The Lord's blessings

For those who don't know the SIM Sudan team stretches over two countries. Of course Sudan is one of them and Kenya is the other. We have a support staff that is based in Kenya and I am blessed to be able to work with wonderful Kenyan brothers and sisters in Christ. I would like to introduce you to one family that lives in Lokichoggio Kenya which is on the border of Sudan.

Meet Starline, Leah, Griffins and Graham. We are so blessed to have them in Lokichoggio. Starline is with AIM, and Leah is with SIM. Leah handles all the cargo and flights for the SIM Sudan team, she also runs the guest house, which is where we stay when we are on our way to Sudan.

Graham joined the family in January of this year.

January 9, 2011

First off I want to thank everyone for all their prayers, as Sudan moved closer and than into the week of voting. January 9 - 15th.

It was an incredible week. God answered so many prayers as the elections went off very peacefully and reports from outside observers say that it was very fair too. The North is taking an enormous step in accepting the results: the South has decided to overwhelming vote for succession. This will take place in July 2011.

Please I encourage you to keep praying. Sudan, both North and South, is at a crossroads and the decisions they will make over the next few months will have dramatic impact on their future.

North Sudan: Pray that God will keep the door open for the gospel.
South Sudan: Pray for peace as the government develops and for careful development.
Pray that God will keep a door open to the south for the Gospel.

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.

National Day of Prayer for Sudan

Sudan is facing a very critical time and I am asking that you join me and thousands of others praying for Sudan.

Pray for Sudan - Pray for peace, pray that the church will stand strong. December 5th the World Evangelical Alliance has called church's and Christians to pray for peace in Sudan with the upcoming referendum.

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are

attentive to their prayers..." 1 Peter 3:12

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!

My Name Sake

In Church on October 10Th, this beautiful baby girl was named. Her name is Deborah and she has been named after me. What a blessing to have a child named after you. The name Deborah comes from the Bible, and Deborah was a leader and had a heart for God. My prayer is that this Deborah will have a heart for our Lord and Savior and be a leader in her country.

Deborah was born October 1st. She is beautiful, and such a blessing. Deborah joins her older brother Camll. Her daddy is in Yabus attending secondary school, and has not been able to get back to see her yet, but through God's provisions I was able to send a picture to a team mate in Yabus so that he would be able to see his new daughter.

Pray for Bolus, Rhoda, Camll and Deborah

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