Today our Go Team has been out in the Mhlosheni ADP learning about what is going on there and extending the love of Christ. My post is a bit later today, as I have been waiting for a couple of photos from Reed (again, via Ruth's Blackberry). The team started the day by meeting the WV staff and community workers. Then they visited a Hope Center, which is sort of like a childcare center / preschool, and then they met with a chronically ill person and their caregiver and family. We (finally!) have a photo with our loved ones in it...please lift them up in your prayers today, as well as the WV staff who work so hard to better the lives of the people of Mhlosheni. -Erin
Also, here are some thoughts from Angela that just came in via Ruth's BB...
This will be a day we all will remember well. We will remember it in part because of the outstanding driving Bongenkosi did in order to get us places that were at the top of very muddy hills and out of some precarious driving moments. We will also remember it for the things we saw and learned. Today started out meeting the staff of Mhlosheni ADP. What an amazing amount of work they do! After sharing a wonderful worship service and hearing some very beautiful voices we visited a new Hope Center. The
Center, only a few weeks old, is serving 40 children from the community. We handed out flip flops, beanie babies, toy cars and sweets to a group of very little kids - between 1 and 5 years, and it was a real treat to see their smiles. Hope Centers really do provide hope, as they offer one assured meal, the beginning of a primary education and a place for the children of the community to gather safely.
Center, only a few weeks old, is serving 40 children from the community. We handed out flip flops, beanie babies, toy cars and sweets to a group of very little kids - between 1 and 5 years, and it was a real treat to see their smiles. Hope Centers really do provide hope, as they offer one assured meal, the beginning of a primary education and a place for the children of the community to gather safely.
We then travelled with one of the 60 or so Home Based Caregivers (HBC) to visit one of her 25 or so chronically ill patients. HBC's spend most of their day caring for the chronically ill in the community every day... on a volubteer basis. The HBC's were at times overwhelmed by the "mammoth task"
of caring for all their patients, but were also very hopeful. It was important for us to be with her so that we could learn about the realities they face daily in Mhlosheni. As we were in the home we also saw that it was important to the family members as they were encouraged by our arrival and comforted by the knowledge that there were real people with real compassion behind the support they receive. We learned that through compassion, generosity is activated and that through this generosity, the work of the Holy Spirit is done. Because of the compassion of a little church in Troutdale, the work of the Spirit is being done through World Vision in a little community in Mhloshen, Swaziland. -Angela
of caring for all their patients, but were also very hopeful. It was important for us to be with her so that we could learn about the realities they face daily in Mhlosheni. As we were in the home we also saw that it was important to the family members as they were encouraged by our arrival and comforted by the knowledge that there were real people with real compassion behind the support they receive. We learned that through compassion, generosity is activated and that through this generosity, the work of the Holy Spirit is done. Because of the compassion of a little church in Troutdale, the work of the Spirit is being done through World Vision in a little community in Mhloshen, Swaziland. -Angela
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