Testimony of CHE Training!

Missionaries, John and Beth, from World Gospel Mission Uganda returned to Tonj for the 2^nd C.H.E (Community Health Evangelism) training session. Twenty-one leaders from seven counties across three states in South Sudan came together as we hosted this life changing workshop.

We all were amazed how eager and hungry these leaders are as they contribute with passion in every part of the training, which focused on equipping the CHE teams for the next stage, implementing CHE programs into the community.

CHE covered several things, mainly prevention of diseases, best methods of communication, learning to identify and use simple available resources to meet needs, and sharing the gospel. The tasks the groups accomplished after the first CHE training back in April proves that CHE is working in the community and transformation can be achieved. Despite South Sudan’s dire situation, we heard stories of inspiration. One CHE encouraged their whole village to clean up the trash and they did! The team took the initiative and backed it with reasons of hygiene and dignity and presented it to the leaders of the village which gained the community support. The CHE team themselves were surprised and encouraged by the result. Other teams did equally well and we were told this was the best CHE training done in East Africa. Thanks for praying, CHE # 3 will be in October.

Medevac for Cancer Patient

Four weeks ago 12 year old Rebecca Ayak was brought to our clinic with a very swollen right forearm and suffering a lot of pain. She was diagnosed a year earlier in Juba with a tumor and referred for treatment to Uganda but the family went back to the village due to lack of money. Clinical officer Dennis and visiting missionary Dr. Rossi, both felt Ayak’s only hope was to medevac her to a Kenyan hospital. We do keep a running Medevac Fund for situations that arise unexpectedly like this as the costs can quickly accumulate. We always believe Jesus is our guide and brings such patients to us so we can help them without hesitation. Through our relationship with Tenwek Mission Hospital, Sabet made arrangements for her medevac and along with her brother traveled to Kenya with her. X-rays confirmed it was bone cancer and she was taken to surgery right away. Unfortunately, her arm was amputated.

Ayak has shown remarkable courage and the battle is not yet over. She really needs your prayers for a full healing and recovery. Some spots were seen on her lungs and doctors suspect the cancer has spread. We have to wait for her arm to heal so she can get more tests done and possibly get chemotherapy. Had she received treatment last year she may have not lost her arm and needed further treatments. She is in a foreign land for an unknown length of time. If you can help us financially to cover her medical bills and accommodation please go to the donate page on our website and give a gift under Medical Evacuations. Alternatively you can send a check to our support address and memo ‘medevac’. These funds will be used to pay all her medical expenses, flights and food/accommodation needs in Kenya. For updates on her condition please visit our blog. On behalf of Ayak and many others who have been helped and lives have been saved we are very grateful for your continuous support and prayers.

Meet Gabriel!

In Deed and Truth Ministries is about transforming the lives of those the Lord places in our path, whether it’s a staff member, church member or patient. One of our community health workers in the medical clinic has shown incredible spiritual growth and transformation despite his difficult living conditions and lack of opportunity. Gabriel is 22 years old and worked at night in the clinic while trying to complete his final year of high school. He’s the only working male in his family and so all the money he earns goes to his family. His father died and his uncle controlled him, many times not letting him go to school or work so he could farm the land. He is one of the most reliable staff working with integrity and maturity, handling patient cases with outstanding care and sensitivity. He graduated high school with exceptional exam results, coming second in the whole of Tonj County. He loves soccer and joined in to several soccer outreaches and now leads kids games in several villages. Sam, our clinic chaplain, has been spiritually building Gabriel up to be a Godly leader and man in this community. Pray for him, his desire is to be a doctor and we are praying how we can be a part of that dream for him.

“and be renewed in the spirit of your mind” – Ephesians 4:23

Happy 1st Birthday ROSS!

One year ago on July 9th we joined our brothers and sisters of South Sudan in celebration and witnessed first hand an historic occasion as the ROSS or Republic of South Sudan gained independence from North Sudan and became her own nation.

Since then the border areas to the North have suffered a lot of conflict with many losing lives, homes and mostly the peace they had enjoyed since the end of the civil war in 2005. It’s hard to describe to people who have never lived in a war zone but there is constant fear, anxiety and uncertainty because life is fragile and might not be the same tomorrow as it is today. Please pray for our country which has come a long way since the days of war but still has far to go to. The people have suffered so much and continue to live without stability, healthcare, education and a purpose in life. Pray In Deed and Truth would be effective in making a difference.

Church Plant!

Another celebration of birth is our second church plant this year in the small village of Maloney that we have been serving with weekly medical outreaches for the past 2 years. Two pastors currently in our Discipleship training school made it their mission to plant the church and are currently living in this remote village. Their hearts were stirred through Simply the Story training and Community health Evangelism training, and they passionately wanted to bring God’s Word to the Maloney people. They approached the village chief to allow them to meet under a tree every Sunday. The chief who is not a Christian, listened to their request and asked what kind of church. Pastors Joseph and Santino explained they were sent from our Bible school and this type of a church is more like a protestant church, so he called both pastors in front of a crowd to present their request. The Chief followed their request with a speech on how God has been good this year to their village, from a school being built by UNICEF to Australian NGO ‘Kingdom Assignment Sudan’ building a clinic and helping us to keep a Community Health Worker on staff in Maloney. He was excited at the thought of God giving them a church and acknowledged God had blessed them. He left the meeting with the pastors and immediately walked them to a piece of land they could have for their church. It was a miracle and turned into a celebration in keeping with Dinka culture, they were gifted a goat and officially welcomed to the community to begin the work of the church.

The first Sunday they met under a tree and had 15 people and that number has already grown in a month to 40. There has been some spiritual warfare and opposition so we are asking you to pray for this baby church to grow strong and be a light in this community. Pray Joseph and Santino would not get discouraged while leading this amazing work for the Lord Jesus.

Hilary Returns from Tenwek!

Hilary Langat volunteered with us for the second time from Tenwek Mission Hospital in Kenya. This allows us to give our Kenyan staff a break without reducing the service to the community. Hilary was blessed to see how much the outreach to Maloney has grown since his last visit a year ago. One lady from Maloney was transported back to our clinic with the ambulance due to severe malaria. Her condition was serious but after Hilary prayed with her, she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior. After that her condition rapidly improved and she went home.

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.” – Philippians 2:14-16

Prayer Requests!

• For more volunteers to bring the gospel to South Sudan.
• For God to spiritually grow the community of Maloney specifically.
• For 2nd CHE training this month to stir hearts for the Lord’s harvest.

News from the Field Staff!

Our vision is to integrate our Christian beliefs into our medical ministry. We do this by creating an atmosphere of compassion, peace and acceptance of every patient and showing the love of Christ through excellence in health care that leads to evangelism and ministry opportunities.

Samuel Ngugi is a Kenyan serving In Deed and Truth Ministries as our clinic chaplain in Southern Sudan. He is responsible for ensuring every patient is valued and given the chance to receive prayer and the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior. First thing in the morning he arranges a testimony message to the waiting patients. Most days that is over 100 people who sit patiently coming to see the doctor. Tracts are handed out in Dinka for those that can read. Many inquire what the tract is about and want to know more about Jesus.

As the patients are seen by the doctor or nurse each patient is asked about their spiritual well-being together with their physical complaints. If they are wearing charms from a witchdoctor they are encouraged to go for prayer and counsel with the chaplain, Sabet or Albino.

When a patient isn’t open to further counsel then we immediately ask if we can pray for them before they leave. This is a special time between the doctor or nurse and the patient. It may be the only time they hear about Jesus.

Sam speaks fondly about his role in the spiritual care of our patients. He says, “It is great to witness to the Sudanese, they are so receptive to the gospel. I’m excited to see mother’s declare they will never put their trust in witchdoctors again and remove the ‘protective’ charms from around the children’s necks. Many times this is done at risk of being beaten by their husbands who purchased the charms from the witchdoctors.”

In an average day we see over 100 patients and more than half of those will ask for prayer from the chaplain and nearly all of those will ask Jesus to be their Savior. That is 150-200 people each week. The pastors in our discipleship program will also help out with counsel and sharing when they can. Witchcraft plays a huge part in this communities foundational beliefs and the lack of churches is a challenge in the villages.

As most of our patients come from far outside Tonj they cannot attend our church due to the distance. We have planted one church in an outside village and now two of our pastors have planted a church in a second village. The chief of the village allocated them land to build a church and told the villagers it was for the church’s exclusive use and he has given it to the church “forever.” Their first Sunday more than 15 people attended. Pastor Joseph went to look for a drum so they can bang it loudly before church notifying the people that church has begun. Hallelujah!

“Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Prayer Requests!

• Specifically for the patients and their spiritual and physical concerns and wisdom for us as we minister to them.
• For God to give us opportunities for evangelism in the surrounding villages.
• Continued spiritual growth and unity of our staff.
• For the organization of our upcoming prayer walk in September.
• For the planning and arrangements for the Pastor’s Graduation Ceremony scheduled for October 6th.
• For Sabet as he spends 2 more weeks in Juba with Agum working on adoption papers. The court wants to give us a letter and we need a certificate of adoption. Please pray that specific certificate would be granted to us. We are not sure it even exists in the system but we serve a God who is ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or think possible!

Are We Going Back To War?

This is a question we are being asked a lot in light of the recent news coverage on South Sudan. The answer is we don’t know; only the Lord knows what tomorrow brings. The world is watching closely and international leaders are urging both North and South Sudan to maintain peace but sadly many border areas ARE already under attack and living in a warzone. The effect of all this on our presence and ministry in Tonj is minimal at the moment. The rising prices of fuel and food, if you can find them, are about the only evidence that borders to the North are closed due to fighting. So you may be wondering what does all this mean for our family to continue in our mission work? It means we hold fast to the calling that gripped our hearts 14 years ago. We know our Lord equipped us to go and minister in South Sudan which was in war when He first gave us that assignment. We love Tonj and her people and our greatest burden is to bring the truth of His Word to them, so they might taste and see that the LORD is good. It is the work of the Father to take two seeds, useless in their own strength and plant them in this dry and barren land. He was confident in the life He had put inside us and by His Holy Spirit He watered us and brought much fruit. He told us to GO and be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, to put on the whole armor of God so we could stand against the devil’s schemes. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Aren’t we all living in one big ‘warzone’ called the world? If we are Christians we are fighting a spiritual battle daily and Satan is our only enemy. Let us pray for one another to be effective, bold and courageous in our faith. May the Lord Jesus fill us with His Holy Spirit daily giving us His wisdom, power and strength as He divinely directs our paths to those that need the Gospel.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” – John 12:24-25

CHE Training!

CHE, Community Health Evangelism, is a program we have begun teaching in Tonj that integrates discipleship and evangelism with community based development. The work is wholistic, seeking to meet the whole need of individuals and communities through complete obedience to everything that Jesus commanded.

We facilitated a team from World Gospel Mission in Uganda who led the CHE workshop from our compound. More than 20 people attended from different areas in South Sudan. We love the ministry of CHE, it empowers individuals to use the local resources God has given them to solve their problems. Our desire is to have Community Heath Evangelists planted in the villages surrounding Tonj that many of our patients travel from.

Prayer Requests!

• For the completion of the new medical building.
• Pray for CHE teams to be sent into local villages and implement what they have learnt.
• Pray for peace between north and south Sudan.
• Pray we can finalize all the adoption papers and visit USA in January 2013 as a family.

Kuj Family Adoption and Land!

Since 2006 our family has been living out of boxes and in 1 or 2 small rooms. This has become increasingly more challenging as we added Agum to our family in 2009 and homeschool all three. Agum’s adoption is now 70% complete and we hope to take a home assignment in early 2013. This year our board felt it necessary to begin a fund to help our family build a home so we can function better and continue to serve long-term. Communal living has many blessings and challenges, but as our ministry and staff have grown we recognize it is time for our family to live off of the compound and to have a home. So we have been looking for the right land to buy and as everything is undeveloped it was not an easy task. But, we prayed and the Lord led us to a piece of land that we both love and have so much peace about. It is officially purchased with the title deed!! Now we have to wait for the rainy season to pass before we can start construction in October. We need help…yes, if you are interested in helping us construct our home please get in touch. We need volunteers from 1 week to 6 months. It’s an overwhelming task but we firmly believe the Lord is in this and trust Him to bring it to completion quickly. One of the attractions was the massive mahogany tree pictured here with our family standing under it!

Kingdom Assignment in Sudan!

In 2009, Kingdom Assignment Sudan co-founder Andy Dunt left Australia in search of a remote village in South Sudan called Maloney. In Deed and Truth Ministries crossed paths with Andy and joined in his vision to provide basic support to this rural community. Just 45 minutes drive from Tonj across barren swamp land this isolated settlement was the perfect place to begin our weekly medical outreach. Now, three years later, the partnership of our two ministries has provided this disadvantaged village with life-saving resources ranging from a bore hole providing safe drinking water, weekly medical professionals and drugs, a church plant and soon its very own medical clinic. Last month Andy was able to return to the village he has loved and supported bringing with him a group of construction and medical professionals and a pastor. It was our joy to host this dedicated team on their life changing mission as they lay down their lives to serve. They experienced first-hand the harsh world of South Sudan and witnessed the vast needs of the people. To learn more about their ministry vision for South Sudan go to www.kingdomassignmentsudan.org.au.

Midwife on a Mission!

Stephanie Williams has served as a midwife in the medical clinic for the past two years. Selflessly, she has worked day and night delivering over 200 beautiful Sudanese babies and giving them the best chance of survival in life. With one of the world’s highest infant mortality rates, South Sudan, her women, and In Deed and Truth Ministries are blessed to have had such a devoted and passionate midwife bring hope to every birth.

STS Training Returns to Tonj!

Simply the Story (STS) team came back to Tonj to follow up with our pastors on last year’s training. The emphasis was to train the pastors to be trainers of others in using the STS method as a way to evangelize and share the gospel. The team was able to put what they learnt into practice in a nearby town called Mapel, which is home to the tribe of Jurchol. More than fifty pastors and church leaders attended the three day workshop.

STS is built on the foundation of ‘storying’ and develops storytellers who use inductive bible methods to dig deep into a bible story and learn spiritual truths for themselves and to share with others. The lives of those who gain the skill of STS are forever impacted and changed. For a country high with non-literates, this oral style of bible study has proven to be a huge success.

In Africa, people love to tell you a story. It can be a slow process but people listen attentively to every word that unfolds. It is why STS has been a fruitful outreach to our waiting patients.

Prayer Requests!

• Pray for the continued building of the new medical clinic. We are on the final stages and excited to see it finished.
• Pray for CHE trainers arriving this month to train trainers in community evangelism.
• Pray for completion of Agum’s adoption we are half way there!
• Pray for Stephanie to readjust easily into her culture as she returns to USA.

“Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” – Mark 9:37