Off to Eswatini!

hey everyone!

i’m finally done with training camp and officially leaving the states—off to eswatini! 🇸🇿✈️

it’s been such a busy week! i’m currently writing this from the airport in turkey during a 17-hour layover. it’s day two of our three-day travel journey. yesterday, we flew from atlanta to turkey, and tonight we’ll head out again—flying to johannesburg, south africa. from there, we have about six hours of bus rides before we finally reach our host homes in eswatini. woohoo!

while we’re in eswatini, our squad will be split up by guys and girls into two different towns. the guys will be in manzini, and the girls will be in nsoko. we’ll be there for about two months before heading to our next country, Malaysia, in early December.

In eswatini, we’ll be doing a mix of different ministry work, but our main focus will be serving at care points. eswatini has one of the highest rates of aids/hiv in the world, and the lives of so many families have been deeply affected by it. many of the kids there are orphans or are cared for by older siblings. the purpose of these care points is to give the kids a place to rest, to be loved on, to receive what might be their only meal of the day, and to hear and feel the love of the gospel.

It’s heartbreaking to think about the difficult lives these children face—but i am so full of joy to be able to love on each one of them. so full of joy to share the gospel. so full of joy to bring them hope. and i’m also full of joy to see how God will grow me in these next two months.

this past week, i’ve been walking through lamentations 3:19–24, and it’s been so close to my heart. it’s filled me with peace and comfort. i love how the author moves from deep sorrow to fixing his eyes completely on Christ—the only true source of hope.

nothing makes a christian more dangerous than when they feel all hope has vanished, ask why they’ve been forsaken, and still choose to obey. that’s exactly what the author does—and exactly what we’re called to do.

the suffering in lamentations comes from the people’s rebellion against God. and just like them, when we find ourselves in situations of our own making, God remains faithful. He invites us to come to Him in faith and repentance—and He delivers us, even from our own messes. coming to Him in brokenness is an act of faith.

then in verse 21, the author says, “therefore I have hope.” what a beautiful example of preaching the gospel to ourselves—shifting from grief to truth. he reminds his weary soul of who God truly is: faithful.

in verse 22, he mentions the Lord’s “steadfast love.” the hebrew word for this is khesed, which translates to covenant mercy. this word beautifully ties together God’s love and faithfulness, rooted in His covenant with us. it reminds us that, despite our sin and unfaithfulness, judgment is not final—because He is faithful. His love and reliability don’t depend on us; they depend on Him alone.

and finally, verses 23–24 tie it all together: His mercies are new every morning, and He is our portion. what a comforting truth to rest in. His mercies are new, His grace is perfectly measured for what we need today. He sustains us minute by minute, in every situation. Great is His faithfulness.

lamentations 3 shows us how to pray in the midst of despair—how to come to God in faith and obedience even when we feel spiritually drained. i’ll be holding on to that truth every day over the next two months, and i encourage you to do the same. what joy we have knowing the Lord cares for us every minute of every day—and that He is our portion. our perfect portion.

wifi will be pretty different in africa, so i’m not sure how often i’ll be able to blog over the next couple of months. please be praying for our squad as we split up—that we would grow closer to each other, grow deeper in the Lord, and grow in faith and boldness. pray that we’d lament to the Lord, come to Him in all things, and reflect on His steadfast love. pray for safety and provision, and that He would prepare the hearts of the people we’ll meet—that people would be saved and healed.

thank you all so much for your love, support, and prayers. i love you all deeply!

p.s. if you’d like to try and reach me, message me on whatsapp!