 8:00. Lunch is usually between 1:00 and 2:00 and dinner is around 6:00. In between times the team is at the job site working on the construction and rennovation or is visiting homestead in the surrounding area. Evenings are sometimes spent visiting with the children living in some of the homes at Hawane and playing games with them, etc. They REALLY look forward to this. They are all WONDERFUL kids and its really hard to hear some of their stories, but the focus here is showing them love, so every smile and every laugh makes God smile a lot!

Flexibility and Relationships are Key: We learned very quickly to be VERY flexible. Sometimes the game plan changes hourly, so we have to "go with the flow". Pastor Augustine and the team usually have a pretty good idea about what needs to be done and how to best organize the events of the day. The most important thing here is our relationship with every person: the leaders here who help manage the construction, the local boys who will come along side us to work, the gogos and the kids at the homesteads and the kids and staff at Hawane Farm. We have to do everything we can to show them love and respect and spend as much time as we can talking to them and sharing with them. We are constantly reminded that we are here to serve, to share and to listen to others.

Job Site- The construction on the church is behind schedule due to some obstacles which occurred prior to us arriving, problems with the steel trusses and measurements, and a lot of rain the past few days. Pastor Kevin and Pastor Augustine are a bit disappointed; not with our efforts at all, mostly just in the amount of things we've all been forced to overcome. We all know that this church will go up in God's time and as anxious as we all are to see it, we can't rush it to satisfy ourselves. There is much work to be done around the homesteads also and this is very, very rewarding.

Pastor Augustine - Pastor Augustine is the Pastor of the Church at Hawane Farm, and he will become the Pastor of our new church once it is completed. He and his wife, Elizabeth have three beautiful children and are an amazing family with many testimonies about how God has worked in them and through them and blessed them in times of need. Our team had the privilege of being invited to their home for dinner and we prayed for specific needs for them regarding transportation for Pastor Augustine (his car is in need of a new computer which has been ordered from Singapore, but will take several months to arrive and may or may not be the right part), Elizabeth's mother (Elizabeth has only seen her mother who lives in Ghana one time in the last eighteen years- she is having a lot of difficulty sleeping at night because she thinks of her so much and would give anything to be able to see her one more time before she dies) and Elizabeth's business ( she used to be a full-time teacher, but because they now have three children, she sells clothing, traveling from shop-to-shop with her goods. Many of the people do not pay her and die of AIDS, so she is not really making any money. We prayed they the Lord would bring her honest people to do business with and that someday she may have her own shop to attract the right kind of customers.) Prayer is a powerful expression of our trust in God. We ask you to share in our prayers for Pastor Augustine and his family.

It's hard to believe our first construction team will leave Swaziland on Monday and will return to Dayton on Tuesday, May 6th. Please keep them in your prayers these final days and praise God for the work He continues to accomplish in them and through them. Some members of the team will be sharing their testimonies with the congregation during services the weekend of May 17th and 18th. We encourage you to be there!