My first week...

What a joy to at last be here after two years of imagining and then many months of planning and preparation. I have been welcomed warmly by the large international family of Hands at Work (Hands) that includes people who were born in Africa and those like me who the Lord brought from afar. There is more than 70 of us, including children, on a large property (The Hub) and that number will ebb and flow and sometimes grow.

I am part of a team of people like myself who have committed to at least twelve months volunteering with the wider team. We are two Australians, one Brit and nine Canadians, six of whom are delightfuI children. We are currently engaged in five weeks intense orientation where we learn how Hands ministers and visit many of the communities it works alongside.

I have prayed and worshipped God with women (Care Workers) who volunteer to love and serve their community by caring for the many vulnerable children that live there. Some have served for more than a decade at their Community Care Point, preparing a meal a day for what has now grown to 150 children. Many of these women struggle alone to care for their own children, yet have the heart to reach out to others who need love and parenting.

I have sat under a tree and fellowshipped with grandparents (Care Givers) caring for grandchildren who have lost parents, sadly a common thing in South Africa. I have joined the whole Hands team at a Community Prayer Day in one of the communities they partner with to celebrate God's glory and his mission to search for and save the lost in body, soul and spirit. What a blessing to worship in unison with Care Givers, Care Workers and Hands volunteers and affirm the Lord's love for all his children wherever and whoever they are. I have hugged and played with beautiful children who delight my heart with their sweet affection and I praise God that I have experienced all these blessings.

Next week my team travel to the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). A small country with the last absolute monarchy in the world that borders South Africa. We need our passports to enter and will spend four days and three nights visiting the communities that Hands works with.

Please pray that we see what the Lord is showing us and be mutually encouraged by those he causes us to meet. Bless you and I will let you know what happens in Eswatini on my return.