Sonibonnani y'all! Hope you are having a great week and also celebrating the Giants win over the ALMOST perfect Patriots. The game was on this morning at 1:30am. We had a guys only superbowl party last night at my bosses's bosses's house. We watched Die Hard I before the game, but normally I go to sleep around 11pm and the game started much later. I managed to make it till about 3:30am and halfway through the halftime show. We had some good fellowship with the guys I live with and some that live near me. Other than that today is our day off and I'm spending it with about a third of my team. We are at a the nicest hotel in Swaziland because they have an awesome pool and fast internet. It is a luxury I know, but I will probably be using this internet once a week so I can continue to get the good word to you about what God is doing here in Manzini, Swaziland. Well the weekend has been pretty relaxing after a week of work in the fields. The weather has been really great this week. I have been sleeping outside on our balcony every night to avoid the heat of the night around here. The evening air is really cool here in Swaziland. I'm getting a little better after a week of being sick (it is only my first time sick in Africa). If y'all could pray for the health of my team that would be great. There's all the chit chat and small talk, and here's a little bit about how my week went.

I started working in the fields on Tuesday and worked there Wednesday & Friday as well. I work with a group of 6 guys that are full time staff farmers on the farm I work at. The farm like I mentioned in my last blog is located on an orphanage. I work 8am-1pm out in the fields and about 80 percent of the work is done by hand. It is good, hard labor, and I absolutely love it. The Farm manager's name is Robert. He is a born again Christian, and it has been really cool to pour into Robert and encourage Him in his walk with the Lord. He has only 15 kids, and pays for all of them but one to go to school. Her name is Lundo and I'll send a picture to you of her next week. I prayed about sponsoring her, and I know God wants her to go to school. She is the only one out of his kids that he can't afford the school fees. So yea that's costing about 200 American dollars for a years fees. She really is like a daughter to me, and I love her with all my heart. Sometimes I wonder where all that love comes from ;) Robert's farm contract comes up again in February, and he thinks he will be losing his job. Please pray for Robert that the Lord will bless him with another contract for this farm. He is my brother in Christ, and I know God will be faithful to your prayers for Him. The other guys I work with are Themba, Sanele, Culani, Spico, John, and a 14 year old kid Fundo. I have been working with these guys a lot and am part of there group now. They are teaching me the language and while we work together they're getting curious why I'm out in the field with them. They know about Christ, but not a life walking with Him. I've been talking a lot to Culani and Sanele. They are the 2nd youngest of our group. They are both 22 years old, and ministry is going great with them. We are really compattible and are becoming really good friends. Stand in the gap with me brothers and sisters and lets pray the blood of Jesus over these guys. Pray that Christ pours His grace and love out of me and they come to the Lord with repentance. Pray that God will regenerate these guys hearts and so not only will they be co-workers, but also brothers in Christ!

On Tuesday I harvested maize all day. It was really a pretty good time, and we were very efficient. These guys are hard workers. On Wednesday, we put on insecticide by hand. We only had enough for 2 of our maize fields. It was a mix for cutworms and corn bore. After that we started pulling the old irrigation hoses out of the tall corn and put them in our really long onion field. My last day of work was Friday, and we worked hoeing weeds all day in one of the 9 maize fields we farm. There were a crap ton of weeds, but we finished off three fourths of the field in five hours. We did manage a nice mango break at around 12. And cool mangos taste pretty good in the heat of the day. The few days at the farm was incredible. I went to the hospital on Thurday and Saturday this week. I spent some time with a 2 year old named Nombuso and her mother Nobushley. Her daughter is just getting over a bad Pnemonia (I know that one is spelled wrong). She will be out of the hospital soon though. On Saturday my team did family ministry at the hospital. I learned how to make a couple different balloon animals. We got to talk to a lot of women there and pray for their babies health. I also got to sing some and dance a litte for them. They said they like it, but who knows they could have just been saying that to be polite. Pray that as I continue to pour into these people that God will continue to fill me up each day. Please pray for my time in His word to be blessed, and that I'll hear Him when he talks to me. Know brothers and sisters that His prescense is with you. I love you all, and hope to hear more about your lives. Keep the emails coming. Thanks for your prayers,

Meloce (Sheppherd)