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Sian's Swaziland Diary SWAZILAND IS COMING SOON!! Too soon..! I cannot believe how fast it has arrived! It is only 7 days until we drive to Reading, say good-bye to our family, then leave for the airport and travel to Africa! I cannot describe how excited and overwhelmed I am. My friends ask me if I am a little nervous, but I am not at all! I just can't believe that I, and my amazing family have the opportunity to go and do missionary work in Africa, it is something I am looking forward to and I'm sure will never forget. But I am most excited about doing this with Jesus! Back to topWell.... we are here, in South Africa, I have had a very nice break in Cape Town. My advice to people is, that sometime in their lives visit Cape Town, it is so beautiful, the mountains, the amazing views, the incredible houses and the great people, (and the random baboons...!). Man!! All the flying we did, felt like it lasted for a week! I still loved it though, planes are so exciting and the flight attendants are always so nice! On our flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, the flight attendant asked if Charlotte, Rachel or me wanted to sit with the pilots, in the cock pit, while the plane was landing! I got the chance to do that...it was so cool!! (I think the flight attendant thought we were like 11, or something, because they normally ask younger children that!) But it was such an experience and we are not even in Swaziland yet! Johannesburg, Pretoria is great, because of the lovely family who are putting us up. They are so kind and really have God in their lives. We are having a lot of fun with the family and will definitely keep in close contact with them. We were supposed to be travelling to Swaziland yesterday, but there have been so many problems, and we are getting there on Saturday now. God has planned it out just right though. Rachel and I were invited to a party by one of the boys we are staying with.... we met so many new, crazy people! And we would never have met them if we travelled to Bulembu the right day! We also experienced a South African party, before leaving for Swaziland. Africa so far is not what I expected, and I'm sure that will continue, in a good way! (I miss you guys) x x x x x x x x x x It has been a long time since I have done a blog. A lot has happened. Our family at the moment are settling in and have had not much to do. We still are trying to fit in with the community. Rachel and I helped Dad cover a grade 5 and 6 class yesterday. Rach and I took sport it was so good...! Something I would really like to continue. The people here are so nice. We are visiting all the organisations here and still have to decide where we want to be involved. I think Charlotte would like to be involved with ABC ministries. I would really like to be involved with the school and sport, although I am also interested in the Community centre where they provide food and activities for the 2-7 year olds who live in the 'smarty boxes'. Rachel doesn't mind, she would like to be involved with ABC and the school and also the community centre. We have started to build relationships here. Rachel and I have met a very nice girl, called Hannah, who is our age. We also enjoyed a kitchen tea (hen night) yesterday for Jacqui, a South African, who is getting married in December. She works at the Jaceranda house and is so good with the girls who are there and is so sad to be leaving them. Rach and I had a run with two of our Canadian friends this morning at 6:00am! I nearly died!!! Rachel was so good though...I am so jealous! But tomorrow I will run with some Americans ladies, who run on the flatter ground, and Charlotte will join me. We're hoping that we will become good friends with them. It is hard here at the moment, but God is always with us, wherever we go, (Joshua 1:9). The weekend has been long, full of lots of different feelings. Rachel and I have spent it with a very nice group of Americans. We work with two of them at the community centre and the other two Americans work as teachers at the school. We are getting to know everyone very well, which is good. Bulembu has become such an amazing place for me. Children who are desperate for love are addictive; you would never want to leave them. The Skinners' are becoming apart of Bulembu; we are not the new people anymore. Jesus came to collect my Grandma on Friday; she is now with him in peace. Therefore we are missing her very much. Home is so far away, where is home? It is hard to live here, when your family are thousands of miles away! The new week starts tomorrow, where we start our service again, listening and looking after the little, cute faces of Bulembu. The people who want to visit us, pursue it! You will love it and it will change you! You will experience things that will humble you. God will provide. Please continue praying and supporting us, we really need it! Have a great week! I will be thinking of you, my family and friends. Miss you guys! Sian x x x x x x x x x It is Christmas tomorrow! It doesn't feel like Christmas this year. I even had to think what the date was today...then I realised it is Christmas eve! Being back in England is nice, I am able to see my friends and tell them about life in Swaziland. And I didn't know how many people actually look at our website! This is great to hear. Coming back to England it is much colder than Swaziland. Even though it rains everyday in Bulembu, it still seems hot! But here in England...it is frosty cold; I can see my breath and the trees look so beautiful and white! We are staying at our Grandmas house, and we have a very pretty tree this year, and surprisingly it has presents under it! The house is very cosy like usual, but it is strange for my Grandma not to be here. I think we should all just relax and enjoy
this year's Christmas, as it is a very important birthday...
:), I think that me and
my family will go for a nice long winter walk down to the
local woods!
And stuff our tummies full with a yummy roast dinner! If anybody gets Christmas cards from me in January, (which you probably will), sorry, I can never do stuff on time...! But I can do this on time, because this is the fast Internet...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Have a very beautiful day, and we are thinking of you. Sian x x x x Psalm 3 v 5 It is 2007!! Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all enjoyed it. I enjoyed mine, we spent it with lots of people and lots of food...it was great. This year doesn't really feel that much different from last year, we are having lots of changes at the community centre, where Rachel and I have decided to work full time at. Starting 10.30 am till 2.30 pm every day, it is a big commitment, which Rach and I will try hard to stick to, without getting too tried. Working there every day will really improve the children's lives and we would really get to know them extremely well, I think that it will be very satisfying there. The other day at the Centre, I was with this very young boy, who was fairly new and not yet potty trained. I had to take him to the toilet regularly. When we first had him there, he would cry at anyone who would approach him, this is because he was very physically abused and was scared that someone may beat him. As I spent more time with him, taking him to the toilet and playing with him, he knew I was just there to love him and throughout the whole day I was the only person he wanted to be with, and he would cry if he was not with me. I didn't know how to feel, it was so sweet that he wanted to be with just me, but at the same time it was so sad that he could not trust anyone because of his background. These children are so precious. The school that Mum and Dad are running is opening on the 5th February, so they are trying to get everything done before the deadline! The weather here at the moment is really sunny, I was talking with another missionary who had been here for 2 years and apparently it is quite strange to be this hot for this long, but I don't mind! :) I think this New Year will be a good one, and I'm just going to live it step by step and see what happens...! I miss
everyone so much... I'm adding to the blog, yesterday, the 26th January, was a crazy day, real crazy. We had a lot of spiritual attack. Dad and Cathy, (a South African) went to Mataphsa to fix our car and pick up Kara, (an American) with her friend. And Mum and Rachel went into South Africa to Nelspruit to also pick up a South African and American, these people that we were picking up are working in the new school as teachers. So I and Charlie were still in Bulembu. Okay so the car that Dad had like totally broke down the engine needs a whole over look, like it is totally broken...so they had to be picked up. While this was happening Mum and Rachel got a flat tyre, so they took it to a garage, while the garage was fixing the tyre, Rachel and Mum were out of the car, and this guy just comes along and steals Rachel's bag from the open window of the car, and our camera was in her bag. So they go to the police station and are there for like 3 hours. Then they try and go and find Candice and Lindsey, (the teachers), but it is like totally impossible for them to find them. So everyone pretty much was all having nervous breakdowns at this point. This is so the enemy getting to us...but God will only make us stronger. Oh and this is so scary, we found this huge spider in our house, it's like a rain spider or something. And we put it is this container and fed it bugs a couple of times, the spider totally ate them up. Then I decided to let it go. It was not going away so I started nudging it away. (This spider is big like the size of my palm), okay so as I'm nudging it, the spider turns, gets on its hind legs and its fangs are like way out. So this huge spider is standing up and it's about to attack my foot. SCARY!!! I ran away so quickly...that is the sort of thing I would see on the discovery channel! A blog to cover a few months...! It feels like I haven't written a blog for a long time! The community centre is good at the moment – again I feel more and more for that place. The children make me smile soo much! There are 4 missionaries that work full time at the centre, Lee-Ann, who is the organiser, she oversees what goes on at the centre, Gennie, who works full time there, and who also organises, like Lee-Ann, and Rachel and I who work full time also – but Gennie left last week for 2 months! So we will miss her very much, which also means we have lost an important person there. However my older sister, Vic, and her 3 friends, Lucy, Clare and Esther, arrived last week the time Gennie left. Vic and Lucy have decided to put their time into the Centre, they were brought to us just the right time. I am in the process of making a slide show of the Community Centre to put on the website, with information, pictures, etc, which will be good to see!! Rachel and I met an American the other day, he and his family are thinking of coming to Bulembu for a year at the end of April. And Rachel and I cannot wait until his daughter Janeesa comes to Bulembu! We have heard much about her. And I just wanted to say thank-you to the people who support us in America, your prayers are soo good! Rachel and I have started driving lessons! We have conquered the automatic car, now we are driving the manual, in a combi..?! And on roads/dirt tracks which have big holes in them! But it is still very fun! I do like driving! Rachel and I had a lot of challenges last week at the centre, Lee-Ann left for a few days, so Rachel and I automatically became in charge! It was good though, I felt very responsible, and the other teachers seemed to want us to be in charge. At the centre, a couple of times now, money has gone missing, and the only conclusion is that it is getting stolen. Last week the school fees were stolen, it is a problem and it will be very sad, if we find out it is someone from our staff, but we pray that this will stop and we will not have any more problems like this. I woke up this morning, and walked into the lounge, and my Dad had made a cosy fire, because it is soo cold in the mornings! But it makes the whole house comfy! Oh, I also think that I want to become an E.R Nurse, I don't know if this is because I've been watching too much of E.R, (no kidding), and I have been helping Mum at the hospital a few times. So I have been considering a distant learning program, to study A levels. I think I will pray about this, and I would be soo grateful if you could pray for our family as we deal with challenges and decisions everyday. Also one more thing..! We are in desperate need of a 4x4 vehicle and we would like to pray, that God will provide us with this kind of car or the finance for this. I think and pray for you all a lot! God Bless! Sian Today is 18th of August....I think my last blog was like the end of April! Time sure does go fast, I don’t ever seem to sit down and write a blog...I find myself busy like all the time! But this will be my new habit ...making sure I write blogs, up to date blogs. Well we are in England again; it would have been 7 months since we last came back here. When I first returned...it felt really strange I didn’t really feel at home. But now a couple of weeks have gone by I am back to normal I am comfortable around my lovely luxuries...like 24/7 internet access, shops/malls, the cinema!! And lots of people I haven’t seen in a very long time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss Bulembu...I miss Bulembu sooo much. Rachel and I had our birthday in Bulembu, it was more than great! Our friends took us to South Africa for 3 days and we had such a good time. We went to the mall and saw some very beautiful views of a waterfall and a mini grand canyon. The amazing things you see with your eyes really makes you think of God, and then you think about how amazing he is for creating your eyes because the thing that you see is so clear and perfect. Our family made us a wonderful breakfast full of lovely fatty things! And we received lots of nice presents it was really joyful to be with my family. Someone told me that your family are a blessing from the Lord, and they truly are. We travelled back to England on the 1st and arrived at Gatwick on the 2nd. I love travelling and going to airports and on the planes! We had a 3 hour layover in Dubai. Me and Rach were bored and took lots of silly photos! We got back into England and it was raining! Our sister and her fiancé, also two of our friends picked us up from the airport it was nice to see faces you haven’t seen in a long time. We had a creation fest meeting that night! Totally need a shower and sleep, but we saw lots of our friends from England and America! The feeling of love between friends is such a nice feeling! The creation Festival was a great, great weekend! I was working in the kids tent with some really good people. It was a good time spending my first weekend at creation fest. They have great bands and I recommend everyone to go next year! While we are back our family spent a lot of time with the Toros. They were here in England to perform at creation fest and see all their English friends! They also recently visited us in Swaziland and did a lot of great work building a playground for VOH, and touring around. Because they were so busy it was hard to spend a lot of time with them, but coming back to England we could and I think our families really encourage each other spiritually. Rachel and I have also got ourselves a job at a fish and chip restaurant as waitresses while we are back in Devon, it isn’t the nicest job in the world but we get paid good money! With the rest of our time we are just bumping into friends and spending time with each other, watching movies and TV! ~ It is so nice to listen to mellow music with your head in your bible ~ Last night I had a dream about a little girl that I teach at the Community Centre, her name is Hlobsile, (sounds like: Clop-see-lay), she is 4 years old and I love her soo much! In the dream I was in a crowded space, with lots of people, children and adults, black and white. Then I saw Hlobsile, she was sitting on a step, and was falling asleep. Bobbing up and down, so I made my way through the crowded people, keeping my eye on Hlobsile, with a smile on my face because she was soo cute and my eyes were filled with love for her. I finally reached her and gently scooped her on my lap, she just flopped on me like she does and we both lay down asleep and were a perfect fit. I feel as if this dream was from God. In the dream we are Hlobsile and I was God. The world can be so crowded and we can be there just falling asleep to it all. God sees us, he never takes his eye off us, and he longs to reach for us, making his way through the crowd to get to us, his eyes full of love for us, he wants to get to us and wake us up a little, then he wants to be with us, he wants to scoop us up and hold us forever, and when he does we are a perfect fit, we were made for each other. That dream put me in the position of God, the position to feel his love for me. Let me tell you, he loves us sooo much and he wants to hold us forever. Sian Here’s a bible verse about the Lord’s peace, I got it from someone and now you guys have got it from someone...and then see if you can give it to someone! :) I am sadly enjoying my last month in the Bu... I really cannot believe I will be leaving Africa; it has taken a big piece of my heart. The next chapter of my life is in England, working a full time job to get enough money to travel with Rachel. Then I may go back to school... I don’t really know what to write...? The Community Centre is open again after Christmas break; it is so nice to see the children again... My heart will surely break when I leave them. Christmas was very quiet, we were all missing Michael and Victoria. Bulembu town was very empty over Christmas, but everyone is returning again, it is nice to see the Bu family faces. The internet was down for a while, due to a big lightening storm.... And our house was hit and burnt out our connection... Very grateful for it to be fixed! I will miss Africa so much... But I trust the Lord is taking me in the right direction. Love you guys!
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