The beginning of July had me in Torit for our AIM South Sudan team retreat.  It was great getting to spend time with fellow missionaries, among whom the majority work in Eastern Equatoria State.  After the retreat, I stayed in Torit almost another three weeks getting some rest and working with Loboi, a Laarim youth in Torit who is helping me translate bible stories into Laarim.  After returning to Loryok, I walked north to Napak in the Boya Hills and spent awhile with Clement who is translating the Bible into the Laarim language.  We were with a group of elders and a couple of young volunteer teachers at the Napak primary school and together we read over the chapters in a recently completed rough draft of The Gospel of Luke in the Laarim language. Participants gave their input and helped make corrections to ensure that proper Laarim was being used in the translation.  It was encouraging to see the number of people involved and interested.

            A little over a week later I returned back to Loryok with a few more things to do.  These included budgeting and getting some items for the setup of the compound where I will stay in the Boya Hills area.  But after realizing that I could not make a budget without properly measuring the compound, I decided that I needed to get back up to the Boya Hills to get an idea of its dimensions.   The land and the house on it which needs a bit of work, were given to me by the head teacher at the Napak primary school.  To go back meant another 25k hike to the area to make measurements on the compound in Kerenge and then hiking back to Loryok two nights later. To some, such long walks my sound miserable, but I find the hikes refreshing and energizing despite sometimes causing sore feet.  I love the scenery and I see many different types of birds along the way: bright red bishops, sky blue rollers, brilliant green parrots and sunbirds, and kingfishers that are much more colorful than the ones back home, to name a few.  Such walks are also good opportunities for me to practice Laarim by either listening to my recorded vocabulary on my voice recorder, or practicing with my travel companions and asking them questions. 

            The day after reaching Loryok, I came to Torit, got miserably sick for a few days, recovered, and got what I needed to move forward with building the compound. I will be back to Loryok and hopefully soon back to Kerenge to start the work on the compound.  Doing such a project is something new to me and when I previously tried to work it out in my mind of how I was going to do it, I could not figure it out.  So I have decided to start taking the first steps and as I have done so, I feel like I am beginning to figure out a way forward.  I am thankful to the Lord for that.  Most of the work will be done by people in the village using local materials.

While here in Torit, I have been able to meet with the young man Loboi, and I praise Lord for connecting me with him. I have known Loboi only casually for nearly two years, but recently when I have gotten to spend time with him I am getting to see the love that he has for Jesus.  No when I am in Torit we usually spend a good amount of time reading the Bible together and discussing it.  Though time recently has not permitted it, I hope to continue getting help from him translating Bible stories as I help him with computer skills.   

Times ahead look busy and challenging in new ways and I ask that you continue to pray for us and the work here.

-Please pray for the building of the compound.  As I said before, the work of setting up a compound is a new thing for me and it is a bit of a step of faith for me trusting that I will be able to help see to it that the work get done properly. 

-Please pray for Loboi.  Pray for him to stand firm and grow in his faith to be an effective witness for Christ to his fellow Laarim.  We are looking to be in the village together within the next week as he is on school holiday.

-Please pray that I would continue to move forward with the Bible stories and translation work.  It seems that with all the work ahead, I will have to spend less time on the stories until the compound is completed in the village.

Set Free to Become a Slave of Righteousness

"And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."

Romans 6:18

Recently I have been thinking about what it means to be free in Christ and a slave to righteousness.  It is great to know that when I came to know Jesus, I had been set free from the bondage of being controlled by a sinful nature.  Yet I am challenged as I remember that neither am I independent nor free so that I can do whatever I feel like doing.  In fact, I do not belong to myself and it is impossible for me to live without a master.  Before knowing Christ I was mastered by sin, but I now have the Good Shepherd as a master. I face the choice everyday of walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit.  Recently I have been convicted and challenged to ask the Lord on a regular basis, what would you have me do? I don't want to say that God calls us to seek Him over every minute detail, but we are called to seek the Lord and walk in obedience to Him.  I believe that the good news is that when we spend time in His word and in prayer we have that confidence that the Good Shepherd is there to guide our steps so that we are able to walk in conscious obedience.  Nonetheless there are times when I notice myself thinking more about my ways and less about His ways. I believe it is at those times the Holy Spirit reminding me to pause and consider my steps and to turn them back to Him. How wonderful it is to know that the Lord is a kind, loving, and gentle master who does not leave us and knows what is best for his own!

Continuing the Translation

I have continued to work on translating and correcting bible stories.  As of now I have nine stories translated.  Some of them I am feeling pretty good about while others still need a lot of work.  I feel that I need to continue practicing them and making corrections and adjustments on the stories I currently have before I add any more.

Pastor David has returned to Loryok from his home in Kenya and it has been great to have another missionary on the ground with me.  We have started regularly meeting in the evenings for a short time of devotions and prayers and on Thursdays we have begun to have a prayer and worship time for the church.    

The Lord Calling His Workers

Recently I was reacquainted with a young Laarim man, Angelo, whom I had met last year.  He is schooling in another town where he is being discipled by some Kenyan missionaries, but comes back to his home area during school holidays.  This time when Angelo came, he excitedly told me what the Lord had done in his life since the last time that we met and he expressed an eagerness to join me in ministry on school holidays. While we were together over his break Angelo willingly joined me and helped me in whatever ways he was able.  There has been another Laarim youth that I know from Torit who has recently helped me to correct some of my stories.  Last week when I saw him in Torit he shared with me that he wants to do ministry among his people after he finishes school.   

Wearing Out the Soles of Our Shoes

While I was in Loryok this last time, Pastor David asked if Angelo and I could join him in visiting some of the people on the eastern side of Camp 15.  We walked out there together, but found most of the people had left their homes to go and cultivate in the fields.  We greeted a few people, but out of curiosity decided to move eastward toward the hills outside of town.  As we continued, we could see family settlements at the base of the hills so we decided that we would visit whoever would be around there.  When we reached though, we found that the compounds had been abandoned.  With our curiosity still driving, us we decided to follow along the footpath southward around the hills having heard that there were people living in that direction.  The trail led us through a bit of a forested area and about forty minutes later we reached a Laarim village of about 100 people.  After briefly sharing a bit with them about what our purpose was in living among the Laarim, we were told that there was another settlement if we continued eastward.  Pastor David said that since we have already come out so far, we should continue forward since it may be his last opportunity to see what was in the area.  We pressed on for a couple more kilometers until we finally reached the base of the hill that we needed to ascend to reach the next village.  The path was steep and the hill was high so made it to the top winded. We found the village along with some beautiful views of the surrounding hills and Loryok in the distance.  When we approached the village we could see children around, but they went and hid themselves after seeing us.  Despite Angelo being with us, the children were probably still afraid of the white-haired Kenyan and white person who had come with him. Though most of the adults had gone down to cultivate, we did find one of the mothers who then called the children to come meet us.  We sat together and David and I shared a little bit about God's word, with the help of Angelo who translated for us.  After the short visit, we headed back to Loryok.  Pastor David and picked wild fruits to eat along the way trying to satisfy our thirst and hunger for the next hour and a half until we reached home.

On the following day, Angelo and I walked 20 kilometers up to Kimatong in the Boya Hills together.  I wanted to visit a few people in the different villages and Angelo wanted to see one of his relatives.  After making a few visits around, the headteacher of a nearby primary school along with one of the chiefs informed found me that he and the community were giving me the house near the vehicle road in the village of Kerenge about 3 kilometers outside of Kimatong.  The building needs some simple repairs, including some iron sheets to make it livable, but I am nevertheless excited that I now have a place to stay when I visit the villages of the Boya Hills.  I look forward to soon starting bible storying there.  I am considering alternating weeks between Kerenge where I will begin storying and Loryok where I will continue to get help translating the stories.  Next time though, I should have my motorbike with me to make the travelling a bit easier.

How You Can Pray

-Pray for Angelo and other young Laarim people who sense the Lord's call to reach their people with His love. Pray that wherever the Lord leads that they would have mature believers in their lives to disciple them. 

-Pray for the process of the repairing of the house that I have been offered.  I need to work on a way to get the building materials up to Kerenge. 

-Continue to pray for the translation work and my language learning.

-Pray for the church in Loryok and for Pastor David as he leads.

It has been a good Easter weekend.  Though I am usually not the best at participating and recognizing the importance of such days of remembrance, I had some good opportunities and took more time than I usually do to ponder God's plan from the beginning for what Christ would do.  Here in Torit I had a simple Passover celebration on Thursday with the other missionaries and we took communion together.  On the following day I read about the story and the account of the last supper and the Passion.  On Sunday we watched a film about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. How amazing it truly is to think of Christ's death and resurrection and what it means for those who know him!

I have now over a full week in Torit, having just recovered from yet another illness after spending five weeks in Loryok.  Though I experienced sickness off and on during my time there, the work continued to move forward.  I was connected with a young Laarim woman, Nalarete, who has been willing to help me with translating Bible stories from English into the Laarim language.  After completing each story I have been able to practice presenting them to Clement's father Joseph and some of the children in Loryok to make sure that the phrases and questions are understandable.  With each story that I have told Joseph, he has reacted with enthusiasm hearing the Bible stories presented in his mother tongue.  Please pray that God would guide my helper and I as we translate the Bible stories and questions so that they are understood by the hearers.

During my first two weeks in Loryok, Pastor Joshua came from Juba and stayed with me.  In the evenings he met at the homes of different families inviting the neighbors to join them.  There was singing followed by Joshua presenting a gospel message.  With each meeting there was a high turnout.  Joshua also met with a few of the young people who regularly participated in the evening gatherings to teach them from a gospel tract he was using for evangelism.  He has done a good job in connecting with many of these young people and as a result I have been able to develop closer relationships with some of the children who express an interest in God's word.  Please pray for Pastor Joshua as he desires to spend more time in Loryok, but with having a family finds it a challenge of how to get established here.  Please also pray for these Laarim children who express an interest in learning the word of God.

 During my time in Loryok, Clement came with a woman from the organization he works with in Juba to hold a teachers' training course for mother tongue literacy.  I attended the class mainly for the purpose of learning more Laarim as the material was being presented in English and translated into Laarim, but I found it difficult to focus because of my health as well as the hot weather.  Thankfully the rains have now come and the days are cooler.  Looking back I do see that I benefited a little from learning the teaching strategies and getting to practice some writing in Laarim.  Please pray that I would be able to stay healthy.  I believe am partly to blame for my sicknesses for being a bit careless and not ensuring that I get the proper nutrition I need.  It will take a bit more effort on my part, but with some accountability and encouragement from the other missionaries here in Torit I plan to take better care of myself.

As usual, I feel that I have to push myself a bit to get out to Loryok after having a nice rest here in Torit, but I do look forward with anticipation of what the Lord will do this month.  We serve an awesome God!   

Living with Eternity in Mind

I have been on the move over the past couple of months as never before and I don't yet see myself getting settled in anywhere any time soon.  I have been in Torit for the past week and a half and I am looking to go to Loryok before the end of the week.  It was great to spend Christmas back home in the US with loved ones and I was happy to see everyone.  God used many people to encourage and minister to me.  God also used my trip to the US to help to remind me of the temporariness of this life.  I hope I am able to clearly explain what I mean.  About a year and a half ago I left for Africa.  I left the place that I had lived in for the previous ten years and at that time I had a seven month old niece and a nine month old nephew.  This last December I came back to Omaha and stayed in a different home that I was not familiar with. At our family gatherings, my niece and nephew who just starting to crawl when I left for Africa were now talking and running around the house. I also had two new nephews who joined the family since I was gone.  What felt strange is that upon my return to the US, the past year and half in Africa felt like a dream during which no time had passed.  Yet there were so many changes around me.  This experience forced me to think about how short our lives are on this earth and it challenged me to consider my priorities in life.

I am reminded of Psalm 103:15, 16 which reads:

"As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more."

When I began thinking about the worldly things that would sometimes drive me or give me fulfillment, I felt a sense of emptiness in it all.  It was not the material wealth of the world that appealed to me, but things such as status, success and recognition in my work, and being liked and respected, that would sometimes draw my attention away from God and onto myself.  The things I listed are not bad, nor is it wrong to appreciate them, but it was as if the Lord was showing me that depending upon them for fulfillment will only lead to regret.  I was reminded that the only thing that ultimately matters is living to please God. It is sobering for me to think that the end of all things on this earth are inevitable and every one of us will one day stand before God for judgment.

To some this reality may be scary, but in Christ there is also the reality of hope and anticipation for the future along with joy for each day that we live on this earth.  For those who know Christ, having experienced His forgiveness and rebirth in Him, there is such joy and hope.  There is a peace knowing that we are free to enjoy what the Lord has blessed us with on this earth.  And if the Lord takes anything that is dear to us or if He calls us to give something up, He who is the author and finisher of our faith and works in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure will not leave us without help, but will enable us to continue in obedience.  Though walking in obedience to the Lord may not be easy or painless, it will never be too hard because the Holy Spirit that God has given to His own will not leave us, but rather will help us through it all.  For those who know Christ, I hope this is an encouragement to you.  For those who do not, I pray that you will come know Him through faith, (believing in Him and that He is who He says he is in His word) and in repentance, (laying your life down to follow Him) knowing that even our best efforts are not good enough and it is only through his death on the cross and resurrection that there is forgiveness of sin and salvation.

In Africa

After my visit back home over the Christmas season, I arrived to Africa landing first in Nairobi, Kenya.  Upon arriving to Kenya I pursued getting my South Sudan visa renewed.  The process took longer than expected and I remained in Kenya for the next two and a half weeks before I had my passport with my South Sudan visa in hand.  Though I was eager to get back to South Sudan, I enjoyed getting to spend nearly a week of my time in Nairobi with Deb, a fellow missionary from Omaha who has been in Kenya for over ten years.  It was a lot of fun going around meeting her friends and getting to see a couple of the sites around downtown Nairobi. 

I woke up on the morning of my flight to Torit feeling quite unwell and having the one problem that you don't want to have when you are going to be on a flight without a lavatory.  I got on the flight anyway and after a miserable three and a half hours in the air, I finally landed in South Sudan.  I was feeling pretty sick when I arrived, but thankfully I was able to get well rested and felt great the following day. As I prepare to go back to Loryok, one of the goals I am settings is to find an individual who will willingly work with me in translating a set of Bible stories that I plan to use for teaching the Laarim.  I am also hoping that within the following month, I will have a clearer idea of when I will be able to move up to the village of Kerenge in the Boya Hills.  This last month has been a very busy time for the AIM South Sudan missionaries with nearly everyone traveling out for different reasons.  Once our team members get settled back into their locations, I will likely start working on the plans with my unit leader for setting up a place to stay in the Boya Hills.  I have been away from Loryok for over two months now and I am really looking forward to being back with the people there. Though I can't say I am looking forward to seeing what my house will look like after leaving the rats, termites, bats, and wasps in charge of it while I have been out.

-Please pray that the Lord would provide someone who could assist me in translating the Bible stories into the Laarim language. 

-Pray that the Lord would raise up believers among the Laarim who will be committed to reaching their own as His written word is made increasingly available to them.

-Pray for wisdom for my South Sudan unit leader and me as we seek to follow the Lord's leading for my transition to the village of Kerenge in the Boya Hills. 

"Rejoice always, pray with out ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

-I Thessalonians 5:16-18

To me, the instructions that the apostle Paul gave to the Thessalonians in the verses above sound so simple and easy to follow.  I truly do think they are simple, but I often do not find that they come easily.  In my spiritual walk I wish I could say that I have mastered them, but there seems to be that one situation, that one disappointment, or even that one thought in my mind that I allow to hinder myself from living out such a life every moment of every day.  It can be something as small as being asked to eat some type of food that I do not wish to eat or it can be a more serious situation, but still it is followed by me grumbling, worrying, or even getting angry.  There are other times when I lose focus when I have or feel like I have failed God, thus leading me to frustration or discouragement.  Nevertheless I find great encouragement in the verses above.  I find them encouraging because I know that regardless of the circumstances I face while living in a fallen world and regardless of my mistakes or sins that I have committed or may commit, God still desires for me a life of which I will experience joyful communion with him with gratitude.  And if it were not possible to live such a life, God would not have used Paul to instruct the Thessalonians to live in such a way. 

           

A life of continual rejoicing, prayer, and giving thanks does not mean that we will not experience pain, sorrow, conflict, or the numerous other types of trials that exist.  In fact, following Christ often leads to more difficulties.  Though it is an ongoing process for me, I believe that I am learning how to experience the joy and peace of the Lord in the midst of hardships.  There are times I feel discouraged, anxious, or weary, but when I look to the Lord there is a deeper peace and a joy knowing that the he is in charge and that I can trust him.  The negative feelings that I have can still be there and may stick around for awhile, but it is the knowing that He will sustain me that allows me to press on with a prayerful and grateful heart.  Even if greater difficulties may be ahead in the future, it does not change the reality of God's faithfulness to provide every need on every occasion for his children.

Just last week, I made a visit to Kimatong in the northern Laarim territory with Clement who traveled there from Juba to read over a rough draft of the book of Mark in Laarim with some people in the community.  I have found it beneficial for my language learning to join these community checks as I get to listen and do my best to follow along as the passages are being read aloud and discussed in the Laarim language.  It is quite an amazing experience to be present as the word of God is being translated into a language that has never had it before. Getting up to visit Kimatong and its nearby villages also gave me the opportunity to meet with some of the local leaders in the area where I am planning to get established.  Although I did not get to meet with as many as I had hoped, I did have some positive meetings with a few key individuals.  I am so grateful for Clement who never seems to grow weary in his work.  Even after a full day of work of reading the Bible and discussing it with members of the community, he was still happy to help me learn and practice the language while taking me out to the village to visit the leaders in the community.

          

If the Lord is willing, I hope to be established in the village of Kerenge in the earlier part of 2013.  Though I am far from where I need to be in the language to start effectively communicating the word of God in a group setting, I am happy to see that I am continuing to make progress in the Laarim language.  Recently when I was in Torit, I was walking through town when I came across a woman who greeted me in Laarim .  I turned to her and noticed that she was someone I knew from Kimatong.  We began conversing, using the langauge and despite stumbling across a few words here and there, I realized how much more naturally the language is coming to me than it was a month ago.  It often gets the attention of everyone standing around or passing by when they hear a white person conversing not in English or Juba Arabic, but in one of the local languages.  I am learning that there needs to be a balance with language acquisition.  On one side if I push myself too hard without giving myself enough rest, I get wearied and lose interest for awhile.  On the other side if I began to notice a lot of progress, I can get overconfident and too comfortable.  I then forget the needed effort to get to the level that I had obtained and that it will continue to take a lot of effort to reach the next level.  I always hope to keep a healthy balance.

I continue to be overwhelmed with the support from many who have come alongside me in this work, despite living thousands of miles away.  For every prayer, financial gift, word of encouragement or any other means of supporting me out here, I am so grateful.  It is a humbling to receive so much without being able to give back to the same degree, but as God has used many to enable me to be here to carry out his work among the Laarim, I pray that I will always remain faithful to the task. It is my prayer that the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills would multiply and return to those who have given unto Him.  He is faithful!

-Praise the Lord that we can trust him and experience his joy in all circumstances.  Pray for me as I continue to grow and learn how to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks always.

-Praise the Lord for the people from the Laarim community who are involved in translating the word of God into their language.  Please continue to pray for a growing desire among more of the Laarim people to learn and know the word of God.

-Praise the Lord for the progress that is regularly being made as I learn the Laarim language.  Please continue to pray for me in this process as I am preparing to communicate in the Laarim language the word of God to the people.