swaziland in the eyes of Abby Bender

In every location our squad travels, I’ve dec to pick one person from my team to highlight on my blog. For Swaziland, I picked the lovely Abby Bender. Abby has been such a rock for me in Swazi. Every Sunday we would walk to church together and discuss the things that the Lord was doing in our lives. She never fails to make me laugh and she’s always around to listen. Enjoy my good friend‘s perspective of Swaziland! 

Describe a typical day in Swaziland. 

Every morning I spend time with Jesus, journaling, listening to music, and reading my bible. I eat breakfast and get ready to leave for ministry at 10:30. When we get to the carepoint we hang out with our little kids who don’t go to school and spend time with Thuli. We wash hands and serve food the the kids at 12 and then we eat lunch – PB&J everyday. After lunch we keep playing with our kids. Around 2:30 the older kids come from school and we get to hang out and talk to them. Some days we do lessons with the kids but most days we just get to know them better. Our bus comes at 4 and we come back to the team house. At night we have dinner as a squad and then do team time. 

 

How has ministry been to you? 

Ministry was hard to get used to but now I love it. It’s easy to think that all we’re doing is playing with kids and it doesn’t mean anything but I’ve come to love and appreciate the time we have with them so much. We get to know their names and their stories and encourage them daily. We tell them to dream big and remind them that they’re loved and it’s been such a unique experience to watch them grow in just three months. I love that now we know all their names and what they like to do and they know our names. Going to Joyela everyday is something I’m definitely going to miss. 

 

What is the most challenging part of ministry? 

Getting to know the teenagers here is tough. It took a good few weeks for many of them to even tell us their names and how old they are. It can be tiring and frustrating when you ask someone a question and they hardly respond but since we kept pressing into those relationships, we now have some really sweet friendships with them. 

 

What has the Lord taught you through ministry in Swaziland/life in Swaziland? 

In Swaziland, the Lord has taught me how to depend on Him in all situations. When I’m going crazy at the carepoint and tired of being climbed all over, He brings me stillness and shows me Himself through our kids. When I’m bored sitting at the team house and I have no idea what to do, He shows the beauty in just sitting with Him and spending time resting in His presence. He is truly in every moment if you chose to look for Him and the more I look for Him, the more I find Him. 

 

What has been the best part about Swaziland? 

The best part of Swaziland has been watching everything come to life. When we got here, all the trees were dead and there wasn’t green in sight. Now everywhere you look there’s flowers and green grass and trees. I’ve also just seen the people around me come to life. So much growth has happened for me personally and for a lot of the people around me. This has been such a sweet season of growth for the physical earth around us, but the growth inside each of us has also been so special. I’m so thankful we got to grow with Swazi for our first three months. 

 

Share one of your favorite memories. 

One of my favorite memories is the last day we had at our carepoint and Angie fell asleep on me! Angie has been there everyday since the beginning but she doesn’t like to come near us and it’s rare that she even gives us a high five so I was shocked when we sat on my lap and then fell asleep on me our last day! Watching her slowly come out of her shell was so sweet.