Great to be in the Kingdom!

“Greater Love has no one than this:  to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – John 15:13

Our Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Swaziland!  We’ve been back in Swaziland for almost 2 months now.  As Zwakele & I talked the other day, our time in America seemed so distant, like it just flew by.  Being back in the States is predominantly a “working trip.”  While we did take some time to rest, we were also incredibly busy.  Even so, there was so much we didn’t get done, and many people we wished we could have spent time with.  We really wished we would have had a few more weeks there…

However, it HAS also been GREAT to be back in The Kingdom of Swaziland.  It’s been wonderful to reconnect with the amazing people that we work and do life with on a daily basis.  The normal parts of our Swazi life resumed:  Thandeka attending school, and Zwakele and I ministering in our different partnerships.  We jumped right back into our routine of big group teachings, meeting with people 1 on 1, speaking at church, & working in the rural areas both at care points and home visits.  

Challenges Came Quickly!                                                                                                                      On the 24^th of October, while driving on a rural road we punctured the oil pan on our car.  We were far from home in a very deep rural area.  When we broke down we really had that “middle of nowhere” feeling.  There was no help around us for miles, it was a nice 100 degrees (sarcasm implied), and we ended up being stuck on the road for 6 hours! 

The car was just fixed last week, and at a cost of about $500.  This was a big unexpected financial hit to us for sure, kind of a “one step forward, 2 steps back feeling.”  But we Praise God that He really helped us in this situation and gave us wisdom.  FIRSTLY:  As we drove we never heard the hit or knew that we punctured the oil pan.  There was no huge bump!  But thankfully, I saw the oil light flash on the dash, and immediately stopped the car.  As my mechanic said “It’s good that you stopped the car, if the car had stopped itself, we would have a totally different situation!”  I.E. an overheated & ruined engine.  SECONDLY:  When we broke down we were a 2.5 hour drive from home.  When we finally reached different towing companies, they were going to charge us $350 just to get us back to home.  This is a crazy cost, and they were really taking advantage of our “remoteness.”  But the Lord provided a close friend who organized a vehicle and a flatbed trailer and towed us all the way home for about $100 total. So there was much to be thankful for, even amidst a challenging situation!       

  

Here is a new version of the part that caused all of the trouble! 

Will you Pray with us?                                                                                                                             Please pray that we would end 2017 on a strong note!  In the next few weeks we have many different ministry events that will be serving in.  Our heart’s cry is that Jesus would be glorified through us and that people will encounter Him as they meet us.  One specific request is that we will be helping at a Sports Ministry Camp from the 11th until the 15th of December!  There will be 55 high school aged kids from different rural areas.  Will you please pray that God would greatly impact these young people for His Kingdom?  Also please pray that the LORD would use & work powerfully through those of us who are staffing the camp!  I will be speaking for one of the sessions at the camp and serving throughout the rest of the days.         

A Few Praises
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We gathered on Thanksgiving with about 20 other Americans and had a great meal together!  It wasn't the same as being home with family, but it was the 2nd best possibility.  Another praise we would like to share is Thandeka completing her preschool and getting ready to enter 1st grade in January.  We are so happy for her, & can't believe she has grown so much!  The picture below was taken on her Preschool Graduation:     

Thank You!                                                                                                                                            Thank you so much for your love, prayers, & financial support to us.  We only have one supporting church, which is Kenmore Alliance Church.  We so appreciate the way the church, and individuals have laid down their lives for us.  We couldn’t serve here without your love!   

God bless you all!
Dennis, Zwakele, Thandeka, & Busani Brock

Greetings From The USA!!!

Our Dear Friends & Family,

Hello!!! Greetings from the USA!  We flew from Johannesburg South Africa to the USA on the 25th of July.  

We came to celebrate my Parents 50^th Anniversary!  What an Accomplishment that is!  It has been such a blessing to be back in Buffalo - to connect again with family, and our friends @ our home church of Kenmore Alliance. And while we have been able to have some fun, It’s also been a busy “working trip."  

I (Dennis) had the great opportunity to preach @ all 4 services on the weekend of August 19 & 20th @ KAC.  We also had a wonderful time sharing with all the children of the K-5th Grade Sunday School.  Next, this Saturday (tomorrow), we will be sharing about our work in Catalyst Swaziland in a special Missions Breakfast.  Lastly, I’ll be sharing with the Jr. & Sr. High Youth Groups in the first week of October.  Will you please pray for us for these last couple speaking engagements?  Please pray that the Lord would use us to speak for His Glory!    

We are so thankful that we have been able to also have some fun while we've been in the USA!  We saw lots of animals @ the Buffalo zoo, played games at Chuck E Cheese, went bowling, & we were able to spend 3 full days at a Family Bible Camp down @ the Jersey Shore!  These fun times were really such a blessing for our family!  I have attached a couple pictures to check out.  

Thank you so much for standing with us as we continue to serve Jesus in Swaziland!  We really appreciate your love to us through your prayer & financial support!  We pray for you, our support team/family regularly!  May God bless you immensely!     

Another way to connect with us is through Facebook:  

Search for:  Zwakele Mamba Brock  as well as Catalyst Swaziland.

Dennis (for Zwakele, Thandeka, & Busani)

Happy New Year 2017

Our Dear Friends & Family,

We are now a week into 2017, and as our New Year has begun, our family wishes to say a huge "Thank You" for your continued love and support as we serve here in Swaziland!

We crossed over into 2017 at our awesome place of fellowship here in Swaziland: Healing Place Church (or HPC).  It was a great time of fun, fellowship,  thanking the Lord for His faithfulness in 2016, & seeking His face for 2017.

The vision the Lord gave our family for last year was: "Compassion, Discipleship, Catalyst!". It was a vision of focus, where the Lord was shaping our work into these 3 categories. 

Compassion: We as a family are called to compassionate ministry - to show the LOVE of Jesus in tangible ways to people that are suffering.  We want offer His Hope, not just in words, but also in action.  We are engaged in compassionate ministry at a few different locations, but our main work is @ the children's ward in the Mbabane Government Hospital.  Our goal is to consistently minister there at least once a week.  I'm so thankful that we were able be there nearly ever week in 2016!

The hospital is never a fun place to be admitted, and that's definitely the case here in Swaziland.  When looked at with human eyes, the hospital can seem a very depressing & rough place - the facilities are not the best, the level of care much lower than someone in the Western world would be used to, less access to needed meds, & it doesn't always look, sound, or smell good.  Mothers & Grandmother's need to live with the patient who is admitted in order to care and see to their needs.  It's not uncommon to have a child admitted for 1 month.  Recently, we knew a pair of twin babies that both suffered burns...they were admitted for nearly 3 months!

It's hard to live at any hospital for a length of time.  It's hard to see your child suffering and you feel like there is nothing you can do.  It's hard to see other parents (maybe even the one in the hospital bed next to you) lose their child, and you wonder "What's going to happen with my baby?" Again, when viewed with human eyes, things can seem hopeless, & death can seem to reign in this place.

But that's where God comes in!  He has sent us to be a light in the darkness! Where death seems to reign, we choose to speak the reality that "Jesus Christ Reigns in this place!" Where there is suffering, he uses broken vessels like us, to be a conduit of His LOVE & Compassion.  To be an extension and representation of His heart that says "I love you & I am with you in this suffering."

Really what a privilege it is to be an ambassador for Christ.  I am totally unworthy, but yet he still uses me to shine His Love. 

What do we do at the hospital?  Obviously, we pray for supernatural healing for the precious kids, pray for their caregiver, and speak the words of hope of the gospel, and words of comfort.  But this ministry is also a ministry of presence.  We spend time with the children and their caregiver.  We endeavor to be a listening ear. It's hard to be there, and so we want them to experience that someone is tangibly with them in this (& more importantly the Lord is with them).  We also believe that we should come with something: so we always bring some fruits to hand out, some gum and sweets, and as we can provide, small toys and/or crayons and coloring sheets.  Our goal is to share & show the love of Jesus, practically help, encourage, and bring joy, leaving a smile on someone's face. 

This ministry costs us about $20 dollars a week.  There were 3 times in 2016 that we didn't go because we simply didn't have the $20 to buy the supplies, & it's our passion that we need to have something practical to bless the patient. If it wasn't for our friends, family, & KAC for supporting us we could not do this. 

Please keep this ministry in prayer! Along with Zwakele & myself, we have 3 wonderful ladies as part of our team, who are dedicated week in and week out.  Please pray that the Lord would continue to use us as a source of His awesome love, hope, & comfort! 

God bless you!

In our next blog we will continue to share about these areas of vision and where we believe the Lord is taking us!