2017 - The Trip in Photos

10 years in Swaziland

Celebrating a decade in Swaziland would not be possible without the hard work and vision of our Country Directors and all of our field staff! This week on HopeChest Insights, we are celebrating 10 years in Swaziland with a blog written by Scott Borg, Senior Manager Swaziland Ministries Adventures in Missions. He describes the monumental amount of hard work and vision that has gone into Swaziland partnership, and the progress and faithfulness of God that we can look back on.

Also featured, are the reflections of Matt Gerber, the Country Director in Swaziland, and his wife Kriek. They share their thoughts on the amazing work that God has done through the ministry in Swaziland over the last 10 years.

"How do we capture all the laughter, the joys and the tears? How do we share about all the lives (in Swaziland AND in America) that have been changed? How do we write about the friendships we have made? The family we have become? How do we testify about God’s faithfulness and goodness and provision?"

You can read the whole article here. Thank you for your part in this work!!

T-shirt fundraiser by Sojourning Souls

Check out this fantastic shirt, available in many colors! It was designed just for our ministry, and proceeds benefit the work at Lesibovu.
   

I will also make you a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

 Click here to see more:
https://www.sojourningsouls.org/pages/donatetc33-get2give

Update #3: One month to go!

Dear friends of Lesibovu, 

 

We are so excited that God has provided enough funds and this time next month, we will be on our way to Swaziland! We have some wonderful praises to share: 

 

- Our airfare has been purchased, so we know when we will be traveling, and have our itinerary set. Having plane tickets bought is a HUGE relief. Funds given and support raised over the last two years is finally being put to use. What a blessing!

- A nice bonus is that we don't have to travel to Atlanta to depart from there like we normally do. We are so thankful to be able to fly out from Birmingham, and due to generous gifts from family, are able to stop by on the way home from Africa for a two day visit with our former exchange student, Julia, in Germany! We get to spend Abigail's 15th birthday with both of our girls, and that is such a sweet gift for us all. We are counting down days to Africa, and then will be counting down till we see the Schraders!

 

Requests:

- Our team is made up of about a dozen folks from California, Colorado and Alabama, so we would love prayer for us to connect well, and function cohesively as a team to love on the folks at Lesibovu, and the staff in Swaziland. We want to be of the most use possible in the time that we have, with a focus on giving the best of our time and energy. We would love prayer for our minds to be focused on following whatever Jesus wills, and no personal agenda, during the entire trip.

- Our three boys are still going to be here at home, and we need peace about leaving them, and we need caregivers to help share the load while we are gone. We'd love prayer for them and for us as we work on arranging who they'll stay with while we are gone.

- Besides the large playground that we will build, another important project is the sewing machines that will be brought to women at Lesibovu. We will work on training them with sewing skills so they can create items to sell and earn income for their families. Please pray that these investments will bring a great return of joy and hope, and will benefit the community for years to come.

- Funds are due in less than two weeks, so if you haven't given, but desire to, then please do so now. The money that we still need are to help us with travel in country, and to cover lodging and meals. You can give here or mail a check as well, so if you need that address, just let me know. We deeply appreciate how God has used some of you already to help us travel to Lesibovu again!

 

I'll update you all again soon as we finalize prayer requests for our time in Swaziland. Thank you for your support and encouragement!

Our Lesibovu logo

The story behind a FB profile photo and our logo:

Once upon a time in 2012, Allison Shirley and I were heading to Swaziland for the first time. During a brief layover in Atlanta, we met a young lady who was flying back to South Africa as well. We chatted a bit and became FB friends. A year or so later, after I approached her about using her graphic design training to consider creating a logo for our new official partnership and connection with the Lesibovu CarePoint. Happily, she agreed and created this beautiful image that perfectly depicts the mountainous scenery, children sitting together under a tree like are so often seen at Lesibovu, and symbols for items so needed in this community of Bible, community and water.

This logo, designed by Kyla Trammell​, also signifies the important focus of Children's HopeChest and Adventures in Missions' partnership to feed, counsel, and work to improve the quality of life for those in the community of Lesibovu through meeting basic needs, providing encouragement and Biblical teaching in a safe location, and teaching sustainable skills to impact the future of this beautiful area.

I'm so thankful our paths crossed when they did, Kyla Trammell, and forever appreciate your talent! 

Back to Swaziland We Go!

Dear friends, 

 

We are excited about our trip next month to return to Swaziland, Africa on a short term mission trip to Lesibovu, the CarePoint we've had a relationship with now for nearly five years. Here are some questions answered that you may have about the upcoming trip: Who is on the team? We will be serving with Kids Around the World, a great organization whose mission "is to impact the lives of kids with God’s transforming hope. We engage children across the globe through the simple strategy of ‘Play. Feed. Train.’, restoring opportunity to war-ravaged and poverty-stricken communities. Households discover the freedom of enough food, joyful thriving children, and the life-altering power of the gospel." 

 

How long will we be there? Our goal is to arrive in Johannesburg on May 24 and leave on June 4. We will see some sites, visit with local missionaries, and spend the majority of our time with the children at the CarePoint, and in home visits. What are we going to do? We will build an enormous, sturdy playground to give the children of that community a safe place to play for years to come. A million meals have already been delivered to the country of Swaziland and more are on the way. Training of local leaders will also be done in the art of story telling and sharing of God's Word in a practical, simple way. This wise method will change generations of people without any need for materials or even those outside their community since leaders will be able to train more leaders, and the Bible will be able to be shared continually. 

 

How can I get involved? We would love for your prayers as we prepare to go. That preparation includes many things like fundraising, spiritually focusing on the ultimate ministry goals, packing, having our boys cared for while we are away, asking neighbors to feed pets, and mentally getting ready for about 30 or more hours of travel each way. Africa is so far away!! If you are led to give financially, we would greatly appreciate a gift of any amount! We need to purchase airline tickets this week and are excited to be so close to this goal. Here is the link to give directly to our family's account.

 

Thank you for your support!

Returning!!

Dear friends and supporters of Lesibovu,

It's with great excitement that I announce that our family is prayerfully moving forward with plans to join a missions team with Kids Around the World traveling to Swaziland in late May. We have longed to return and serve at the CarePoint at Lesibovu for the past two years and have not been able to travel due to health and financial concerns. God has provided some funds over the past two years and so we do have a great start on finances needed this time. Also, James, Abi and I are the only members of our family planning to travel this time and so that simplifies things a bit.

There are ways you can support us, and we will share more info over the next month. If you have questions, please ask! If you'd like to pray, I'll be happy to share prayer requests, if you'd like to be added to that email list. If you want to give financially, here is the link to do so.

 

Thank you for your faithful friendship to us and to Lesibovu!