EXECUTION ROCK!

Where do I start? It has been a crazy couple of days. The guys have been doing concrete and foundation work at one of the carepoints and the girls have been doing crafts and other work at another carepoint. While the guys were working, we had a brick delivery so me and Barton started hauling bricks -

Oh yeah, it was some heavy stuff.

Yesterday we hiked to the home of one of the carepoint cooks. She walks an hour and a half to get to the carepoint to cook for the kids! It's so easy walk either, it is in the mountains. She proudly showed us her very modest home and we gave her some blankets and prayed with her. I can say for the whole group that we had a very special moment.

Then we woke up this morning to do some REAL HIKING! We set out to climb Execution Rock, where people used to be executed by being pushed off. About halfway up, I started to wonder if I was going to make it to the top, but I determined that I wasn't going to stop. I am SO glad I did it. It was breathtaking at the top. I didn't take any pictures of it on my phone (which is how I have been blogging these pics) but here is a picture of Execution Rock that I found on Google -



I stood at the top of that today! Man, it was incredible - I still can't believe I made it to the top. Tomorrow we meet up with the Mozambique team to do some stuff at the Maphaveni carepoint and then drive to Hlane game reserve to go on a game drive and spend the night there. This trip has flown by. My second time to Africa, but it is safe to say I am returning to American soil a different person.

oh yeah

Thats right - Red Bull Swazi-style. The only coffee we have found is instant aka GROSS so we have been hittin' up the gas station for some caffeine love. This was taken while we mixed concrete today and building the foundation for the new classroom at the Mongwoneni Carepoint. More concrete work in the morning (thank you Jesus, for the gift of Excedrin) and then a hike to deliver some goods and supplies to some homes in the mountains. It has been great. Lots of work, lots of laughs - all for Him. What an honor it is to do this.

HPC_swazi is official

The launch yesterday went GREAT! Everyone was buzzing with anticipation (and red bull) as we were preparing all of the last minute details. Everything from sound, children's ministry, parking lot and preparing a lunch to feed 200+ people - this is truly an HPC campus! Pastor Ben shared a great message about the woman who was caught in adultery and how the pharisees wanted to stone her - but Jesus takes the stones in our lives and turns them into our foundation. It was good stuff. There were 202 people in church to hear that message! The alter was full at the end of service. It was awesome - I will try to post pics of it later. To hold you over, here is a picture from the balloon outreach we did the the other day.

we hiked.

Yeah, its true. We hiked up a mountain tonight when we got back to the hotel. My legs hurt. My back is killing me. But it was BEAUTIFUL! It was so worth it! Waterfalls, amazing trees, MONKEYS!... We just ate dinner and we are talking about how we want to go to the rooms and crash and Natalie says, "Brandon, you don't want to know what time it is." It was only 6:55pm! I'm so tired. I haven't gone to bed this early since 4th grade. Tomorrow is the launch!

HPC_Swazi

These are the brand new HPC_Swaziland signs! They just got put up this morning and they look great! Today we went to a very busy area in the middle of the city and gave out suckers tied to balloons and told people about the church launch in the morning. Then a group of us went up to a soccer field in a really rough area and gave out cokes and talked to a bunch of young people. We are about to eat some lunch and continue to get the church ready for service tomorrow. Please pray that everything goes well in the morning!

Swazi babyyyyy!

We made it! We got to Manzini, Swaziland last night right on time. For our first night we went to eat, met some of the Children’s cup team and then went back to the hotel and crashed! We started today with some Cooking for Christ - Swazi style. We cooked for about 200 people and distributed meals to surrounding businesses. After the food outreach, we went to a park that has 3 highschools nearby and all of the students pass by when they let out of school - I’m talkin’ A LOT of kids. Jordan, one of the Children’s Cup missionaries, set up a sound system and played some dance music and we passed out candy and flyers for the FIRST official service for HPC_Swaziland on Sunday! These kids can DANCE! It went great. We are currently at Ben and Susan Rodgers house where we are about to throw down some awesome dinner and hang out for a bit.

Everything is going great. We even saw some monkeys today at the place we are staying - it is beautiful scenery. Keep prayin for us and I can't wait to see everyone when I get back!

T-rice

Its official. Trice is gone for the summer. If you don't know him, Trice is the coolest guy around and he's a genius-whiz kid when it comes to stage lighting. He'll be on tour for the summer and won't be back till August. He's sure gonna be missed around here.