What are ya'll gonna do there?

That's a common question, and a valid one for sure!

When Alli and I talked through how God had placed such strong desires in our hearts to somehow help those serving full-time in their work in Swaziland, it seemed clear to us what He is leading us to do. Once we shared that with Amy, she agreed and strongly encouraged us to come.

Our calling:

First, we have been clearly led to visit our friends who serve as missionaries in Manzini and to offer encouragement to them. They give so much of themselves away on a daily basis. We hope that we can pour back into them since they are constantly giving. Hopefully the days we are there will offer some refreshment and renewal for their spirits. Then, with the people of Swaziland - we will visit children and adults in several environments. We want to hear their stories, and learn more of their needs and hopes. Then when we return home and share those with our faith family, we will hopefully be able to convey how greatly we can impact a community if we commit together to support and give to them. This will be our first trip, but hopefully not our last. We want to build relationship with a community and help them long-term.

Our roles:

Allison is a gifted photographer. She captures such feeling in the faces she photographs. Her gentle, warm spirit endears her quickly to her subjects, and that enables her to really get physically close to them, and to emotionally connect with them. I have been honored to have her photograph my family many times over the years and treasure the expressions and memories she has caught. I can hardly wait to see how the people of Swaziland respond to her and how God will use her talent to share the faces of those we will fall in love with there.

As for me, well...I am the wordy girl. Obviously, I'm doing the majority of the blogging, and I enjoy doing so. I don't claim to be a gifted writer, but know that I am willing and that God knows my heart is to accurately convey His love for people on another continent; people who are lost, hurting, and in great physical and spiritual need. I am honored to have the opportunity to be part of such a journey with people I admire greatly.

Our goal:

We honestly want to share God on this trip. It is that simple. 

There are a few ways we will do that. Whether it is the process of getting our passports, to asking others to financially support us (which is diff-i-cult), to gathering items to take to Swaziland as gifts, and flying across the ocean -- all of this preparation offers us tons of opportunities to explain the situation in Swaziland to complete strangers. What a wonderful avenue to talk more about God's work!

Then, once we are there, we want to continue sharing, but this time to folks who already know Him. Our sweet missionary friends need encouragement so we will do as much of that as we can pack in a week. Beyond the families we already know, we will meet children who usually have no parents, and many women who are caring for multiple children and living in tiny one-room homes. We will share how we loved them and had yet to meet them, how God moved us out of our comfortable lives to come meet them face-to-face. We will learn their stories, capture their faces on camera, and come home to share them with you!