God is changing my life so much. I’ve experience strength, weakness, and growth throughout this trip.

I’ve got my strength from construction and the outreaches. In construction Dennis, Thadd, and myself have been building brick from scratch, and its been really rough for me. Because when i am  doing this, I know that a days work can be done in a hour with two cement trucks. That’s Sudan for you though. For the outreaches, are team went to a leper colony and also the bongo tribe where they actually where they got the name bongo from. It put me to tears seeing what God is doing in the these tribes lives. They were all tears of joy, of how strong and how much they have strong in the Lord they are.

In my weakness I became very sick. I had a stomach sickness (possibly Travelers Diarrhea) of some sort.  I was weak in the fact that i could work or help at all. It made me think a lot about the way America is. I was just disgusted with the American dream, because of the way that it is only about yourself. Life has so much meaning than just caring about yourself.

The Growth has been praying and doing God’s work. I am growing stronger every day  with the knowledge of other peoples testimony’s and just reading the Bible.

In a way all the areas I talked about were all growth.

Prayer request:

That the team is physically healthy

That the Sudanese people are open to listen to the word of God

For the trip back to America is safe.

ps I miss you mom and pops and mal

love ,

CODY (MIJO)

Wow, one more amazing day almost done! It’s 9:20 pm here in Tonj. Just trying to recap this day is so hard, there is so much to think about its almost overwhelming.

Thaddeus and I worked in children’s church… all the kids are so beautiful! Before we started, the kids sang a Dinka song for us, clapping and singing with all their hearts. We taught on the story of the paralyzed man who was healed by Jesus.  The kids loved watching us act it out at try to pretend like we were paralyzed. Their smiles were beautiful! After the teaching we played Duck Duck Goose and Simon Says. Pastor Matt taught in the church from the book of Isaiah.

In the afternoon, we drove to the “Picnic Tree,” which is about 5-10 minutes away from the compound. It’s so peaceful there, you can see cows grazing in the distance, and tall grass all around. Dennis and Sebet bought us sodas from the town, a nice treat over here in Sudan. It was a blessing to relax and fellowship as a team. We were able to shoot some great photos… I can’t wait to show them to everyone when we get back!

When we got back we visited Sebet’s mother and some of her grandchildren, who had come to the children’s church. They were all laughing and playing together. It was so adorable. I really have never seen such beautiful children before.

When we came back to the compound, we sat down for dinner. Unfortunately, two of our team members aren’t feeling their best so they weren’t able to come with us to the pic-nic or to Sebet’s mom’s house. Hopefully with your prayer and God’s hand, they will be feeling better soon.

Thank you for your love and prayers for our team! It’s a huge blessing to have all of you supporting us.

Joy!

Annabelle

It is Saturday night in Tonj, Sudan. What a day! What a week, for that matter! Being here has been amazing! It is so neat to see God’s hand in everything that is going on here! Yesterday in the clinic, all of the girls were able to observe the birth of a healthy baby Dinka boy. I was even able to help the mid-wife, Stephanie, with the charts. I acted as her personal scribe, writing down everything she told me.  The mother had been in labor for quite a long time, three days if my memory serves me correct.  Stephanie finally had to break the membrane to get things going.  From the time the membrane was broken to the time the baby was born was about thirty minutes – relatively short, considering.  It is amazing how the Dinka people show no emotion unless they are in a considerable amount of pain!  The rest of the evening was pretty much uneventful after experiencing the birth.

Today we journeyed to a lepers’ colony and a Bongo village.  At the lepers’ colony, we were greeted by a few songs.  We then had the chance to sing a couple songs for them, but compared to their singing, ours was nothing to boast about!  The people in Sudan have voices that are so melodious and harmonize wonderfully together.  Mr. Tague and Sabet then shared the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  Before we left, we handed out a couple soccer balls and heaps of shoes that were donated and brought over in the action packers. We then headed to the Bongo village.

It was at least a forty-five minute drive down a very bumpy dirt road, if you can call it a road at all.  The road we took today is more like a path that we would walk along in a forest, narrow and full of ruts.  Oh my word! The Bongo village was amazing! (Fact: the Bongo drum originated from the Bongo tribe.)  At the village, there is an orphanage with at least 100 children.   I immediately felt a connection with one girl, probably seven years of age.  For the rest of my time there, we spent nearly the whole time by each others’ sides.  She even let me hold her baby sister, at least I am assuming they were sisters.  Oh, to hold a little African child!  I wish I could have brought them home with me! If I could, I would adopt them in a heartbeat!

One thing that continues to amaze me is how happy these people are.  They have nothing, yet are perfectly content; in America, we have it all, but continue to search for happiness in all the wrong places.

I feel like I have been here so much longer than just a few days! I feel perfectly at-ease, like I belong here.  It is such a humbling experience.  I am learning what it is to live such a simple life, and I am loving it! I am constantly reminded of Paul’s words, “I know what it is to live in plenty and I know what it is to be in need.”  I miss my family and the comforts of home, but at the same time, I do not want to leave! I am excited to see what God has in store for our remaining time here! Every day just seems to get better and better.

Please continue to pray for our health and safety while we are here.  So far, we have been blessed with both – praise the Lord!

Be His,

Skylar Gross