Hi everyone! Stacie here. Or, Yar as I am known here. I still can’t believe I am writing you from Sudan, Africa. I had one of those “I am in Africa right now” moments earlier in the day. I’ll get to that in a minute. For starters, I’ll let you know what we did. Because our first two days in Tonj were so hectic and because the next few days will be also, we did not do Kids Games today. Today we just worked in the compound. Breakfast was at 8:00. We had these yummy donut thingys. I can’t remember their name. Then, at 8:30, we had devotions with the compound staff. Sheena led devotions today. She gave her testimony and shared Proverbs 3:5,6. She did a great job.
After devotions, most of us went off to the pharmacy. We did an inventory of all the medications and supplies they have. It was a big project and it took a long time. We worked from 9:30 to 2:00 and still weren’t done. Matt and Todd taught the pastors. Today they discussed relationships with wives. Their culture is very different. How do you tell these men to love their wive(s) when they didn’t marry for love? Its strictly a business transaction. So Matt said, you need to love them like Christ loves the church. Someone asked, when I show love to one of my wives, the others get mad, what do I do? Matt couldn’t say, “you should only have one wife, divorce the others.” We can’t encourage them to abandon their wives and kids. So, he focused on teaching them to instruct the next generation to only having one wife. The cultural differences are huge, to say the least.
At 2:00, we had lunch, which was PB & J sandwiches. After lunch we went back to the pharmacy to keep working. A little later, the time came to begin dinner preparations. In this case, dinner was a goat. Sheena volunteered to kill it… and she did. While we don’t think it’s wrong, Amy and I did not want to hear it, see it or meet the goat before it died. We waited in the pharmacy while the deed was done. A little while later, a few of the pastors taught us to sing a Dinka song. It was really fun to learn it and sing it with them. I wrote it down phonetically so I could sing it, but I’m sure it looks nothing like the real words. Our goal is to sing it at RdR…. We’ll see….!
After that, the pastors began dancing. This is when I had one of my “I’m really in Africa” moments. It was exactly what I would expect tribal dancing to be: singing, stomping feet, kicking up dirt, sticks and jumping around. After a bit, some of the guys jumped in and then Sheena! I stuck to dancing with the kids on the sidelines. Everyone laughed when they danced. It seems everything we do is funny to them! The dancing went on for a while. Then once it was over, we stayed and talked with them for a bit. Here is how a lot of my conversations went: Are you married? No. Why? God hasn’t brought me my husband yet. If you were in Sudan, you would be married, God will bring you your husband in Sudan. At this point I laughed nervously. Then one guy said, do you agree to get married in Sudan? I said, no I have to get married at home. It was really funny. Some guys asked how many cows it would take to marry Sheena!
For dinner we had an African meal: goat, kale type stuff, beans and tortilla thingys. All my thingys have a name, but I just can’t recall them. For my friends and family, yes I tried everything! So, that’s a wrap up of today. This trip has been amazing, overwhelming, filled with joy, filled with tears. There is too much to write about here (plus I am out of room!). Words cannot express how much strength God has given me. I have been stretched in so many ways. It is awesome to be here, relying on Him to get me through the day. My favorite thing I have done so far was washing the hands of the kids at Kids Games. They put their handprints on a banner with paint and I got to clean them off. It was a special time to connect and serve the kids, praying for them while I did so. I can’t wait to get home and tell you all about the things we have done, all I have experienced, and how God is working in our lives and the lives of the people in Sudan.