Vision for 2025!

This year marks 26 years since I took a leap of faith and set foot in war-torn South Sudan on a life-changing mission. I’ll never forget those first few years —landing on dusty dirt airstrips, communicating only through radio to Kenya, drawing water out of a well and hand filtering every drop before drinking, reading with a kerosene lamp, handwashing clothes, eating the same food every day and living with the threat of being bombed at any moment. Tonj town was much smaller back then and had been ravaged by famine, leaving deep scars, yet joy and resilience were undeniable among the South Sudanese people. That trip opened my eyes to the power of hope and the strength given to us through the Holy Spirit. It was the beginning of a journey that has forever changed my perspective, deepened my faith, and ignited a passion that continues to drive me today.

Our vision is to empower, educate, and equip our national team and staff to impact more unreached villages and people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By investing in leadership training, discipleship, and sustainable community development, we are strengthening the next generation of believers to carry the mission forward. Together, we are building a legacy of faith, hope, and transformation that will reach even the most remote corners of South Sudan.

CHE in 2025!

CHE Program has had a strong start to 2025, with over a dozen new CHE centers celebrating the graduation of their committees, and many seed projects blessing our CHE communities.

Seed projects are acts of service from our CHE volunteers that demonstrate God’s love to their community, and recent examples are cleaning rubbish from the village market, taking up collections for local families without food, fixing a widow’s grass roof, and providing sacks of food for a disabled man living alone.

These projects require no external resources, and it’s humbling to see families who are in such challenging circumstances personally giving generously from the little they have. Currently several of our CHE centers are suspended due to tribal conflict in Tonj East, we would appreciate your prayers for the Gospel of peace to bring transformation among the cattle herders who drive much of these conflicts.

1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Prayers for Peace!

South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war, now finds itself grappling with a new crisis. As conflict in Sudan continues to escalate, thousands of Sudanese civilians are seeking refuge in South Sudan, reversing previous migration patterns.

Recently, shocking footage surfaced showing Sudanese soldiers brutally attacking and massacring South Sudanese civilians in Wad Madani, Sudan. This sparked outrage and anger throughout South Sudan resulting in retaliatory actions against Sudanese nationals living in the South. The violence caused widespread chaos and destruction, forcing the government to enforce a nationwide curfew.

In Tonj, the impact was severe with shops owned by Sudanese being vandalized and looted. We have over 1,000 Sudanese living in our area in fear for their lives. The authorities have called for peace and reconciliation between the two sides. Despite this, the damage caused will take a long time to improve. IDAT is doing everything we can to show the love of Christ by supporting them with food and water.

Happy New Year!

As we celebrate the New Year, we thank God for YOU our partners and supporters. It’s because of you we are now going into our 26^th year of serving in Tonj, South Sudan!! We are so grateful for the way you supported us in prayer and partnered financially with the vision of In Deed and Truth Ministries. 2024 was a great year and also a very fruitful one! We celebrated 25 years of ministry in South Sudan and graduated our first class from the Tonj Bible Institute!

Here’s a recap of how the Lord used us in 2024 and impacted an entire community for the Kingdom of God.

In 2024, our Maternal Child Mission Hospital treated over 60,000 patients, a 30% increase from 2023.

We saw over 12,000 pregnant mothers, an increase of 1,200 since 2023. We delivered 922 babies in a safe environment, which is a growth of 15% from the year before.

Lamentations 3:22-24 says, The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”

We vaccinated thousands of children and cared for 3,978 in-patients who were admitted to our ward, which is almost 1,300 more than last year. Many of these were premature babies in need of oxygen and an incubator. This huge increase is why we are building a second ward, starting construction as soon as possible in 2025.

Suzy with a IDAT Ward baby

IDAT continues to be the only hospital in Tonj with incubators and oxygen, rabies vaccines, snake anti-venom and x-ray. Our 24-hour care literally saved hundreds of lives physically but we also poured into each patient spiritually, making sure every patient was prayed for and heard the gospel. Many prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior before going home or being discharged from the ward.

CHE!

Our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program went from 70 to 96 villages in 2024. CHE continues to impact and transform these villages through health lessons and evangelism.

In those 96 villages, we trained 6,895 CHE volunteers who made 83,362 home visits teaching people about Jesus. As a result, 21,924 people made decisions to follow Jesus; 136 bible listening groups were meeting, 25 village schools were started, 68 CHE community gardens were planted, 12 community boreholes were drilled to provide safe drinking water.

Our village medical outreach teams treated and vaccinated over 10,000 patients! We are excited to continue to expand our CHE program to reach 140 villages in 2025!!

Church Plants!

Thank you for praying for our church planting ministry, for sponsoring pastors, so we can reach more people with the gospel.

CC Tonj Prayer Night

We have 40 church plants, and 50 pastors, some still in need of sponsorship. 7.500 decisions for Christ and 1,500 of those new believers got baptized. To sponsor an IDAT pastor go to: https://pastors.indeedandtruth.org/.

Altogether 2024 was a fantastic year!

Women’s Christmas Tea!

It was a joy and honor to share at Horizon Church’s Women’s Ministry Christmas Tea, reflecting on the incredible journey God has led me through over the past 28 years.

From the unexpected twists of heartbreak to the resilience He built in my calling, I shared the story of how He transformed my life “from Madame to Missionary.” My hope was to inspire the women in attendance to see that no matter where they’ve been or what they’ve faced, God can redeem every story and use anyone for His purpose. God is faithful and we can trust in His promises.

CHE Ministry Update!

What a year it’s been for CHE (Community Health Evangelism)! Thanks to your support and prayers CHE is now running in 94 villages, with our team of over 5,000 volunteers bringing health training, Christ-centered community development and the hope of the gospel to around 100,000 people each month.

Our medical outreach team has this year provided medical care to over 10,000 vulnerable children and pregnant mothers. Over 10,000 people have this year made commitments to follow Christ through personal evangelism and Jesus Film outreaches. Churches have been planted in 40 villages, 12 new boreholes have been drilled, 25 village schools opened, and 57 CHE Community farms have fed many widows, orphans, and disabled people.

Every CHE village has to have a committee overseeing the CHE volunteers. This month we held a graduation for 10 CHE committees celebrating over 200 CHE volunteers graduating. At every graduation the village chief, elders and community members, as well as IDAT leaders and pastors.

“Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” Psalm 25:4-5

The appreciation and engagement from the communities at these graduations reflect the strong partnership between each village and In Deed and Truth Ministries.

Graduates from the CHE Village of Alur

But there is still so much Kingdom work left to do, with over 100 villages currently on our waiting list, each village desperate for the gospel and CHE. Would you consider making a year-end donation towards a CHE village to help us reach these communities in 2025?

Vision Trips to Tonj in 2025!

Are you ready to step out in faith and experience the transformative power of serving others? Join us on a mission vision trip to South Sudan in June or October 2025. This trip is more than just an opportunity to witness the fruits of In Deed and Truth’s efforts; it’s a chance to support our ongoing projects, engage with our CHE villages, and see firsthand how God is bringing hope and restoration to this region. Pray about joining us as we partner with South Sudan in faith, love, and action!

As we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ let us remember the hope He offers to all who surrender to Him.

Women’s Conference!

Last month we distributed food to a community of Muslim refugees that fled the fighting in north Sudan. We invited them to attend our one-day women’s conference at our church and more than 100 of them came.

This powerful women’s event served as a bridge of unity and understanding, where women from different walks of life came together to learn, share stories, and experience the message of Jesus’ love and hope. Our topic was “What does it mean to be a Proverbs 31 woman?” Missionaries Sarah, Suzy, Destinee and Laurie each taught a session, with breakout sessions in between. Over 600 women attended, and the day was filled with inspiring testimonies, heartfelt prayers, and moments of genuine connection.

Proverbs 31:29-31 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all! Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done.”

A New Ministry!

We’re delighted to share that we have started a new ministry. As we shared that we hosted our first women’s conference at the church. The day before this conference we did a food distribution specifically for refugee women who had fled the civil war in Sudan (north). We had many Arab women come for this food distribution and we invited them to the conference.

We were thrilled to have around 100 ladies join us. Our senior pastor’s wife told us that three of the women prayed to receive Christ. Throughout the conference we bonded with these ladies and sought ways to see how we could minister to them further. This is how we found out that the majority of them would like to learn English. We agreed to teach them English if they agreed to allow us to teach them the gospel and just like that, 84 women signed up! This is how our new ministry was birthed. We have begun our English classes and what’s even better is we have now had two occasions to share the gospel with these ladies, which is the key part of this ministry.

Men’s Conference!

This month we held a Men’s conference at CC Tonj!  We called it, “Every man is called to be a leader!”  We created topics to share among the Pastors and male leaders and divided the time.

The Conference was opened by our own Field Director, Albino Dut. The first session was from Pastor Mabior who spoke on “leading the Church”. The second session was by Pastor Santino Bak on “leading in the community”. The third session was done by Missionary Michael Herzinger on “a Faithful man”. The fourth session was led by Pastor Joseph Kuol and called “leading the family”. The final session was led by Missionary Ben Beard entitled “A Humble man”.

We had a very enjoyable fellowship with around 300 men from the church.  Communication about each topic was encouraged for 45 minutes afterwards during the breakout sessions and was animated and exciting. We are looking forward to seeing much fruit from this venture and we were bombarded with requests to do this every year.  Amen!

Leader’s Conference!

In South Sudan, a nation rich in culture and history but also scarred by conflict and division, the role of effective leadership cannot be overstated. This last month our national team of leaders gathered together in Wau, the second largest city in South Sudan. The purpose was to welcome Nathan into the team, revisit the vision of In Deed and Truth Ministries and to equip them with the mindset and faith necessary to lead with integrity, unity, and purpose.

Every sector of our ministry was represented by our Field Director, Medical Director, CHE manager, Bible School Director, CC Tonj Senior Pastor, Finance Director, Church Plant coordinator, Missionary Support Specialist, and Infrastructure coordinator. We also invited our missionaries, and new Executive Director as we focused on nurturing and empowering this next generation of South Sudanese leaders for our ministry.

They are the future and it is our heart to equip them with biblical principles that foster humility, resilience, and servant leadership, all essential for navigating the pressures and responsibilities, with the continuance and growth of IDAT long-term.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19

Ongoing Food Distribution!

Our ministry, by God’s grace and with the support of faithful partners, has been actively involved in providing food to both the internally displaced people (IDP’s) within our region and the muslim  refugees from Khartoum. We believe this is a critical moment to live out our calling to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in desperate need.

Our maternal waiting homes are full of IDP’s that ran away from the tribal fighting in Tonj East. One woman had seven children killed and her 8-year-old daughter came with her who was also shot but survived. Another mother we are caring for was running with her 2-month-old twins. Her 10-year-old daughter was carrying one twin and she was carrying the other. As they fled gunshots, the daughter and twin were both killed. These women came to Tonj town but have no shelter or food.

360 bags of food (18 tons) were distributed to the refugee community that fled fighting in Khartoum.