davegross - Stories from the Field

Saying Goodbye To Swaziland

Coming here has been an adventure full of challenges, triumphs, and my growth as a man of God. I have been lead in ways I wouldn't have dreamed. It started out as quiet fieldwork in the garden, but 'seeds' have been planted on this farm that heaven will soon be rejoicing over as they break the soil.The excitement and mysteriousness of the future is mixing with the joy and fruit that make me want to stay here forever.

Wrapping Up, Building Up

I was assigned "back door duty" at the community youth club. Fortunately, it's near the ping-pong table where two younger girls and one lad were playing.

Whenever the ball came near where I was sitting, I made a humorous show of returning it to them. Well, an hour or so later the four of us were still there and still laughing.

There's a good chance they don't have great home lives, so it's always a good thing when I see and hear laughter.

Limeh, Love, Lesogho

Lesogho and Limeh are 17 month old twin girls. They are so skinny that you can see their bones.Limeh has a gash on the right leg that has been infected for so too long that its become a breeding ground for disease that threatens to take over her entire body.Their mother is 18, and has neglected their basic needs. As I waved away the flies that settled on the twins' deep brown skin, they looked up at me with their deep set eyes, in which I saw little else except exhaustion.

One Last Time

At the Mbabane hospital, there was a 13 month old girl named Fezeka that I had prayed over. I saw her again, and she was doing worse. It wasn't until I held her that I knew she was dying. I felt as though she may not make it through the day, and through the tears of her mother and words of the nurse, my belief seemed to be affirmed. I knew that the only way she would survive was for God to heal her.

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