This Lenten Journey.....

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

-Romans 12:1-9

That’s kind of a weighty passage to start this one off with, right?  Well.....this is a lot of what the post is about....our bodies are living sacrifices to be used for God’s great glory and for Him to mold us more into His image as He wills.

So, just to give you a little background on me (I’m pretty sure that anyone who might ever read this actually knows all this stuff, but I’m just trying to make sure), I became a follower of Christ as the age of 11.  So, I’ve lived for 2/3 of my life to this point as a Christ-follower and God has used many events in my life to bring me to the point where He has me today.  And, since that time, I’ve identified myself with the teaching and doctrine in the Southern Baptist Church.  So, you may find yourself asking the same question that one of the elders in my church did: “Why is a good Baptist girl participating in Lent?”  Not only that, Why in the world are others in my small group giving things up for Lent too??  Before you continue reading, I just want to say that it’s my sincere hope that the love and mercy and grace that Christ has shown me in my salvation alone comes through in what you are about to read about this journey.

After having lived 2/3 of my life as a Christ-follower, this is the first that I’ve ever been convicted to participate in Lent.  I’ve heard of it a lot throughout my life and I knew a lot of people while I was in college who practice Catholicism, but I never understood this whole Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday overindulgence leading to Ash Wednesday and giving up something (most of the time, it was something almost insignificant) until Easter...until this year.  For about a month and a half or so leading up to this Lenten season, I was having my regular quiet times with the Lord and feeling incredibly convicted that we (the Church) don’t take enough time to fast and pray.  We (or, at least I) don’t participate in regular fasting for the lost people in our neighborhoods or families that we know by name, much less those that are lost around the world and the people that we have sent out to work amongst them and to tell them about Christ and salvation through Him alone.  We (again, or at least I) don’t fast enough for urgent physical needs around the world to be met or for God to send laborers into His harvest field to work.  As I was working through this conviction, the Lord led to me to give up all food and only take in water 1 day a week and He allowed me to be devoted to spending more time with Him in prayer and in His Word.  Also during this time, my church began walking through the book of Matthew and we came to chapter 4.....where the heading reads, “The Temptation of Jesus.”  My pastor mentioned a book titled Tempted and Tried by Russell Moore, which I quickly purchased and began to read.  As I was reading this book, I became even more convicted toward fasting and prayer and then I came to a part of the book that opened my eyes to this journey I’m on right now.  He mentioned that all of our lives should experience times of feasting and times of fasting.  Then, he gave the analogy about Mardi Gras and Lent and said that this is what they have right - it’s a period of feasting leading to an extended period of fasting.  Now, what I take him to mean here is NOT what Mardi Gras has become today, but rather what it was before when this time served as feasting to rid the home of items that were forbidden during the Lenten season.

As I read that, I became more and more convicted by the significant picture that this time period and level of sacrifice represented.  I also presented the conviction to my small group as something I was struggling with and I also challenged them to pray to give up something for Lent and that we could all hold one another accountable and walk through this journey together.  During this time, I was praying specifically about what God wanted me to give up.  WELL.....if you know me, you know I like to eat!  I sincerely enjoy food, but since I’ve gotten a trainer, my list of foods I could eat a lot had rapidly dwindled.  Here’s how the process went as I sought the Lord in what to give up:

• First, I thought, “I could give up going out to eat.”  Would this really be a sacrifice since my trainer had already limited me to no more than 2 meals out per week?  My answer was No, not really.
• Then, I thought, “I could give up fried food.”  After realizing, once again, my trainer had limited my amount of that too, only she said I could only eat fried food once a month!!  So, that’s not really a sacrifice either....
• Option #3 was, “I could give up sweets.”  I don’t really have a sweet tooth and it’s nothing for me to go without sweets for 40+ days.
• Thought #4, “I could give up meat.”  NOW we’re talking!!!  I eat some type of meat for almost every meal every day!  As I continued to pray through this thought, I was led to more and more information on the Daniel Fast, which is based from the first chapter of the book of Daniel.  In case you don’t know anything about the Daniel Fast, you cut out all meat, all animal by-products, all caffeine, all sugar (and sugar substitutes), and all preservatives.

The more I prayed about this last option, I knew that’s where the Lord was leading me to follow Him.  I’d had a couple friends to do the Daniel Fast for the 21 day time frame and they all lived, so surely it can’t be too terrible, right?  One thing did come to my mind, though.....I haven’t known anyone to do this for an entire Lenten season (a total of 45 days from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday; 47 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter).    But, with as much as I had been praying about it, I had no doubt in my mind that this was what the Lord was leading me to do.

Now, to the point of this particular post.....since this is day # 33 (not that I’m counting, but at this point, I’m totally counting - I have a completely new perspective on how long 40 days ACTUALLY is.....it’s MUCH longer than you might think), what all have I learned from this journey?  I know that you’re probably expecting me to say that I’ve learned that food really isn’t that big a deal and we can live on so much less than we think.  And, while, yes, that’s definitely true (to a degree), I’m going to be a little more real with you than that.  I’ll just outline a few of the lessons that I’ve learned so far:

• I really feel like I have a greater appreciation of those who lived under the Old Covenant Law and sacrifice systems.  I wonder, with all of the restrictions placed on them regarding food and so many other things, how in the world could they do it??  Many people have told me, “yeah, but it wasn’t as hard for them to find things without preservatives back then.”  While that’s entirely true, it was still very restricting for them to limit their intake to only certain types of fish and no animals with a split hoof, etc....so, I feel like I have a small picture of some of the things that they experienced
• I don’t really enjoy eating anymore.....I just do it because I have to in order to make sure I have enough energy to finish my workouts or to not be too hungry
• Grocery shopping is no longer enjoyable in the least bit (It wasn’t too enjoyable before, but it’s even less enjoyable now).  But, I have to walk past all of the food in the store that I can’t have to get to the very few items that I actually can have
• It’s FAR more expensive to eat this way!!!  But, praise God that it’s very hard to eat out and still follow these rules, so I’m saving some money that way in order to be able to offset the costs of eating so many fresh or specialty foods
• I get tired MUCH more easily and I find that I actually do need between 7-8 hours of sleep each night rather than the 6-7 hours I would typically get
• My body does actually feel better!  Even without the caffeine!!  My main challenge is being able to get enough protein for good muscle health and the ability to finish my workouts (I do still have a protein shake each morning - this is the only thing that I allow myself to have that’s not “fast friendly” but I didn’t think it wise to go from eating about 100g protein each day down to less than 50g for 45 days).
• I’ve gained 1% body fat in the past 33 days!!  That’s right, I’ve started boot camp and been working out for over an hour 5 days a week and have gained 1% body fat.....I typically don’t eat foods this high in fat on a regular basis, but in order to get natural sources of protein without meat, I don’t really have a choice.
• I feel like I don’t have much time to focus on my singleness (or the fact that I don’t really like it) because I am having to cook all the time and find meals that follow the rules of this fast
• I find that I’m thinking so much more about food than I ever have before trying to make sure that I don’t mess up....although, I am almost positive that each time we take communion on Sunday, I fail (at least I’m almost positive that our crackers have some sugar in them and I doubt that our grape juice has no sugar or preservatives added).
• I have been so comforted in the fact that God does provide such good gifts that we can’t even imagine or ask for (Ephesians 3:20-21).  I’ve seen him work so much in these few weeks (almost 5 at this point) because of my simple obedience to follow Him and give up certain food items
• Every week, when “I fail”, I’m always reminded of God’s grace and mercy and provision that He allows me to not only follow Him, but also to be able to follow Him in this journey in particular.  I’m reminded constantly that there is no quality in me that can sustain this practice for even a day without God’s divine strength and grace leading me to rely solely on Him during this journey.  It’s a great reminder that goes back to the section of Romans 12 quoted above with regard to using the faith in the proportion that it’s given.....He has definitely increased my faith and added responsibility to me throughout this journey in ways and places that I had no idea He was going to

Here are a couple of questions I’ve gotten along the way that could also give you a little insight into this amazing journey:

1. Are you enjoying this?   The physical effects and desires to eat almost everything I’ve given up - NO.....I am certain that I wouldn’t willingly give all of these things up without the Lord leading me to!!  BUT, the lessons that I’ve learned from God and the amazing time I’ve been allowed to spend with Him - ABSOLUTELY!!!!
2. If it’s not something you’re enjoying, why don’t you just stop?  There are a number of reasons I don’t stop, honestly.  The first, and probably most simple, is that it’s a matter of simple obedience.  I feel like my generation is so tempted by the here and now that if we aren’t enjoying an experience or it’s not making us “happy,” we know that we can just stop and the effects would be over.  But, to me, this is a commitment to the Lord, not to myself or to anyone else on the planet.  It’s between the Lord and me and I know that He will sustain me in my weakest moments when I want a steak or when I sit beside a birthday cake for 3 hours at a party for a family member....these are the moments that God uses practical things that He leads us to so that He can show us even more grace and mercy in the midst of temptation and trial.
3. Is this something that you plan on continuing to practice? NO!!!  There are aspects that I’ll most likely try to continue to implement, but mostly, I won’t continue to eat this way.  A part of me is a little concerned about timing to add certain things back into my diet and I will definitely be spacing it out a bit.  But, I’ll be ending my fast on Good Friday and I already plan to eat a salad with some feta and pita bread, to have some meat and to have a piece of cake!  I’m thinking it’ll be at least a week before I add anything fried back into my diet, but we’ll see.
4. You know that most Catholics take Sundays off as days of celebration, right?  Are you doing that?  To answer the first one.....I didn’t know this until after I started.  No, I’m not taking Sundays off.....I feel that this entire journey is a celebration of Christ’s sufficiency to cover my sin and the fact that I have no abilities or ground that can stand before God apart from Christ because I have no power apart from Him.  I also wonder, on a practical, human, level - what good is it to take off every Sunday?  You really only fast for 6 days at a time....it’s a whole lot easier to give up something for 6 days knowing that you’ll get a chance to indulge in it again every 7th day.  I simply feel that it takes away from the power that’s necessary from the Holy Spirit to maintain the journey if you take a break every 6 days....it would be far easier for me to try to follow this pattern on my own terms and in my own power, rather than having to completely rely on the sufficiency of God through Christ and His Spirit in order to walk this journey.

In the past few years, I have been known to say that what happens to me isn’t for me alone, but others can also learn and grow from the experiences God has brought into my life.  So, if you have any more questions about this particular journey or anything else you want to know, definitely ask.....I am convinced that God teaches us things for our good (of course), but also to share for the edification and building up of others!  Hopefully, someone will be encouraged by this.....hopefully.

It's now time for our journey back to the states...

When I left off yesterday's post, I mentioned that Friday's update would include information about how we can pray for the people of South Sudan.  One thing that I think that it's important to remember (this is just my opinion, though) is that we are DESPERATE for the LORD!  We need to remember that we bring nothing to the table except dirty, nasty hearts that are not worthy of love or grace or mercy in any way.  We are all guilty of rebelling against God and we are desperate for Him!  If it were not for Him giving us air to breathe, lungs to breathe it, blood and a heart to pump it through our bodies, we are not here.  All of this are pictures of God's grace and mercy to us......He gave us life!  And, there is NOTHING that we can do to repay Him!!!  That's a key when it comes to remember how to pray for the people of South Sudan.  There is NO WORK that a human can perform that is worthy of earning God's grace and salvation.  It's a free gift and is offered to all......we are responsible for how we respond to this gift.  In light of that, the first way to pray for these people is pray that God will open their eyes to the truth in scripture that we are God's workmanship, created in His image and we are saved by grace, through faith alone, and that not of works so that no man can boast.  Pray for their purity.  When I say purity, I am simply asking that you pray for the pure peace of God to reign in their hearts and to draw them unto Himself.  As technology and communication abilities increase and as the people of South Sudan are shown pictures of the affluence and overwhelming waste in America, pray that God would guard them from the distraction of the desire for earthly riches and kingdoms here on earth.  Pray that God will continue to give them a spirit of hospitality

Our sweet partner Jeffries with his wife and youngest son

Friday morning, we started the day like all of the others with waking up - although, the rooster was now gone.  We were also able to find the cricket that had spent the past 3 nights in our room serenading us ALL NIGHT LONG (of course, just to be awakened by the rooster several mornings) and help it's serenading come to a quick end.  Then, we made sure that all of our things were packed well and put in the appropriate places and then we had breakfast, which this creature of habit was very excited about - Mundri bread and eggs.  :0)  Then, we visited with a few of the children who are needing sponsorship through 4 Corners and said hello.  The next hour left us starting to say our goodbyes to our new friends and our brothers/sister in Christ.  Jeffries's wife was able to come and say hello and it was such a nice treat to be able to meet her, the woman that has joined with a such a sweet man whose desire is for the LORD and to see his people come to know the LORD.  We also said our goodbyes to Paul (Archbishop of the world), Repent, Sudanese Mark, Herbert, and a few others and took a few more pictures.  Then, it was 9:30.....the time that we needed to be loaded up in the truck to head to the Mundri "airport".

one last South Sudanese sunrise before we leave

Bethany, Archbishop, and me

We were able to spend some more time there with a few of these men while we waited for our plane to come.  We also had another committee of small children to see us off.  Greg (our pilot) landed the plane.......just so you know, the place were the planes wheels actually touch down is the main road that leads to Juba from Mundri!  Yep....we had to stop traffic for the plane to land.  Greg then loaded our luggage under the plane, gave us our boarding passes and then we boarded the plane to head back to Juba.  As we were about to take off, we saw our friends who were there to send us off and a flood of emotions came to me.  I wonder what Archbishop of the world would think of being inside a plane and coming to the US?  What about Coffee?  They have only seen pictures of where we live and heard stories about the excess and the worldly comforts that we have and only recently have they come to know a land without war where the people no longer have to live in the bush for fear of being of killed by the oppressive army from the north.  What would they would think if they could see their own homeland from the sky?  Would they wonder the same thing that I do......where in the world to all of the people live?  From the sky (even flying low), it's almost as if there are so few people in South Sudan, yet there are so very many.  Would they pray for them the same way?  How will my prayer life for them be different now that I have seen them and experienced a moment of the life that they live?  I was overwhelmed with happiness that they don't have to experience the battle that we do with materialism and all of it's faults.  I was also very sad knowing that they still have many areas of struggle that pull them to things of this world before the draw them to God.   From what I understand, Mundri has experienced a lot of development and there is now bars a lot more noise there than before......so, it's only a matter of time before the things that we in America struggle with start to creep into South Sudan.

Bethany and me

I decided to make myself useful and learn how to do a little work here.

And now, the plane is here.....

It was only about a 30-minute flight to Juba, but it seemed so lonely in some ways.  When we got to Juba, we deplaned and headed in the airport to obtain our permission to exit and then head back to Uganda.  WELL.....this was a much more lengthy and confusing stop than we had a imagined.  Apparently, when we came in the country on Saturday with our letter of invitation from GOSS (Government of South Sudan), they did not issue us our entry visas.  SO, now we had to obtain entry visas - on the way out of the country - before we could get our stamps of exit in our passports......interesting process!!!  But, we were able to obtain our entry visas and our exit stamps, then we had to sign out on the ledger as a record of our visit.  We then flew about 2 hours, through rain and some decently rough winds for the little charter flight that would seat 9 passengers to get to Entebbe where we would go through customs and obtain another entrance into Uganda.  Another, very short (about 5 minutes) flight awaited us to get back to the MAF hanger where our drivers were waiting to take us to the guest house to get cleaned up and have a late lunch.  Well, we didn't really have time to eat a whole meal (and it was like 5:00 and the 4 Corners staff in Kampala, Uganda was getting us pizza for dinner), I enjoyed a little cheese and bread.  I knew that my days of being able to simply eat were coming to a QUICK end because my trainer was going to put her foot down when I returned the week of Thanksgiving.  10 days of eating Clif bars, fresh chicken, rice, cheese, etc....then Thanksgiving week was going to mean that I would probably have A LOT more rules to follow until the end of the year.  :0(  Oh well.......

After this, we all loaded up in the cars again and headed to the house of the 4 Corners staff and, let me just say, the had the absolutely BEST pizza in the world in Kampala, Uganda!!!  Or, maybe it's just that I haven't eaten real pizza in almost a year.....OR the fact that I haven't really eaten cheese since May.  Yep, that has to be it!!!   But, while we had pizza, we were able to meet a few others who were instrumental in the ministry that 4 Corners is doing in Uganda......1 guy who actually said that he knew my mom!!  SERIOUSLY???  I went all the way to Africa and met someone from Alabama who knows my mom!!  TALK ABOUT A SMALL WORLD!!!!!  We also met the lady that helps the staff members in their home and were able to purchase a few items from her to help her in caring for her 6-year old daughter....what a treat to be able to share with her and help her in a way that we could....and for it to be a reward to her for her hard work.  After a short time of fellowship, we loaded up and headed to the airport in Entebbe, Uganda and our trip was now quickly coming to an end.  We were able to spend a few minutes getting some souvenirs in the airport......before the power went out.  But, no worries, there was back-up lighting, only no back-up air conditioning.  :0(

Well, the plane was just a couple of minutes behind schedule, but we were able to board and were on our way to Amsterdam.  The flight was great on the way to Amsterdam, and now we are on the final leg of our journey.  I type this with about 7 hours left before we get back to Atlanta (it's Saturday now), then onto Birmingham and back to the "real world" of work on Monday.  I hope that the things that I've seen and experienced in South Sudan change the way that I live in Birmingham (or wherever the LORD leads me in my life) differently than I have.  I only pray that the LORD will use this 2-3% of 2011 to make His name great in my sphere of influence and that He will be praised by the works that He has already ordained for me to do and the life that He has given me to steward.  I will 1 day be accountable to Him for it.....I pray that I've allowed Him to lead me and not taken over it myself.  John 3:30 says, "He must become greater, I must become less" and that is my prayer.

Our last ministry day!

       Today is our last ministry day here in South Sudan.  In so many ways, it has gone so quickly, but in so many others, it has taken so long!  I have always been a person who has enjoyed the journeys and not been one of those people who got finished with the ministry and then wanted to be home.  But, I must admit now that we are finished with our field work, I want to be home!!  I am sad to say it, but I am missing a few comforts from home today.  The simple thought of using a hair dryer, having a full-length mirror (to see how badly my clothes that I have worn this week do not match), my contacts, checking my e-mail/facebook and cooler temperatures are very very exciting thoughts to me!  I want to eat some fried food with a little bit of salt, too!
       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.

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)

This was about 1/3 of the people who came for today

       We continued with the teaching of the oral rehydration solution and it went very well.  One thing that I've been surprised by in each village is that they have the items and utensils that we need.  They are able to bring sugar, salt, water, pot/pitcher to mix it in, spoons for measuring and a cup for drinking.  This is not quite what I had pictured would be the case, but I'm excited that it is.  Each time we do the presentation, the ladies tell us that they like the pictures and they listen intently and even engage when we ask them questions to help them internalize the information.
       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!

Wednesday....WOW this week is flying by!!

   Wednesday Morning started out at 5:30 with a thought of "thank you, LORD, for the wake-up call" from the Rooster.  At 6:15, the thought was, "OK, LORD, can you please make this rooster be quiet?"  Then, at 6:35, "LORD, can this rooster please be dinner?"  Much to my disappointment, the rooster was still at the compound when we arrived back, but it got quiet around sundown, which was a great blessing - and, I guess we are guaranteed a wake up call on Thursday morning too??  YIPPEE!!!! (please read with sarcasm as I'm very tired from this stupid rooster)  And, let me just say that what really woke me up was the cricket that jumped on me when I was walking to the bathroom this morning.....for those of you who know my reactions around bugs of any kind, you will appreciate the mental image that you now have for a few minutes.

Alarm clock??

  Wow, how can I sum up today??  I guess the best thing to realize is that I can't sum it quickly.  :0)
  Today, we started at our normal time of 8:00 leaving the compound and taking the 1.75 hr long trip (only about 25-30 miles) on some of the bumpiest roads in creation to the village of Lanyi.  The drive seemed very quick, though, as we sang old hymns along the way led by a few members of the team.  We even re-enacted the previous days singing of songs that included (of course, in Moru), "Isaac drives the vehicle," "Jesus is number 1" and "white people make the fire light" (which means that white people preach the Word of God) as introduced to us by Paul, Archbishop of the world.
  When we arrived, we had some conversation with Pastor Charles and first extended our condolences as yesterday a boy from this village was killed in a car accident and the bodies were being brought back today and the funerals were happening in the morning.  We also asked him some questions about the village.  They were basic things like how many people lived there, how big his church is and stuff like that.  Needless to say, the word overwhelmed came rushing to mind when he said that there were approximately 2,276 people in this village, 950 households and that there were a total of 3 churches in the parish and 7 lay leaders.  WOW......a total of 10 people to lead 2,276.......that math simply doesn't work to effectively lead others in discipleship, teaching, showing the Word, sharing the Word or serving the world.  One could become exasperated and not even touch 1/2 of the people that they are responsible to shepherd.

the children that came for the teaching today

HOW SWEET!!!!  She came right to me too!!

  As was the custom with Monday and Tuesday, Bethany and I taught the gospel lesson with picture books and in story form relating it to items that they could understand.  We also read the scriptures from the Bible, but none of the ladies or children brought their Moru Bibles today, so the scriptures were interpreted.  This was a little disheartening, but we were still able to teach.  After this, Archbishop of the world led the group in singing a song or 2 and we went into the presentation about the oral rehydration solution. Because we had a MUCH bigger crowd today (approximately 100-125 women and children), we had them fetch the items for us and then had one of the ladies make the solution and offered it to the children to drink.  One priceless picture was one little girl who drank a sip, then went to hand the cup back to archbishop and quickly took it back to finish what was in the cup.  SO CUTE!!!!

Archbishop was about to lead us in some singing.....

  After the teaching, we had lunch.  As a side note (earlier in the morning), as Bethany and I sat watching the men teach the pastor about the water filtration system in the morning, we saw a young boy come in with a cow leg over his shoulder.....hoof and all.  We looked at one another and said, that's lunch!  And, it was!  Talk about fresh beef!!  It was delicious though.  On another side note.....I started taking my antibiotics today as a preventative measure for the things that we've been eating in the villages.  ;0)  Lunch was delicious and the conversation was good.  So was the brief rest.
  In the afternoon, Bethany, archbishop and I met with 3 ladies from the church to get an assessment of how well they understand the gospel.  Needless to say, there's a lot of work to be done with these villages as they all profess to have faith in Christ, but also claim that they can lose their salvation and they cling to a works-based mentality of their faith.  It's very heartbreaking.
  Then, we all piled in the truck again to begin the 1.75 hour long journey back to the compound.  When we were about 15 minutes away, we were passed on the road by a truck with a sign on the side that read "South Sudan Road Repair Project."  This left us with the burning question.....what in the world do they repair??  The dirt roads here leave a lot to be desired (in some ways, they remind me of driving about 40 miles on roads like the ones that are around my dad's fish ponds - over and over and over with about 12 people in the truck).  At least we know that the government of South Sudan has a plan for the reparation of the roads in the future, right?
  Tonight, when we were back at the compound, we shared a delicious dinner of beans and Mundri bread (some had tomatoes and onions - yes I tried them, but I STILL can't stomach a tomato).  And, then we had time to share with our partner, Jeffries, and one another about the day and then had our devotion.  Daniel read from John 1:1-10 tonight and it was such a great reminder about the fact that God has already won this spiritual battle in the world, but it's still our responsibility to share Christ with the rest of the world.  But, the darkness cannot snuff Him out!  As we were getting ready for prayer time, Archbishop of the world's cell phone rang and it didn't startle him at all.....he was sound asleep!!!  When we called his name a couple of times, he says, "I am not asleep".....just like anyone would, of course.
   What a great day!!  We only have 1 more ministry day left......wow it's gone by so quickly!

It's Tuesday!!!

"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." -Eph 4:25

That verse is PACKED with what the LORD sent us out to do today!  What a blessing today was on so very many levels.  We had our regular Sudanese breakfast of Mundri bread and scrambled (or fried, whichever you want to label them) eggs and then we packed up in the truck and headed out for the village of Buagyi (pronounced /bua gi/).  This trip was just a bit shorter than yesterday's, so today it only took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there.  What a relief, a total of about 30 minutes knocked off the journey.  Although, some of the guys got a little creative and John and Eric were able to use some diapers (made by ladies in John's church) as cushions until it was time to get out of the car.  I think that today was a 10-15 diaper day.  VERY INVENTIVE!

Now, to get to why this is the verse that I felt most appropriate for today....this is exactly what we did today!  We proclaimed truth, God's truth about Him to the people of the village of Buagyi.  And, what a privilege that was.  

"Isaac drives the vehicle," "the white man brings the fire" (meaning that the white man brings good, Biblical teaching), and the one that we made up, "Archbishop of the world sings many, many songs" were the most sang songs of the day.  I'm not sure that Archbishop liked our song saying that he sings many songs, but we tried anyway.  On the ride, I received another name...."Dancing Lois,"  but someone tried to call me Louis....I draw the line with my new names right there!  I'm a girl, so let's just stick with the girl names, k?  

Bethany and I continued our regular schedule of teaching the gospel and oral hydration solution in the morning.  However, since Archbishop of the world was our interpreter, we started with a song that repeated "Jesus is #1, Jesus is #1" with various hand motions.  This was great to liven the ladies up to be ready to engage in our presentation.  They loved the pictures and stories that we shared with them and because over 1/2 of these ladies had Bibles, we were able to look up the individual scriptures of the salvation story and read them in English and then have a lady from the church read the same verse from the Moru Bible.  WHAT A TREAT!!  This really seemed to bring the message more to life for these ladies.

These are the ladies that came out for our teaching today

We wanted the ladies to see what the solution tasted like (and wanted to make sure not to waste any), so Archbishop tried it first, then the other ladies tried it too!

After Bethany and I finished our work with the ladies, we were able to sit around and talk with Archbishop of the whole world.  At one point, I asked, "what's that noise" and he replies (in true Vijay fashion - for those of you who know Vijay) "fire.  It's time for fire."  OH, OK, I didn't realize that there was "time" for fire, but apparently it was around 3:00 in the afternoon.  We also learned that Archbishop was 1 of 6 children, the only to survive.  His mom passed away when he was around 8 and he was sent to live with an uncle who only wanted him to watch the sorghum.  However, Archbishop wanted to attend primary school, so he snuck away to go to classes, but his uncle found out.  Shortly after his uncle found out, the war started and they then had to live in the bush for about the next 10 years.

Always time for a photo-op!  I will say one thing, I'm glad I didn't have a full-length mirror there because I probably wouldn't have work THAT!  Um....stylin' is all I have to say......simply stylin'

I snuck in the bag to snag a picture of everyone after the men's teaching was finished 

After we returned to the compound, we could hear the sound of the children playing at/near the compound and I couldn't help but think.......a child's sweet laughter sounds the same in South Sudan as it does in Alabama and in India.  It's one of the sweetest sounds on earth to hear!!  Regardless of the circumstances, a lot of other temporal concerns seem to just melt away when you hear such a sweet sound.

At our nightly debriefing and devotional time, Daniel shared some with us regarding unity in the body of Christ.  This simply propelled our conversation to "how can we best be unified with our South Sudanese brothers and sisters?"  We discussed the information that we obtained from our assessments and realized that what is most needed for these people is Biblical training.  Pastors are included in this need, by the way.  They need a hunger for the Word of God and they need to be able to understand it.  They are aware that the Spirit interprets the scriptures for them, however they did not show us any evidence of where to find a story in the Bible about sin/corruption, redemption, changing after the new birth, etc....  Jeffries was very open and honest with us about his needs and he expressed a desire to provide training to the pastors specifically of each village and  to help them implement "Sunday School"  so that they will have an organized fashion where they can learn more of God and His relationship with man.  He also asked that we pray for him and we ask that everyone reading this message will pray for Jeffries and his team and the work that they are doing to diligently work to make the gospel known amongst the people of South Sudan.

The things I'm so overwhelmed by today are the love that Jeffries has for his people and how that overflows in all that he says and does and is his motivation.  He was so open and honest with us about this heavy burden on his heart that anyone could see how deep and great his desire is for his people to know the Word of the one, true God.  He is not distracted at all by the fact that they are seemingly very works-based right now, but knows that they need proper Biblical training in order to see the right view of God.  He told us that we are probably the first people to visit these villages with teaching as most previous trips have focused on basic life-sustaining efforts like providing clean water and basic triage and medical care......how can that not overwhelm someone?  The gospel, with scripture, is probably being heard for the first time in each of these villages.  WOW!!!!!  So, at the end of yesterday, we were so hard on our South Sudanese brothers and sisters who believe in a works-based salvation (or really, God PLUS <anything else>); today , we walk away very burdened knowing the amount of training that is needed.

My struggles today are that of westerners being westerners - thinking that we have all of the right answers to make things more efficient, cheaper, "better" than the way that the natives do it.  This was evident today when we asked one of the ladies to take a picture of us with Archbishop and a couple other ladies and she simply couldn't do it.  I had to get everyone together, show her exactly where to hold the camera and when to press the button to make sure that we were all in the picture.  You know what?  She had ever had to do it!  I wonder how often we go into places with great intentions of making fast changes and then are hit square in the face with the reality that this is going to be received well for just 1 moment.....while we are there, but is not sustainable.  And, it also serves to separate us from the people that we are trying so desperately to reach.  I think that this is something that we need to always consider before ever taking anything into another context to teach.

Monday - it's time to get started!!

What an amazing, long, wonderful day!!!  Let me first start off by saying that we serve a great God!!  He is worthy of all praise, glory, and honor!!

First, we started our "1.5-hour," or 40 mile journey (which rapidly turned into 2.5 hours because of the conditions of the roads here in South Sudan) to the village of Witto.  As we were driving down the road, we could see the excitement in the faces of the kids and hear them yelling "mondele, mondele" (white man, white man) and waving to us.  Pretty much everyone that we saw, we waved to and I would say about 98% waved back and smiled at us.  It's so great to have such a greeting committee on the side of the road.  We can see the school children walking down the road with bundles of elephant grass on their heads or in their hands.....tuition!  One image that I wish I couldn've gotten a picture of was a group of 4-5 kids walking carrying their elephant grass and this 1 little boy (couldn't have been more than 5-6 years old) running behind them trying to catch up and trying to hold onto 1 backpack that was about to fall off his arm while another was on his back.  It was such a cute picture!  

We were greeted in Witto there by the people who live there as well as those who live in a nearby village, Matta.  As was the plan, they greeted us and we introduced ourselves to the local church and told them our plan for the day.  For the most part, shockingly, everything went according to plan (except for following the time frame - since we had already gotten 1 hour behind because of the journey).  During our greeting, Bethany got stung by a wasp and thought she was going to die.  Thankfully....she didn't die (we don't even think that the stinger was in her arm....it was really an almost sting, but the place did swell, so we'll give it to her that she was stung by a wasp).

Bethany and I were ready to meet the ladies that we would spend the next few hours with sharing the gospel and teaching how to make an oral rehydration solution

Bethany and I were able to spend some valuable time with the ladies by telling them the gospel story (in true Sudanese fashion with pictures and stories that they can relate to) and then by telling them a story about "Emmanuel" who contracted diarrhea and how to keep him safe and hydrated while he was sick.  The ladies expressed understanding and were so prepared for the things that we had planned that we finished in a mere 3 hours - before lunch!  They already had the sugar, salt and clean water available, so this part of our plan worked far better than expected.  And, because the ladies were able to finish so quickly, they were able to loan their interpreter to some of the men to get an assessment of their knowledge of the gospel to teach them how to use the Sawyer Water Filtration System as a back-up to the well.

These are the ladies that were able to join us....more came in throughout, though.

During lunch, the men in the village presented us with a gift of honey.  In this culture, honey is a very sacrificial gift to give/receive.  They have to wait until it's dark at night, then go to the tree where the bee hives are.  They take a torch to basically smoke the bees out of the hive as much as they can.  Then, they harvest the honey and the comb.  It was A LOT of pure honey!!  It's such a sweet blessing to be here with these people.

We were able to get 3 different assessments of the people's understanding of the gospel and as we discussed tonight, this was very burdensome to us because most of them expressed a belief in faith in God PLUS works.  This also gave us fuel for items to focus on throughout the remainder of the week and helped serve as a reason for rearranging our days a little.  Now, our plans are no longer to complete the assessments with the in the afternoon everyday (after the teaching), but rather in the morning (to lead into the teaching).  It also served to help us evaluate how we can come home and best share the story of the Moru tribes in South Sudan, specifically the tribes with which we are working.

We decided to get 1 last picture with as many of the ladies as we could.  :0)

While we were in this village, Bethany and I had an opportunity to use the latrine.  Ummmmm.....interesting is about the only word to describe this experience.  VERY INTERESTING!

As we were getting ready to leave, a lady named Wilima came up to me and gave me a gala (it's a small gourd filled with something to make noise that's used in African worship services) and it has her name etched into it!  I'm pretty sure that she made it after we completed the assessment with the ladies and before we left.  Such a sweet, special gift!  Wilima actually spoke good English, but she kept this a secret until about an hour before the team left the village.

Probably my favorite picture of a sunset that I took today!  Isn't it beautiful??

While, yes, it was a long and stressful day, but it was wonderful!  I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

It's time to worship with the church in South Sudan!

       A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.  I woke up with first 2 lines of this song in my head and it's a great reminder that God is our fortress and he will never fail us (but I do wish I remembered the rest of the song).  Today started with breakfast of champions, Mundri bread and eggs cooked by our sweet hostesses, and I think that we all chose the option of taking in a little hot tea so that we could have some help from the caffeine to get us going.  We split into 3 different groups today to worship with the church in South Sudan.  John and I worshipped with the church at Okarri where John delivered the message and I extended a greeting from Philippians 1

After services this morning, we joined back together at the compound for lunch and the men went out under the mango tree to teach whomever would come.

A picture from the worship service on Sunday morning

Archbishop interpreted the message that John taught at the service on Sunday

Later in the afternoon, we got word that the commissioner was on his way.  Because of this, we all went out to meet him and spend some time with him.  He and his friends spoke to us about things that were changing within South Sudan and mentioned several things that simply broke the hearts of some of us (including that they want to build bigger buildings and no longer have big trees, the women should teach their wives to be good housewives, God is very rich and doesn't want us to just minister to the poor, He wants to make us very rich too, and he said that all world religions are basically the same).  WELL......if they wanted Bethany and me to teach their wives how to be "good housewives," I think that the WRONG people are here!!  I am over 30 and have never been married.....I can tell them what I've seen, but I have no references (even in scripture) for how to be a housewife - I'm pretty sure that the Proverbs 31 woman wasn't a housewife, since she worked with her hands, invested in land, and made sure that her family was nurtured.  But, back the commissioners comments, I mention them mainly to ask that you please pray for both the leadership and the people in the County of Mundri that they would be infected with the true Gospel of salvation through Christ Jesus alone.  And that they would see the purpose of glorifying God's great name among the nations!  Pray that they would see in scripture that it's not about gaining worldly wealth, building taller buildings, and bringing more wealth to South Sudan.  Pray that God would open their eyes that there is only 1 way to salvation and that all world religions are not alike.  Pray also that they will realize that God will give them a new love for ministering to the poor, not simply taking them out of their circumstances for the sake of giving them more material possessions.  There was also some talk of American politics and what is going wrong in America.....why some don't support Obama.  Jeffries later told us that most people in Africa see Obama as a hero, but can't state any heroic qualifications when they are asked.  They don't understand why a lot of people in the states don't like him as the president and they only site racial bias as the reason.  What an unfortunate line of thinking.

The message I came away with today is that we have things so messed up in America and the image that we portray to the rest of the world of our so-called "Christian nation" is a bunch of falsehoods that only serve to make us feel better for a short time.  Some other key things to note from today include:

-Archbishop has renamed me again - I'm now Lohassa!!  What in the world?  But, John seems to want to call me Louise.....I wonder how many names I'll have before we leave.  I'll probably just start answering to anything that I hear and say "sorry" when I realize that it's not really me that they want....hahaha.

-Archbishop has also told me to get ready because there will be much practice in learning African dancing by driving up and down the roads on the way from Mundri to the villages.  I just wish that my friends that I spent time in India with last September were here to re-live this with me.  Leslie, David, and Jessica would love it.....and Corey and Brian have already lived it here in South Sudan.