"Thank You God"

(So provided nothing goes wrong in the next hour or so, there will be two posts today... I wrote this yesterday, Friday, but couldn't post it since Swaziland shut down the internet in the country for a holiday...)

So I hardly know where to begin today… The whistle definitely blew (if that doesn’t make any sense, then you’ll have to go back and read yesterday)… But I was back in the game… We left Johannesburg early in the morning and set out for Swaziland… Crossing the border into Swaziland is always an experience! Since South Africa and Swaziland are two different countries, you have to ‘check out’ of South Africa and ‘check into’ Swaziland. For some reason, I find the whole process kind of fun…


I wish I could find the words to describe my feelings when I stepped onto Swazi soil today… I walked up to the official to get my passport stamped and he asked ‘how are you?’… Grinning from ear to ear, I said, “GREAT!” (And then when Scott called tonight, he even said, “I can hear the smile in your voice!) I’ve been surprised by the strength of my feelings to be back in Swaziland… I truly love this country.

It was a mad dash to the hotel and then out to Project Canaan… the 2500 acres that Heart For Africa is developing for the orphans in this country… 3 climate regions for crops, cattle, children’s homes, medical, clinic, schools… In the land of the impossible, it is a God project in the making!

I want to tell you two stories from today…

The first was told by K, the land manager for Project Canaan (PC)… I was here in 2009, shortly after they started working PC and the quick progress has been staggering, but I had never heard him tell the story until today…

When he arrived, the land was nothing but bush… they had no tractor, an incredibly rocky soil and only 1 month to plant the first crop of corn. Most people told him it was impossible… many of the locals gave Heart For Africa 6 months until they gave up and moved on…

Well, they cleared the land in record time, planted the first crop and harvested 35 TONS of corn! The harvest they brought in this year was 100 TONS of corn!! 2 years have passed and they’re still here!! I loved what K said, “We can all stand around and talk about our accomplishments, how smart we are, or how strong we are, but in the end, it’s all about what God does!”

And let me tell you, God is doing some amazing things here in Swaziland… You don’t even have to look very hard to see Him!

But here’s the other story that rocked my heart to the very core… The very first person that K hired to work on PC was a woman named S. S walked 2 hours, every day just to get to work and then 2 hours back home. She has 4 children and they walk 90 minutes, one way to school…

This past June she was pregnant with her 5th child and still coming to work every day… One day she left work and went to the local clinic to see if they would induce her as she was overdue… They sent her to the private hospital nearby. At first they gave her a pill, but when that didn’t work, they gave her an injection. Labor came hard and fast and the nurse just didn’t know what to do, so she went to find a doctor. By the time she returned, S and her precious baby had died.

Now that broke my heart, but what rocked my soul was what they named the baby when they buried her… In English, it meant, “Thank You God.” We saw a short interview with S’s mother… she said, “She was my mother, my father, my husband, she was the sole provider for our family… I miss her.” And yet, she could still name the baby, “Thank You God.”

I think about all the times I whine to God and complain… I often struggle with how to be thankful for ALL things… And yet, He’s never asked me for a child… I’ve never even really suffered in comparison to the people in Africa… But how many times do I forget to say ‘thank you God’ for all of my blessings and I really have a hard time saying ‘thank you God’ for a broken air conditioner… The people here who know God, they REALLY know Him… And they don’t just talk about it with their words, they live it with their very lives… Even in what they name a baby in the most tragic situation we could imagine… Now that’s trust…faith…hope!

I have so much to learn from these dear, dear people…