Showing the good work that will help feed the family... food security

Note: Names used in this account have been changed to protect true identity

 Yesterday was incredible!  The women of Project-Hands of Grace -the Masoyi women’s sewing micro-enterprise - moved from sitting outside into a room that has been provided by a local church.  Now there is a place to keep sewing machines and large tables for cutting fabric, and chairs to sit on. Now the women face one another during sewing instruction and the Discovery Bible Study.  This was very exciting for everyone….it gets really chilly in June and July so having a place out of the weather will be a great asset and the new seating arrangement fosters group interaction. 

     The Discovery Bible Study for the week was John 1:1-17 where Jesus tells the Pharisee, Nicodemus, that no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again… unless he is born of the Spirit. During the prayer time one of the women, “Triphena,” who has late-stage AIDS, stated that she has been unable to forgive her relatives for past abuse.  Her face has always been full of pain and bitterness.  After the prayer time ended, we felt led to gently hold this lady’s hands, ask her to close her eyes and picture Jesus on the cross. We then simply began saying, “Jesus loves you, Triphena.  Jesus loves you Triphena.” There was no interpreter, no translator to communicate into SiSwati, but none was needed. God was present, and his Holy Spirit was at work. Triphena put her hands over her face and began to weep. This broken, bitter lady, weakened with advanced AIDS and immersed in the syncretistic cult of Zionism, was born anew, asking Jesus to become her only God and Lord.  I can’t describe the change in her face-the ‘before’ and ‘after’.

        The palpable presence of God was so strong in those moments that everyone standing close by was impacted. “Spiwa”, the sangoma (witch doctor/Zionist), who like Triphena, has been hardened in her heart, began to feel the touch of the Lord.  Her face softened and we were able to just hug her and tell her (now using an interpreter), that Jesus loves her and that He is with her and knows her. Spiwa’s sister, her last sibling, died last week from an AIDS related sickness. In the midst of tragedy and suffering, God is bringing comfort and change into hearts that are open.

       Back to Triphena…. Regina, a Swazi friend, and I shared with Triphena the lessons of Romans10:9-10; that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved.  She said she wanted to receive Jesus into her heart and she repented and asked for forgiveness for her past life.  Honestly, it was like night and day.  She was truly born again.  I guess we’ve been disciplining her for the last eight or nine months into a place of trust and into conversion. We’ve not taught dogma or pushed our culture, she has discovered for herself the goodness, the trustworthiness, the nature of God.  Now we are able to help disciple her more and more into the truth, light, and freedom of Jesus.  The Project-Hands of Grace sewing group will be her “church”. 

     We believe that Spewa is next on God’s heart and that, in time, all the people who have come together over the last nine months will be walking in a relationship with Jesus.  This week they were sharing with one another of how their lives have changed since the Discovery Bible Study started and how their temperaments have been affected.  One said, “I use to be filled with anger and I would hit and fight… but now that has changed and I am different, not angry and not fighting.”

     It’s interesting how yesterday was such a breakthrough day; last week we were about ready to throw in the towel in discouragement.  It has at times seemed like grinding work, work, work… but yesterday was a “tipping point”.  Now we are really taking off in sewing production and sales, as well as in authentic thanksgiving, praise, worship, testimonies and Bible Study.  We are seeing a ’simple church and holistic community business enterprise” in spring up in Masoyi.  Wow!  Thanks, Lord!

"Hands of Grace" sewing guild. All interested women remain for a Discovery Bible Study. Lots of smiles, lots of grannies, lots of babies.