I have stopped doing blog updates because it is just too hard.  

It's hard to know what to say and what NOT to say.  Each story is personal, it's not just a "starving child in Africa" that is suffering, it is my friend.  It is someone I care about who has a name, a personality, dreams, and hopes in a place where life expectancy is low and disease and suffering is high.  Where hope of an education is expensive and requires loads of discipline and sacrifice.  Where hope of employment (with or without an education) is likely just a dream.

No jobs. No money. No food. No parents.  But....still they have Hope.

I don't understand it.  Really.

For the friends I have gotten to know, the Hope is Jesus.  He is truly all there is to count on.  It's easy for me to tell myself that my trust is in Him, but I have a home, food, family, access to medical care.  Sure, I trust Him, but it's so easy to forget He is the provider of all these blessings and to think I am handling things pretty well by myself.  My Swazi friends just have Him.  They KNOW from experience that every good and perfect gift is from Him and that the only way they can face another day is with Him by their side.  Without Him, it is just too hard.  Too hopeless.

I have decided to try to communicate through blogging again.  Encourage me to stick with it.  Let me know if you have suggestions for better techniques or different content.  Hold me accountable to being a better steward of the gift of being here and sharing with others what God is doing in Swaziland.

Please forgive my lack of communication and thanks for sticking with me.

Amy