Wednesday, May 16, 2012

How the Magic Happens

It all starts...
Deep
In the mountains
Of South Sudan


Then
It travels many miles
On the back
Of a motorcycle
In one of these


At that point
It looks
Like this


But we take it
Put it in a sauce pan
And fry it
Until it looks
Like this


Then we grind it
So that
It looks like this


Now...
It is almost ready
All that needs to be done
Is wait for the morning

Then water is boiled
The coffee is brewed
And
PRESTO!

Magic :)


Welcome 
To my morning

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

To My Mother
:)
Happy Mother's Day!

Not everyone
Is as blessed as I am
To have such a
Godly
Beautiful
Gracious
Loving
Mother

She is an example
Of what
A godly woman should be

I am blessed 

Thank you God
For good gifts
:)

Friday, May 11, 2012

Obbo, Southern Sudan

Wow!
God is so Awesome

As I wrote in my 
Previous although short post
A few of us
From here in Kitgum
Went up to Southern Sudan
At the beginning of this week
Just for a few days


What a HUGE blessing it was

I wish everyone could experience 
Just a little
Of what we were able to
Do,
Experience,
Be a part of

Wow!
So awesome

And yet
So heartbreaking

The life that some of these people live
What they go through
Experience
And suffer
Wow, it is sobering
And reminds me
The importance of remembering
The huge blessings that the Lord gives me!
Every day

Some of the children
Would just break your heart
They are so sweet...
As you can imagine
It was easy to take their pictures :)



Although we weren't able
To do as much
As we would have liked with the children
Since we were only there
For one full day
We were able
To gather them all together
And do two short lessons
As well as some songs


So much fun!
I taught them
"If your happy and you know it"
Complete
With action

Clap
Jump
Stomp
Say "Amen!"
Turn Around

Then Erica
(One of the missionaries that came with us)
Taught on Creation
And Adam and Eve

Good stuff :)

Then we went on
To have a few sessions 
With some of the local women
Down in the "church"

Here is the outside


And the pews
Inside

Sitting on those pews
In America
Doesn't seem like it is
"All that uncomfortable" anymore
Does it :)

Wow!
Those women

What they live with
Every day
I don't know how 
Some of them continue on

A few of the ladies
That came with us
Taught
From 1 John

And then
We got to know some
Of the ladies 
Of Obbo better

We opened up
After the teaching
For questions
And prayer requests

One woman
Asked for prayer
She was blinded by her husband
Who was a drunk
And then he knocked out
Half her teeth
To top it all off
He then died
...
She was praying
For God to help her find a way
To survive
As she is blind
Elderly at this point
And raising two small children

Your life
Doesn't seem so difficult anymore
Does it?

Another woman
Asked for prayer
She was the second
Of four wives

Her husband hates Christians
Is a drunk
And enjoys
Coming home every night
After drinking for hours
To find his two wives
Who are believers
And beating them and their children
The only thing
That they can do
To protect themselves
Is to run out
Into the bush
Hide
And sleep there
Until he is sober in the morning...

How's your life looking now?

Another woman
Birthed 9 children
After the 6th died
She decided
She didn't need the Lord
And walked away

She only came to church again
After 5 years
Because she had heard we had come
And wanted to see
What we were about
Another of her children
Had died
Since she left the Lord
How horrible!

And yet
There is hope in Christ
Death is not the end
For those that love the Lord
Which we reminded her of 
She had walked away
From Him
But he had not forgotten her

 She rededicated
Her life to Him
Praise the name of Jesus!

The stories
Go on and on
But what it reminded me of

Was how faithful
Our God is
And how good He is to me!
Hard to take things for granted
When you can look around
And see the suffering of others

Then there was
The singing
Wow!
You can't explain it
You just have to be there

There was singing for greeting
There was singing for worship
There was singing for our break
There was singing in our honor
By the children
The youth
And the women

That...
Is a lot of singing

Then
There was the eating!
Wow
Here, if you are welcome
They will serve you chicken
If they are really excited
You get it twice
We...
Got it three times...

Who else
Gets chicken for breakfast?
I did :)

Oh and did I mention
The fresh coffee
Like
Grown on the mountain
(It was left there by the Italians before the war)
Hand ground
And then served

Yep,
So 
Good!

Oh 
And did I mention
Bathing


You just have to make sure
That towel doesn't fall 
:)
Whoops!
Here is where we
Washed our hands


Ah the beauty 
Of simplicity :)

What a blessing
So two days
Went much to fast
And here I am
Back in my warm bed

The next trip is in August :)
Can't wait!

P.S.
Please be praying
For the people
Of Southern Sudan

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Sudan, Here We Come!

Well 
It is that time again
The time we all have to pack up
And renew our visas...

I am in the process
Of getting a work permit
But for now
I have to leave the country
Every three months

Tomorrow morning
We are going up
To Southern Sudan
About a 2 hour drive
To the border
From Kitgum
 
Zane will be driving
Therese and myself
Along with a few others
Across the border
To a town called "Obbo"

I have been to Sudan once
But this time
We will be going in 
A bit deeper
And staying for two nights

I am so excited!

We will be doing some ministry
With women and children
And the men
Will be doing some ministry
And possibly
Door to door witnessing!

Please keep us all
In your prayers

For traveling mercy
It is rainy season 
Which means that the roads
May be really bad
 
Think ginormous mud bogs
So it can be really easy 
To get the vehicle stuck

Also safety

Prayer for the ministry
And that we will be
An encouragement
To the believers 

I am going to take my camera
So hopefully I will be able to post
A few pictures!

Thank your for
Your prayers!