February 12, 2008

Thursday February 7, we went to visit with Kakotji, a grandfather from a homestead in the rural area an hour away. We met Kakotji and his wife Esther the Saturday before at the hospital in Manzini. He caught my eye because he was sitting in a wheelchair by himself in the corner of the outdoor waiting area. We met with him and found out his situation. There was a security guard and a town official standing nearby who translated for Lindsey and me. We asked how we could find Kakotji at the hospital if we came back to visit and they ended up giving us directions to his homestead.

            So we promised to visit on Wednesday, but we thought that we had missed the bus that would take us that day. Lindsey, Ben, and I waited around for 2 or 3 hours in hopes that the bus would come, but it never did. We ended up meeting a pastor waiting for another bus. It was an awesome blessing to talk with him. The Lord had other plans for us that day.

            Since we had made a promise we felt so bad that we had broken it, so we decided to try again on Thursday. We arrived earlier on Thursday. We got to the bus rank at 8:30 and waited around until 10:30. The bus finally came. The Lord totally had his hand over us that day. As soon as we sat down on the bus a man asked us if we were going to visit his cousin, and told us that he would tell us where to get off and how to get there.

            When we finally got off the bus the man directed us like he said he would. As we began to walk down the dirt road all of the children began to follow us. Then a man walked up and introduced himself as "blessed"(that's what his name translates into). He turned out to be Kakotji's son. And he spoke really good English. Again the Lord just had his hand in our visit so much. He not only directed us without any problems, but he provided someone to translate. Blessed is 32 and has 5 children from different mothers.

            We entered Kakotji's home along with all of the children. The children turned out to be some of Kakotji's grandchildren. His home has two rooms. The room we sat in was plain cement with one bed, two chairs, and a cat. We apologized for not coming the day before and we discovered that the bus did not run at all on Wednesday. Blessed told us that they had prepared a meal for us and invited all of their family the day before. We asked Kakotji if the doctor saw him after we left on Saturday and he told us no. He said he was very angry, but he was so happy that the Lord sent us to pray for him that day. It just stinks that he had traveled so far and waited so long, and he didn't even get to see a doctor. He also told us that he wanted us to pray for him again and for his deaf granddaughter. She is very shy and sweet. When you look at her she just smiles and looks away.

            It was such a humbling day. We brought a few apples and bananas, and they gave us many berries and a big pumpkin. They also fed us. They gave us the chairs and Kakotji is crippled and sat on the bed the whole visit while everyone else sat on the floor.We were able to wash Esther and Kakotji's feet and pray for them. We ended up praying for Kakotji, Esther, Blessed, a three month old baby, two men who just happened to walk by, and the little deaf girl. One of the men was having trouble with his foot, and the other just wanted prayer. I really believe the Lord wants to heal the granddaughter.

            I was so blown away of how sweet our time was with Kakotji and his family. We were only able to spend an hour and a half with him, because the bus was only returning at one particular time. The Lord blessed our time so much and we plan to visit again in the next week.