Within only minutes of arriving at our new residence in Swaziland, an orphan carepoint called Thembini, we all received Seswati names. Chris received Jabulani, meaning "happy man" and I received Nouhlanhla (noo-shlan-shla), meaning "lucky or prosperous". It's amazing how the names really match our personalites. All week we were called these names, both in fun by the team and legitimately by the Mages. Sometimes we responded and sometimes we had no clue who was being called. Nonetheless, it was great to embrace the Swazi culture and introduce ourselves with our new Seswati names, even though most locals laughed at us when we pronounced our new names.

Overall our outreach to Swaziland was amazing. We learned so much about the culture, had many opportunities to minister, and gained many new experineces.

Christina has decided that when we do have babies, strollers are both too expensive and bulky. She prefers the African way of carrying babies!

Chris has decided that boneless, skinless chicken breasts grilled on the BBQ aren't quite as good as home slaughtered chicken served over the fire! He was so excited that he decapatated the chicken himself!

We've also both decided that after 2 weeks of living with no electricity, reading by candlelight, taking bucket showers, washing dishes by hand, and having no concept of time, life is really much more simple. We've bought our own rondavle made of grass and straw and will live the true Africa life from now on.

Well, that's obviously a joke. If you know Chris at all, you know he needs his hot running water and internet to check ESPN. We both have come to appreciate the smallest things such as a lightswitch and clean toilets. We know that a very small percentage of the world has these blessings, so it's an honor to live in such abundance as we do.

It was an amazing experience to live as the Swazi's do in their country for 2 weeks. Although I'm forever grateful to be back "home" to the coast of Jeffrey's Bay, I would never trade my experience in Swaziland. Thank you for all your prayers! Here are a few more pictures.

This is GoGo Khumale! (Gogo means grandmother) She is a local woman who helped us with all the cooking and cleaning. She is married to the elder of the community.

These are some of the orphans who come to the carepoint everyday. They come to eat 2 meals a day and to get some extra TLC from the ladies who work there. It is a special treat when a team of Americans come. They get LOTS of love!

These are some of the kids when we gave them some balloons after our VBS lesson.

These are the Magaes, which means mother in Seswati. They all work on the carepoint helping the kids, cooking,

cleaning, teaching school, and hosting teams like us. From left to right is Xhobela (No-bee-lay), Gogo Khumale,

Kondisela, and Christina. Which one of these is not like the rest?