Swaziland Update! - March 27, 2023 (Baylee)

 Hello everyone, I pray this letter finds you well! Thank you for taking the time to read this and see what the Lord has been doing! 

MINISTRY UPDATES: 

Our ministry here in Swaziland (also known as Eswatini) has been my favorite ministry of the entire Race so far! Adventures in Missions has established 34 sites throughout the mountains of Swaziland called Care Points. These are similar to an after school program, and we essentially get to play with kids, cook meals, teach Bible

stories, sing worship songs, and sew clothing for the children at each Care Point. Swaziland has the highest HIV rate in Africa, and because of this, the majority of children here live without parents, as many pass by the age of 55. The children at the Care Points are so kind and just desire to be loved, as most of them don’t even have parents at home to hold them. They’ve slowly warmed up to our presence, and the kids who were once timid to even hold our hands are now so eager to play and fall asleep in our arms every day. It’s been beautiful to see the heart of Christ come alive in the lives of the kids here. We know that God is love (1 John 4:7-12), and that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17), so if we love one another, we will see freedom! 

PERSONAL GROWTH:

Before leaving for Swaziland, I was asking the Lord for some vision regarding the last few months of the World Race. He spoke that these would be the sweetest months of this journey so far, and that has rung true in so many ways in just a few weeks! Lately, the Lord has been renewing my awe in being His temple. John 14:23 has been heavy on my heart lately: “Jesus answered him, ‘if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’”. We are the home of the Living God! In much of the first half of John, Jesus is confronting the disciples and the Jews about not believing Him. He has been prompting me to think about the same thing He posed to the woman at the well in John 4: “Jesus answered her, ‘if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water’”. If we truly understood the weight of who it is that lives inside of us, would we pray dull prayers? Would we remain complacent in our walk with or without Him? Would we continue to fill ourselves with the world, losing appetite for His presence? In realizing this, I’ve been able to walk in deeper repentance and awe of the Lord; it’s been beautiful. If you want to know more of where my heart is, I invite you to read these scriptures:

- Hebrews 11 & 12

- 2 Samuel 7

- Luke 12:32

- John 1:37

- Deuteronomy 6

- Revelation 21

EXCITING UPDATES:

This past December, the Lord put Ukraine on my heart. I’ve been praying about going to do refugee care and food distribution alongside people based there, and the Lord has led me to say “yes” for going for 3 weeks in July. The Lord is doing a mighty work there, and I am so excited to see what He will do in and through myself as well as two of my friends who will be going with me! The hope of the gospel must be brought to hopeless places, and I am honored that the Lord would choose me to carry His love to those who desperately need Him! Philippians 3:7-11 describes my heart posture in this well:

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

PRAYER REQUESTS

-Please pray for our team’s continued safety, health, and the ability to reach more and more people for Christ! 

-Pray for continued direction for my next steps and what the Lord is calling me to walk out in my life. 

The gospel is urgent. The hour of Jesus’ return is ever nearing, let’s set our sights on things above. I love you all so very much, please feel free to send your prayer requests my way, either through WhatsApp or my mom. Either way,  it’s a joy to pray for you! 

All my love,

Baylee