Saturday, July 25, 2009

A village in Yambio


Thank you so much for maintaining our blog. We all genuinely appreciate it so much. Below is a blog entry from me today. There's also a special one with well wishers for the Maine team. Please post that as a separate blog entry. Thanks!

Kyle also is sending a blog entry as well as 9 photos from our ministry here today. Please encourage folks in worship services tomorrow to read the blog as we've been working hard to keep it updated for all of you. We love you!

GREETINGS FROM A GRATEFUL HEART IN SUDAN

Hello to our families, friends and church families! It's Saturday evening about 6 p.m. here in Yambio and we're typing from the one working internet cafe in the town. There are so many God-moments to share with you that I have put them in bullets below. As our senders you all are just as much a part of our mission here as we are.

Last night (Friday) Kyle and Neil shared their testimonies with the 14 seminarians during our evening devotion time. We all thank God for these two young men. They talked about their own relationships with God and how they try to live for Him each day. It was a very moving experience and the seminarians were encouraged and showed much gratitude two Kyle and Neil.

Bob is becoming quite the preaching man! His presentation on leadership with the seminarians was fantastic, and his message today for the youth about trusting God was genuine and heartfelt. I am so thankful he is here. He continues to help us process information and ask great questions. It's great to have a fresh set of eyes and ears on the team this year.

Peggy is fantastic with the children! She brings such joy to each one through her teaching and love! She is the 'Parachute Queen' as well as our 'Medical Queen.' She and Kyle have been teaching CPR and First Aid basics to the teachers at both schools we've been working at--and the teachers are very grateful.

Sue is the 'Sudan Mama.' So many of the youth and seminarians ask for her, share their hearts with her and enjoy being with her. She listens to them and loves on them--and it's a beautiful thing to see. She continues to be generous in her giving and loving.

Today (Saturday) we spent 7 hours with about 20 youth from the Yambio Lutheran Church. Our focus of the day retreat was Proverbs 3:5-6: Trusting in God. We were able to give them devotions, cross necklaces and more. They sang and danced--and we danced with them!! Awesome! We've got some rhythm!

They very rarely have special events held for them, and it is these youth that are the teachers of the children in Sunday School. What a privilege for us to have an entire day for them to teach, encourage and have some good ol' fashioned fun with them! A special moment for me was when we split up the guys and gals. Picture this: Neil, Kyle, Bob, myself and 12 or so Sudanese guys (ages 17-30 or so) sitting under a thatched hut classroom sharing prayer requests with one another and then praying for one another. These moments were a gift from God to all of us. The young men prayed for all of you, our senders, as well!

Our training day with the Baguga teachers yesterday (Friday) went well. There are 10 teachers and they have not been paid for many many months. We will use some of the gift monies we brought to help with their salaries. We shared a variety of teaching tips, medical tips and AIDS prevention information. We also tried to teach them kickball--and boy was that funny! When a group of folks don't have a concept of baseball, kickball is a hard one to teach! Oy vey!

Speaking of laughter, our team spends a good amount of time doing that. Whether it's over a variety of creatures we've discovered in our rooms or in the bathrooms; or about being misunderstood when trying to teach or share something; or noticing how goofy we look at night as we walk around with our headlamps (flashlights on our heads) in the evenings! We look like a bunch of miners!!! Praise God for the gift of laughter

And can you believe this...the butter that we use for meals here in Yambio is 'Blue Band' butter and on the flight from London to Uganda they served us 'Penn State' pretzels! I kid you not!

Even in Africa, Penn State is still the best college football team! (in case you don't know--the Blue Band is Penn State's marching band!) I saved the Penn State pretzels to show you all so you'll believe me! Let's go Lions!