Kylee Celebrates a Birthday in Swaziland

It's going great here in Swaziland. Though the 3rd construction team left last Tuesday, the investment they made into the kingdom of God will be bearing fruit well into the future.

I have been given my assigned responsibilities while I am here. At this point they include: counseling the kids and house mothers, training the mothers in counseling and budgeting, leading a cell group for teenage girls at Hawane, helping start CLC Hawane's Sunday school for the kids, doing office work for the CLC project, and helping start and lead a Hawane youth group for the teenage boys and girls on the farm. God is so good and He is faithful to lead each of us into His will.

I celebrated my birthday this past Wednesday and my roommates (an American young lady & 2 young ladies from Ireland) surprised me that morning by putting up a "Happy Birthday Kylee" sign with balloons on the wall across from my bedroom. One roommate even left me a card. It was so sweet. Throughout the day I received surprise birthday cards from the children at Hawane and that night in cell group they even had a cake to celebrate. The body of Christ is family wherever you are. It is a beautiful thing.

The next evening I had a birthday party and invited some of the other long-term missionaries on the farm and the teenage girls from the cell group. We just had fun and taught them some "American" dances like the chicken dance, the Macerena, YMCA, and the hokey pokey. The Lord has put on my heart to teach the girls in the cell group about who we are in Christ. May they live in the freedom of knowing our gracious Hevenly Father and the joy of living out who they are in God's eyes. God has a unique purpose for each of these children regardless of the circumstances that led them here. "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." (Psalm 68:5).

Thursday I accompanied Pastor Augustin, the nurse here, and the other volunteers to their weekly clinic/outreach out in the surrounding community. People who live in the nearby homesteads walk to the clinic to reveive basic medical treatment. Each individual is prayed for and ministered to by the volunteers. God did some amazing things including delivering a lady from evil spirits, softening the heart of a young man with AIDS who recently tried to commit suicide to make the decision to come to church Sunday at Hawane, encouraging widows to continue in the way of the Lord, and pouring out His love on multiple orphan children. We serve an awesome God!