sethbarnes Feb 2, 2009 7:00 PM

Wow! Swaziland trip report - crocs & crocs

After enduring limited internet connectivity for the last ten days, I'm back on line at the Joburg airport while we wait to catch our plane. It's bee...

Subscribe


After enduring limited internet connectivity for the last ten days, I'm back on line at the Joburg airport while we wait to catch our plane.

It's been a wonderful trip.  Karen debriefed our World Racers at a retreat center on the banks of the Crocodile River and then helped lead a vision trip in Nsoko, Swaziland.

Staying at the Nisela Safari Camp just a few miles down the road from our center, we ate our dinners just a few yards away from the crocodile pond (with a huge croc in it).  Giraffes and zebras grazed nearby and Racers had to occasionally shoo ostriches away from their tents.

I took a number of videos and will be sharing them with you over the next week.  Every day we took care of widows and orphans in some way or another.  Here are four highlights from the trip:

  • Seeing how well our Racers are doing.  We left them dancing and singing at our closing South African bar-b-q (called a "brai").
  • Our Nsoko base looks tremendous - so much work has been done on it.  The orphans looked so much healthier!
  • Getting to spend time with a number of my blog readers on the vision trip was a thrill. Gabe, Kevin, and Shawn had all participated in our discipleship experiment last year.
  • Yesterday's shoe distribution, though chaotic, was amazing.  We washed the feet of hundreds and hundreds of children and some Gogos (estimates were upwards of 700), then we prayed your prayers over them (119 of you posted them on this blog - we laminated the prayers, prayed them individually, then gave them to the children), and then we sized their feet and gave them new shoes.  You should have seen their expressions when they'd get brand new Crocs or Nike sneakers! Here's a video:
Comments


Comment created and will be displayed once approved.

Related Blogs

Girls trading sex for food rescued in Swaziland

Girls trading sex for food rescued in Swaziland

I'm excited to break the fast today.  We're going to go get some pizza at Littl...

By sethbarnes
Would you let your four-year-old run the house?

Would you let your four-year-old run the house?

If you've been following the World Race, you may be starting to get confused. We...

By sethbarnes
Buy purses that feed orphans for Christmas!

Buy purses that feed orphans for Christmas!

In Swaziland where the HIV infection rate is the highest in the world (45%),...

By sethbarnes

Related Races (3)

South Africa | Semesters | August 2026

South Africa | Semesters | August 2026

Latin America | Semesters | January 2027

Latin America | Semesters | January 2027

Southeast Asia | Semesters | June 2026

Southeast Asia | Semesters | June 2026

Next article

The importance of prayer on a mission trip

AI Generated Content

Here's a suggested caption you can copy and tweak.