Swazi Pictures

Hey everyone! We had hoped to be able to take the blogs we wrote on the computer and use them on the computers at the local nursing college. Unfortunately, I didn't think to convert them to an older version of microsoft word. So this is an abbreviate blog, and hopefully we will be able to get online this Friday when we go to South Africa and post again. But I don't want to leave everyone hanging. We have been very busy with clinics and working getting ready for clinics. We've done three clinics so far, each of which has been very special. We've also gotten to see hospital patients two of the days, including patients with HIV, tuberculosis, and a variety of other diseases. We've gotten to see the care point that our church sponsors and even meet the boy that we sponsor at that site. We got to give out operation Christmas Child boxes, been able cloth hundreds, and provide glasses and medicines. We've done clinics in arid locations and in the mountains. We've gotten the chance to see hundreds of Swazis in that time. It really has been an incredible blessing to see the faith of some of the Swazis and to know God is at work here. So here's some pictures until we get a chance to put out some full blogs........Well, I guess that doesn't work real well either. I hope we can get a few posts out soon to let you in on what's happening here. Thanks for praying for us. God has kept us safe and keeps giving us opportunities to serve. I hope we can continue to see God at work here.

What God's Done

We always thought the adventure would start once we took flight to Swaziland. Little did we know that He would be taking us through this adventure every step of the way before we even left! It has honestly been so incredible to see how God has provided and moved to get everything ready for the trip. He has truly filled His promise to provide far above what we ever even imagined. So... giving Him the glory, we want to recap some of the things he has done to get us ready.
1. God linked us up with the Luke Commission (TLC). We had been praying about a way to serve doing a mobile clinic in Swaziland, possibly even going there full time to do so. God slowed us down and said, through some friends, to go short term first. So we looked for an opportunity. We googled mobile medical and Swaziland, and there they were! Amazingly, Harry Vanderwal, the doctor with TLC is an internal medicine/ pediatrics doctor just like Andy, which is not that common of a specialty. So we linked up with a doctor in the same field, in the country we were looking at, doing exactly what we were looking at doing. Coincidence? I think not.
2. God has provided abundantly. We have to be honest about something. When we thought and prayed about fundraising and writing our letter, we knew that we needed $8100, which got revised down to $7400 after we got the airplane tickets at a lower price than expected (another God movement!) We needed just about $6000 to send to TLCfor the trip, the rest was for the flights, passports, immunizations, etc. Honestly, we were just hoping to get maybe $2000-3000. YE OF LITTLE FAITH! So far, with our last report which was May 27th, we are over $8000 in support, and it has been from over 50 families and individuals. God has also provided duffle bags for the trip. A HUGE thanks to everyone who has joined us on this journey helped us follow Gods direction.
3. God has move in His timing for our trip. Initially, we were planning on June 12th through July 1st. Moving the date back to the 2nd got us flights for substantially less, so we changed. We were planning on spending the last few days with some missionaries who stayed at our house this last year. Unfortunately, we learned near Memorial Day they had to leave their home and wouldn't be able to house us. So off we went to the internet to try to find new plans. We found a cheap but nice guest house to stay for our last few days. We didn't kow that God was going to provide for that extra expense. We were going to have to stay in a hotel in Swaziland the first two nights there, but the Vanderwal's called and asked us to start a few days earlier. Since they were going to provide a place to stay, we no longer had to use the hotel.
4. Prayer support. We knew beforehand that we would need prayer in preparation for this trip. Andy is meeting for discipleship with a man named Reed, who is such a prayer warrior. We have gotten lots of prayers and encouragment from Wendy's Bible study group. We had dinner with some friends and supporters, Kevin and Patti Diffee, who spent time at the end of our meal praying for us (and doing so in a notoriously liberal resturant). We had a commissioning and prayer time from our church Woodmen Valley Chapel by 6 incredible Godly women, who I know will be praying routinely. They also sent us off with packets of goodies to encourage us during our time in Swaziland. Last, tonight we had our Souled Out commissioning, where Brian Carlson, friends, and the junior high students prayed over us for our trip. It's a blessing to know that so many have been praying and we will have lots of prayer warriors covering us during our trip. God is teaching us how to depend on the body of Christ.

It has been just incredible to see God's movement. A supporter told us that if you see God moving so much behind this, He must be wanting to do great things while we are there. We did want to let you know a few things before we go. First, we will only have dial up internet in Swaziland, so we likely won't be able to update the blog while we are there. Second, we do want to try to send out an email or two if we can, so if you want an update, send us your email at awingram@msn.com. Last, we have LOTS of time on the plane, so we'd love the chance to pray for you. We have been praying for many of you already and it is such a blessing to do so. Just email us your requests and we will pray for you from the heavens (in flight).