well right now im sitting in an internet cafe, in the middle of madina ( i think, maybe? ) ... its a city in swaziland. this week has been amazing. i love swaziland. i dont even know how to begin filling everyone in on whats been happening. there is simply too many stories and too many amazing things god has blessed me with to begin telling. ill fill you in on swazi a little bit... its the worst country in the nation for aids. i think they said 60% have aids, and t he rest havent been tested. by 2050 the country will not exist due to aids. swaziland is ALOT of mountains. its a lot greener then south africa. i love it here. the people are so friendly. this past week i have got to visit a carepoint where AIM feeds children, i visited the worst hospital in the world, and i went to a squatter camp. the hospital was incredibly hard for me. i was so excited but i got there and it tore me up inside. when i say hospital, its nothing like a hospital from america. they have wards... female, male, children, etc. i only went in the female ward... all of the ladies in there are in one big room. i almost felt like it was a "war" hospital. pretty much everyone who is in there is dying of aids. i sat with an 18 year old girl who was losing her mother to aids. i cant imagine going through that. she's only a year younger then me... and she's losing her mother. it was so hard. it brought tears to my eyes thinking about losing my mom. i cant imagine. i prayed for her and we took her and bought her a sprite and stuff. i think it was good for her to get up. she cried when i prayed for her but she was so strong sitting there. the squatter camp is a goverment owned piece of land where people just squat the land. its illegal to live there but they live in little tiny mud and stick shacks. italked to one woman who had lost her husband... she told me she had 6 kids but she had lost 4 of them. they dont come out and tell you that someone died of aids... in swazi its like shameful to say that. but thats what everyone dies from. its so sad. the carepoint was reallly fun. we sat and played with children. i sat and hung out with teenage girls. they braided my whole head. one girl sat down and talkedto me. she was in seventh grade and said that next year she couldnt go to school. and i asked why and she said that she lost her whole family (died of aids) and she was living with her aunt. but her aunt cant afford to send her next year. seh said she wanted to go to college like me someday. that was her biggest goal to graduate high school and go to college. she cried. we take college and high school forgranted so much in the us. this girl wanted taht more then anything else in the world. it broke my heart. we are living in a huge house in swazi. there are maybe 60 of us in the house? bunk beds everyone. except the kitchen. its fun though. the first night i slept in the bedroom but then me and a girl decided to take our matresses out to the balcony. so we've been sleeping onthe balcony. its so amazing. ive never slept so good in my life. pretty much half my team is now out there. i fall asleep at night looking at the lights of the city cause our house pretty much is up on a mountainish. the whole country is full of mountains. its amazing. mom & dad you dont know this yet because i havent called you yet... but over christmas break im going to india for 8 days. my leaders here are going because they established an orphanage & they're doing this huge christmas program thing and clothing children. i really felt like i wanted to go so i talked to my leader and she said she would love for me to go. i would have to buy a plane ticket. about a thousand dollars. and then pay the missionary price of 300 dollars for living expenses. but if i could raise more it would helpso much. everyone who reads this im asking you to please pray for me that i can raise the money. i feel god is calling me to go to india and it means the world to me. i dont know how to raise the money... im in africa? but i know that god can provide for me. if i go to india it would be dec 15-22. and then ill be back in jeffreys bay for 3 weeks. pleaseeee pray for me. i want to go to india sooo bad. it would be like 5 of my leaders and 4 people coming from the states. im sorry i havent been able to talk to anyone. its really hard, i only get one free day (internet and phone) a week. and its so expensive to call from swazi. i go to jeffreys bay next saturday. i will have internet and phone whenever i need. i hope everything is going great! thanks for all of the prayers and support. i love you all!

oh yeah... my school email got deleted. cool i know. so if anyone has emailed me in the past week... i havent got it. soo my new email address is raelynn.chambers@gmail.com