After thirty hours of traveling, I am back on Georgia soil!  I arrived yesturday morning after a slight delay.  After trying to stay up all day, I finally crashed... hard!  I slept for about 14 hours.  I obviously needed some sleep.

To recap from my last update in Swaziland, the womens' camp was a huge success!  We had about 30-35 women in attendance.  Most of these women were the volunteers at the care points and ranged in age from about 22-70 years.  Our "schedule" (if you can call it that on Africa time) consisted of meetings with worship, testimony and teaching, crafts (such as tie-dye, sewing and basket-making), and games.  It was so fun to see the women come alive in the games.  They got really involved and excited (some got a bit competitive).  It was hilarious just to sit back and watch!

The theme of the retreat was "Created with a Purpose."  We focused on each individual's unique purpose and how it works together for God's big pupose!  I feel like it was a great theme for these women and trust that God's truth would resound in the hearts of His children as they seek to apply the lessons learned to their everyday lives. 

The life of a woman is not easy in Swaziland.  As mentioned in an earlier entry, they are extremely hard workers and

are not spared from hard labor, regardless of health, age or gender.   Most days consist of cooking, cleaning, caring for children, gardening, working in the field, collecting firewood, doing laundry (by hand, of course), collecting water, and many other exhausting tasks.  Gratitude is rarely expressed, but hard work may often be reciprocated with complaints and abuse.  My prayer and hope is that these women would come to truly stand on the love and acceptance of their Father and the community that God desires through the fellowship of the body of Christ.

Honestly, it is hard to be back in the U.S.  It was hard to leave African soil again, not knowing excactly when i'll be back.  Another African country has stolen my heart and I am anxious to get back.