Our Plans are not His Plans (for a Reason)

From the beginning of this trip I've been trying to figure out plans for Tenele to move out of Mangwaneni.  She was the first to approach me and tell me she wanted to leave.  After my initial surprise, I began going through all the options I could think of as to where Tenele could stay.  I began feeling a little discouraged but during one of my quiet times, I felt the Lord calling me to action -- now or never.  So I went to work on contacting people and coming up with my own plans for where to place Tenele and how  to do so safely.  I also wanted to make sure Tenele really wanted to leave, because it is going to be a hard transition out of that Mangwaneni life for her.

After no luck finding other places for her to stay or people for her to stay with, my brilliant plan was this: when our team leaves, Christina could stay in the volunteer house and Tenele could come live with here there!  Titi even agreed to help out and live with the two of them.  It could be a temporary "girls home" as we wait for the renovation of the other girls home to begin.  It was all so brilliant in my head until I proposed the idea to MYC.  Winile listened patiently at my idea and gently told me it wouldn't work because, among other reasons, the house is strictly for volunteers.  But she also offered advice of getting the MYC social welfare office involved with Tenele and doing a home visit to find out more information about her background and see if there are any relatives in the area she could stay with. As we left that meeting, Christina nonchalantly commented, "Well, our plans are not always God's plans."  She could not be more correct!

Fortunately, I've been able to spend immense amounts of time with umtfwana wami this trip!  In fact, we've even had two sleepovers!  During all this time with Tenele it is so evident that her baby girl has had a huge impact on Tenele's change of heart.  She loves her so much and baby MK (Lucia) loves her, too.  With all this time together I've been able to experience a side of Tenele that I have been praying for for three years now!  It is clear that the last step of Tenele's life change is to get her out of her living situation, out of Mangwaneni.  Tenele told me about her real mother and that she wants to meet me.  So I arranged with Alban, the MYC social worker, to do a home visit with Tenele.  He eagerly jumped at the opportunity to help and even took me to Mangwaneni to find Cedric so we could talk to him about moving Tenele.  Alban was very clear that it is important we get Cedric's "permission" otherwise it could turn in to a messy situation if Cedric wants to go looking for Tenele and the baby later.  I was so blessed by Alban's eagerness to help when it wasn't even his job.  The meeting with Cedric was wonderful.  He was very shy in front of Alban, but he agreed it would be good for Tenele to leave Mangwaneni.  We also invited him to join us for the home visit, but he kindly declined with a "maybe."

After we arranged for a specific day for the home visit, Tenele said her mother wasn't at home so we had to wait another day.  When this happened one more time, I started thinking this whole home visit ordeal was not going to work.  God is so good!  He lavished me with surprises this trip, and the home visit was the best one by far!  Finally, on Wednesday of this past week, Christina and I took Tenele to her home in Malindza (with the gracious MYC driver Mateo).  Her home is in the middle of nowhere, but the land surrounding it was beautiful.  Her mother greeted us with joyful smiles, as she couldn't speak or understand any English.  Luckily, her step-father was there, so we were able to translate through him.

Christina and I had never done a "home visit" before so we didn't know how in the world to even begin, but we had some paperwork with us, so we just went with it.  The step father, Moses, filled out the paper work as we visited with them and we learned more about Tenele's life.  They said Tenele is the youngest of the family and they sent her to live with her "aunite" (which was really just a friend of the mother's) because of poverty in the house.  Moses told us how they had an "agreement" with the auntie to raise Tenele and take her to school.  Moses then said, "But she didn't hold up her end of the agreement.  Tenele didn't have a good life."  I was shocked that he acknowledged that to our faces.  Then he proceeded to say that they tried to call Tenele back home but she refused because she was already living with Cedric at this point.  So through both sides of the story, I was able to piece together a lot more of Tenele's life:
In 2008, (shortly after I first met Tenele), a friend told her that the "mother" she was staying with was not her real mother.  Not wanting to endure the abuse anymore, Tenele left to find her real mother.  When she found her, however, the stepfather (Moses) didn't want Tenele, so they sent her away.  That's when she went to teh streets and lived as a prostitute for almost three years before she starting living with Cedric.  By that time, the parents had figured out what had happened to Tenele and had called her back home, but Tenele was already hurt by them and too far into prostitution and the live she lived that going back home wasn't an option.

After learning all of this, I still didn't think Tenele living back at home was an option.  But when I asked Moses repeatedly if there were any other relatives or friends or people we could trust to help Tenele find a place to live, he finally said, "Well, she can live here."

"What?" I asked him to repeat what he said, not thinking those words were possible.
"Yah, she can stay here with us."
"Really?"  I was quite shocked by his assured declaration, so I asked him if he was sure.  He began explaining as long as Tenele WANTED to come home and was going to leave the life with Cedric behind, she is welcome to come home.
I called Tenele back into the room so she could hear this.  We talked about it together and arranged plans for Tenele to move home.  The joy in Tenele's face is absolutely priceless!  Moses gave us his cell phone number and we gave him ours and told him we'd (well, not me, but Christina) would be doing home visits to ensure Tenele's still there and treated well, etc.  I also arranged with them that when Christina takes Tenele to move back home, I'd bring some food, soap, candles, diapers, etc. so that they wouldn't be so burdened with taking care of two more lives right away.  Her mother was beaming with a smile from ear to ear.  Tenele said she really liked Moses and was excited to come home.  Her older sister Bongiwe was there, too, and told Tenele in English, "Make sure you don't lie" about coming home.  But they all looked so happy to be together, it was just so amazing!

When I left Tenele's home, I walked with her am in arm, beaming with joy and love together.  Then Tenele looked up at me with a big smile and said, "Mama, you go home on Monday, and I go home on Tuesday."

 It was the FIRST time Tenele has mentioned my leaving without her crying!  How incredible!  It will also soothe my own pain of leaving her, knowing that she as I am going home, so is she!

God's plans are truly not our own for a reason...because His are PERFECT, but He is Perfect.  He is our Jehovah-raah, the Shepherd, who not only provides and cares for us, but gives to us in abundance!  There is no greater love, no greater plan than His.  And there's no greater picture than a sheep and the shepherd to sum up God's pursuit of Tenele.  As a sheep, she strayed away, but the Lord stopped at nothing to call her back to him.  Now he is scooping her up in his arms, rejoicing in her, and holding her eternally in his truth.

Yes, Jehovah-raah, I will always follow you!

You Can't Leave Me

The other day when Tenele was over, she came into the kitchen with me as I prepared some pologny (a Swazi meat) sandwhiches for the kids.  Out of nowhere she blurts, "Mama, you can't leave."

We had briefly talked about how soon I am leaving, that I only have a little time left here.  I told her not to think about it, but she clearly couldn't get it out of her mind.  "I have to..." I said back to her.  But she shook her head.

"You can't leave," she said again, and when I shook my head yes she repeated, "No...no, no..."
I stopped slicing the meat and looked up at her; she held up baby MK over her face so I couldn't see her.  When I walked over to her, tears were streaming down her cheeks.  She fell into my hug and starting bawling.  She cried so hard, she was shaking.  Soon her tears became my own, and I wasn't sure what wet spots on my shirt were from her tears or mine.  We cried in an embrace together before I tried to console her.  But how can you console someone at a time like that?  She walked outside with her baby and Christina caught me in the hallway.  After asking if I was okay, I couldn't respond.  When she hugged me, I cried harded on Christina's shoulder.  She just let me cry for awhile before I cleared up enough to join Tenele outside.  We sat on the steps for a long time, and without any words we shared an incredible moment of being able to cry together.  I've cried FOR Tenele many, many times, but I have rarely been able to cry WITH Tenele.  Though it was painful, it was a blessing when she laid her head on my lap we cried and prayed together.

Eish. My time here is so short.  My departure will be the most painful one yet. But the best thing about tears is that God catches them because he loves and heals broken hearts. Jehovah-rapha, the God who Heals, is already working to mend the pain of being apart.  I tried to ensure that Tenele knows that even though I am physically leaving, the love I have for her never will because it belongs to the Lord--it comes from the Lord, the one who will NEVER leave her.  I can rest asured knowing my daughter is in the best of hands, which of course, are NOT my own.

Gomer's Girls

During our first meeting with Fr. Larry about the girls home (see a separate blog entry about details on the girls home), we explained Hosea's Heart and where the name came from.  He commented that we should name the house Gomer's House (after the woman named Gomer, whom the Lord had instructed the prophet Hosea to marry).  Though we already have a name for the home (Litsemba Lemphilo, which means Hope for Life), the name Gomer stuck with me, so that's what I entitled another part of our ministry here in Swaziland: Gomer's Girls, other prostitutes living in Mangwaneni like Tenele.

After visiting Tenele numerous times these past few weeks, I started noticing the stares from other women around her in the squatter camp.  At this point, they are familiar with me, can call me by name, and know that I am there to help Tenele.  A handful of her friends also asked for help for different things last year, but none of them has approached me this year.  I started noticing them a lot more this year.  Usually, I'm not very fond of looking around while I walk through Mangwaneni because you don't want to make eye contact with the wrong people, but I suddenly had this awareness of the other women around Tenele who ache for the same thing I am offering her: a chance for hope.  I waited until what I felt was the right timing (for safety reasons for my other teammates--it's very important that their faces are seen and they are introduced to a lot of people at the care point before they venture into the squatter camp with me; it's not what you know, but WHO you know) before we ministered to other women in the squatter camp.  These young women will not be seen at the carepoint; they are like Tenele and like Gomer in the fact that you must pursue them in order to help them.  They don't want to be seen, although they ache to be noticed. They don't want to be helped, although they starve for hope.  They don't want to leave their lifestyle, though they yearn for the chance to get out.  These are the Gomer's girls, and they are beautiful.

Last week I took my teammates to see Tenele with the goal of finding some more prostitutes to take out to lunch at KFC in town with us.  I spoke to Tenele for awhile before I proposed the idea.  She wasn't sure what to think at first, but then when I asked her who else we could help, her eyes lit up as she talked about her friend Nomsa. Tenele said Nomsa had just given birth to a baby boy recently but didn't know who the father was because she was a prostitute.  So we went on a search for one girl, and we ended up leaving the camp with six!

Interestingly enough, Christina and I had prayed that morning about God leading us to the right girls and I had verbalized to Christina how perfect it would be if we found six girls, because that would create great one on one conversations for each of my teammates.  God most definitely delighted in the prayer and in our obedience to his prompting in pursuing these girls.  Our time with Gomer's Girls was richly rewarded with conversation, laughter, KFC, and love.  One of the most surprising parts was that Tenele was not jealous at all that I was "sharing" the love, so to speak. In previous years, she was very jealous of to whom I gave my attention and love; however, this time she was relishing in the fact that her friends were also being loved on as well.

On the walk back home I was talking to Nomsa when a bus drove by with a SiSwati title on the side.  She read it outloud in English: "Heaven is my Home."  I took the opportunity to ask, "Nomsa, is heaven your home?"
   "Yes, Mahdi-Kate," she answered.  Buhle, the sixteen year old girl walking in front of us laughed heartily at Nomsa's remark.
   "Unemanga!" Buhle called Nomsa a liar.
   "No, really," Nomsa answered back.  "I'm going to heaven."
   Buhle laughed again at her friend as Nomsa claimed she had just gotten saved recently.
   "I'm serious, the pastor is coming this weekend," Nomsa told Buhle.
   I turned my conversation towards Buhle and said, "What about you, sisi?"
   Buhle just shook her head.  "Ei, ei... I don't know..." she said and refocused her attention in the direction ahead. Nomsa took the opportunity to laugh at Buhle and agreed that Buhle wasn't going to go to heaven.  I prodded Buhle further and asked if she believed in God.  She didn't quite know how to respond, so Nomsa explained, "She was a Christian when she was younger...but not anymore."

"Why is that?" I asked Buhle.  I'm not sure why I immediately asked what I did next, but it just slipped out: "Are you angry at God?"

The question struck something deep inside Buhle.  She slowly and immediately (almost without thinking) nodded her head that yes she is angry at God.  When I looked over at her, her eyes were moist with tears.

We took the girls out again later in the week, but Buhle wasn't there.  They came over to our house and we had some great dances, laughs, and talks.  We ended the evening with Nomsa's demand to pray.  It was amazing.  She also asked us to get them to come to church with us on Sunday.  Oh how beautiful!  Sandi, another eighteen year old with us, made a comment to Lindsay that she was going to get beat by her "boyfriend" when they walked back because she ate dinner with us and wasn't at "home" to cook for him.  Eish!  Though it's sad hearing about their stories, it was a blessing to be able to love on them and offer them hope, too. 

When Sunday rolled around, our team split up for church so that we could get to both churches, one in Timbutini and one in Moneni.  I went to Timbutini and the girls who went to Moneni got to experience a true miracle! You can read their blogs about it to hear firsthand, but I'll tell you why it's so incredible from my end.  Tenele knew I was going to be in Timbutini for church and I gave her the choice to join me or to stay with her friends and go to church in Moneni.  She told me she'd go with my teammates to Moneni; I couldn't be more thrilled because I want Tenele to go to church because she truly wants to, not just to impress me or to spend more time with me.  So it was sort of a test to see if she was serious about claiming that she "changed" her life.  So while I was at Timbutini, my teammates showed up to Tenele's only with the disappointment of Tenele refusing to come, which made the Gomer girls also refuse to come.  My teammates left Mangwaneni with frustrated, disappointed spirits as we had been looking forward to this all week.  They prayed the whole way (they rode a kombi) to church that the girls would somehow get to church anyway (this church is a four hour service by the way).

During the first hour of church, the girls saw Tenele coming up the hill!  And soon behind her appeared the Gomer girls!  They "randomly" decided to go to church even though the kombi and the group had already left, so they WALKED all the way to church (and it's a long walk)!  The pastor felt so moved by the spirit that he switched his entire sermon and focused it on prostitution (he didn't know these girls were coming, by the way, or that they were prostitutes!).  He called them out on living in a life of sin but also took a very tender side of the issue by siding with the women by shaming the men.  As the girls told me later about all that this pastor said, I couldn't help but swell with joy knowing that finally more males are taking a stand for their women and trying to help these young women out of this lifestyle.  At one point during the service, the pastor did an altar call for prayer, for leaving the temptations, for protection, etc. and Tenele was the first to rise, leading the Gomer girls as they followed her leadership up to the pastor for prayer!  What a miracle!  And praise the Lord I wasn't there, because I know Tenele is doing this for her and not for any other reason.

Praise the Lord and keep the Gomer girls in your prayers.

Because I Love You

Eish! So much has happened, it's hard to know where to start!
Some highlights of this last packed week...

Ayanda's birthday!  Last year while I was here, I got to celebrate Pununu's, Johannes', and Tenele's birthdays but missed Ayanda's, so it was a blessing to be here with her to celebrate!  Hanna and Alex made pizza for dinner (which we ate without the kids because they didn't show up until three hours after the party was supposed to start...TIA).  But they enjoyed the cake, and we had a dance party, which was one of my highlights of the entire trip!  Tenele was even dancing and I swung baby MK around as we danced, too!  But the best dancer award goes to Pununu during "Shake baby shake!" OH MY GOODNESS can this kid DANCE! Seriously!  Why don't guys dance like this in America??

Another big event at the end of the week was Mlilwane Game Park!  So last the last time I took the kids to Mlilwane was when Tenele flipped out into one of her mood swings, deserted us at the game park, and attempted to walk all the way home.  Well this time was quite the opposite!  This day was by far my favorite day in Swaziland this trip!  My Swazi friends Marcia and Ncobile kindly drove us to the park and celebrated the day with us, though they refused to step foot near the freezing cold pool!  But the rest of us jumped in...even if it took me awhile...I actually wasn't planning on getting in.  I figured I'd been there several times, there's no need to go swimming.  Tenele tried convincing me but I still refused until she hugged me and said, "Please, Mama?"  Eish, how can you deny that?!  So I worked my way in and came up squealing from the freezing water.  Worth it?  To make Tenele-Bell smile, fo sho!

It was amazing watching Tenele with her baby but also seeing Tenele be a girl.  She's 17 years old now, but she never really experience childhood as we know of it...so it was precious seeing the childlike joy on her face all day long.  Her tenderness is something I've haven't seen since I met her four years ago!  Praise the Lord!  Also, it was wonderful seeing her interact with Marcia and Ncobile; Tenele has a bitterness towards her own adults, and acted with disrespect (culturally) a lot before, but she was very kind and respectful to Marcia and Ncobile and they could immediately identify the beautiful change taking place in Tenele's heart.

On Sunday, we walked to Mangwaneni to pick up Tenele for church (because she requested that we come for her) but she refused to come.  She was cooking for some people at a little shop in Mangwaneni so she couldn't go, but I knew something else was up.  She walked around with us to gather the other kids, but then refused to join.  Even Cedric tried convincing her to come, but when she said no, he turned to me and said, "Eish, sorry Mary-Kate she doesn't want to go. Sorry."  I'm really starting to love Cedric more and more, too.  He has a sad story from his childhood, too, and the more I interact with him, the more my heart breaks for him, too.  Before we left, Tenele told her friend to explain that she was too embarrassed to go to church because she didn't have any church clothes.  She had borrowed some from Ayanda before but doesn't have any of her own.  When I looked over at Tenele, tears were coming down her face as she tried hiding behind her baby.

It was so hard walking away knowing Tenele was hurting, but still not really understanding exactly what was going on with her.  I told Lindsay on the walk back that God put his heart in my heart for Tenele so when she cries I cry, when she's sad, I'm sad; I can't control it, but my heart was just so heavy knowing hers was too.
But the next day I got a phone call from an eager Tenele who told me she left the shop.
"Mama, I'm leaving," she said.
"What? Leaving what?"
"I'm leaving the shop so when you come I am available," she explained.
Then it hit me that part of the reason Tenele was upset and crying was because she really wanted to come with but couldn't because she was working at the shop, so she told me she wants to stop so that she can be with me every time I come for her.   "Because I love you," she said. 

How many times have I said that to her? It was amazing to hear it back after all this time away.  It was amazing to know that Tenele was going to sacrifice her chance at earning some money because she "loves me" and thinks time with me is more important than money.  Wow.

And isn't that what the Lord says to us again and again?  "Because I love you..." 

Living in a Miracle

The general theme of my last year here with Tenele was "one step forward, two steps back" so I naturally expected to see that again this trip.  I knew the initial joyous meetings with Tenele would soon turn into sad ones as she was bound to retreat as in the year before.  Every time I walk down the squatter camp to find Tenele, my stomach knots up because I'm sometimes afraid to see her because I don't want to see her drunk or high or smoking, etc. like the many times that happened last year; most of all, I didn't want to see her run away from me anymore, because it always hurt more than I pretended it didn't.  So, last week when Tenele would tell me she would come to the house to visit, I smiled, knowing deep inside she really wouldn't show up, knowing all too well that she doesn't follow through with her word.

Wow, was I in for a surprise!  One step forward, two steps back?  No way!  This is like a LEAP I've seen in her for these past couple weeks.  It's so incredible, I hardly know how to put it into words.  I feel like I'm living in a miracle here.  Tenele follwed through on her word EVERY time except once, and she's proving that her words are no longer empty promises.  I've gone to see her a good number of times already and it was actually really great to see Cedric, too.  He seems like he is genuinely trying to provide for Tenele and the baby.  The situation is not good, of course, as he still beats her, he still gets drunk, and one time when I went to see Tenele, he was sitting outside their hut with a group of guys smoking weed.  Obviously, this is not a good environment for anyone, but I don't want this to disprove a small change I've seen in Cedric, too.

In order to empower Tenele who had voiced her need for laundry soap and diapers, my teammates and I decided to have Tenele over to wash/teach us to wash our clothes.  She showed up (ON TIME) for laundry day with a smile on her face and her baby on her back.  She was so happy "teaching" us how to wash our clothes, and she was a very hard worker herself.  She laughed at me several times as I scrubbed some clothes.  After giggling at my apparently not so great washing skills she came over, took the soap from me and said, "Like this, Mama," and continued scrubbing.  We paid Tenele for her teaching and working session, and she was so joyful.

I brought over a bunch of donated baby clothes, basically an ENTIRE suitcase full!  So Tenele also came over another time to do some "shopping" through the suitcase and pick out clothes for baby MK.  She was so precious going through the clothes.  Her eyes lit up at every little piece of used or new clothing.  And baby MK looks so gorgeous in all of them.  It's actually so wonderful seeing baby MK in all of these clothes as the trip goes on.  :)

Though Tenele isn't completely changed, she is a living miracle nonetheless.  She has voiced her desire to leave Cedric, to find a job so she can move out and pay for a place on her own for her and her baby.  Her life is not necessarily better, but her heart definitely is!  Tenele went to Timbutini church with us last Sunday, so that was so wonderful, too!  In one sense, I wish I could stay here and take Tenele and the baby in with me.  But I know it's not what I'm called to do.  It's an "easy" fix in my mind, but as Christina likes to say, "Our plans are not always God's plans."  How true that is, and how true that has been on this trip.  I have lots of plans and ideas for Tenele and for the girls home and for our work here, but God has better ideas.  I may have to wait for them, which is hard, but I know His plans are perfect.  God keeps reminding me this trip to not just PUT my trust in Him, but KEEP my trust in Him.

So KEEP my trust in Him I will. Afterall, how can I NOT when He is allowing me to live in his miracle.  There is no greater gift I've ever had in my entire life than this ability to experience His miracles in progress.
So as the simple yet powerful prayer goes,
Here I am, Lord; use me!

I Am Who I Am

For our evening devotions, we have been going through a book called, "Lord, I Want to Know You."  It goes through all the names of God and how his characters are revealed in Scripture.  It's been very engaging and empowering for us to learn to know our God more intimately.  In light of the study, here's poem that I've compiled for a few of his names.

I Am Who I Am (Jehovah)
I AM El Roi -- The God Who Sees
Where you see darkness and dirt
I see desire and desperation.
Where you see poverty and rags,
I see humility and healing.
Where you see brokenness and tears,
I see beauty and restoration.
I AM the God Who Sees.

I AM El Shaddai -- The All-Sufficient One
When you feel lonely and forgotten
My love revives you.
When you cry out in bitterness
My grace covers over you.
When you feel used and dried up
My waters flow freely to you.
I AM the All-Sufficient One.

I Am Elohim -- your Creator
Where you think you're ugly
I make only perfection
Where you think you're a mistake
I form only a masterpiece.
Where you doubt your worth
I hold a treasure.
I AM your Creator.

I AM El Elyon-- God Most High
When you fall short
Fall on me.
When you stand tall
stand on me.
When you finally break
Break for me.
I AM God Most High

I Am Adonai -- your Master
Where you're bound by fleshly pleasure
I break your chains.
Where you seek fulfillment elsewhere
I serve you.
Where you're trapped in lies
I set you free.
I Am your Master.

I see you when you don't see me.
I am enough for you even when you doubt me.
I've created your beauty though you fail to see
You hold onto your chains though I've set you free.
When will you believe?
I AM.

Tears of Change

After first meeting Tenele, she insisted that I meet this friend of hers who had taken her to church a few weeks back.  A man named Sandile, excitedly came over to talk with me about Tenele, so Tenele left the two of us alone to chat.  Sandile was amazed at what Tenele had told him about me, and I was amazed at everything Tenele told him about me!  Apparently, she left no little detail out; for example, Sandile told me he was so moved that I had cried for Tenele.  She had told him a specific instance when I had cried finding her drunk and high.  I was shocked that Tenele had told him all of this, because I hadn't cried in front of Tenele in those moments.  But I do remember the exact day when I told Tenele how much I do hurt over her life and I talked and talked and talked at her, sharing my heart, my pain, my tears in trying to help her.  It was towards the end of my nine months over a year ago when I had taken her and some other kids to Mlilwane Game Park for a day of fun.  She had gotten into one of her "moods" and basically ran away from us at the game park.  She claimed she was going to walk home (which was about a 30 minute DRIVE) and refused to get in the car with us.  So, I got out of the car, handed the keys to another volunteer and told her to drive ahead and then wait for us.  I walked with Tenele side by side but she was so unresponsive.  I had told her we weren't leaving her behind, so if she didn't get in the car then I would walk with her.  She still refused to talk to me, so this is when I talked "at" her, and shared the frustration of my last 8 months trying to help her and how I cried seeing her drunk and high and not wanting to change.  She remained quiet the whole time I talked so I had no idea if she even understood my English or what I was telling her.  I wasn't even sure if it was the right thing to share how frustrated I was with her; but apparently it was, because over a year later, she told that to this man, Sandile!  It was an example of how God can use absolutely anything as a seed of change!

So Sandile told me how he has been "preaching" to Tenele and encouraging her to change her life. He took her to church a few weeks ago!  And he wanted me to join them for church so he could bless me.  How amazing!  God is so incredible.  Not only had I prayed for Tenele but for others to help her change as well.  She couldn't change on her own, so it was amazing to hear about another Swazi with a heart for God who loved Tenele enough to want her to change. 

So my teammates and I went to church that weekend together with Sandile, Tenele, Temu, Londi, and baby M-K!  It ended up being a FOUR hour long service, but it didn't feel like it!  It was so spirit filled and amazing being able to worship with Tenele next to me and baby M-K with us, too!  At the end of the service Tenele wanted the pastor to pray for her, but it was taking too long so we went home to Mangwaneni.  I asked her if she'd let us (as a team) pray over her and she nodded anxiously!  So we put our hands on her and prayed Swazi style, (all of us outloud at once).  When we finished, she had tears streaming down her cheeks.  She pulled away from the group and wouldn't face us.  I gently put my arms around her and she turned to me and buried her crying eyes on the crook of my neck.  I didn't know why she was crying but I could sense they were good tears.  Tears of change.  She let herself cry in front of us all, and it was so beautiful!  

I am amazed.  I am amazed to my teammates and how every single one of them has welcomed and loved Tenele with open arms.  Usually it takes Tenele a long time to talk to and trust anyone, but she trusts my teammates and it's incredible!  Ah, the Lord is faithful!  He is active and loving!  I am so so so so so so so humbled to be a part of his work in Tenele's heart. I cannot WAIT to see all the more he will do!

Continue to pray for her and us.  We praise God for His faithfulness and FREEDOM!

Praise God for tears of change!