MY EXPERIENCES IN SWAZILAND:

I have worked in Swaziland for about 2 months and sadly my time here is almost over.  God has worked on me every second that I have been here and I have been so blessed to have been provided the opportunity to come.

Before I came I didn’t know what I would be doing while I was in Swaziland.  I felt that I was not an elegant speaker, I have never really prepared a Bible study before and I was scared to death of talking in front of people.  All I knew was that I was being called to be in Swaziland. And what do you know, every bit of my imperfections were put to the test, I spoke at schools in front of hundreds of students, I did multiple Bible studies, and through all these things God has helped me to grow and helped me to let go of my flaws or the limitations that I have put on myself and allow Him to take over.

It is hard at first talking to students that live in a culture that doesn’t put limitations on their sexual behaviors.  As I stood in front of the students to teach True Love Waits and listen to them laugh at things that were actually quite serious, it almost made me angry with them…How could they be laughing when it is such a serious issue.  I realize that it is only because they don’t know how to react to the issue, but when students tell me that they will continue to have sex after all that was said about the seriousness of HIV/AIDS, I can’t help but be confused.

Just recently I spoke at a school with a fellow Swazi and I was telling them that by casually having sex there are multiple risks and they could die.  I asked them do you want to die…and one girl that was sitting in the front looked at me and said YES!  I said why would you say that?  I realize she was trying to be funny, but for the people to not fully understand the risk of HIV/AIDS is beyond me.

I have to admit at times I have felt defeated, I have felt like what I was bringing to the students was not being heard.  But it was in those times that God always comforted me.  At that school after students laughing at the serious issues and making jokes for all to hear, there was about half that committed to abstinence.  Now whether they stick to is up to them, but that is a prayer request that we should stick to.  God is the only way this culture will get the HIV/AIDS crisis under control.

 At one church I had a young man come to me and ask me to talk on spiritual growth the next week and he wanted to know more about becoming trained for True Love Waits. The following week came and he was not at the church, but he came up to me at the Easter (March 24^th-27^th) services and requested that I make a copy of the spiritual growth information and then he inquired further on the True Love Waits training. Then just the other night doing a Bible study I was encouraged so much afterwards when people came up to me and told me how they really got something out of it and they really enjoyed it.  I know that it was not me they were hearing but the words that God wanted them to hear.  I wanted the people here to understand that in reading the Bible and going to church they must absorb something or else their spiritual life is not a testament to God’s glory.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the missionary children at the AMTM week. And I feel like the week gave me a better understanding of the missionary.  It was such a blessing to see all the missionaries from the southern part of Africa come together with one goal…one purpose, to bring God into the lives of the African people.  It amazed me everyday when the missionary moms and dads dropped off their children to attend their meetings.  How faithful, to drop all the comforts of America and bring your entire family to a foreign country and to basically find the security of a family among the missionaries in your region.  I want to say thank you for showing me such a beautiful picture of a faithful servant.

At the Easters when I taught the married couples True Love Waits, that was also such a beautiful picture of faithfulness within the household.  There were several couples that had been married for over 40 years and you could still see the love and happiness in their eyes.  It warmed my heart to be allowed to privilege to witness these couples’ love for one another.

  I feel that as I leave this place, I might not have seen the fruits of my labor now, others will witness them.  My prayer is that God would continue to work in the lives of the Swazis and that as future volunteers come they may be able to see the needs of the people and expand on the work being done before them and the work being done.  I would have to say that there has not been a moment that God has not been working on me.  He has stretched me farther than I would have thought and pushed me past all my comfort zones.  It is when He expands my horizon, like this, that it drives me to want to continue the uncertainty of life because I know that He certainly knows where I am going.

 Rachel Noel Zapata

Volunteer in Swaziland February 26-April 25, 2005

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