Note from GapFill.org’s Founder: Inspired By Obedience. When I think about being "inspired by obedience", I think of Kay and John West. I first met Kay West at our college Moms In Touch (now called Moms in Prayer) prayer group. She was praying for her college son Zack and I was praying for my college daughter Ashley. Kay, I and a group of fabulous moms met weekly for six years to pray for our college children. During that time the Lord called Kay and her husband John to serve in Swaziland. They had gone on several "short-term" mission trips but at some point God wanted more. So for one year I watched Kay and her family prepare to leave. They prayed, solicited prayer from their church and friends, and had numerous garage sales to sell their belongings, which included a beautiful home in Phoenix, Arizona. They packed everything they had remaining into two crates that were then shipped to Swaziland, and their adventure began. I remember one time when John and Kay were in our home and I asked John why he felt he needed to sell his home. He said, "It was just stuff that was gong to rust anyway", referring to the verse in Matthew, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6: 19-21)...I think that said it all!
Meet John and Kay West
Their Mission
James 1:27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…
John West with Swazi Children
First and foremost, as followers of Christ, we are compelled to respond to the desperate need of the orphans and widows. Our primary task will be that of overseeing the building and administration of a children's home. Each household will be comprised of eight children and one woman with no living offspring of her own, who will raise the children as her own through adulthood. Over time, this children's home will become self-sustaining through farming and livestock management. The children will be an integral part of this enterprise, learning valuable lessons while helping raise enough food for their own use, as well as to sell for income to meet the other needs of their household. A Christian education will be a paramount part of their upbringing.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples...
Swazi Women
While running the children's home will be a huge responsibility, we believe that one-on-one discipleship is biblically mandated and the only long-term solution to Swaziland’s multiple problems. This will be a second facet of our ministry there. John will begin discipling men, sharing biblical truths about a man’s God-ordained responsibilities in society and in a family. Kay will reach out to women, incorporating her expertise in grief counseling and mentoring women in biblical womanhood. Jeremy, our son, will minister to the youth, sharing Gospel truth to the next generation in which there is real hope for change.
Their Vision
We have a big God and He has given us a big vision. Our dream for the future is to help build a church and a hospice on the property where the children's home will be located. In addition, John’s background in marketing will be put to use helping widows to start small businesses. Most of all, we are passionate about sharing Christ with a rapidly dying population. Many Swazis we’ve known have already died—it is personal to us. Our hearts break with anguish over those who don’t know the comfort of facing an eternity with Jesus. John and Kay West are missionaries in Swaziland ( A country slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey, ruled by the world’s last absolute monarch. An African kingdom of approximately one million people…who are dying at an astonishing rate) .
Visit the “Current Needs” tab on the GapFill.org website to see how you can help the West Family as they serve the Swazi people.