Happy New Year!

January 3rd marked the one year anniversary of our family being stateside. It has been an incredible journey of walking by faith and not by sight as we continue to trust Him with the timing of Agum’s citizenship. We are doing great despite the challenges of moving around, home-schooling and supporting our ministry operations on an 11 hour time difference! We feel the presence and peace of God as we face every day not knowing what tomorrow brings. We are enjoying this unplanned adventure and every extra day we get to fellowship and be part of God’s amazing family here in USA we feel blessed. He has poured out His love through so many of you and sustained us. He has been our source of life during this season of our lives. He is El Shaddai – our God Almighty! We are so grateful for the way you have responded to the Holy Spirit leading you to care for our family. Thank you all so much, we appreciate each one of you and especially your prayers for us during this time.

We had an amazing time in Florida with Suzy’s family over Christmas and New Year and returned to southern California for the annual Calvary Chapel Missions Conference. This was an incredible week of refreshing our souls, waiting on Him, seeking Him for 2015, reconnecting with fellow missionaries from around the world and overall being filled. Our cup runneth over and we are ready for whatever this year of ministry brings our family.

“One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.” – Psalm 27:4-5

God’s Plans for IDAT in 2015!

We are so grateful for His provision for In Deed and Truth Ministries in 2014. We raised over $20,000 through our prayer walk and we’re excited get back to Africa and start a new class of discipleship and a New Year of serving the Lord.

Dr. Tom returned to USA and was blessed with a wife. He is praying and seeking the Lord as he serves IDAT stateside for a season. Dr.’s Jono and Destinee return this month with their family and the remaining team, including a new clinical officer, Simon.

Here are a few prayer pointers for 2015:

• Calvary Chapel Tonj was birthed about 5 years ago but with our absence we have not experienced the fruit and growth we would have liked to see. We have purchased land and feel this would be a good year to establish the church formally. Pray for Sabet as he works through the details of this. We need worship leaders, Sunday school teachers and anyone who feels called to church planting to contact us for either long or short term service.
• Completion of the new medical clinic. Last year’s insecurity delayed our truck coming in for several months. We are ready to get this project completed.
• Bible Training Center for Pastors class will begin in 2015 as soon as our family are able to return to Tonj. Pray for each student that the Lord would select them and make them known to us. Pray for teachers to assist Sabet with this 3 year commitment. If you’re interested in teaching please email us for more details.
• Development of our Community Health Evangelism Program. We are looking to partner churches overseas with villages around Tonj. If your church is interested in a mission trip to South Sudan this would be a fantastic program to get involved in. Adopt-a-Village can transform both an entire community in South Sudan and your church body. Email us for more details.
• Training is a big part of our ministry and we are delighted to give the opportunity for 5 South Sudanese students to attend medical school in Kenya. Pray for their spiritual walk and integrity to be intact as they are away from all things familiar. Pray for continued training and discipleship of our community health workers in Tonj.
• Pray we could host our fifth Cataract surgery outreach in November. Over 800 people have had their sight restored and many have had their hearts restored to Him who created them. This is one of the highlights of our year and so we ask you to pray for each surgery to be provided. It costs $75 per patient and we hope to do 200 surgeries in 2015.
• Every year we have opportunity to provide our medical team with much needed rest by bringing in volunteers to cover them during the months of June, July and August. If you have a medical skill and a few weeks or months to serve the Lord this summer, please pray about a short term trip to Tonj. Email us to get started on this life changing journey.
• One of our greatest needs is for a logistics person to work from Kenya or South Sudan and organize our flights, food, medicine and teams coming and going every month. We are looking for a minimum one year commitment. Email us for more info.

Prayer Walk!

God is so good! We had a fabulous time of fellowship and praying for our ministry. From coast to coast and half way around the world people gathered for a specific time of prayer.

“That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” – Col. 1:10

We acknowledged this ministry belongs to God and we trust in Him to supply all of the needs for this upcoming year. Collectively, we prayed His Kingdom would dominate in Tonj, South Sudan. We asked for an effective and powerful ministry among the Dinka people. Specifically we lifted up our discipleship training of indigenous pastors and the new class we want to start in 2015. This was a positive start for funding toward the Bible school starting next year.

A big thank you goes out to all who walked and prayed in Tonj, Panama City Beach, FL and Del Mar, CA.

Cataract Team is Back!

We are excited to host another cataract surgery for the fourth year in a row. The eye medical team, from World Gospel Mission and Tenwek Mission Hospital in Kenya will spend a week with us serving the community of Tonj and surrounding villages. These fast paced operations result in restoring sight to more than 40 patients a day. Over 600 people have received sight in the past 3 years. Our favorite part is when the bandages come off the next day and the patient can see! There are no words to describe witnessing a person once blind but now with sight, amazing! Our team has been gathering and screening potential patients for the past few months. Hopefully this will allow the eye team to get straight into surgery from day 1. We estimate this week of surgeries will cost over $15,000 but for 200 patients to regain sight that is only $75 per person! If you feel called to partner with us in transforming a life spiritually and physically please donate online under cataract surgery to designate your donation.

Our pastors will be on hand to pray with every patient and share the gospel. May His grace abound to many.

Cataract Testimony

Angok Aken is 67 year olds and just celebrated his one year since he was blind and is now able to see. Before his cataract procedure last year one of our pastors shared the story of our Lord Jesus being out on a boat with His disciples. A raging storm and wind rose up and when they were about to drown, Jesus stood and rebuked the wind and the waves. The storm ceased and the waters were calm. “Where is your faith?” Jesus asked. The disciples marveled that even the wind and waves obeyed Him. When Angok heard this story he jumped up and said, “That is a real God who can talk to wind and waves.” That day he asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. Then he received his surgery and his eyes were open, both physically and spiritually. After one year he has stopped drinking alcohol and smoking. His reason: he doesn’t want to dirty his body anymore because Jesus now lives in him. It has been a year but he said he will never forget the day Jesus came into his life and changed it forever.

Sabet in South Sudan!

On this recent trip God answered a prayer from after 13 years. In the beginning of our ministry Suzy and I faced a lot of opposition, resistance to the gospel and even our lives being threatened. In 2001, two men planned to ambush us on the road but the Lord redirected us that day and the army arrested those men. We began praying for them. During this trip I went with a group from our church in Tonj to a prayer meeting. I was rejoicing it was in the house of one of these men and his wife. They personally asked me to pray for them and their transformation. They said women from our church had been visiting them and praying for them. I was amazed and humbled at how God is working as this man and his wife bowed and prayed, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord of their life. Yes, the gospel is going out like never before in Tonj and we praise Him for His work in South Sudan.

Prayer Requests!

• Pray for provision of the 2015 Discipleship Training for Pastors class.
• Pray for every patient coming to the cataract clinic that this would be both spiritually and physically life changing.
• Pray for our CHE (Community Health Evangelism) training this month.
• Pray for the flood victims.
• Continue to pray for Agum’s immigration application.

Back in Tonj!

Today was a very special day, I was able to return to Tonj after being gone for almost 9 months. The welcome I received from the church showed great love for me as their pastor and the bond we share together in Christ. They celebrated the new arrival of the Macleod family and warmly welcomed the return of Dr. Tom.

The children from Sunday School sang special songs; it was so awesome! They can really teach us adults in the church how to worship God biblically with spirit and joy. It is custom in the church here to welcome visitors with songs and prayers.

I was blessed to hear the reports from our church elders about the activities within the congregation. Christina and Victoria, two of our church women, who along with the rest of the ladies from our church have been serving through evangelizing the community with home visitations. They have been praying and fasting for transformed homes as well as holding prayer meetings every Saturday. These have been deep, spirit filled meetings, fasting and praying for homes to be transformed, focusing on different homes every week. The prayers during the corporate prayers during Sunday service were spirit filled and deep, it was awesome to see God in the middle of our meeting, Sunday was a long service but for sure was a spirit led and filled.

Shukran Dr. Jan!

Dr. Jan Zijp from the Netherlands used his summer vacation time to cover while Dr. Tom took his 3 month home visit to the USA. Jan is known as the Tonj river swimming doctor! Living and working conditions are much harder in South Sudan than what he is used to in the Netherlands but he stayed strong spiritually, sharing Jesus’ love with his patients. So many were touched by his love for the community, the way he identified with the local people, taking tea with them, visiting their homes and praying with them. He not only impacted the clinic on his trip but left a part of him with the church and town as well.

Medical students!

In Deed and Truth is committed to raising up Godly leaders through discipleship, mentoring and education. Our desire is to pass the baton one day and see our ministry run by South Sudanese who love Jesus. It is our greatest joy to witness this transformation first hand and to pour blessings of opportunity on those sincere in their faith and commitment to serve the Lord. In 2013, after 4 years serving in our medical clinic and being discipled in our church, we enrolled Gabriel Gojo in medical school in Kenya.  He is now in his second year of three years for clinical officer training and impressed us all getting As in his exams.

This has been such an inspiration to our other community health workers and this fall we were able to send four more.

One answer to prayer was for Marco Maluth, the Lord’s answering to prayers after one of the original candidates dropped out. We had sent his application for next year and were totally surprised when they offered him a placement for this year. The timing of my flight enabled him to be flown immediately back to Kenya.

Now we need to pray as all these students must pass exams to stay in school. Pray for these young men who represent the next generation of our ministry leadership.

Testimony and Baptism!

Akol is a young man we have helped for a few years with his diabetic needs. We purchase and store insulin for him. His younger brother Chan sometimes visits with Akol and has met with one of our clinic chaplains, Pastor Santino. One day while they were chatting Pastor Santino felt led to share the gospel with him. The power of the Holy Spirit came upon them and Chan repented and prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. Before Chan had believed in witchcraft powers, trusted in charms and had bought from the wirtchdoctor. When he got home he shared with a friend what Santino told him about Jesus and that he no longer trusts in the charms but in the Son of God.  His friend also believed and together the boys burned their charms. This story really encouraged me on my return to the field, hearing how the Lord is using the pastors and continuing the work He began in me.

I had the great joy and privilege of baptizing Chan in the Tonj River together with Pastor Santino. Jono and his daughter came to watch and this drew a crowd, so we shared the gospel again and Chan’s decision to follow Jesus.

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” – Acts 3:19

Prayer Requests!

• Pray Jono and Destinee will get settled in
• Pray for the upcoming cataract surgery outreach
• Pray for the Prayer Walk on November 1st
• Pray Agum’s immigration application would be approved

Time!

Where did it go this year?? Everywhere we hear people saying “It’s August already can you believe it?” To be honest, no we can’t!!! This year we have really seen the value of time and the precious gift it truly is. With our home assignment plans changed while we work on immigration issues we are reassessing our time here in the USA. How we spend our time in this world is so important and needs to be prioritized because once it’s lost it’s gone forever!

As we extend our time stateside we have been praying we can prioritize this extra time and use it wisely. We have our goals but we really want to focus on the Lord and align our plans with His perfect will. We want to be ready when He sends us home to Africa in His perfect timing!

As we wait on the Lord for our leaving date our minds are continually focused on the calling He has placed on our lives. We are challenged as we think about South Sudan and the ongoing unrest. How are we effectively bringing evangelism and discipleship to our community in Tonj? Our medical workers can barely cope with rising number of daily patients’ physical needs let alone the spiritual needs. Over 80% of the medical issues we deal with daily in Tonj are preventable and the cost to minister curative medical care is high. Is there a better way? Is there a better use of our time? This has been a question we have asked and prayed about for the past 5 years.

CHE!

Three years ago we began a shift in our ministry focus from curative to preventative and targeted children and pregnant mothers. With the help of CHE (community health evangelism), we have been very successful in combining both physical and spiritual needs of the community and it has proven to be more cost effective too.
The medical needs in South Sudan continue to be drastically under-served with no hospitals or labs. The rural villages make up 90% of the population which has no trained medical workers at all. With such a high number of preventable diseases claiming lives of children under five the need for sustainable community health programs are desperately needed. This is where CHE is so effective to meet the physical need through preventative care along with the spiritual need through one-on-one evangelism. CHE focuses on the individual, one changed heart = a change in attitude = a change in behavior = one changed life multiplied by one community!! It is simple yet amazing and has led to 7 church plants by our pastors, and discipleship of hundreds of people. It can be used by non-medical workers, missionaries, pastors and pretty much anyone who has a heart to empower and equip a community with spiritual and physical truths.

In Deed and Truth Ministries has been hosting the training of CHE’s for a few years and seen firsthand the fruit of this program. Sabet is trained and in July, Suzy made great use of her ‘extra’ time stateside and participated in a training of trainers for CHE.

She learned how to use CHE effectively in the field as well as with churches and short term mission trips. We are very excited about this opportunity to get our supporting churches involved and even make trips to the field to participate and see CHE in action. We know CHE is the way forward for lasting change in Tonj. Would you please join us in praying for this program as it continues to grow and develop and for churches and individuals to be raised up to serve in this area of ministry. We are looking for one year interns to go to South Sudan and serve in our CHE program.

News from the Field!

While Dr. Tom has been on his summer break we are blessed to have Dr. Jan Zijp volunteering for a few months in the clinic.

With the unpredictable insecurity in South Sudan we continue to have limited professional help. Pray our clinic can operate effectively within these limitations. We are waiting on a truck of medical supplies to be cleared and get exemption which will boost our medical stock for the next 6 months. Pray for favor as this has already taken many weeks and every week we are told it will be completed!

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”  – Isaiah 61:1-2

Prayer Requests!

• Pray Sabet can leave for Africa by the end of August.
• Pray Agum can get her status changed while we are here.
• Pray protection and good health for Dr. Jan Zijp and the team.
• Pray for interns to get involved with CHE.
• Pray we we can fill our container by the end of August.

Tonj Update!

We are happy to announce the team arrived safely back in Tonj after taking a few weeks rest in Nairobi. They are ready to work through until Christmas break, so please be praying for their stamina, safety, health and most of all their spiritual well-being. Dr. Tom has started his summer break in Florida, so volunteer, Dr. Jan Zijp from the Netherlands, is serving in his absence. We are so thankful to Africa Inland Mission being able to assist our team by getting them and the ‘stuck’ medicine from Nairobi to Lokichoggio in northern Kenya and then onto South Sudan without going through Juba.

Thank you for praying for the Lord to make a way. He is clearly in control and completely turned a difficult situation around for the good of everyone. Firstly, our medicine finally made it to South Sudan. Secondly, because we pulled all our professional medical personnel from the clinic due to lack of supplies and exhaustion, the authorities in Tonj responded by promising to supply us with medicine from the Ministry of Health! These drugs will only cover certain issues but if they help us only with malaria medication it will save us thousands of dollars in purchasing and flying medicine to Tonj. This has been an ongoing struggle for years to try and get them to help us, so we are praising Jesus for this breakthrough and pray it will develop into a sustainable solution.

One thing is for sure, they missed us when we were not on the ground and this has strengthened our reputation among the Dinka people. What we thought would be a disaster, the Lord worked out for good.

Our South Sudanese staff did an amazing job in the absence of the IDAT team, they continued to minister to patients and treat them for malaria as well as determine those needing referral. Mostly offering hope in a hopeless and dying world.

The Kuj’s Update!

We continue to wait on the LORD for the process of Agum and Sabet’s U.S. citizenship. Please pray for favor with immigration officials to complete these applications quickly so we can start our preparation for going back to South Sudan. The kids had a few tears when they knew we were staying longer than planned. They miss the compound, their family, friends and dogs!!!

Lord willing, Sabet will be able to leave by the end of August but Agum’s paperwork might take longer. We are looking toward the bigger picture that our life belongs to Him and we desire to lay our life down and serve Him for the long term. This process will make that possible!

We are so grateful to the LORD for the many blessings He continues to pour out on our family day by day. His provision is amazing and goes beyond what we have even asked for. Horizon Christian Fellowship blessed us with a week at Forest Home Family Camp. A great time of being spiritually fed, making new friends and having so much fun!!! On return the kids were invited to attend the Walking on Water surf camp, again another amazing experience for our children to learn how to surf and have Godly fellowship. This ministry is truly touching lives for Jesus! We were so blessed to be given an opportunity to share with them.

Now with our plans changing and being here a bit longer, this July Sabet is attending the Calvary Chapel pastors conference and Suzy is heading to Canada for some Community Health Evangelism training. We continue to seek His guidance and plan for our return to Africa and pray we will be better equipped and ready for whatever He has in store for us back in Tonj.

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” – Colossians 3:23-24

The Container Is Here!

We are excited to have an opportunity to send some larger items to South Sudan that would be an amazing blessing to both our family and ministry. If you are able to help us with this need either by purchasing or donating items there is a downloadable list of all the things we are praying will be donated along with drop off details. If you’re not in the San Diego area sending in a love gift would really help out with the cost of purchasing our solar unit ($10,000) or with shipping the container ($20,000). We are hoping to complete the filling of the container by the end of August.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for the team to adjust to being back in South Sudan and protection over the compound and their health.
• Pray for Dr. Tom to get rest and for Dr. Jan as he fills in for a couple of months.
• Continued prayer for our citizenship issues for Sabet and Agum.
• The container to be filled quickly.