Feeding the 1,000

God has been doing some REALLY cool things at CLC and the Lighthouse lately. First, we had been working on getting one of the house moms, Nokuthula, ready to go to South Africa two weeks ago. Nokuthula is a very loving, kind, passionate woman of God who is an excellent mother to the kids in her house, and often volunteers her days off to come and help both Jane B. and Jane W. out in the community doing clinics.

It was decided that Nokuthula would go to school to learn nursing and how to use it to spread the gospel much in the same way both the Janes have been doing. After two days of rigorous interviews and testing (they once asked everyone to find the book of Abraham!) she got in! We were so very excited for her, and we know that God will do incredible things through her. Eventually, she will be able to do nursing work not only for the Lighthouse but also for CLC and the community clinics. Since she is a Swazi, she will be able to reach the people in Hawane region in a very special way. Please pray that she will not be afraid or nervous, but trust that God has a plan and will make her able to complete all of the courses set before her. Also please pray for the kids in her house. Since she will be gone for some time at school, a new house mom will be hired to watch over them.

The women’s Bible study is also going tremendously well. We have seen visible changes in the women’s attitudes. They’ve been bringing food to share without being asked, sharing and praying for prayer requests, and participating very well in the lessons. One particular house mother has been doing all the interpreting which has really boosted her confidence level, and last week she was so inspired by the lesson that she spent about 5 minutes preaching herself!

The week before, we challenged all the women to tithe something; whether it be time, produce from their garden, or work. One of the women decided to tithe her time because she had little else. So every day for a week she spent an hour and 20 minutes with God, praying and reading the Bible. Usually, this same woman sells candy, and often is not able to sell anything at all. She told us at the end of the week that after tithing her time to God, ALL of her candy had been bought and she was able to buy more to sell. What else can we say? God is faithful. We really hope that they will see this and continue to trust Him more and more with everything they have to give.

This week, the challenge to the women was to ask God to give them a vision of what He wants them to do. It could be small, like going to comfort a sick person, or huge, like becoming a nurse. This is to get them paying more attention and tuning their ears to the voice of God. Who knows what He will have said to them at the end of the week!

In the middle of this same study, Pastor Augustine came in and told us that some organization notifived him that they were going to feed ONE THOUSAND people in the Hawane area the next day, and that they needed his help to spread the word. Here we were, discussing how laying down your life to God opens the door for Him to pour out blessing and do good work....and God pours out a huge blessing on the Hawane area. Are the attitudes of the few who are growing in God already paving the way for the whole community to be covered in God’s abundance?

Every little thing in our lives that we surrender, every little choice we make for the good, comes against evil so that the Spirit will increase; not only for us, but for those around us. It seems to me this may be the key to winning the Swazis for Christ. And maybe, just maybe, tithing an hour and a half for a week could lead to feeding 1,000.

Written by Stacey Weneck - CLC's extended stay traveler to Swaziland. Stacey will be in Swaziland for another month.