Hoping for the Green Light

While I hear about sub zero temperatures in the US, I am comfortably sitting in AIM's guesthouse in sunny Kampala where the highs are consistently in the low 80's and the lows are in the mid to lower 60's.  For weather, it's as good as it gets for me and with Kampala being a larger city I can find almost anything I would want or need. What is even better here is that for a reasonable price I can take a motorbike taxi to wherever I would need to go in town usually get there quickly.  I always enjoy coming here, but I really am hoping that in a couple more weeks I will be back in South Sudan.  Though with the current conflict it is still to be determined whether or not I will be able to return that soon.  Thankfully the areas where we live have remained calm so far, but there are other places that have fighting.  I am concerned for people's lives in South Sudan, especially for those whom I have come to know and love, but I am hopeful that we will be able to return soon. Though the question remains "How soon?"

Life and ministry rarely go as planned here and disruptions often seem to come at the most inconvenient times.  In thinking of such times though I am reminded of the words written by the apostle Paul in II Corinthians 4:8 "we are perplexed, but not in despair." In November, I made a visit to Kimatong in the Boya Hills area.  My purpose was to meet with the chiefs in several nearby areas to ask for some land options for permanent housing for me and another missionary family who I was waiting for to join me early this year.  After several days of visiting the chiefs and seeing different options, I returned to my home in Loryok to contact my unit leader and another missionary who would take charge of the building project.  Due to a family emergency for the builder, they were to be delayed.  A few days later, I got word from my unit leader that the family who was to join AIM to work with the Laarim had changed their plans and they would not be coming. This was after more than a year of anticipating their coming.  The news hit us hard as we were all hoping to have more missionaries to work with the Laarim. I returned to inform the chiefs of the change of plan and thankfully they were gracious to me. Because of this change though we have decided to wait on building a permanent house for myself, but instead I will complete my temporary home which is made mostly of local materials.  Once that house is completed, I would then be able to take frequent short periods of time in the villages of the Boya Hills to get started with ministry there. 

After my initial return from the village to seek out land options for building in November last year, I was visited by my friend Angelo who just finished his primary school in another town.  We spent the week together and met with the children on my compound each evening for a time of singing and a Bible lesson.  I am thankful that Angelo was with me when I had gotten the news that this missionary family who was intending to join me had changed their plans. Though it was difficult news, I was encouraged to have Angelo with me as it reminded me that God does not leave us to do the work alone.  That following week, Angelo and I went to Torit and we met up with Loboi another Laarim youth attending school there.  Together we attended a five-day seminar on Transformational Development which teaches on the root issues of poverty and our role as Christians to be ministers of reconciliation so that we see lasting transformation in individual lives and communities.

Both Angelo and Loboi are youth that have demonstrate a genuine faith in Christ and a desire to reach their people with Gospel.  Though we all live in different places, I have been able to spend significant amounts of time with them working, doing ministry, and living life together.  I am learning to be more intentional in doing what I can to encourage growth in these guys to help them be effective in ministry.  At the same time I am humbled when not only do I depend on them for help, but I see them more effectively minister in specific ways to their own people than I am able to.  That's one of the things that is wonderful thing about being part of the Body of Christ.  I do hope that I can see Angelo and Loboi again soon.

How you can pray

-Please pray for the current fighting in South Sudan to stop and that the door would quickly open for us to return.

-Pray for the church of South Sudan including the Laarim believers to not lose heart but to stand firm for righteousness during this time in South Sudan.

-Pray that we will be able to complete my house in the the Boya Hills area soon.

We All Need Rest

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

-Matthew 11:28-30

         Ministry is difficult.  Whether working in a recognized position of ministry or not, when we choose to minister by loving others we open ourselves to sorrows and difficulties.  I must also add that there are at times great moments of joy and satisfaction in ministry through serving the Lord and experiencing fellowship with others and sometimes even seeing resulting fruit, but the road of ministry is indeed difficult wherever one is may serve. We may spend much energy and time loving, praying for, and counseling someone so that they may not fall into one of life's many pitfalls and still they may fall into one.  We may spend years preaching and teaching the truth in love and not know if it has any effect on the hearers.  We may see other fellow believers make poor choices that damage our relationships with them.  And to add to the difficulties there are the sins and mistakes that we ourselves commit.

            Yesterday I was feeling a bit down.  Not overwhelmed, but saddened that a friend of mine with whom I enjoy fellowship has made a bad choice that could have big consequences on this earth for him.  I am thankful that he has, I believe, expressed genuine repentance, but I still hurt a bit for him.

            Whether you are in distress facing great adversity, or feeling discouraged over what may appear to be fruitless efforts, or feeling a bit down because a friend in whom you have invested much has made a poor choice, and though the demands of ministry still remain in addition to these problems, Jesus promises rest for us.  Even if we have more than we feel that we can handle, it is certainly not more that Jesus can handle and he calls us to take on His yoke.  To find such rest though in the midst of such trials, I believe we must be intentional about taking time with Jesus.  There is so much more that I could write that has probably already been written, but I want to remind myself and my fellow followers of Jesus that if you are feeling distressed and overwhelmed with the demands of life and ministry, perhaps it is time to come again to Jesus and find rest for your soul in Him.        

It is hard for me to believe that I am sitting back here in South Sudan, healthy, well rested, and having regained my strength after these past couple of months.  Lately I have been on the move.  I have totaled the days spent in each location where I have stayed over the past two months and I have found that the longest I have spent anywhere was the three weeks I had in Kerenge of the Boya Hills while I was working on establishing my home there.  It really was not easy and I still have more work to do, but God provided when I was in need. 

            When I arrived to Loryok in August, I purchased and gathered together what would be needed for the work to get started on building my compound.  This included 180 kg of salt for payment, 15 steel corrugated sheets, a sack of charcoal, food, tools, and other items.  My little 3mX 3m house was crowded with these things.

            After getting all that I needed, I found someone in Loryok who had a vehicle that I could hire to bring up the goods so we agreed upon a price for the transportation.  The next day we loaded up his pickup.  There was some concern over one of the river crossings about 7km outside of Loryok, but we heard from someone who had just come from the village on his motorbike that it would probably be passable with the vehicle.  We decided to go for it but unfortunately when we reached the river we were unable to cross due to the amount of water flowing.  This meant going back and piling everything into my house again. That was definitely not what I wanted to have to do.  Thankfully, I got word from my unit leader that five days later he would be coming through Loryok and was very willing to help me transport my items up to the village in his Land Rover, a much more suitable vehicle for the trip.  When he came we loaded the vehicle and brought everything up and the next day I started the work with some young men.  The work was difficult and at times felt overwhelming. I did not enjoy negotiating prices for the local materials that people from the community brought me as well as telling some that they had to bring more for the previously agreed upon price.  Nevertheless with the help of three young Laarim men, Loboi, Petanyang, and Luka, along with a few others on some given days we were able to accomplish what I had hoped for.  We completed the fence and redid the roof on the house.  I am so grateful for the three who stuck with me volunteering their time to help.  I could not have done it without them.  On some instances, they even took ridicule for supporting me on the occasions that some others wanted to take advantage of me.  I thank the Lord that He provided these young men to come alongside and support me when I was in need. 

            Since those three weeks have passed, I have spent days in Loryok, Torit, Nairobi, Juba, in the air and even in Nebraska for my brother's wedding.  I was intending to visit my home church while in Omaha, but I was hit with a high fever on that Sunday morning that kept me from going.  I have now been back in South Sudan for about a week and a half and hope in a few days to be back on my way to the village to finish up the work that I started so that I will soon be able to live and share God's word with the Laarim in the Boya Hills.

-Continue to pray for hunger for God's word among the Laarim, particularly in the villages of the Boya Hills.

-Pray for my relationships with these young people whom God has placed in my life.  Pray that our time spent together would bring us closer to Jesus.  

-Please continue to pray for me as I push ahead with the construction, the bible story translation, as well as learning the language.  I sometimes find it easy to forget about the need to watch my health and energy level closely so that I don't run myself down.

  

       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.