Sunday, August 06, 2006
DAY #6 - ZAKHELE CAREPOINT
The community of Zakhele is on a ridge overlooking the city of Manzini. The community is known for its high rate of marijuana (“dagga” is what the locals call it) use and the common occurrence of theft. There are good people in the community, though, and we were blessed to find some wonderful ladies to be volunteer cooks at this CarePoint. Pray that we are able to help this community overcome its challenges and for an awesome opportunity for transformation.
Today we have invited Pastor Mark Noren of St. Luke's Church in Faribault, Minnesota to lead us in prayer.
The Christ of the Andes statue stands high above the once warring nations of Argentina and Chili. It is a reminder to the people of the need for the entire world to be consecreted to Christ the Redeemer. The statue stands as a reminder of Christ's words, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Me."
- "Precious Lord, stand in your might on the ridge above Zakhele. A battle rages there for the hearts and souls of children- Your children.
Guard and guide Your servants that feed and bless the children. May Your holy presence encourage them. Walk, dear Lord, among the pains of the people. Demonstrate the power of Your love by breaking whatever bondage this community and the adjoining city of Manzini might be experiencing.
Thank you, Lord, for hearing and answering our prayers, in Jesus' Name, and for His sake, Amen"
Thank you for praying with us. Please remember to continue to pray for our team in Swaziland - currently still out of contact due to power loss during a storm that swept throught the city last Wednesday night. You can read more about it here. Thanks again for praying, and thanks to those of you who have left comments and prayers on this site. It is a great encouragement to the team and our partners. If you'd like to join in, feel free to leave a prayer, comment or testimony here bu clicking COMMENTS below.
Update From Post-Storm Swaziland
Just got this update from Kristen Young, one of the team in Mbabane, Swaziland regarding the devastation from the storms last Wednesday, and the team that we prayed for a couple days ago.
OK, so we were EXTREMELY busy with the elevate team for the past ten days!! But at the same time, it was some of the best days we have had since we've been here. The team was so awesome!! They really worked hard and accomplished a lot. They held a youth service where there were 40 first time decisions for Christ. Thank you Lord. They also really ecouraged us A LOT!! Thanks to all of the team we miss you so much already.
Now, for everyone who doesn't know yet, Wednesday, when we returned from Mozambique, all of thee power in Mbabane had been out all day. Then, Wednesday night, we experienced the absolute worst wind storm in Swaziland history. It was like a hurricane with no rain. I was literally afraid in my bed that something was going to fly through the window.
When we woke up Thursday morning, freezing because we still had no electricity, and began to drive around, we started to really see all of the damage. It was Katrina all over again. Huge trees were ripped out of the ground from the roots, houses were completely blown over. If you can imagine the amount stick houses that are here, plus all of the clay houses, they were all blown over. These people have never even heard of insurance and much like a lot of Katrina victims, thay have lost everything. Literally.
The orphanage that Charles and I visit rather frequently had just completed a new girls dorm. It is destroyed. The elevate team really stepped up to the plate Thursday, spending the entire day with relief efforts. We cut trees out of the road, off of peoples houses and began repairing roof tops, including some of our CarePoint roof tops.
I know a lot of you can sympathize, so please pray as a lot of people here are without houses, electricity and water. It is crazy to be going through this all over again. Please pray for money to come in to help us repair houses and CarePoints. Charles and I are very fortunate that we had no tree damage and received power and water late Friday night. A lot of our missionary friends here are still without power and water so please keep praying for them.
Kristen Young
OK, so we were EXTREMELY busy with the elevate team for the past ten days!! But at the same time, it was some of the best days we have had since we've been here. The team was so awesome!! They really worked hard and accomplished a lot. They held a youth service where there were 40 first time decisions for Christ. Thank you Lord. They also really ecouraged us A LOT!! Thanks to all of the team we miss you so much already.
Now, for everyone who doesn't know yet, Wednesday, when we returned from Mozambique, all of thee power in Mbabane had been out all day. Then, Wednesday night, we experienced the absolute worst wind storm in Swaziland history. It was like a hurricane with no rain. I was literally afraid in my bed that something was going to fly through the window.
When we woke up Thursday morning, freezing because we still had no electricity, and began to drive around, we started to really see all of the damage. It was Katrina all over again. Huge trees were ripped out of the ground from the roots, houses were completely blown over. If you can imagine the amount stick houses that are here, plus all of the clay houses, they were all blown over. These people have never even heard of insurance and much like a lot of Katrina victims, thay have lost everything. Literally.
The orphanage that Charles and I visit rather frequently had just completed a new girls dorm. It is destroyed. The elevate team really stepped up to the plate Thursday, spending the entire day with relief efforts. We cut trees out of the road, off of peoples houses and began repairing roof tops, including some of our CarePoint roof tops.
I know a lot of you can sympathize, so please pray as a lot of people here are without houses, electricity and water. It is crazy to be going through this all over again. Please pray for money to come in to help us repair houses and CarePoints. Charles and I are very fortunate that we had no tree damage and received power and water late Friday night. A lot of our missionary friends here are still without power and water so please keep praying for them.
Kristen Young
