I thought that I would share with you a few of this weeks featured blogs from the field.  They all happen to be trips from our department and participants that we helped to send out.  If you have a few moments, they are worth reading and seeing how God worked in kids lives this summer, not only those we sent out but those we ministered too.  This is only a taste of all the trips we sent out this summer.  Praise the Lord for how He works.

We pitched our tents next to a Muslim mosque and across the street from a primary school in Zimuala, allowing ourselves to be in the center of the community there. Each morning of the school week, we walked over to the school, in order to conduct a program for the children. Doing this allowed my teammates and I to learn the names of all the kids there, as well as play with them, sing songs with them, and even sometimes feed and bathe them. In the afternoons, we were challenged to go out into the community and find people to spend time with. Ashley, Amie, and I ventured across the street and met a beautiful family, with which we spend every afternoon in our three weeks there. Ben eventually joined us, and this family quickly became the most incredible aspect of our ministry in Zimuala. Read more...

God has blown me away. I came into this trip planning on pouring out God's love to others, not  expecting anything in return. God, in all His power, has shown me that He is so much more than I can fathom. He has taken anything and everything I expected or didn't expect and showed me that He has his own plans and ways of doing things. A verse that He has placed on my heart while I've been here is Isaiah 55:8-9 - "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts." I have felt loved and accepted by so many Swazi's but one girl in particular has been a God-send in showing me how much He truly loves me. Her name is Sphilile. She is only 13 years old, yet she has had more trials and suffering in her life than I want to even think about having in all of mine.Read more...