HIGH FIVE

Can you believe we have been in Swaziland for FIVE years?

When we are able to give money for a little girl’s school fees, buy clothes for kids whose house burned or help support a hard working mother, we thank God for you, our supporters. Not only does our support allow us to cover our living expenses, but it allows us to hopefully lighten the burden and breathe encouragement into the lives our paths cross. We appreciate your partnership. Partners work together, but have very different roles. God did not call everyone to Africa, but he called our family…we are so thankful many of you are the other part of this partnership!

We wanted to share a few HIGH lights from the past five years. We have learned a lot about trust and have held on to this verse in Psalm 55:23b:

“But as for me, I TRUST IN YOU.”

2014– Greg and I and our twin 13-year old boys landed June 1^st on what felt like a different planet…Swaziland, Africa. Our entire family experienced everything “new” all at once, so there definitely was an adjustment period. We were in utter amazement as God worked out so many details involved with selling household items, choosing what to pack, and moving to a third world country. We also had a huge transition from both of us earning a paycheck to completely relying on God. HE placed so many supporters on our team to get us to the mission field several months before we had planned!

2015– We began to lead visiting teams that partner with care points. We had visited Swazi twice as team members with our church, Westwood Baptist Church. To lead the teams from this side was a unique opportunity. We quickly realized it is a lot of work from both sides to make a mission trip a success. Throughout this year, we learned how we could fit into this ministry and began to settle into our roles, Michelle helping with the ministry finances and Greg overseeing the medical department. Many of you, our supporters, continued to faithfully bless us with your generosity.

 

2016– After being on the mission field for almost two years, AIM suggests a three-month furlough back to the States to reconnect with family and friends and to raise more support. Personally, we struggled with questions and feelings of “where is home?” and realized things were much different even though we were returning to a familiar place we had lived for years. We hosted our annual Sweets for Swazi dinner and were amazed, once again, at our support team. Renewed commitments and new supporters came on board to form strong partnerships. It was a time of renewal and so humbling as we returned to the field with 100% of our support-raising goal met.

2017– The organization went through a restructure and many changes were made. Greg became the senior manager of operations and I became more involved in the finance department. It was a year of realizing we have SO much to learn. Living in a different culture has its challenges, and no matter what, we will always be outsiders. God definitely stretched us in many areas, as we walked beside so many Swazi friends who were struck by the far too often tragedy of losing family.

 

2018- This year was a year of transition for sure. The boys finished high school and “what was next” loomed for months. In June, we headed back to the states, this furlough being very different than our first one. Lane stayed in the U.S. to attend Auburn University and Landon went on the World Race Gap Year. Greg and I returned to Swazi without them…empty nesters all at once! Our hearts were truly empty, but we had to realize that God loves our kids and can take care of them without us. We were blessed by many words of encouragement throughout this time. One family from our home church began to send gift cards to Lane at college just to remind him that they cared and realized his unique situation. They will probably never realize what a blessing this has been to a poor college student and to his parents who are so grateful they take the time to show love to our son. Many supporters not only continued to give to our ministry, but also supported Landon as he sought to share the gospel and serve in ministries in Thailand, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

 

 

2019- We had a great opportunity to visit both of our boys in March. Once again, several supporters gave generously and completely covered the airfare expense for us to visit them both! We were able to spend spring break with Lane in Alabama and then flew to Quito, Ecuador to serve beside Landon for a week. Upon our return, we led a group of parents that were visiting their racers in Swaziland. It was neat to get the perspective of visiting our racer and then the next week, leading parents who were visiting their racers in Swaziland. Both of the boys will be spending the summer in Swaziland as interns and helping within the AIM base. Lane landed on May 12^th and Landon is scheduled to land on June 4^th in Johannesburg.  We are all so excited to see him since he has been gone since September! Team season is starting and we have lots of work to do, but we are thrilled we will all be under the same roof for the summer!

 

Throughout these FIVE years, we have experienced amazing generosity and support from SO many of you! Whether you supported us for a short time, have been supporters since day one or somewhere in between, we want to say THANK YOU!!! We would not be here without you and we are humbled by your partnership with us in Swaziland!