As I was reading HOPE LIVES HERE to prepare to travel to Project Canaan for the first time, I was struck with this holy anticipation when I first read the words “Feed My Starving Children” across those pages. I realized the partnership they hold and what God had already set up to be a full circle moment in my life and it stopped me in my tracks.

My youth days and my present, (already-over-a-year-out-of-college-what-am-I-doing) young adult days…I wonder, how could the Lord work out these details of my life that I would have no way to connect but now!? Growing up serving at FMSC, I haven’t lived in Illinois for over 3 years now and Tennessee doesn’t even have a FMSC packing location!

(ALTHOUGH as a note, please let this be my PSA that we need to make a petition to make this happen in Middle TN, thank you and amen.)

What I want to share about this is – He truly does think of it all. He cares about even those miniscule details of your heart and life. He knew the push my heart would need, He knew my small time back at home (moving back to TN mere weeks earlier after living in OKC for half a year) was going to be the time I needed to soak this book in, stir my spirit and register in mind and body what I was about to go and do, though I had no idea what I would experience in Africa. It was His kindness and His mercy, in which He blessed me, even before my feet hit the ground in Johannesburg. He brought me back to the beginning, to child-like faith, to adolescence.

What YEBO Means & How it Moved Me

The very first word I learned before stepping into Eswatini was “Yebo”. It means yes, it is a response to greeting someone, and from what I have seen, it is a proclamation or expression of excitement; a positive exchange.

What sat with me during my week in Eswatini was this phrase over and over quietly in my head, every time I heard “yebo”. It was this peaceful breath that whispered over me – “Let your yes be yes and your no be no”. Africa taught me and reminded me daily, that our decisions matter.

As some already know, my yes to Africa was given during a time period where everything whirled around me. I had to just choose it through the noise. In retrospect, I see this decision for what it really was: it was the silence in the torrential rains, the stillness in the tornado around me mentally, spiritually and emotionally. It was the Lord’s “yebo”. When I felt no way of knowing anything for certain, when I struggled with my daily steps, He remained patient and waiting.

When that time came, I had to trust that yes in faith OVER any flesh that called me to overthink if (or when) fear or doubt would creep in, due to my world spinning too fast around me. The Lord safeguarded my yes to Africa, boarding it up and keeping His defenses high to not let my personal circumstances beforehand keep me from this sweet gift ahead of me. In doing so, the Father answered a lifelong prayer through Project Canaan, Heart for Africa and the many people I have met – all of which have been far better than my young middle schooler heart could’ve ever fathomed 12 years ago, when this desire to go was born.

When I said yes to Africa, unsure what the months before were going to bring or if/when I would prepare, little did I already know, the Lord had already brought everything together for His good.

The Father was already preparing a place for me when I couldn’t see past my own self. I saw only right in front of me, but He could see the bigger, grander picture. The Lord was not overcome by my earthly things, wavering like the waves in the here and now like I do; rather He holds peace in the secret place for us.

Saying yes, brought me to Eswatini, to Project Canaan, to new friends from Canada and Taiwan, Atlanta and California, and even back to Chicago. But that is not all that it did: through my time there, yes to Africa renewed my faith, it sparked joy in my life, showed me hope like I have never seen, through the love of people I can’t believe I didn’t know previously.

These things were largely in part to Project Canaan, but also from getting into the community, observing life at the homestead and attending the feeding program at the rural church – and the Lord’s provision more clearly than ever, throughout.

Your yebo matters.

The week I got back into the states, I wrote in my journal a little reflection as a form of worship about a glimpse of Heaven in Eswatini and it went like this:

I hope that as you have read this, you are encouraged that the Father knows you to your inmost being, and that He will complete all of your circles, making your world round again, and drawing you back to Him daily.

I hope you are also reminded of the impact of YOUR yes. If you’re considering going on mission or have the curiosity to see these things firsthand – come to Africa, witness Project Canaan and the Kingdom of Eswatini for yourself. You never know who you may meet, what you may experience or what lives may be impacted.

It may very well be your life that is changed.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” -
James 1:27

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well… Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
- Psalms 139: 13-14, 23-24.

Shelby Skorup, November 2024 Trip Participant

Is 2025 your year to say YEBO? Click the links below to learn more about how you can experience Eswatini!