Nicole Keen, a May 2007 CU grad and former CW Program Staffer, is spending the better part of the academic year serving as a missionary in Africa.  Following is her latest entry from Swaziland, where she will be serving through the spring.  Please keep Nicole and others serving in Africa in your prayers...along with the people of that beautiful yet so often broken land.  CLG

Hey everyone!

This week has been exhausting but also very good at the same time.  I realize that I will probably come home with an amazing tshirt tan after being in the sun for maybe a day and now my arms are brown. You don't realize how much sun you are getting! On that note, I also have a heat rash from being out in the sun as well.

On Sunday we went to the International Church where they have a mix of Americans and Africans with an American pastor.  The doctrine was a little off and we did not go back.  We are not going to Mozambique anymore because we do not have enough extra money, but I am okay with that.

Monday we were supposed to have family ministry day where we took some local kids to a gamepark and had a cookout, but we could not.  Cassie (my leader) went to pick up the kids in the van while we all stayed at the house and on her way home, a semi-truck full of sand ran a red light and totaled our car.  Luckily no one was seriously injured, one of the little girls had a cut on her head and had to go to the hospital, but she was released the same day.  We just got a new vehicle, a Previa van for those of you who remember those.  Actually if you have known our family for very long, my mom owned 2 consecutive ones because she liked them so much!

Tuesday a couple of us went to a care point near the primary school where I think I will be helping out.  The distance education classes do not start until May and right now they are doing supplemental instruction and homework away from the classroom.

At the care point we met many of the children who are orphans and get fed there twice a day.  There are 17 caregivers that work at the care point and they help to send these children to school. I also got roped into writing a support letter for funds for this organization to be typed and sent out.  So if you get anything from the Children's World Orphanage, I wrote the letter! But don't worry, I did not give out any names or addresses.

Wednesday morning Allison and I had a meeting with the headmaster of the Mahlanya Primary School and she wants us to come on Monday at 7:45 to begin teaching English and assisting in the library.  We are also going to provide additional tutoring for those students needing help.  Primary schools go from first grade to seventh grade here, and education is not free like in America.  The headmaster told us today that they have to send children away because they cannot afford to go to school and have not paid school fees.

After our meeting, we decided to stop by the care point and AS SOON as we walked in the director told us (did not ask, TOLD) us to go into a classroom with children ages 6-13 and to call roll, assess where each student is, and teach the alphabet and numbers.  I think that these children cannot afford to go to school and their knowledge of English and math is remedial.  Allison assessed the alphabet knowledge while I took the kids outside and had them read the numbers and do simple counting.  The problem is that the method of teaching in Swaziland equals memorization and not understanding.  The children can recite the alphabet, but cannot recognize the letters if they spell a name or word.  Some of the children I tested could count how many fingers I held up, others would simply repeat numbers and I could tell it meant nothing to them. Finally we told the director we had to go, because she would have volunteered us to do much more and sucked the energy out of us.  We were just stopping by to say hey!

Thursday Allison and I went to Mbabane and met the National Director for Campus Crusade for Christ - he absolutely loved us. He was making phone calls and helping us get into contact with other people in the area.  He also took us to the Mbabane Chapel, which is a place he suggested that we go to church on Sunday.

We also managed to find our way to the Salvation Army center in Mbabane and met with the director. He is excited that some people may want to volunteer there.  They have a youth center where children from rough backgrounds come and hang out before and after school.

On Saturday we went to the hospital in Mbabane for family ministry.  I went to the abandoned babies' ward and hung out with some of the kids.  They have mentally handicapped children there who live at the hospital because no one wants to adopt them, along with younger babies that people just dropped off.

I also went into a children's ward and held a little girl who has TB and AIDS for 2 hours. Her name is Thandela and I am not sure how old she is, but she is very tiny and you can feel her ribs, veins, bones all over her body.  She was pitiful and her mother had gone to town, so I just rocked and held her for a long time.  She fell asleep for a little while (as did my arms!), but she was so precious.  She did not want me to put her down and had her little fist clenched around my shirt the whole time. I don't think she has much longer to live.  Her mother was very grateful to me for holding her and thanked me many times when she returned.

Saturday our team was also in charge of making dessert for dinner with our 2 teams here, so most of us girls came back to the house after the hospital and made 2 peach cobblers, 1 apple cobbler, 1 apple and pear cobbler, rice krispy treats, and peanut butter cookies.  We are becoming quite the pros at cooking!  By the way, if you have any easy recipes for dinner that would not require too much cooking/prep/materials, I would appreciate some!  We have access to most everything that you can get in the US, but sometimes we do have to substitute.

Carrie, Allison, and I went to the Mbabane Chapel on Sunday morning and it was AMAZING. The preaching was some of the best that I have ever heard.  The preacher is Scottish and the congregation is a mix of Swazis and other nationalities such as British and Scottish people.  He talked about Psalm 23 and the church has been going through the psalm verse by verse. Today he was talking about verse 6 that says, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Rev. Jefferson told us to "apply yourself wholly to the text and apply the text wholly to yourself."  It was very encouraging.  The people at the church came up and talked to us, invited us have coffee and dessert after the service with them, and one couple drove us home after church. It was a very welcoming place and I am excited to get involved there.

Sunday afternoon was spent at the Royal Swazi, a resort that has a pool and wireless internet!  It is funny thinking that we are laying out in very hot weather while it is cold in the US.  Sunday night was girl's night because the boys went to a leader's house to watch the Superbowl and stay there for the night. Most of the other team members have Monday off, but I opted not to because Monday is our first day of school.

I hope you have read this entire email - sorry for the length but it has been one packed week for me.  I miss you all and hope you are doing well. I got word that my college roommate Leigha's mother is very sick in the hospital. She has been battling cancer, so please be praying for her healing and her family. The doctors have not given very good word for them and have suggested hospice, but I know I serve a God that can do miracles. Please pray with me for one right now!

If there is any way I can lift any of you in prayer, please let me know, I do a lot of praying here in Swaziland! Talk to you all soon!

Nicole
nicolelkeen@gmail.com