Friday, September 14, 2012

Friday - OH, the adventures that our first full day here brings.....


Today, our plan was to load up in the LandCruiser and head out to Matta - the farthest village from where we are staying in Mundri.  We estimate it should take around 3-ish hours to get there.  Once we started our trip, though, it was easy to see that it was going to be a LONG day (and a LONG week for that matter) because the roads were really washed out due to all of the rain.  If you aren't aware, there are only about 10 miles of paved roads in the young country of South Sudan and they are in the capitol city of Juba.....a little over 100 miles from where we are staying.  So, you guessed it.....7 consecutive days of rain, red dirt/mud road = TRAVELING FRUSTRATION!!

Early on in the trip, Jack made the statement, "just imagine, this is the good road."  Of course, I just couldn't let that go and I had to reply, "I think this is the only road."  And, yep, for where we were coming from and going to, this was our only option!!  Jeffreys actually told us earlier in the day that the worst car accident that they have ever had happened about 5 days prior when 12 people died as their LandCruiser was swept away by the river.  And, if you've never had the privilege of spending much time in one of these LandCruisers, I will testify:
#1 - Toyota makes a mighty fine automobile!!!!
#2 - They aren't afraid to take these things across puddles of water (running or standing)
#3 - These vehicles were able to get us into/out of places where other vehicles were getting stuck pretty badly.
Our trusty transportation for the week!!  You'd be surprised at what this vehicle can go through.....

The road is BLOCKED!
So, as we continued down the road, the conclusion I came to about the rain is that it's GREAT for temperatures (lowers them drastically - if you've ever felt the heat of the Sudanese sun, you'll be able to well sympathize).  BUT, it's BAD for the roads (which means at times, no one can pass in certain places), bad for the crops as this year, they have not survived well due to the increased rain fall, and it brings lots of mosquitoes since they love standing water!  Another story that Jeffreys told us as we were on our way to Matta was that the week before, there were 60 trucks (picture 18-wheelers here) lined up for 4 days because 1 of them was stuck in the muddy road.  We made it to Lui and past 3 of the other villages on the agenda for the week, then a couple of miles later, there we were.....stopped!!  Along with a number of other South Sudanese people who couldn't pass the road here.  Agustina (our driver this year) parked the truck and went to assess the damage as someone had told him just as we were stopping that there was no longer a road up ahead.  What he found, though, was that there remained a road, it simply was impassible at this point because of the number of vehicles that were stuck.  Jeffreys told us that once this truck was pulled out, we will be able to pass and we were determined to make it to this village today.

Just an example of the trucks trying to get through the roads
While we were waiting, a Sargent with the medical corp (Santiago) walked over to our truck and began to talk with Jack.  He told us that he and some others in his unit had been stopped here for 2 days already due to the road conditions and he was trying to get back to work.  Jack began to ask him questions about his faith and salvation.  Santiago told Jack that he does pray twice a day.  So, Jack followed that up with a question about who he prays to and I honestly didn't hear the answer to his question.  But, the next thing I did hear was Jack asking him if he had a personal relationship with Christ and Santiago said that he doesn't.  So, right there, on the side of the Juba Road, Jack was able to share the gospel of Christ with him!  If this is the only reason we came this far to stop, it was totally worth it!!

After about 4 hours in the car, we decided to change our plans for the week and pray that the rain would hold off and that the roads would be pass-able by early next week so that we could try again.  These villages are ~45 miles from the compound and with dry roads, it takes over 2 hours to reach!!

After we got back to the compound and settled down for the evening, we began to have some conversation with Jeffreys.  This man is such an incredible man of God and he's impressively well versed on American politics and history, too.  This is even more amazing since he doesn't even have daily access to the internet (he has to arrange time to visit a local NGO office so that he can check his e-mail).  He told us of research that he'd done on the faith of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and John Adams.  He is convinced, based on what he knows of their lives, that these men were Christians.  He said, though, that there was 1 person he had been researching that he wasn't convinced is a Christian - Thomas Jefferson.  This man is so aware of what happens on the US political scene because, whether people at home know it or not, there has been little assistance given to this very new country by our current administration.

Throughout the day, all I could think of was that God has the power over all wind, waves, and rain and He chose to bring this area this much rain at this time and He also orchestrated our trip from the USA to Mundri, South Sudan and the 5 villages that are part of our agenda.  All I could focus on was Mark 4:36-39:
"And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.  And other boats were with him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat was already filling.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  He said to them, 'Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'"

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