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