Returning to Sudan

Well the days in the states are coming to a close. I moved out of my house last Saturday, and moved in with my sister and brother-in-law for the time I have left here. What a blessing to be able to stay with them and have this time together. Stuff has been stored, Action Packers have been packed, unpacked, packed, unpacked, trying to get them down to 50lbs each. Have you ever thought about how... heavy dried fruit is????? So with one foot in the states the other foot in Africa and the rest of my body, going every which way, the time for farewells has started. I am thanking God for this time, for all that He has shown me, and for family (all family) What love has been shown. I will miss everyone here.

During my quiet time a few months ago when things were really hard God lead me to Jeremiah 12:5 "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan."

As decisions were made and meetings held God continued to bring me back to this passage, and I realized this isn't just for Sudan, it is for all of us where ever we are.

I choose to run with the horses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I leave for Sudan on Feb 6th. All praise and glory to God!!!!!

He Is The Way The Truth The Life

"For I know the plans I have for you" During my time here in Nairobi there have been many things to think and pray about, and one of those was whether or not I would be going back into Sudan before I go on home assingment in April. God has opened up the door for the team to start returning to Sudan and the flights to take us back in have started. However I will not be returning to Sudan at this time, there are many things involved in this decision. I share with you some of them. My back, which is better than it has been in several months, realizing that part of the reason for this is the ability to work out and swim, which I can do here in Nairobi, however it isn't quite that easy in Sudan.

The pastor and his wife from my church are coming to Nairobi in March to hold a conference for Kenya Pastors and their wives, and a prayer request from the SIM Sudan Director, sharing the needs in the office, one of those being logistics. "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Through all of this the Lord has impressed upon me that the gifts He has given me can better be used here in Nairobi for the next couple of months. God has opened up the door for me to join Pastor Stan and Mindy (from my home church) in the Pastor's conference in March. He has also given me the opportunity and blessing to be a part of the Logistics team at SIM Sudan to help facilitate the movement of the team back into Sudan, and also coordinate the flying in of 8 tons of medical supplies that was donated. I thank God for His direction.

My heart is in Sudan and it has been hard for me to let go and accept that I would not be going back in with my team. God is faithful, He has worked me through all of this and has seen many tears fall. Even when things are not as you think they will be, He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

I want to share with you some of the beautiful people God has brought into my life during this time in Sudan.

Bulus, Kamal, Roda, and Deborah

Katrina and Ester (team mate Karissa)

Rebeka and Hannah

Sani and Deborah (Mabaan Bora)

Gena (Grace) with Deborah

Elizabeth

Please continue to pray for Sudan, as they start the very hard task of rebuilding. Rebuilding Church and Nation.

God is faithful

Much has happened since the last time I posted to my blog, let me share some of what has been happening.

Sudan was facing a critical time in their history, the Referendum Vote was scheduled for January 9Th, this would be a vote to decide the future for south and north Sudan. So in preparation of this vote we as a team were brought off the field.

It was a time of many farewells, tears, laughter, and prayer. God allowed me to be a part of what He was doing in my village, and as I taught Mother Tongue literacy along with Sani and Daud (two mabaan translators that God provided), we were humbled as we watched ladies that couldn't read or write their mother tongue get to the point where they could read at a first grade level. My prayer was that I would be able to leave them with the Word of God in their language and that they would be able to read it. God answered that prayer. Thank you Jesus.

Katrina, Daud (teacher), Roda, Sani (teacher), Rebeka, Mary, Elizabeth, Mary. And the last picture is me with my Mabaan daughter and son. This was our time of giving thanks to God for what He has done, and honoring the women for their commitment.

God opened up the door of opportunity for Sani, Daud and I to go to the clinic two to three days a week and teach HIV/AIDS Awareness. We would do the teaching in three different languages, Mabaan (mother tongue), Arabic, and English. What you see in the background is the clinic which is showing the damage from the war. Those are bullet holes.

Remembering Yakob Aga Ollie

We will miss and remember Yacob with love and joy

Yacob Aga Ollie (1972-2010) is now in the presence of the Lord. Yacob and his wife, Tibarek arrived as newlyweds and have served the people of Sudan in Thiangrial, Atar and Yabus over the last 4 years. They were some of the first missionaries sent by the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church to Sudan.

Yacob was part of the development team initiating Basic Education Learning Centers in the first two locations. The Lord blessed as they saw people respond to the gospel, start churches and people grow in their faith. Some were their adult students who completed a grade 8 education under them.

Yacob has been sharing his talents at the Yabus Sudan Interior Church Secondary School for about the last 6 months. He fell ill with cerebral malaria on October 24 and was promoted to heaven on October 25, 2010

Yacob is survived by his loving wife, Tibarek Wondemu who followed her husband into harm's way. She has returned to Ethiopia with Yacob's body for the funeral in his home area.

Jesus' urgent command to us is to make disciples. Yacob was busy making disciples when the Lord took him. As we mourn his passing, we are energized and galvanized to continue making disciples in Sudan as our Savior commanded.

2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day."

We will miss Yacob and Tibarek (who will stay in Ethiopia) but thank God for their lives!

To God Be The Glory

Sitting outside under the awning of my tent, I watch as the Master Artist paints the sky.

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It has been quite a while since I was last able to post. There has been much happening, and I would like to share with you the ways that God is working here in Doro Sudan.

I arrived back in Sudan on August 2, 2010; and within 3 days of my arrival, it was clear that there would be a new compound built. (The name of this village is Emmanuel, which means "God with us".) The village is now where I live, along with Sani who was born in Sudan, but left with her family during the war when she was 2 years old. She was back for a short visit in 2008. She is God provision to assist me in teaching HIV/AIDS Awareness, Women literacy classes in mother tongue (which is Mabaan), and sharing the Word of God.

During this time of building, God has opened many doors for relationships to be built, and also provided a young man named Daud to join our team. So now there are three.

Some of the doors that have been opened for us to go and share our teaching and the Word of God are: the clinic, we go two days a week and teach HIV/AIDS awareness to those whom are waiting to be seen. Most of these have walked many hours to get to the clinic, and they may sit there all day before they are seen. We also to into the Nutrition Clinic (this village takes care of Mal-nourished children,) and on Wednesday's they have an outpatient day so many, many mothers come back with their children to be checked. It is a privilege to sit with these people both at the Nutrition Village and the Clinic. It is also so humbling when they share with you, and you realize the suffering they have and are going through. I pray that God would use us as His vessels to that they may know Christ.

Two days a week we teach the women to read and write their mother tongue. It has never been deemed necessary to educate girls. In a small way that is changing and we have the privilege of helping some of the women learn to read. What excitement it is when they are able to repeat the sounds of the letters. All of the women speak their mother tongue fluently, now they will be able to read and write it. During this time we are also able to share God's Word with them, and my prayer is, that they will get to know God in a deeper way, or if they truly don't know Him, that they will come to accept Him as their Lord and Savior and ask Him into their hearts. Pray that God's Kingdom would be advanced.

There was major flooding in the area in September, and all of the crops were lost and thousands of people were displaced and have lost their homes and everything they had, whole villages were flooded out.


The above are before and after pictures of the building of the compound
(Emmanuel's Village) The teaching is done outside, under a tree and is done in English, Arabic and Mabaan. The building that you see in back is the clinic it is one of the few buildings that survived the war. The building is full of bullet holes.


The women we teach work very hard and when they get to class they are very tired, but the desire to learn to read and write their mother tongue energizes them to come and learn. We always spend the last 30 minutes sharing God's Word and even though they are tired they listen so closely. God's Word is what gives them the strength .

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The flooding was bad and all the crops were lost. There were many days that the people would go out and swim in the river (what you see in the photo right above is the river which is about a 40 minute walk from us) and dive down and try to save whatever they could. At the writing of this there is still much flooding.

I know that there are many that read this blog that also pray for me and the people of Sudan and I would like to thank you for your prayers.

How is salvation received?: By believing. God's word says: "that if you confess with you mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Romans 10:9-10

"He makes winds His messengers..." Psalm 104:4

Jeremiah 1:9-10 Then the LORD reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over Nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

Along with the Pastor of my church, his wife and daughter (Stan, Mindy & Carly Blue) and myself, we flew into Sudan on January 20Th, to be a part of the pastor and women's conference having no idea what we would find. God prepared the path for the conference before the foundation, and He gave us the privilege of joining Him in what He was and is doing in Doro.

I share with you the work our Heavenly Father is doing: Upon our arrival in Doro we started having meetings with the SIC leaders, planning the conference times, the food, and who the translators would be, it was at this time that I was told Hadia my translator was no longer available, but there was another Hadia who would meet with us the next day. The next day we meant Hadia and from just talking with her a short time we realized that she would not be able to translate. God provided another meeting that afternoon with the leaders and I was able to talk to them about my concerns for a translator for the women's conference. They said we have one and you will meet her tomorrow. Praise the Lord. We walk by faith not by sight!!!

Saturday dawned and we all prepared to go to town. Upon our arrival I was told that the translator they had selected was no longer available, but they had another one in mind, after some minutes we found out that she was also not available, they introduced me to a young man but his English was very poor. I just lifted my hands to the sky and said "Father I know that you have opened the door for this women's conference, who will be able to translate there are no women translators?" Butrus was chosen (He is the choir leader for the youth) God's answer!!!

Mindy, Carly Blue, I and Butrus meant with the women over 50!!!!!!!!! came, Praise the Lord; Mindy shared her life, Carly shared her walk with the Lord, and I shared my life, as we talked to them and read scripture about God's faithfulness, His love, His grace. Oh as you looked at the sea of faces you see such beauty, but you think are they hearing? So much despair, bleakness, no hope. But as we continued to share scripture, you could see faces start to change. The Holy Spirit was present, and as He spoke to the women's hearts you could see them start to respond. For the women to be able to come and sit for a whole day, it doesn't happen here, God provided for these women to be still and listen. Praise the Lord as we asked if anyone had questions and many spoke up.

Please pray for the women here, their lives are very hard, and also continue to pray that God would bring to me a translator who will work side by side with me, so that the women can continue to hear about Jesus, and continue to grow in their walk with Him.

There are no words that can explain what God allowed us to be just a small part of on Sunday. We biked to town and Stan gave the message, there were so many, that they spilled out of the grass church and grouped around the doors, so that they could hear. Oh what a blessing as we joined in worship with all of our brothers and sisters, to hear worship in other languages, this is God's way of showing us just a little of what heaven is going to be like, when ever knee bows and ever tongues confesses that Jesus is Lord, and we all come together around His Throne of grace. Thank you Jesus. After church we broke bread with our Sudanese brothers and sisters in Christ.

Then we all came together men and women under a big baobab tree, and listened as Stan spoke on John 13; Jesus did not come to this earth to be served, He came to serve, at the last supper before His death, He washed the feet of His disciples. We are to be like Jesus, and we are to serve one another. Stan washed the feet of his wife Mindy, and then asked the pastors to wash the feet of their wives. You could feel the Spirit of the Lord, and we knew that God had prepared the hearts of the pastors.

This is a culture where husbands and wives do not sit together, do not eat together, and do not talk in public to each other, but God had prepared the path. The husbands went and got their wives and the foot washing started, oh how humbling to be such a small part of this. The women had never had their feet washed by their husbands, there was so much emotion, so many tears. I was also privileged to be able to wash the feet of many women and to be able to pray with them.

I cried as they cried, we saw brokenness, we watched as the Holy Spirit started healing old wounds, we saw forgiveness start, repentance as sins were confessed. Feet were washed, hearts were softened, and tears were shed. As God opened up the door Stan spoke on marriage, Eph 5, "Husbands are to love their wives as Jesus loves the church". As we sat there and listened there came a very strong wind out of the west, blowing leaves and things out of the tree all over us, this lasted for about 10 seconds. I believe the Holy Spirit was showing us He was present, and continuing to speak to the hearts and souls of those there.

There was a women that was standing away from the group, and one of the leaders came over and told us that she was struggling terribly, so we went and circled her in prayer, after that we asked her if she knew Jesus and if she could confess with her mouth that Jesus is Lord, she was not able to speak. We prayed and as we prayed the Holy Spirit touched her and took away the muteness. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. He is the Victor, and we had the privilege of leading this women to the Lord. Praise God.

Please continue to pray for the Pastor's, church leaders, and women that what God has started will continue. Pray for roots that run deep, soft hearts, continued healing, forgiveness, unity, for the pastors and their shepherding of their flocks.

As 2009 Comes To A Close

As 2009 comes to a close, I wish you God's richest blessings in 2010.

Happy New Year in the Lord

God's Beauty

Even in the dryness and brown of dry season, God provides color

The relationships that God is forming

God is about relationships, and even though I may not speak the same language as they do, there is no bridge that is to big for our Lord to cross. I go and spend time with these beautiful people, and Grace she is standing with me teaches me her mother tongue and I teach her English. When I am with her and her family I am humbled as I am every time I see God's hand. To be such a small part of what God is doing.

The reason for Christmas

Christmas began with a present from God to His sin-damaged world:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

I hope you have all enjoyed this Christmas season as you celebrated the birth of Jesus.

Happy New Year in the Lord.

Latest from Doro

The last two months in Doro has been a time of settling in, getting to know my way around the bush, and the villages, learning the language, spending time with the people, and seeking the Lord and how to proceed with the HIV/AIDS ministry He has called me to.

As I prepare to return to Sudan after spending sometime in Nairobi, I would like to share with you what I will be doing.

VISION Hope for Sudan HIV/AIDS

God has impressed upon my heart this ministry and last year made it clear to me and to leadership that it was time to start walking forward through the doors He was opening. He showed us that Doro is where the ministry needed to began, and opened the door for me to move to Doro.

The focus as we get started is to spend time with the people in Mabaan, as we look to the Lord to provide those who He wants trained. I will be training 6 to 8 women and men leaders in HIV/AIDS, as well as the Gospel Wordless Book, along with disciplining and mentoring them. We will spend two weeks in a classroom setting, and then 1 week in the rural villages, schools and churchs presenting a Christ-centered HIV/AIDS prevention message, all the time sharing the Love of Jesus, and giving the reason for the hope we have. (Jesus) We will continue on with additional training during the times we are not out in the bush teaching.

The wider vision for this Ministry is: to provide home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and their families, as well as children affected by AIDS. This project will help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, while identifying those who are HIV+ in order to provide care and treatment. Both of these avenues will allow for opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

SIM Sudan

Project #098020

If you would like to support this ministry, click on this link: http://sim.org/index.php/content/donate and follow the prompts. Please put the Project #.

John 3:16-17 For God so loved that world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

Blessed to be in Doro

From the air and on my way into the landing strip. Have you ever seen a tree of this size? They are called Baobob's and they are massive. The beginnings of putting my tent up. My tent is now up and I am moved in.

It is rainy season right now, so everything is so green, there are many trees in Doro, something that I did not have in Thiangrial.

I have been able to spend time with the people and am so blessed with the relationships that God has started to form.

White Nile River

Have you ever thought what it would be like to go to sleep listening to a Hippo.

This is just one of many Hippo's that live in the White Nile River

Yes that's right this is a Hippo coming up out of the water, right by where I live.

God's wonderful creature.

Graduation Celebration

I am humbled and so thankful that God would use me in Thiangrial, not only to teach English but also to share His Word, to help them grow in their understanding of who He is, and to strengthen them to equip them to go out. It has been an honor to be there.

February was packed with student review in preparation for the National Final, the giving of the test, grading, and preparing the celebration for graduation. God gave us the strength that we needed everyday to do the things that needed to be done. He also enabled us to teach the students. It is only by His grace, His strength, His mercy.

God has blessed us by letting us hear the testimonies of so many, and hearing those I thank God that any of these students are still able to learn. Our verse that we stood on was

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
So join us in giving praise and thanks to our Lord and Savior for these students. First Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), Basic Education Learning Center (BELC) graduating class, February 2009.

Graduation was a time of honoring God for all that He enabled us to do (teachers and students), and honoring the students for their achievements, students that range in age from 17 to 43. It was truly a time of celebration, To God be all the glory. Please pray for the students as they make decisions for their future. Pray that they will seek God and ask for His Will.

The Commissioner sent a representative from his office and they have committed to paying the first years tuition for up to 14 students to attend Secondary School. This was an answer to prayer.

This is home in Thiangrial

This is our compound from the air. The clearing in the water is where boats come in at. We sit right on the White Nile River.

Christmas 2008

"For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given"

"He shall be called Immanuel God with us"

To celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ with all of our Sudanese brothers and sisters, what a privilege and honor.

Christmas Eve at about 10:00 pm we all meant in the church. There were 8 other villages that came to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

"Come let us sing for joy to the Lord let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song." Psalm 95:1-2

Because there was such a crowd our church would not hold everyone so Christmas morning we all meant under a tree and worshiped together both in Word and song. What a wonderful time of worship and fellowship.

Then we went into the village and had a meal with everyone and continued our celebration for the birth of Jesus.

On December 26Th, we had a baptism service and 37 were baptised. Our watchman was one of those baptized along with a new believer who came to the Lord Christmas day. Oh what a blessing I received to be able to spend Christmas in Thiangrial.

Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with Yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Psalm 86:8:10