Swaziland Newsletter | December 2010

Christmas Party |
Brandon Jones 

Brandon is one of the missionaries serving with AIM in
Swaziland.  This year, AIM hosted the
Christmas party for the children about a week before the actual holiday.  We also had a World Race team there to help
him out.  Here’s how he described the event:

So we had the Christmas party today
at the center and it went phenomenally!  I
had all hands on deck and it was truly a great afternoon.

First they had a lunch rice and
chicken topped with a gravy stew, along with a side of fresh veggies.  All the kids got to drink orange juice with
plenty of refills.

Then there were four rotations of activities: decorating cookies, decorating then hanging ornaments on the tree, dancing, and tossing water balloons.

Afterwards, there was a nativity skit:

…[Our] ministry partners
orchestrated the best skit of the story of the birth of Christ; they got the
kids involved and acted the whole thing out. 
It was so good.  The World Race
team was great at jumping in the kitchen with the gogos to help cook and wash
dishes.  They are also good with crafts
which made the whole event festive.  I
had a great day, a great, great day.

After the skit, there was a raffle; ten kids got to pick out
special gifts, while rest of the children received gifts from the grab
bags.  All the kids were ecstatic about
their gifts.

One of the older kids came up to me
after the whole thing was over and grabbed my hand to shake it and said, “Thank
you so much for today.”  He had a
huge smile on his face and I could tell that he had a great time…

Thank you [to those/the one who
donated]… It was a great day filled with a lot of fun for kids who really deserve
it!

Tidings of Comfort
and Joy | Jen Peterson

A couple of weeks ago, we
introduced you to gogo Eliya… A few of you were so moved by her situation and
generously gave of your resources to help this beautiful saint!

Since then, we have been able to
pay off Eliya’s back medical bills and get her some much needed medical
attention for her shoulder.  She is still
in a sling, but seems to be gaining more mobility and is in significantly less
pain.  We also have been able to provide
food/groceries for Eliya and her grandchildren.

A few of our ministry partners
spent last Saturday clearing a small garden on her property.  It had actually been fenced in, just needed
some serious weeding!  Thanks to Brandon Jones,
another missionary living here in Nsoko for the next several months, for taking
the lead on the garden clean-up project!

We purchased some gardening tools,
seeds, a wheel-barrow and watering jugs so Eliya and her grandchildren can
maintain the garden properly.  Before too
long, they should be harvesting their own fresh produce and (perhaps) be able
to sell some to neighbors!…

…After visiting her last week, we
discovered that Eliya was sleeping on a straw mat on the hard dirt floor of her
hut…We decided that Eliya deserved and needed a more comfortable place to sleep…

Read more from Jen about the gift they gave gogo Eliya

As we reflect on 2010, we are thankful for each of you and
the role you have played in supporting our ministry in Swaziland.  If God prompts you to make a special year-end
gift to help us feed orphans, mentor gogos, disciple young people and bring
hope to this nation, please click here.

Prayer Requests

As we leave 2010 behind and look forward to 2011, we praise God for the new supporters of our ministry and the glory brought to the Lord through it. Please join your faith with ours as we request the following in prayer:

• We pray
  for safety for teams
• We pray
  that our orphans and gogos grow in faith

We hope you enjoyed a merry Christmas and wish you a happy
start to 2011!