“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” – Numbers 6:24–26

Christmas greetings from all our team both in USA and South Sudan! We want to say a huge thank you for not only touching our lives with your continued love and support of our family but also the love you have poured out on those we serve in South Sudan. Thank you for praying for us and for encouraging us with your notes, calls and emails. We are blessed to have you part of our support team.

This year has been a challenging one for our family as we have been working stateside while securing Agum’s US citizenship and Sabet has spent more than 6 months apart from us, mostly due to caring for his mother’s health needs. Many of you have provided words of encouragement and hope and helped us to keep our focus on the Lord and His plans during this time. It’s because of these prayers our family and ministry are both doing so well. The Lord has raised up remarkable Godly men from within to serve in areas we are not able to and we are now witnessing and enjoying the fruit of years of prayers and labor. Several of you have labored with us, over the years, for these souls that are now serving the Lord in South Sudan. Your touch on our lives has been extended to touch and change these lives for eternity. It has been our greatest privilege to be used in this way.

2015 seemed to go by so quickly and yet here we are making preparations to celebrate the wonder and splendor of our Savior’s birth. It’s my favorite time of year so I don’t mind entering this season again when the last celebration feels like yesterday!! As soon as Christmas passes we are heading to California to attend the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference in Murrieta starting on January 4th. We are so excited to have this opportunity as a family to see our friends and church family in California! The Lord knows if Sabet will be able to join us and that is our prayer and our hope.

Every day in South Sudan is hard; it’s hot, there are scorpions and snakes, deadly diseases, poor quality of all basic, essential needs, like; medical, water, food, education, jobs, transport, housing, electricity, communication and security. These are things we take for granted every single day and yet considered a privileged lifestyle by South Sudanese living in extreme poverty. This year you chose to join hands with us and with our brothers and sisters of South Sudan. Your contribution both prayerfully and financially directly impacted their lives and allowed us to continue in the calling the Lord has placed on us. We are humbled and blessed by your generosity and love.

2016 for South Sudan looks bleak with continued conflict devastating the country’s progress and threatening the world’s worst food crisis to date. It is going to be a tough year ahead but our family and our team are ready for the battle. We are committed to the calling and to the ministry’s success and impact on the ground. We are looking forward to returning as a family to Tonj. We are excited to begin Community Health Evangelism across the villages and to move into our new clinic building. We can’t wait to have our first ‘home-grown’ South Sudanese missionary (not including Sabet) graduate from medical school and serve in the clinic. Our pastors have done a fabulous job ministering to patients and pastoring our church plants. We have much to reflect on and much to look forward to. We hope you will join hands with us for another year of service to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.

We wish you and your family joy and peace this Christmas!