Eswatini!! Wow guys where do I ever start? How could I possibly manage to summarize the most incredible two months of my life? I don’t even have words to describe just how sweet my time in Eswatini was. So let me try!
Let me explain a little bit of what the simple life in Eswatini has looked like these past few weeks. In my last blog post I mentioned how my squad had been split into three different groups all across South Africa. We are all reunited back together for our time in Eswatini! The reunion was so sweet as it felt like the two months we didn’t see each other lasted two years! We all stayed at the Adventures in Missions base located in Nsoko. Life on the base was such a simple way of living. We lived in tents, had many worship nights, hand washed our laundry, killed many cockroaches and spiders the size of my head, stargazed every night under the brightest stars I’ve ever seen, and made such pure and genuine memories with all my best friends.
Ministry in Eswatini was truly the sweetest experience of my life, and it will be difficult for me to be able to describe my feelings about how deeply it has affected my heart. Our ministry four days a week we worked at the care points! The main ministry in Eswatini is what we call care points. Adventures In Missions has several different care points all throughout the country, and at each of these care points they provide a meal for the local children and some of the local moms. For a lot of these kids, this is the only meal they get each day. Our job at the care points was honestly just to play and love on them! Most of the parents of the children are so busy with work and providing physical needs for the household, that these kids basically raise themselves. By going to the care points, we were able to show them just a glimpse of God’s love and to encourage them in just being a kid. So a care point is basically a safe place for families/children to come and get clean food and water and honestly just get basic care/needs. Working there we got to play with the children, pour into the moms and families, hold babies while they slept, and we would also get to walk to different houses in the area and minister to the families! At a lot of the house visits we did, we would read scripture to them, pray over them, and honestly just encourage them. Some people had physical pain that we prayed over saw healing! Praise God! These people honestly would just take any kind of hope we had to give, and I was so happy I got to truly share with them my eternal hope which is Jesus! House visits were some of my favorite, yet, most difficult parts about our ministry. To see how little these people had, yet their joy was unexplainable. One of the houses we went to, the lady told us that she’s been praying that God would provide her with food – so the next week we brought her a big box of two weeks worth of manna. This woman LIT UP when we gave it to her, and she was so excited that she got up and started dancing and singing at the top of her lungs praising God. It was at that moment I realized why He calls us to ALL nations. To ALL people. To the ends of the earth. Sharing the JOY and the HOPE that is found in Jesus.
I could read about these testimonies all day, but it wasn’t until God brought me there physically. Until God actually brought me to the ends of the earth. When He placed me in the midst of their reality. It was then that I fully understood. I’m being so raw and honest. There were many days I would be in the van on the way home from our care point, and I would just cry. My heart was broken in the sweetest, most beautiful and bittersweet ways. These kids walk miles to school by themselves everyday, and yet all they want to do when they get to the care point is run around and play with us. The world would look at these children and families and say they have nothing – but I got to know their heart. I got to experience their true and genuine joy everyday. It humbled me in such a way that still leaves me speechless. I made so many incredible friendships. I never knew some of my best friends wouldn’t even speak my language. I cried as I had to say goodbye to my sweet little kids and they said, “Goodbye my friend! See you in heaven!”
I know this blog might seem a little sad or heavy, but Eswatini truly was the most incredible experience! It was so bittersweet. I met so many amazing people and I have so many fun stories I get to tell all of you about when I get home! I grew drastically in every area of my life during my time in Eswatini. It was so hard yet incredibly rewarding!!
Before I end this blog, I’d like to share one of the many testimonies which left a deep impact on my life! During our time in Eswatini, my squad drove to South Africa for one night to renew our visas, so we ended up staying at a little beach town called St. Lucia! It was such a fun time as we got to explore the beach and many different markets. The morning of the day we left to go back to the base in Eswatini, my friends Emilee and Zack and I were walking around all the markets looking at all of the beautiful handmade things. We stopped at this one little market on the side of the road and immediately the lady who was attending the market was highlighted to all three of us. We started talking to her, and her name was Lindewe! She excitedly accepted us praying over her, then Zack asked if she had a Bible. She said no, but if she had one then she would never stop reading it in between customers. Immediately the Lord tugged on my heart, and asked me to give her my Bible. Okay so one thing about me is I LOVE my Bible. It holds years of all my specific markings and notes. I felt in this moment God was telling me it’s not the “word of Ashley” but the “Word of God.” I knew all of my notes would bless her! So I went and got my Bible and gave it to Lindewe. She opened it up to the first page where it read, “this Bible belongs to Ashley Johannessen.” Tears filled both of our eyes as she looked at me and said, “Ashley, I’ll never forget you. I’ll never stop reading this.” If she only knew how much it blessed me to be able to provide her with the most amazing book she’ll ever read. I wholeheartedly believe it will come to life for her!!
I am so sorry for not updating you guys sooner! Life has been packed full recently! We have officially made it to Indonesia!! Our last country on the World Race!! My squad is split half in Indonesia and half in Malaysia, so please pray over our last 8 weeks on the field! We will reunite in the beginning of May when we go back to America!
Our ministry in Indonesia will look a little different than it has the past 7 months. Since it’s not illegal to be a Christian, but it is illegal to evangelize. We are partnered with an organization during our time here which focuses on mainly building relationships, doing prayer/intercession walks through the community, teaching English and kids jiu jitsu lessons, and helping out with their different businesses. All of these things are going to build up the community to form deep relationships with the people here to eventually share the gospel. We also might have a few opportunities to go to the local unreached islands to help plant house churches!! Our ministry hosts are incredible people, and are so excited for us to partner with them. Your prayers will be appreciated for this incredible ministry and also for my squad as we start serving in our final country!
Thank you for everything! I love you guys!
Ashley:)
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