All posts by Alex Smith

October 2019 Newsletter

Awesome CHE Report!

This year we set out with the specific objective to expand CHE into three new villages, called Malony, Ariamduar & Kunyuk. This is quite a process of meeting local government officials, chiefs and elders in each village, hosting awareness seminars to explain the CHE program and to demonstrate examples of CHE and it’s benefits to each community. After this, each village selects a CHE committee who are trained by IDAT trainers. We have already managed to complete all our objectives for CHE this year ahead of schedule! With the financial assistance from our partner African Mission Healthcare, we have expanded and mobilized our CHE team, equipping them with bicycles and a motorbike.

Pastor Marko from Kunyuk
Pastor Marko from Kunyuk

Malony and Ariamduar are very remote, and the new Community Health Evangelists have already started going home to home teaching preventative health and spiritual lessons to their neighbors. Through the evangelism side of the program they have already planted one new church in their region. Kunyuk is closer to town, but still has a large population living in extreme poverty. We suggested the community selected 20 volunteers to be Community Health Evangelists, but there was so much enthusiasm in the community that they ended up with 60 volunteers! They have also started teaching lessons to their neighbors.

The Kunyuk CHE Team
The Kunyuk CHE Team

Our target for these new villages was to vaccinate 400 mothers and children during our weekly outreaches and we have already exceeded this number with 637 vaccinations!

Baptisms!

The IDAT Team got to minister to the church plants in the two new CHE villages of Maloney and Ariamduar by baptizing some of their members. Over sixty people came to show their support and listen to the world of God being shared by our pastoral team. Some of the elders of the churches shared their testimonies to everyone there and explained their stories of coming to Christ and the declaration of Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Ps. Mabior & Joseph baptizing in Maloney
Ps. Mabior & Joseph baptizing in Maloney

Thirty people from the two villages were baptized that day after which they all celebrated with song and dance giving thanks to the Lord.

Matthew 18:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

New Airstrip!

The Honorable Governor of Tonj, Matthew Mathiang Magordit, invited members of IDAT to join him for the opening of the construction of the new airstrip in Tonj. The town has grown around the current airstrip and children cross it to get to school as well as cattle, and general traffic, making it unsafe. The new airstrip is closer to our compound and will be longer allowing larger aircraft to land if necessary. We got to attend the ceremony and speak about the benefits of having an airstrip for bringing in medicine, teams and evacuations when necessary.

Opening of Airstrip Construction
Opening of Airstrip Construction

The Governor was excited to learn Hannah wants to be a missionary pilot and offered us free land next to the new airstrip in case we want to build a hangar and keep our own airplane!! All thing are possible with God!!

**Please continue to pray for our medical team and supernatural healings. Pray for the solar power installation team arriving in November and the vision team from Ridgeview Church in Rockwall, TX.

September 2019 Newsletter

Malaria Season!

It’s malaria season so the clinic is always full. We can see up to three hundred people in one day ministering to them not only physically but spiritually too. Each person that walks through our clinic gets prayed with by one of our Hospital Chaplains and has the Gospel of Jesus shared with them. Thank you for your continued prayers and support of our clinic. God continues to amaze us with miracle after miracle which we get to witness first hand.

The Packed Clinic Waiting Room
The Packed Clinic Waiting Room

Our Ward is also very busy and usually has all of its 24 beds completely full every night. We have a wonderful staff that works around the clock to make sure all our patients are cared for. Every pray for our staff and patients is greatly appreciated.

Psalm 121 says, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

New Power!

Unfortunately, since the clinic is in use so much there is not enough solar power to keep everything running all of the time. We sometimes run out of power in the middle of the night leaving some babies in our ward in critical condition without oxygen. Our only option is to run our generator which has accumulated high fuel bills that aren’t sustainable. We are blessed to have our solar power team coming at the end of October to install our new solar system. The plan is to put almost one hundred panels on top of the clinic roof which should increase the power significantly. Eight men are coming from OffGrid in USA, IDAT and Eastgate Church in Florida to help with the installation. We will try to completely install the whole system in just two weeks. Please pray for our team as we make preparations for their travels and a HUGE “thank you” to everyone who supported this project.

The Vision for the Clinic Roof
The Vision for the Clinic Roof
Patient Relying on Power for Oxygen
Patient Relying on Power for Oxygen

Exciting Opportunity!

Kuch Majok is our very own home-grown IDAT sponsored midwife. He finished top of South Sudan in his midwifery training and since then has been busy in the IDAT clinic saving the lives of mothers and babies. As the future of IDAT maternal health, we want to help equip Kuch with the skills to perform ultrasound – an essential part of obstetric and newborn care. Imagine if you could not get an ultrasound and needed an emergency c-section? We hope this training will save many more lives.

Kuch Majok and Dr. Destinee Macleod
Kuch Majok and Dr. Destinee Macleod

We have been offered a full scholarship to a 5 day obstetric/gynaecology ultrasound course for him in Brisbane, Australia worth over $3,000. This type of condensed training does not exist in Africa. The Australian Institute of Ultrasound has also offered board if IDAT can contribute to his travel cost. This is Kuch’s first time out of South Sudan and will be both challenging and scary. We need to raise about $3,000 for his travel costs and visa. Please pray he gets a visa and can travel either in November of early next year.  Pray for the provision of this trip so we can take full advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

August 2019 Newsletter

The Container Arrived!

Yeah!!! Thank you for praying, yes, the container finally arrived after many delays. It’s here safely on our compound bringing medical equipment, much needed food, bibles and most importantly the solar equipment for the new clinic and ward. Amazingly nothing was missing. We praise God for His hand in delivering that container to us.

Unpacking our Container
Unpacking our Container

Please pray for Offgrid Tech’s solar team planning a trip in late October to install this equipment. If you would like to be part of that team and have some knowledge of solar power, please email: trips@indeedandtruth.org. We are looking for 2-3 people who can fund their trip, and spare 2-4 weeks to help with this installation, from late October to mid-November.  We can put you in touch with the team leader so you can ask questions and to see if it will be a good fit. We’ll put you in touch with the team leader so you can ask questions and see if this trip will be a good fit for both parties.

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Visitors Galore!

This year we have been blessed to receive many volunteers; making July our busiest month yet! Many of our new helpers are young adults, here for 6 months to serve the Lord and the people of South Sudan. It’s been so awesome for Hannah, Agum and Jed to have fellowship and ministry together with these amazing people. Molly is 20, from Utah, and helping the Macleods with homeschool as well as serving in the clinic. Paul is 18, from California and is helping with our media needs and medical clinic outreaches. Alleytia, is 26 and grew up in Africa as an MK. She’s a nurse from Australia and is serving on the ward. Pray for Danielle, she’s 17 and arrives in September to serve in the clinic.

Our July Team
Our July Team

Then we had the additional pleasure of welcoming back some very special people. Board member, Dr. Dave Pierce, Troy and Laura Willis from CA (Troy was on Suzy’s first trip to Tonj in 1999) and the McAlister Family from Eastgate Church in FL.

With so many volunteers we were able to host a workshop for Troy to share the gospel with the police dept, visit a CHE village, do a medical outreach, take food to the lepers’ colony, host a pastors conference and unload the container!!

They all were amazing, blessed us tremendously and left their mark on South Sudan. Pray for Molly, Paul, Alleytia and Danielle who are staying until December.

New CHE Village!

We are so excited to be launching CHE in three new villages. The CHE Committee from Kunyuk initiated a seed project to bless their community. They voluntarily cleared the way for a local well to be accessible for collecting water again.

CHE Kunyuk's seed project

Kunyuk CHE Committee
Kunyuk CHE Committee

Their example to serve selflessly is one that will hopefully inspire other villages to do the same. We thank God for touching their hearts and putting this desire in them to implement change and start making a better life for their families and community. Working together to transform lives, we love that!! That is CHE!! Please pray for all three villages, Kunyuk, Maloney and Ariam Duar.

July 2019 Newsletter

God’s Provision!

This year we were able to purchase our much-needed solar power for our clinic and ward. Thank you to everyone who gave a donation to that fundraiser. The Lord touched so many people to help and this extra power will allow us to use better equipment and save more lives. With such an elaborate set-up, Sabet went to Missouri to the Missionary Training Center of Ethnos 360 and completed his Solar Electric Technician course, which has equipped him to install and maintain this new system safely.

Sabet in Solar Training

The container carrying the new solar system arrived in South Sudan during our rainy season and is still on the road which has been washed out in several locations.

The washed-out roads of South Sudan

Please pray it arrives safely. Pray for Santino Kot, the IDAT staff escorting the container to Tonj.

CHE Committee Training!

It was an awesome blessing to bring the committees of the three new CHE villages, Maloney, Ariam Duar and Kunyuk together for a 2-day CHE committee training conference. Each community has selected 13 committee members who will oversee the program within their community. Training sessions included, importance of Wholistic health care, God’s vision of community, and various health and spiritual topics. Leaders from our established CHE programs in Guaria, Warrak and Bobi also came and shared testimonies of the huge impact CHE has had in their own villages, which was a great inspiration to the new trainees. We finished with a big feast of local delicacies and some loud passionate Dinka & Luo dancing!

New CHE Committee Members

Please pray that our final day of Committee training goes well later this month, and that the Holy Spirit will move powerfully to bring deep transformation to Maloney, Ariam Duar and Kunyuk. Pray for the Maloney church leaders Pastor Kharlo and elder Rebecca. They also oversee the new church plant in Ariam Duar. Pray also for Pastor Marko from Kunyuk. These pastors are part of our sponsorship program and still in need of support. To see their profiles, go to: https://pastors.indeedandtruth.org

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Testimony!

This is Ajak. She had a miscarriage at around two months gestation and began to bleed huge clots in the middle of the night. Thank God we had our volunteer nurse from Australia, Alleytia, who is serving with us for 6 months and overseeing the ward patients. When Alleytia arrived Ajak was shivering, damp, restless and in shock. Destinee has O negative blood and we have been able to save a few lives using her for blood transfusions. Alleytia took a pint of Destinee’s O neg blood out and began to drip it into Ajak. She placed a couple of large IV lines and also gave plenty of IV fluids. She then changed her into dry, warm clothes and prayed. Ajak’s blood pressure slowly crept up as did her temperature. She began to breathe more easily, and the shivering subsided.

Ajak getting her transfusion

Our team shared God’s love with her and valued her as Jesus values her, showing love in Deed and Truth.

June 2019 Newsletter

Medicine Arrived!

What a tremendous blessing to be able to purchase medicine for an entire year, serving over 50,000 patients. A massive thank you to all our partners who give towards this critical need. It costs an average of $3.50 for every patient we treat. This medicine arrived just in time for our heavy malaria season, which runs from now until October.

One Year Medical Supply
One Year Medical Supply
God’s Amazing Provision
God’s Amazing Provision

We are particularly busy right now because government run facilities are striking and they have no medicine. Also, our reputation in the surrounding villages is growing and more and more women are coming for their antenatal care and delivery. This is very exciting; our maternity team have delivered 60 babies so far this month. Our ward has been bursting at the seams and we have added a few beds to accommodate the numbers. If you would like to partner with us in providing medical care to pregnant mothers and children under 5, please donate through our website and designate ‘Medical Clinic’. For less than $5 a patient you can provide life-saving treatment to impoverished families and help keep our clinic open 24 hours a day.

CHE!

Our Community Health Evangelism program is exploding. We are doubling our field activities to reach 6 villages in 2019. In the past we have mobilized teams to persuade villages that CHE is beneficial. But now, because of the testimony of how well our three current villages are doing, we have so many villages that want CHE. We have selected three villages that we feel are ready and this month we will begin the training of the committees that will oversee the program. This is usually elders of the village that are well respected.

1st CHE training with new CHE Committees of Malony & Ariam Duar villages
1st CHE training with new CHE Committees of Malony & Ariam Duar villages

Please pray for the new CHE villages of Maloney, Ariam Duar and Kunyuk. Ariam Duar is a recent church plant after Pastor Santino went there with the Jesus film. Because of the extreme poverty, and there is zero development, CHE will completely transform this village.

Jeremiah 32:38-40 says, “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”

Testimony!

We want to share with you a testimony of God’s miraculous healing power. Mapet is an 11 year old boy who came to our clinic about two months ago after developing swellings in his neck and abdomen. Our hearts sank when we found rock hard masses the size of grapefruit as we immediately suspected cancer. We organized for him to travel to Juba for biopsy and confirmation of diagnosis, and laid hands to pray for healing.

Mapet After His Healing
Mapet After His Healing

Unbeknownst to us, he never went to Juba because his Uncle faced a series of unfortunate events which depleted the funds we had provided. Six weeks later, Mapet came to tell us that he never made it to Juba, but that God had completely healed the masses growing in his neck and abdomen. When we examined him we could find no evidence that these swellings had ever been there – such an exciting miracle for our team to witness!