It's Been a While (Part 2 of 2)

            I really didn't mean to leave all of you hanging with that last post. I had planned on more or less paraphrasing everything that had happened during my stay in Sudan but when I started writing I just couldn't seem to stop the flow of words and move onto the next thing. It was like I said at the end of the last post, I just had too much to say and it is going to take me a while to get it all out. Now though I've got a bit more time and I think that I can paraphrase everything like I wanted to the first time.

            So I told you how we had to walk across the Sudanese bush in the middle of the night after becoming stuck in a riverbed. And then how the American at the Carter Center came to our rescue in what was truly divine intervention. We finally got some breakfast after they dropped us and all of our stuff off at our camp. I've got to say, that was some of the best tasting pancakes (African style) and chai that I think I've ever had. It might have had something to do with the fact that we never had dinner the night before and we walked for what seemed like forever and then got barely any sleep... yeah that might have had something to do with it. But hey, God got us through all of the challenges of trying to get to our camp and as my time continued there he continued to walk with me through the challenges and lessons He was putting me through. I can say with absolute confidence that there is absolutely no situation, not a single one, which God does not have enough grace for. It is so amazing and I'm so thankful for it because I wouldn't have made it through that first week with out His grace.

            Unlike Turkana where BOL has already established itself and also some of the fruits of their labor can be seen, Sudan is new to BOL and almost completely untouched by the Gospel. So the first week we were there was really a time of breaking ground and getting the discipleship program there. Just from my short time there and knowing what BOL has gone through to be able to get to this point, I can say with certainty that these people are going to be a great challenge to reach. Already, Catholics had come in and left because of how unreceptive the people there are and BOL has been there for almost 2 years now just getting to where they are accepted by the locals. However that acceptance is one of the biggest blessings that God could have given them because unlike Americans (and most people for that matter), once they accept you, they completely accept you. For them either you need to be leaving, or your one of them and so now the people are extremely comfortable with BOL being there and on top of that they have been given some land for what is now the camp. I'll talk more later about the culture there and how BOL got started and a few of the stories that Joel has told me (some of them are wild!), but for now I want to make sure I can at least skim the surface and catch you up to where I currently am (which is back in Joel's house).

            As I was saying, the first week we were there was for starting the discipleship program. That task was mainly left to John and Joel, with William and Micah as the translators. I forgot to mention but one of the reasons that BOL felt like the Tuposa people in Sudan were the people they needed to go to was because the Tuposa and the Turkana people understand each other. It's along the same lines as Yankees and rednecks. A little different here and there, but for the most part the same English. And Micah and William are both from Turkana so that worked out very well. Because most of the days though consisted of the 12 or so locals that came listening to John and Joel, there wasn't much for me to do. That made things very hard for me because even when I was sitting with the group, it might as well have been that no one was talking because I couldn't understand a word that was said. Duncan tried to help for a while and update me on what was going on, but because he needed to write down everything that they were learning so he could build on it later, his time for translating for me was limited. I found myself becoming very bored and the days seemed to drag on forever. The enemy began to try and tell me that my time there was a waste. I had already experience similar feelings when I first went out into Turkana so I knew that they were completely bogus, but it's very hard to be somewhere and have the days passing by so slowly just because there isn't anything for you to do. Two of the hardest things for me to deal with have been those feelings of wasted time and the sense that my involvement and presence wasn't making a difference. That I had spent all this money, and given up all these creature comforts, given up all this time, and I wasn't making any difference whatsoever. But through that I began to learn some things about the culture I've come from and also about my self. One thing I never noticed is that Americans are a strange people. Strange in the fact that we always have to have something to do. Whether it's actually something productive or it's just watching TV we always have to have something to occupy our time. I've heard it before and now I've come face to face with the fact that just sitting and not being engaged by something external is a very difficult task for us Americans. And yet so many times while I've been in Africa, that's exactly what I've had to do. In Turkana you can only work for the first half of the day because after you take lunch, it's just too hot to do anything. And during that first week in Sudan, there just wasn't anything that I could be helping with that could engage me physically. God has used both of those times thought to really teach me about having patience as well as just being able to sit. Instead of wanting to engage me physically with something to do with my hands, the Lord was teaching me to engage my mind and as Colossians 3:2 says, to "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." And through that I've witnessed how He has been changing the pattern of my thoughts and continually leading me to think more about His ways and how wonderful, merciful, glorious, and lovely He is. Of course there is even more that He taught me during that time and I'll expound on more of it when I begin posting my journal entries, but for now I can only say that to God be the glory because He got me through that week, and every week before it, and every week since then.

            Joel, John and Micah left after the first week so for the next week that I was in Sudan it was just Duncan, William, and me. But it was such a great time and God planned it perfectly (of course!). We did everything from a bit of farming by tilling some of the land and planting some veggies, as well as some spiritual harvesting as we had the chance to go into the villages and tell them about the Gospel along with the nights of fellowship we had with the disciples. Not only did I have another week of getting to be around naked local men and topless local women but I also got to see it rain (and I mean it poured!), and before I left some of our crops were starting to sprout. I'll get to things in more detail when I add in to what I wrote in my journal but our tasks for the week were to increase the size of the farm, expand the boundary for the entire camp, plant the crops (carrots, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, and even watermelon), and water the seed beds (water was much easier to come by in Sudan then it was in Turkana). I also got pretty good at making tea, Uji, and tried my hand at the cabbage. I'm def looking forward to when I come back and getting to cook all of these things for you guys (Ndazis, chapatti, African pancakes, Ugali, Mtumbo, African cabbage, samosas (still looking to learn that one), and some African hamburger!).

            Things have been going crazy fast now that I've come back out of the bush. I had a fairly eventful time coming back from Lodwar and making my way to the mission house in Eldoret but it wasn't anything to big for God to get me through. I stayed in Eldoret for a few days and while I was there I got an awesome blessing of being able to meet the other intern, Linsey, before she headed out to Turkana for here 3 months. It was incredibly encouraging to be able to talk with her and get an infusion of American culture, something of which I had been severely lacking up to that point, as well as just share what God had already done during her few days here and a few of the innumerable things He had done for me during my first month. I don't remember how old Linsey is but she works as a dance teacher down in Charleston (I think that's right but I'm sorry Linsey if you read this and find that it isn't :P). She came with a team from Seacoast church last year sometime around July or so and now that she is back, she is going to be spending her 3 month internship almost exclusively in Turkana helping at the School/Church. She is an incredible woman that I can already say God is going to rock while she is there. I can almost guarantee that the Linsey going into Turkana won't be the same Linsey that comes out. The one coming out is going to be shining with God's brilliance and His fingerprints are going to be blatantly obvious. I know it's going to be a challenge for here but all she needs to do is continue to hope in the Lord and He will, in fact already has, provided everything that she could possibly need. I'm absolutely ecstatic about getting to be with her and the rest of the team coming from the States in July to West Pokot. I've still got some awesome stuff going on before I get to that point though and I refuse to already be looking past it.

            Now that I'm back in Nairobi I find that I'm not going to hardly have time to breath before I'm out again. I can't remember if I've mentioned this already but tomorrow I'll be flying out of Kenya and going to South Africa for a week! I'm so, so, soooo, excited about it. The reason is that my grandfather is actually going to be there. His church back in the States has sent a team to SA to host something of a VBS (vacation bible school) for a group of kids there. I don't know a lot of the details but from what my grandfather told me it's something in the neighborhood of 500 kids. So not only do I get to see a bit more. I know I wouldn’t' have been able to go if God didn't have something for me there and the timing worked out so well that it didn't make sense for me not to go. I know that I'll be taking tons of pictures (not that I haven't already, I'm at almost 900) so I can't wait to tell all of you what God does there.

            I'm thinking that this was a pretty long post so I'm going to have to call it here. I should have some time while I'm on the plane to SA to start typing up some of my journal entries so I might be able to get some of those up for you guys soon. I can't thank all of you that have been praying for me enough. God has kept me safe in a place that should truly have caused me so many issues. And more importantly, He has blessed my time here in a way that words can't express! I continue to pray that God keeps each one of you strong and that He blesses each and everyday. My prayer is that everyday brings new revelations of God and the ultimate expression of His love for us, sending His Son Jesus as our sacrifice. I pray that He continues to fill you with more of His Holy Spirit and lead you away from the temptations of the world, and instead, deeper into His overflowing and unending love and mercy. May everyday be a day of new mercies and an experience of the overflowing grace that comes from God.

God bless you and may He bring you further into His loving embrace,

With Unending Love, Unfathomable Peace, and Unquenchable Joy in our Savior Jesus Christ,

CT