The last few weeks have been busy for the Best’s. It seems like every second day I say to Matt, “I need to put this (or that) on our blog,” but it’s only now that I’ve had the chance. So, there’s a little bit of catching up…
Discipleship Under the Lapa
The World Race teams have been travelling through Swaziland/South Africa/Mozambique for the past three months, and it’s been a blessing to be able to sit in on their teachings and discipleship. For two weeks we gathered in the mornings under the Lapa (an african, thatched roof gazebo thing). It has been crazy to see the Holy Spirit move in our lives as well as the students here. We have learned so much…hopefully in the next few days we’ll be able to share some of what the Lord’s teaching us with you!!!
Our Mozambiquan Adventure
Our Mozambiquan visa expired on March 20th. Since being in Swaziland we’ve planned so many trips to Mozambique that have fallen through. Since we had the visa, we decided we must go!!! So, a couple of weeks ago we were dropped off at the Mozambiquan bus stop at 6am to catch a public transport combie (15 passenger van). We weren’t taking into consideration that the previous morning there had been a public transport strike and riots in the city, halting all transport, and scaring off a few Swazi’s (don’t worry, everything is fine). Therefore, no one wanted to go to Mozambique that day and the combies don’t leave until they are filled up. We sat for 4 hours at the bus stop waiting for the combie to leave. We finally made it into Mozambique at 1:30pm, and were informed that the last combie leaves for Swaziland at 3pm. Needless to say, we went to Maputo for lunch (we found a great sea food restaurant for prawns and calamari) and hopped right back on a combie to come home. It was a lot of travelling, but a fun adventure that we shared together!!!
Baptism Saturday
Two of the students living next door to us were baptized at Mantenga Falls on Easter Saturday. It is definitely the coolest place to be baptized (in the eyes of a photographer that is!!). Matt helped baptize Marcus, who asked to be held under the water for 30 seconds while the guys poured out prophesies and prayers over him. He said that despite the fact that he was underwater, he could hear their prayers clearly and word-for-word…so cool!!!
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday proved to be a busy day for us.
Our friends Andile and Moshoeshoe (see previous blog) have just built their first house on their own homestead…we are very excited that they finally have a place of their own!!! Their house dedication fell on Easter Sunday and Matt was asked to preach at it. It was a great opportunity to share the gospel and challenge a group of Swazi’s (especially since they weren’t at the Easter services). This is the only time he’s ever spoken to Swazi’s where they were interested and commented on it later. However, only a few hours later, they were celebrating with a cask of a home-brewed alcoholic drink. Please pray for the hearts of Swazi’s, that it won’t just go in one ear and out the other, but it will be received and lived out!!!
I (Naomi) was only able to stop by the house dedication for a few minutes as I had been asked to take photos at another service in the south of Swaziland, Nsoko. A group of people with G42, one of AIM’s sister organizations, believe that the Lord is building up a remnent of Swazi’s that will lead this country to Christ…that remnent is in Nsoko. On Easter Sunday G42 ordained Pastor Gift as their first pastor, with their first church plant in Nsoko. It was a great day despite the fact that it rained all morning and we had to walk through 6 inch deep mud to get to the tent. Everyone was decked out in their Sunday best, and looked great from their ankles up!!! Many people even went bare foot!!!
A Long Awaited Visitor Arrives
Alisha, one of my best friends from Cape Breton Island, arrived in Swaziland on Wednesday. We are so excited to have her visiting, show her around Swaziland and introduce her to our friends here!! We took her to a snake farm on Thursday where we all held an albino boa constrictor. I was very proud of myself as I’ve been to the snake farm twice before and never had the guts to actually hold the snake!!!
I’m sorry this message was quite long, but hopefully a good catch-up with what’s going on in Swaziland. We now only have a few weeks left in Swaziland before we have to travel to Johannesburg, South Africa to apply for Indian visas. In only a month we’ll be heading to India to prepare for our team this summer!!!
Keep checking out our blog in the next few days, as Matt has some exciting Swazi news and photos that he’ll be posting!!!
