Well now that I am back in California, I cannot stop thinking about the wonderful experience I had in Swaziland. It was absolutely life changing! I will always remember the experience I had in Africa. I'm so happy I finally got to go to Africa! It was so sad, to see how little they had but, for having so little, they had a great ammount of faith, more faith than any of us have ever had. I have learned not to take things for granted!

We made it back to San Diego safely. Madison is doing fine.
I will post over the next few days some reflections, and more
photos of the trip

We are in Dakar refueling. There is a little girl in our group that is very sick.
I think her name is Madison
PLEASE PRAY FOR HER.....

Going Home

We just Landed in Dakar to refuel. Many more hours to D.C.
Can't wait to get home.

On The Bus Heading Back To South Africa

Celebrating Litsemba

The Litsemba celebration was held today at Somholo National Stadium

in Swaziland. Litsemba means hope. Litsemba was a wonderful event

for Orphans and vulnerable children to get to know God more.

We were given the duty of ushers at the south end of the stadium.

When we got there the children were already lining up, they came in

busses and even in the backs of utility vehicles and some walked long

distances alone. Before long the stadium was filled with about 12000

kids. They had all received beanis, blankets, bibles, orange juice and

snacks. The music and the speakers were great. Sky met a little girl

who spent the day with us, she evidently had walked there by herself.

She spent the day with sky until we found someone who could get her

safely home.

Skys New Friend

I met a 13 year old girl named Carol, she was beautiful and sweet with

a very pretty smile. She would bring her friends to meet me while I

was working the gate. She brought me her candy, then later brought

me her apple and her chips, I knew this was such a big deal, who

knows when she would get food like that again, but she unselfishly

gave it to me. At home it isn't a big deal to offer such things, do it all

the time at lunch, but I also know I can go to the cabinet or the fridge

and get some more. What a sacrifice for her to make, it was unbelievable!

When my work was complete, she came and spent some time with me in

the stands. She told me she knew God in her heart and she gave me her

ring and asked me to take it. I was brought to tears and stunned, all I

had to offer her was my heart for africa nametag and the sunglasses I

was wearing. She seemed very happy, I told her I wanted her to be able

to keep the sun out os her eyes. I can't express how touched I was by

Carol and all the other children that played with my hair, clung to me

and just wanted to be loved and hugged. It was a Legit day, that will

forever be in my heart. :)

My New Friend, Carol At Somholo Stadium
She gave us the only candy she had.

Stage At Somholo Stadium. Great Band Is Warming Up

My Friends At Somholo Stadium

People Lining Up To Get In To Somholo Stadium

People In The Stands At Somholo Stadium

Mom and Her New Friends

Last Day Helping Our Community

Well today was the last day helping our community. We went to the church, it
didn't take long for the children to start showing up......early. I didn't count
how many, but there were a lot. We handed the Children their gifts of clothing
and underwear. They were so appreciative and sweet. Later we gathered in the
church that looked like it was made from twigs, we did vacation bible school. I
heard Sio, John and some of the local kids did a great job acting out the story of
Zacheus. We had split up in two groups and I got to go with Uncle Tom for one
last journey down the bumpy roads in the back of the pickup truck. It was a
wonderful day visiting homesteads and bringing them gifts of clothes, oranges
and soap. You seriously can't even imagine how gratefull and excited they were
to receive theses gifts. It just made my heart melt. The people of Swaziland are
so beautiful, they are people of such amazing faith.

Waiting For Gifts

The GoGos and Me In Their Church

I fell in love with a little girl in a green shirt, she tugged at my skirt, held my
hand and I just picked her up and held her. At that point she tugged at my
heart, and I really just wanted to take her home. I will so miss the sweet
people of this community, especially the kids.

Ian McGraw provided the comedic part of the day when we stopped to provide
gifts to a woman who was leading a burro. We gave her gifts and she offered to
let Ian ride her Burro......that was the FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen!! He got
on and all was well, took about 6 steps and the poor Burro just collapsed
underneath Ian!! OMgosh, seriously, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen.
Once we realized that the Burro was ok, and Ian too....we laughed so hard. Best
thing is, it was all caught on tape and hopefully appearing on some future
episode of Swazi's funniest home videos.

Ian, Me, Kailey, and Jet Waitng For Our Truck

Me, Pastor Rainy, and Mom

Our Group Leader Tom McGraw

He suffers from a terrible addiction,

Surfing

Well tomorow is LITSEMBA a celebration of hope that HFA started last year

and the King has now made it a National holiday. It wll take place in the

stadium,15000 kids are expected and we will give them each a pair of

shoes, blanket, warm beanie and lunch, most of the items have been

donated by people all over the world. There will be music, dance and

the king will be there. Only problem is I have to wear a skirt, its required

in the presence of the king. Ill post all about it tomorrow.

Back to sleep. I have to get up in an hour

Goodnight.

Back To School

Well as Sio would say, today was a WOW day! Part of our team finished
the garden with the help of a couple of youg men and women from the
community, which looked great.

The rest of our team went out into the comunity with pastor Rainy.
We stopped at a school that had 82 kids of all ages. The school was
in an old abandoned church, with broken windows, dirt floors and
only 2 tables and maybe 20 chairs. It was so sad. We decided very
quickly that this is the place for the school supplies we brought.

We handed out a t-shirt to each child. They were donated by Heart
For Africa, Michael Crews and Kroc kids , yes they were wearing
Michael Crews shorts in Swaziland. They were so appreciative
and polite, 80% of these kids were double orphans. We left there
in the back of the pickup and went to vist a family where both of
the parents have Aids. Sio, Ian, Cisco and Annie went to speak
with them, but they weren't home.

Driving Brothers Home

We loaded up the truck to visit with a widow with 4 children,
they lived way up a mountain. I was shocked at how they lived,

I mean it was sadder than anything I had ever seen. They had

a thatched hut that a had absolutey nothing but a dug hole that

was dug in the middle to light a fire, like a fire pit. They had

nothing to sleep on but the ground. We brought them some

clothes and asked if we could share our lunch with them. We

sat on rock hard dirt which felt harder than the truck bed.

Ian said a beautiful prayer with the widow and read a Bible

verse. She was a non believer, she listened quietly. As we were

saying goodbye, I asked my Mom if I could give the widow my pink

Bible, before giving it to her, I asked to read my favorite bible verse

from Jeremiah. The pastor then asked me to sign my bible for her, it
was a very used Bible with plenty of pen and highlighter marks, but

I didn't think she'd care. She seemed to appreciate it, I could tell by

her eyes it made her heart smile, which I don't think happens often.

We said goodbye and left some clothes for her children that the

Taiwaneese people donated.

We loaded up the truck with the preacher lady and moved on up the

long, bumpy dirt road. We drove by the school that we visited on Monday

with (271) kids. When they saw us they started screaming and clapping

and they were singing the somg "litsemba" that we had taught them.

Litsemba means hope. Rainy (the preacher lady) said we could get out

and visit. They ran to the gate and we greeted them. Sio then gave a

quick bible story of Zacheus. I taught them the song "Pharoah Pharoah",

we had a blast! I love those kids, all 271 of them, I must say that there

were a few that were special in my heart. Preacher Rainy said it was

time to go, and so we loaded in the truck bed and went off down the

bumpy dirt road again.

Our day was done,

or so we thought.

Sio's Zacheus Out Of the Blue Story

We went to meet the rest of our team to head back to the hotel (2 1/2 hours).

Along the way we met a gogo who had come to help plant the seedlings.

She was old and spoke no english. A gogo is a grandmother. One of our

team, Tom told us that she had made them sweet potatoes to share for

lunch. Those potatoes were probably all she had and she shared her

meal with them. When we were leaving she was sitting infront of her

hut, it was getting cold and looked like rain. My Mom took off her purple

fleece jacket and gave it to her. She was so happy, she rubbed her face

in the fabric and wept. It wasn't fancy and, probably a litlle dirty from

riding down the dirt road, but to her it was a treasure.




.....like Sio said....A WOW day




McKenna

GoGo With New Fleece

Lions and Hippos and Giraffes, Oh My.......

Today was Safari Day, we slept til 6:00 and then went for breakfast, breakfast

has been awesome everyday, however eating so well makes me feel bad when

I know there are kids not far from here that haven't eaten in days.

We took our laundry down to housekeeping this morning to find the door

closed, what we heard coming from that room was so beautiful. The

housekeeping staff was singing praise songs acapella. We just sat there

and listened to the voices of angels. They are happy and praising God

before they begin their day.

We went to a the Swazi candle factory today and found many gifts for

everyone. Then we were off to the Safari, it was AMAZING! We saw

hippos, Rhinos, Giraffes, Elephants, wild Boar, crocodile, Impala and

1 lonely lion. We had great drivers and I totally loved the safari jeep!

We are off at 7 am tomorrow to go back to the Community where we

will get to spend some more time with the awesome kids. Some of

our team will be finishing the garden for the orphans and some of us

will work directly with the kids. Can't wait to see them.

Goodnight everyone :)

Safari Mobile

Elephants

Unknown Species

A Long Day Of Adventure

Well today started with 6 am breakfast, then off in our comvie
by 7. We had a two and half hour bus ride this morning to a remote
community in Swaziland. But, before we could get there, we were
pulled over by the police, and our support truck driver locked the
keys in the truck. We finally met up with Rainey who was the pastor
of the church. She explained where she wanted her garden planted.
Rainey is an amazing women with the face of an Angel, she is an
angel. Her garden feeds all the orphans in her community.. We left
part of our team there to plant and the rest of us headed to teach
vacation bible school. We were told it was just 5 miles up the road
and we would not be able to take the comvie. We only could get
there by truck, so we all squished ourselfs in the truckbed of this
pickup along with 2 nuns from Taiwan and the pastor. We went up
the narliest roads, and through a river to get to this place that was
just 5 miles down the road....ha! We finally reached our destination
feeling a little beatup from our short 5 mile trip up the road. We
were expecting 50 kids and ended up with 271. They were all
amazing, beautiful kids that were so excited to see us. We didn't have
enough supplies for so many children, so with our leader, Sio's great
direction we did a quick verson of" Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat" the musical. Some of us on this trip had just done this
show in the winter in San Diego. Shaun McGraw was Joseph. It was
amazing! The kids sang with us and prayed with us. We then went to
another school and sang with 35 other teeny little guys in a school
that looked like it was made out of sticks.

School Kids And Me

There are too many stories to tell, but I will tell you a few more. The pastor
asked us to visit a woman who had just lost her husband, she was now A
widow with 4 children. We prayed with her and gave her part of our lunches
along with a bag of oranges that had been grown at project Canaan. She was
to remain in her mourning hut for 30 days, we prayed with her.


Child of the Widow



Another story that made my heart cry was a little 3 year old boy we found wandering down the road. People in town said his mom would leave him and his sister home everyday. This little boy was left to care for his 2 year old sister.

These are just a few of the stories we left with today.

Little Boy Left to Take Care of his Sister


I will never forget this day! It will be forever in my heart. The children chasing our truck for over a mile. The children singing us songs about Jesus. Their FAITH and love for God is amazing. They have so little, yet have so much.....GOD! I would really love to take them all home with me, but knowing that's impossible, well.....it leaves me with a feelng that there is so much to do for these amazing kids. Who am I to ever complain or gripe?? I will never forget the children chasing the comvie, they happily chased after us for over a mile. That image and their faces will be with me forever. We went there to teach, and I left feeling like I was the one who learned so much! I feel so blessed for having spent the day with Gods precious children. Can't wait to see them again on Wednesday and I really wished I woud have brought another suitcase full of school supplies, they need so much!

Kids Chasing our Comvie

Supplies For Only 50 Kids, but there was 271

First Day At Project Canaan

Today was an amazing day! I went to the dedication of the new Chapel at
Project Canaan. It was beautiful!! It was on the top of a hill with an
amazing view, it was so peaceful. Very meaningful service, they spoke of
Aids and one man spoke that he was deliberately given aids and has had it
for 18 years, he now helps people with aids all over Swazi. It made me sad
to hear how affected Swaziland has been by the aids virus. I always knew
this was true , but it really hit home.

Project Canaan is a place of HOPE for the children who are left parentless
due to aids. It is a beautiful 2500 acre farm that a year ago was just brush.
They are getting ready to build beautiful housing for children and Babies
to live. The farm will provide them with food and have plenty left over to
sell.

New Chapel At Project Canaan

We then went to a beautiful little lake on the property where we all had a picnic lunch.

Lake At Project Canaan

I enjoyed a little game of soccer with a rock and new friends.



I met many people from Taiwan,they were awesome and raised enough money to buy 15000 blankets for the people of Swaziland.

More Friends of Project Canaan

We then took a tour of the property on a comvie. It was a blast, kinda reminded me of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Sorry Disney, this ride was better;)
I'm tired now and going to sleep, can't wait for vbs in the community tmrw.
God Bless!

Shopping Mall

It was interesting I was just telling my Mom this week how I would love to walk across a State line, walk from one state into another. Well today, that wish came true and I got to walk into another country. WOW! We walked through customs in South Africa and then walked into Swaziland. Pretty Kool!
I also realized that planes aren't the only means of transportation that can have turbulence, busses can to???.

We got to our hotel, and ran to the shopping Market before they closed. My Mom finally got her shopping fix! They were the sweetest people who literally plead for you to please, please look at their stuff. It was very hard for me to say "No" to all those sweet faces. AS we were walking back to the hotel, my Uncle Mike was our protector, making sure we were aware of our surroundings. Hmmmmmm.....Uncle Mike....our hero! Thanks Sio for helping us find our way back to the hotel;). Well its 8:15 and I'm beat, gotta get up bright and early to attend the dedication to the new chapel at "project Canaan", can't wait! God Bless!

We made it to our hotel in Swaziland. We are getting ready for dinner. The dinner will be served buffet style. We are not suppose to take more food than we can eat.

We have had some good snacks on our trip that are not sold in the U.S., like BBQ Pork Rib potato chips.

My Mom just saw a mall, but the buss driver would not pull over.

Making Good Use of Our Time

We are making bracelets for children of Swazi while we ride the bus. The bracelets are made of many colors like Joseph's coat of many colors to represent Gods love.

We just finished breakfast and boarded the buss headed to Swaziland. Swaziland has many orphans because so many parents have died from aids. We are excited to serve the children. My phone is great. So far, I have had internet service just about everywhere.

We made it to Johannesburg. It was around 6 pm. Everyone is tired, and hungry. I'm trying to decide if I can plug in my cell phone charger, or wait and see if someone else blows up their phone first.

Airport Smiles

Blessings Already! In the airport, a college student asked about our shirts and where we are going. We explained and he gave us $100 to donate to the children! WOW!!

All Packed

Going to sleep for a few hours, long day tomorrow. My bags are packed and I'm excited! I baked cookies to share for our private party on airplane. That's all a girl can do for so many hours.

We will be flying from San Diego to DC, then to South Africa. 18 to 20 hours of flying then we will spend the night in South Africa before heading to Swaziland.

I wish my dad was going to help with the 175 pounds of bags.


I can't wait.


God Bless everyone. Sleep tight