Joelle in Swaziland

Friends

2011-08-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

When we first moved to Swaziland, I was excited, a new home, new friends, I was excited to start school and our new life.I was excited just to be here, I had my other missionary friends...well, actually, I only had one person that was my age and a missionary, she was my best friend for so long! We did everything together, we played and talked about things that we couldn't talk about with other people, my relationship with God was great, and she had something to do with that, she was amazing!

When I started school I started hanging out with other people, but I was never as close to them as I was to her.But she didn't go to my school, she didn't even go to a school, she was home schooled. That didn't stop us from being best friends though.

I was in grade 5, a grade when most girls need their friends most of all, I needed my friend most of all! My parents were having trouble at work, and my friend's parents and my parents worked together. My parents were talking about doing other things, outside of the ministry they were in, and I thought it sounded great! But the ministry they were in needed them to stay focused on their work, and my parents agreed to stay focused. In my parent's hearts, they new that God wanted them to be doing something different though, and they had to obey God so after a while they left.

The relationship I had with my best friend, seemed to leave with my parents. I stopped going over, and started hanging out with friends from school, I didn't have anyone else! I am in grade 7 now, and my old best friend is gone, she moved back to the States with her family when her grand father died, she moved earlier this year. I still don't have a christian best friend, I barely even have a christian friend, and a person needs a christian friend to help them stay strong in their faith. I was ready to give up, but I know that God is my Friend, and that He loves and cares for me, and in His timing He will give me a new best friend!

People

2011-03-03T06:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday something happened to me that has never happened before, something that I thought would not happen to me, something I prayed would not happen to me. How many of you have ever been betrayed? If you have then you know that it stinks and is one of the worste things that could happen. Why are people so mean, why are they so selfish and self centred? Why is the only thing they care about themselves, not all people are like this, but some can be a real pane.

So yesterday I was playing netball, it is kind of like basketball except when you have the ball you are not allowed to move. So I was playing netball with my team, and I am usually a GS which stands for goal scorer and my 'friend', Gilliana is a GA which stands for goal attack. But yesterday, our coach moved me to a GA, and there can only be one GA in a team, so Gilliana told the coach that I would be 14 at the end of the year and got me off the team. Just so that she wouldn't have any competition because she is usually the one in the spotlight, she got me off the team. It wasn't even fare because when I turn 14 it will be after school closes, on the 18 of December, but just because she was scared I might take her place on the team she made sure I couldn't get on to it.

While all of this time she had been saying she was my friend and that we will always be good friends, she goes and does that, how do you do that to someone? Please just tell me how you can call yourself a friend and then betray someone like that. And eveyone on the team is mad at her because this doesn't just affect me, but everyone else that is 14.

People are cruel, but there is One that loves you and would never do that to you, never do anything to hurt you, and His name is Jesus! I know that He loves me more than any and that He doesn't care if I am on the team or not! Because He knows what it feels like! He has been through it all, so if you ever are betrayed or feel sad and mad at the same time, just call on Him!

The U.S.A

2010-12-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

Back in the U.S for a visit, loving it!!! It has been 4 years since I have seen my family and it has been so fun and great just to see every one and catch up on everything that has been going on. The problem is that some of my family lives in Baton Rouge and the rest in Baltimore, and traveling everywhere in between! So driving back and forth hasn't been so fun but seeing family and just being with family has been awesome.

We got here on the 5th of December and boy let me tell you, it was a long trip. We missed a few flights here and there so it took much longer to get here, and then we had to drive 8 hours to get to the hotel we were going to stay at. When we finally got there I collapsed on the bed and was out until the next day, afternoon! Had a good week there and then headed to Baton Rouge to visit grandma, aunt, uncle and two cousins, along with the best family friends you could ever imagine. Had a good week there and then traveled to Baltimore. Having a good time, just relaxing most of the time.

So glad to be back, it is going great, and I will be sad when we have to leave but glad to have come!

This is truly, Swaziland

2010-05-10T05:48:00.000-07:00

Swaziland is truly a beautiful country but some of the things that the people do in it, are just sad and wrong. I don't agree at all at how they treat people, what I saw with my own eyes last Friday was just wrong and so sad, what could I have done?

Last Friday I was walking in town with my sister, brother and mom, we were buying new clothes for my brother. My mom's close friend worked in one of the shops by the parking lot so we stopped by to say hello, my mom and her friend got to talking when one of the people in the room said, oh my gosh, isn't that your shoe guy Audry? Audry was the friend of my moms. So Audry looked out side and the parking guards, the PARKING guards were beating, very hardly, beating this man right in front of us. Audry looks at him and said no, that's not him but why are they beating him so bad? My mother's face was so sad that it made me sad, she wanted to go out there and tell them to wait for the police to come but we stopped her because we knew it would be no use and she could have gotten hurt.

We carried on shopping and on the way back, like two hours later we left, but before we left, my mom had to figure out what had happened to the man and why were the guards beating him.So she went back to Audry and she said that he had stolen something from Shop Right and that they kept beating him so he kept trying to run away and that he was bleeding everywhere and there was blood all over the parking lot so she called the police but by the time they got there the man had run to the bus rank, Audry said that he was so badly hurt that he couldn't run that fast so they caught him at the bus rank and probably beat him to death there.

Real Friends

2009-09-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

All my life I have been searching for a Real friend and I forgot the ones I already had,I looked and looked and kept looking but my real friends were right in front of me. You see I used to find every way possible to dislike my friends and go looking for new ones, but now I am starting to see the love and care and ...well the good side of my friends I have now and I see how selfish I had been and I think to my self God has blessed me in so many different kinds of really good friends.

For example , I have known this girl named Kayla for about 6 years now and we used to fight all the time I mean I would come to her house for just one night and we would have like three fights in one night, it was crazy but now you look at us and we are fine, no more than fine best friends and loving life just the way it is, and I am happy really, really happy!

Moving

2009-07-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

We are moving next week , I am not very exited because I love my house my house now that I have been living in for about five years now but it is amazing how we got the house so I am going to tell you about it.

It was at the beginning of may our landlady (the owner of our house ) gave us really bad news , of course my mom told me not to worry and it was her job to do that kind of stuff but I am old enough to under stand what was going on so basically we had to start looking for a house before someone found ours . My mom was so sad that I don't think I saw her smile for the longest time , we looked at house after house after house but there always seemed to be someone right before us that took the house. I think we looked at about four houses before we found our new home.

Well all of our luck was about to turn the other way around ! So one night my mom needed
to take a break so she went out with some of her friends and she was just talking about how things had been and that we are looking for a house and someone that she had never met before that was with one of her friends started talking to her and getting to know her ,well finally she said well my husband and I are moving in July if you want to come look at my house, my mom asked how much was the rent and how many rooms are there? The lady looked at my mom and said there five bedrooms ,two gust rooms and the rent is seven thousand a month. My mom asked immediately when could we come and see it? The lady said you can come anytime you like.

It was about a week or so after and a Sunday afternoon. My mom took us to the house and immediately we all fell in love with it.We made the arrangements and we were all set for the end of July.......until we got a call from our landlady saying she found someone who wants it and we have to be out by the middle of July which was a problem because they would only be out by the end of July ,my mom stared worrying again , when we found out that the couple were moving early so we could come into the house so weks have gon by and now we are moving on this Tuesday! Wish us luck!

Houses

2009-04-27T03:41:00.000-07:00

In the past three or four weeks my family and I have been looking for houses. It has been a disaster , what I mean by that is we have had no luck at all, we have at leased looked at five houses and it is so hard to find a house with five or even four bedroom. It is hardest on my mom because she was the one who had to call everyone and go see all of these horrible looking houses and each time she would go to a house the more she would loose hope in ever finding one big enough and enough space for my dad to work.The second to last house we saw was in such bad condition , I could see my mom was finished. Her face was red and I thought to my self , will we ever find a house that is in good condition?

I had been telling everyone that we had been looking for a five or four bedroom house, and yesterday we got a phone call from a lady that goes to our church saying that she was moving and it would be fine if we would like to look at the house. Well we did and it was perfect . It had five bedrooms inside and a double garage with two extra bedrooms and it had the most beautiful yard with flowers on the fence and we could build a big garden with a lot more space left . The only thing we would have to do is put up a fence on one side to separate our dogs. When I looked at my mom I could see she was all yes and for the first time in a long time I saw my mom smile!

Now all we have to do is wait until September and then our new home is ready!

How I feel

2009-03-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Me as a child can only do so much, that is why I got blog so I can tell people around the world how I feel ! I am turning twelve in December and I only feel about nine because for one I am in grade five when I am supposed to be in grade six and people in my class treat me like I`m nine so that's how old I feel . I know I'm not a teenager but I`m almost there , Ive been saying that ever since I was about seven and now I am getting told by everyone how I should stay the same when I am a teenager , but then other people say it is impossible to stay the same. So know I`m just confused about everything. My best friend is two years younger than me and most people think she is older than my because that is how I act . Well they say so anyway! I am told that I look older than I really am every once in a while!!!!!!! I love grade five because the work is easier and I am the oldest in my class. My best friends name is Ysabella ,she helps me get through a lot of stuff , and she is (almost) not scared of anything. She was not a christian before I met her but now she comes to church with me most every Sunday and has given her life to Jesus!!!! Now I have someone to grow up with! I thank God for bringing her into my life and just thank Him for bringing my someone hew can teach me a few things herself. I think her and I will be friends for a very long time!!!!!!!!!

People in Swaziland

2009-03-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I go with my mom to the place that she works,and it`s hard to stand there and act like I`m okay,and happy when I look at them because it`s sad to see all of them just siting waiting for something good to happen in their life because most Swazi's have either H.I.V. or T.B. but God wants to use me to help all of them and to be there for them because they are no different than anybody I know. I know that I live in Swaziland so I can experience the life that they go through every day. I know that I will never be a Swazi but I love them like I am there sister !

I used to say to my mom that when I go to town with her or even when I am at school where everyone is happy and talking with their friends.So I say: mom it`s like a whole new world when I am with her at a rural area seeing all of these sick children and adults just sad all the time , but the funny thing is when they see us they are as happy as can be, that is why it is hard to see how they really feel. But I know as a child the best job I can do is love them and play with them and just have fun and not worry about anything just for once be them and see how they play and what games they play! Most of the time I forget where I am!

Me!!!!!

2009-03-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am exited about blogging, even though I am only eleven years old I have a lot of stuff to write about, but first I want to introduce myself.As you all know I am 11 years old, I have 6 pets and go to the best primary school in Swaziland,well at least I think so! Its name is Sifundzani primary .
All of my brothers and sisters go to high school but I don't mind!Well while we are on the subject , I have one brother and two sisters,I am the youngest out of my WHOLE family but again I don't mind.I play a lot of sports such as swimming ,field hockey,soccer, basketball and netball.I also do gymnastics.