Back on the Ground

"When you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

Deuteronomy 6:11b,12

We often experience our faith as followers of Jesus being strengthened and growing through life's difficulties as we are reminded of our powerlessness and need to depend on God in such circumstances.  Recently though I have been further challenged to recognize the importance of depending on the Holy Spirit when the road ahead looks easy.  It is often during such times that I am unprepared for even the smallest difficulty and I then fail to do what is required.  These surprises come in different ways.  For example it may be the problem of simply not being in the mood to do what I know I ought or allowing the demands around me to divert my attention from doing what is best.  Then when I fail to do what I believe the Lord calls me to do at such times, the result is usually discouragement.  In response to this I believe I need to recognize my need for the power of the Holy Spirit to please God not only in the big tasks that appear to be difficult, but for the simple ones that look easy.  I find that when things are easy I am prone to forget my need to depend on God.  But I believe that when we remember God's faithfulness to us in the past and we regularly acknowledge our need to depend on God regardless of what we see ahead, that we are in a position that allows us to follow his leading in our lives in every moment.  

My Return to South Sudan

I had fun with family and friends during my final months of home assignment in the US.  Though I had been looking forward to coming back to Africa, the longer I stayed in the US, the more comfortable I got there.  But at the beginning of December I was on my way back to Africa.  Now that I am there, my time in the US felt like a dream. 

After departing Omaha on December 2nd, I reached Nairobi on schedule.  From Nairobi though, I experienced a number of upsets in my travel plans that had me scrambling to find another way to get to South Sudan.  I ended up travelling through Juba because I would not be able to make my connect flight from northern Kenya to Torit.  Thankfully though I am now in Torit.

A few days after arriving to Torit, I along with two other AIM missionaries, and a group of youth with Africa Inland Church traveled to the southern part of Laarim territory to build a new house for Jacinta, a Kenyan missionary.  Jacinta's house had recently collapsed and she did not have the means to build a new place.  While the AIM missionaries Jordan and Ray contributed by providing transportation with their vehicles, most of the other needs for the building of the house, including our feeding, were provided by the church and contributions from individuals here in South Sudan.  Everyone put in a lot of effort and we enjoyed working and spending time together.  It was greatly encouraging to see each one play their part in helping this missionary in need who has sacrificed much to serve faithfully for many years in South Sudan. 

Our team putting up the structure of Jacinta's house.

Jacinta in front of her new house.  The remaining work of mudding of the walls
is now being completed by the local church members in their community.

This year, I celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve in Torit with the other missionaries.  There was a turkey brought up from Kenya and we had a feast with all the good stuff followed by exchanging gifts and playing a game.    

This past week, I spent six days at my home in Loryok to reconnect with the community.  Because of the need to renew my visa in Torit, I was not able to stay longer.  It was good to reconnect with the people there and to see an interest among many of the children to continue learning the word of God.  I was saddened to see an apparent decline in interest among some of the youth in meeting together.  I am hopeful though that as we begin having more activities that more will join us and hear the word of God and experience his working in their lives.   

The year ahead is looking very busy for me as I will have some responsibilities related to a team coming to join me in the effort of reaching the Laarim.  My first team member is planning to join me in July or August 2015 and a couple who will lead the team is planning to join in early 2016.  Praise the Lord for this answer to prayer!   

How you can pray

-Continue to pray for me as get back into using and practicing the Laarim language.  I still have far to go with it.

-Pray for a growing hunger for the Lord in Loryok as we continue to focus on reaching the community with the gospel.

-Pray the team that is forming for reaching the Laarim.  Pray for the preparations that need to be made.

-Please pray for peace in the land that will allow the gospel to spread among the unreached in South Sudan.