Today started like most others by leaving the compound a little after 8:00 and heading to the last village on our schedule, Wiroh. Now, I want to go on record by saying that I was wrong in yesterday's post by saying that the road to the other villages had been the bumpiest road in all creation. TODAY, we experienced an even worse road. I also want to go on record by saying how thankful I am for the LandCruiser that we were able to use all week that was able to get us into the village - yes, we did think that it was questionable at times. And, if anyone wants to see video of us coming out of this village, don't you worry, I have it. You will want to take your dramamine before you watch it, though. As we are driving over some of the large rocks, Yancy proclaims, "we have now reached the ends of the earth." Archbishop's singing today couldn't have been more timely as it served as a great distraction to the fact that we were about to ether turn over on the side I was riding on or hit someone on a bicycle who didn't get out of the way fast enough or any number of other irrational thoughts that were going through my head. Of course, the songs were the same, "Isaac drives the vehicle," "Alleluia," and "white people make the fire light,"
As we were driving to this village, I was struck by the awesome reality that the gospel definitely has not yet reached the ends of the earth. Even with the technology that we take for granted every moment of the day, there are still a world of people who do not have the benefit of using it and still have not heard the true, life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.
When we arrived at the village, we were greeted by the chief, Gordon, who informed us that he had just buried his mother yesterday. We visited with him for a few minutes before the pastor (the chief's brother) came and the bell was wrung to notify everyone in the village that it was time to come. We also took a brief rest. During our resting, Archbishop of the world told us a story about an iron that was lying on the ground near where he was sitting and how in the previous days, it could be used a dowry for a wife since the iron was so versatile. OR, if the person was a chief of the village and had this iron, he could use it for 2-3 wives.
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| The bell |
We also learned that this village has approximately 1800 people who live here. I received another name when we arrived and introduced ourselves to the people - "Noelle." HUH? I mean, I get where Lois or Loassa (or Lohassa - however it is spelled), is much more appropriate in this culture, but Noelle? I don't see the jump here, but oh well, I guess I'll take it. I am their guest, right?
So, when the people arrived, we did our usual thing and separated and Bethany and I worked with the ladies while the men split into 2 groups and Daniel and James walked to get some photos. We did the gospel presentation today and I noticed that the only one who brought their Bible was a younger girl in the front and her Bible looked just like mine! I even pointed this out to archbishop of the world and he said that it was an English Bible. I told him that we wanted her and 2 other women to complete the assessment after lunch and he could choose the 2 other women at that time. When he called her aside to speak with her about talking with us further, I told her that the Bible I brought with me was just like that one. She opened it up and it said that it was given to her, Sarah Moses, by Amy Platt!!! WHAT???? That's my pastor's sister!!!! Of course, I took a picture of her with it and I fully intend to e-mail Amy so that she will have it - a reminder of the work that was done in South Sudan last year and to know that Sarah has been reading her Bible (and for those of you who might wonder, no, I don't know Amy Platt, but I know how I can find her). :0)
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| This was about 1/3 of the people who came for today |
We did not take a break for lunch today, but it was great! We were able to have archbishop of the world engage the women and children in some singing and dancing which brought him great happiness. After this, we went under another mango tree to ask the ladies the questions from the assessment. Since Sarah evidently could read English, we gave her our materials that we had used to teach. She and her friends were sitting under the mango tree looking at them and recognized people that they knew, which gave them even more to be excited about with regard to sharing the information. They understood that now that they had received the information, they had a responsibility to re-teach it to others. As we completed our assessment questions, again, the main theme of working (being good, not doing bad things, etc....) continued to be a main focus, but the people here did tell us more about the role of faith in salvation, which was a positive sign. However, they are still very much involved in a works-based mentality when it comes to their salvation and this is something that we are very concerned about, as it can never be Jesus (PLUS) anything!! It has to be Jesus alone.....He is worthy of it and He demands it!
Most of our drive back was filled with taking photos/videos of the awesome road that we traveled along and holding our breath and trying any way that we could to help the truck make it up the next big rock hill. It was ridiculous!! In Lui (about 20 miles from Mundri, where we are staying), the truck started to smoke, so we were able to get out of it for a few minutes while Daniel led us in stretches that Bethany vividly remembered from band camp (I have no idea why we thought that 8 white people on the side of a dirt road in Africa doing stretches was a good idea, but there we were, well, shall I say there were 4 of us involved, but still). We shook hands with people who were passing through Lui walking to Mundri and others who were just passing through on their way home. It was an adventure, to say the least. The rest of the drive back, unfortunately, held little interest to me as I tried between the bumps in the road to catch a little cat nap. TRIED being the key word here!
Then, we arrived back at the compound and it was time to get cleaned up for the evening. When I came in from the shower this evening, the foot of a rooster in the front of the building was a NICE sight for me to see. You know what it meant? It meant that I wasn't going to get a wake-up call from that stupid rooster on our last morning in South Sudan!! I must admit, I was a little excited (sadly). Bethany even admitted that her first thought was, "Louanne will be happy to see that." Then, we both realized, OH, it's chicken for dinner - YUM! And, it was delicious....a little dry, but very tasty! We also had rice and Mundri bread, which no meal in South Sudan is complete without, and a soup that was also very good. After dinner, we entered into our devotion, led by Daniel, and then into prayer time for the people of South Sudan (that will probably be Friday's update). There was also a time of sharing and, again, archbishop fell asleep......I think we need to finish earlier for the man who has eaten 72 Christmases (although we have no idea what that means........he responds this when we ask how old he is). All-in-all it was a fantastic day!! I look forward to coming back here and getting to know these people better in the future. I will have to give credit to all of my friends who said, "South Sudan is so much easier to reach people than it is in India." In so many ways they are right, but unfortunately, there's a growing minority where this is not the common practice, and it's sad that South Sudan is changing so quickly!
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