Macleods Back on Mission!

It has been a blessing to have our missionaries come back from New Zealand. Our hearts were weary and Jono, Destinee, Zoe, Ellisha and Shiloh brought a much-needed spirit of joy, excitement and energy to our team after a tough ten months.

• Pray for their readjustment especially the kids’ hearts having been in New Zealand longer than planned, that they could get back into their routines and reconnect easily here.
• Pray for their homeschool needs (if you know any young woman that might like to serve the Macleods in this way as a homeschool teacher for one year please email me).
• Pray for their safety, we have had a lot of tribal unrest in the villages.
• Pray for their health, protection from malaria, coronavirus, scorpions, snakes and now rabies is rampant.
• Pray the Lord would use them to encourage, teach, and bless this community and make them effective witnesses of the Gospel.
• Pray all their financial needs would be met as they as they enter their 7^th year serving with IDAT.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9

Pray for the Sports Outreach!

We are so excited to launch our 2020 IDAT Soccer Tournament this month. It is bigger and better than ever before. We have 16 soccer teams, 8 volleyball and basketball teams. Thank you for generously giving so we could provide the teams with new kits and soccer boots.

This tournament provides an outlet to the youth of Tonj and gives us a platform to reach them with the gospel.

Our clinical officer Gabriel Gojoh will play in the tournament. He helped Suzy with ordering the kits that proudly display the IDAT logo and every clubs badge!

Church Resumes!

In the seven months we were not able to meet we worked on the new church land, constructing the fence and installing a gate to prepare for the ‘big move’ of CC Tonj. Little did we know this is where we would be doing food distributions. We don’t have an actual building, but we are using a tent and tarp to provide shelter from rain and sun.

When the government lifted the restrictions on churches being able to meet, we had an amazing response.

We also saw people coming forward to receive Christ as our church elders laid hands on them.

Glory to His Name!

Please pray for Paul and his family. He was a witchdoctor that practiced traditional medicine on people. He lives next to our new church land, where we have been doing the food distribution.

He would sell people charms to wear and large idols for their homes to protect them from evil spirits. Last month he saw lots of people coming to our land and wanted to see what was going on. He’d lost several family members and constantly lived in fear. He heard Suzy talk about Jesus being the Bread of Life and inviting people to repent and he raised his hand. Pastor Mabior met with him one to one and assured him of salvation through Jesus Christ. Paul said he didn’t have any peace and didn’t want to be a witchdoctor anymore and he agreed to burn all his idols and charms.

The following Sunday he came to church and our pastors agreed to burn the charms and pray over his family. His wife and children also prayed and received Christ. It’s so awesome to see how the Lord used the food distribution to reach those that didn’t even need food!!

Praising Partners!

The entire country of South Sudan is facing a food crisis. Our area of Tonj has gone from a phase 3 ‘critical’ level to a phase 4 ‘emergency’ level. We are one step away from phase 5, which is famine.

We have witnessed an incredible response from you, our partners. Together we have bought 54 tons of food and fed over 4,300 families!!

Samaritan’s Purse also responded to our plea for help and sent us 500 plastic tarps, ropes and mosquito nets.

Sadly, we have not seen any food from World Food Program so we ask you to pray for Tonj and for South Sudan. The bible says, don’t be anxious about what you shall eat? Everywhere we go people are worried, the situation is so desperate we are anticipating more unrest as those fears turn to a fight for survival.

Our prayer is that God’s Love would be felt, the truth of His Word would be heard, His compassion would be poured out, His forgiveness experienced, His Presence would be known. Praying people’s hearts turn towards Jesus, seeking FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, witnessing God transforming lives like Paul and his family. So many have already responded to Jesus and given Him their hearts. Our pastors are working tirelessly, encouraging new believers to put their trust in God. Not to look around at their circumstances but to look up and see Jesus, who will never leave them or forsake them. We ask that you to continue to pray for a miracle for food reaching us and that God would also use this difficult situation to bring Glory to His name.

Food Crisis!

South Sudan stands on the brink of a food crisis, the worse we’ve experienced in years. Tonj has been severely effected due to prolonged armed conflicts between tribes, causing mass displacement from surrounding villages. Thousands of people are at risk of starvation as a consequence of fleeing their homes and not having enough food to eat. The lack of an adequate response from AID agencies has meant many people have not eaten in over a month, some as long as 2 months. Assessments have been made but no food has arrived. Maybe due to continued insecurity on the roads or maybe due to poor roads conditions from our heavy rainy season.

What I do know is that every day we are witnessing more and more people with signs of acute malnutrition. The devastating effects on a woman during pregnancy puts her baby in danger of miscarriage, still-born or low birth weight. She herself is at increased risk of death during delivery, anemia and lack of breast milk production. Her weakened state and loss of body mass compromises her immune system and increases her probability of serious infections. Often mothers will do anything to get small food for their children and they will give the food to the children before eating themselves.  Other vulnerable groups include the disabled, elderly, HIV and children under five, who suffer lifelong effects resulting in stunted growth and depressed immune systems.

In 1998, I sat in church in Southern California and watched a video about a famine in South Sudan. People were so weak from not eating for FOUR months they were walking on their hands and knees, unable to stand up. I remember thinking what could I possibly do that would make any difference to this situation? As I asked God that question, I received a very clear answer from Him, He said YOU CAN PRAY.

Corrie Ten Boom said it best, “The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.”

That’s exactly what I did, I prayed and that led to a prayer walk, which led to a fundraiser and ultimately led me to go to South Sudan on a mission trip, where I met Sabet and have served as a missionary for the past 21 years. Prayer changes things and even though we are limited in what we can do to help, we serve a powerful God whose means are limitless! It is unfathomable to think that in 2020 we have so much food in the world and yet people still live in extreme poverty and go to bed hungry. It was shockingly wrong back then and it’s shockingly wrong today. Jesus always showed compassion for the poor, if I want to be like Jesus then I need to show compassion also. This ministry was birthed out of this truth that John talks about in the bible:

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:16-18

Last month I asked for your help, by faith, our ministry stepped out and started to buy sacks of food for people. I asked you to get involved and YOU DID! Thank you!!! We were so blessed by everyone’s response to do something. And God’s love for the people here has really shone through that gift. Not only did we feed them physically but also spiritually.

As these people are displaced due to conflict, we shared about the conflict going on in man’s heart every day. As they faced death in the past few weeks, we talked about not knowing when our last day would be and being ready to meet Jesus. We talked about their story and how God led them to this place and how we all have a story that leads us to the cross. We talked about sin and how things will never change if we don’t have a change of heart. When it was time to pray, the Holy Spirit was really moving and so many prayed with us. Over half the crowd of 2,000 people raised their hands to confess their sin and need for a Savior. So many were talking about it afterwards and were encouraged.

Container Arrived!

A BIG thank you for praying for our container to arrive safely. It was delayed 10 weeks due to COVID-19 restrictions, cost a bit extra to clear the port and passed through numerous muddy roads and insecure areas. It finally made it with much needed food and other supplies for the clinic, CHE, church and missionaries. Every year we ship a container from USA and last October many of you contributed to our list of supplies. We will definitely try to do this annually and have a fall fundraiser to help offset the high cost that comes all at one time. Living in a remote place that doesn’t even have basic shops for supplies, this container is essential to our ministry being able to operate successfully.

To everyone who purchased items from our amazon Wishlist or gave a contribution to the container fund, thank you, thank you for your generous contributions to make this happen! There were many needed items on the container but one of the main things was paint.  We were able to repaint the clinic and ward!! Also, we received office furniture and desktop computers, so we can set up proper workspaces for our medical team, pastors, CHE and administration.

Sowing and Reaping!

Being in South Sudan I am constantly reminded of how blessed my life is compared to those I live among. Life here is tough and a lot of hard work. No one has running water or electricity and they have to grow their own food if they want to eat.

The rains have started and with it comes the busyness of ‘sowing’. Everyone in the town, running to their villages to find a piece of land big enough to grow food for their entire family to feed them another year. This is becoming increasingly more difficult every year and this year many of the villages experienced tribal fighting. Families that ran away from their village homes are now living in empty schools and churches (empty due to COVID-19) and they have no food. Because they are displaced they also failed to sow their food and this year’s harvest will be scarce, creating a manmade famine. We really need prayer and wisdom. It is heartbreaking to see our brothers and sisters suffering and reaping the devastating consequences of tribal clashes. Oh, Lord have mercy.  So many IDP’s are already hungry, sleeping without food and shelter.

Get involved!

The two greatest commandments; Love God, love your neighbor. Sometimes the latter is very hard to do. In USA you are experiencing racial clashes and here in Tonj we are experiencing tribal clashes. If I could only love my neighbor as I love myself!! Wouldn’t all our problems be solved, universally?? We know everything happens for a reason and there is a season for everything. Please ponder these words from Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 and James 2:14-17.

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted.”

Too many seeds of discord and hatred are being sown and as Christians we need to make sure we are sowing seeds of love, patience, kindness, joy and peace.

The people of South Sudan have suffered unthinkable atrocities, mayhem has ruled for decades and right now they need our help. I don’t want to love them in word only but in practical ways, because love is an action! We need to do something.

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

What the Lord has shown me about these IDP’s is, if my faith is real, I cannot ignore another person’s practical needs, I need to get involved. So, I am humbly asking if you are in a position to help financially, please go to our website and donate to our benevolence fund or mail in a check marked IDP.

Church Land!

Our church has reached almost 500 people in regular weekly attendance. For the past few years we outgrew the borrowed classroom and started meeting under a mango tree.

Two years ago, we raised enough money to purchase the materials to build a church on land given to us at a reduced price by the government. This land is in the center of a highly populated residential area. Our only issue is not having a project manager to oversee the building site and construction crew. In March this year the UN filled the large craters on the land which saved us thousands of dollars.

The land is almost 4 acres and despite the insecurities from tribal conflicts, our construction team started making the fence to stop people digging more holes to make bricks or farming the land.

They commenced this task last month, completing over 1,700 feet of fencing and hand digging and setting 225 poles in concrete.

When our container arrives, hopefully this month, we will have a temporary events tent to put up so we can start to have church on the new land right away (as soon as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted)!!

Please pray for our container, it has church benches, Sunday school supplies, office furniture, food and other essentials. It arrived in port in April and should have taken 2 weeks to clear and arrive in Tonj but due to COVID-19 restrictions, which are expected to stay until the end of August, it has already been 2 months on the road and is currently in Uganda.

“Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.”  Haggai 1:8

Struggles!

Struggles come and go and some of us are having more than our fair share at the moment. In the middle of the struggles it is vital to remember God’s promises to us. Our suffering shouldn’t surprise us as Christians. Everything we have faced in Tonj over the last year has strengthened us and caught the attention of those eagerly watching us. Our prayer is that through our suffering Christ would be made visible.

There is no greater joy than a brother or sister choosing Christ as their personal Savior. As a ministry we have built a good reputation in and around Tonj. We are known for excellent care, a ministry that puts Jesus Christ in the center of what we do, making HIM visible to those watching.

When Adut was bitten by a venomous snake the family walked 4 hours to our clinic after hearing about its good reputation. The child was treated and healed. The family of Adut was also healed spiritually. Our clinic is “a city on a hill” and we believe every patient that comes to us was led to us for the purpose of hearing the gospel message. Pastor Judah shared with Adut’s parents and they accepted their need for a Savior. Her dad was so happy when he left the clinic, so we gave him a solar powered audio bible as they have no church in their village. Please pray for them.