South Sudan Update # 1

Hello Everyone,

Sorry we haven’t been in touch.  There is no internet on the compound where weare teaching.  This message is being kindly delivered to the internet in town by someone else for us.

The students at the CLIS school are pastors and other church leaders whose passion for Christ and to share the good news is inspirational to us.  They are in the third year of their 3 year program.  They spend 3 terms of  4 or 5 weeks here then go home for 3 months.  Students really sacrifice to be here.  They travel by foot, bus, motorcycle and even boat.  One gentleman travelled 17 hours to get here.  He actually had to travel down and across the Nile River.   Two to 3 day travels are common.
The students’ knowledge of the Bible is impressive.  We have a couple guys who can answer in detail, often quoting the book and verse, virtually any question Jonathan can throw at them! 

Please keep praying that our messages on Servant Leadershipare clear and that the students understand the concepts and can bring them back to their churches  and apply them.  They are responding well to learning in small group circles through discussion and are enjoying a variety of learning games/activities that illustrate the lessons. This is a fun way to teach, too. 

Your prayer cover is needed and is felt by each of us.  We have felt well and have handled the conditions better than I would have expected. It has to be your prayers. Despite the 95 degree weather, no AC and 6 - 50 minute sessions of teaching (8am-4:20pm) daily, I’d say we are feeling energized and encouraged by each other and our students as we plan the daily sessions and deliver them.

We have had many amazing African experiences.  The bush surrounding our compound has been burning on the horizon since we arrived. The air is smoky.  Late yesterday afternoon two of the bush fires  headed straight for us! Flames and huge red glow.  These are BIG grass fires.  Bosco obviously has dealt with this before. When it was clear that the fire was near and was headed straight for our property, he calmly went and lit a series of small fires on our fence line andback-burned toward the fire so that it would stop the fire from coming onto our grounds. If the fire spread the wrong way, he would put it out with branches of large leaves.   He also did this to save several grass roofed huts.  The fire came all the way up to 2 sides of the property but caused us no harm.  Truly amazing to experience for us, obviously a part of life for the people of Yei.

Mark delivered a message in Chapel today on discipleship and did great.  Lucky me gets to speak again in Chapel tomorrow.  Marriage is difficult here for many reasons, so marriage will be my topic.  Jonathan speaks Thursday.  Oh man…this is a growing time, but NO is jus tthe wrong answer.  It is nice to have a warning this time.  J

Well, thanks again for joining us here in supporting usthrough prayer.  We will send another update as soon as we can.  We are on this campus until Saturday morning.  Then we begin our journey home…  Although this time has been a blessing, we look forward to being home with YOU.  God Bless each of you!