A New Year, A Fresh Vision!
Welcome to 2012! This past year was full of good times. It was also full of hard times. We learnt a lot about ourselves as a ministry as well as individually. The Lord was faithful to see us through to the end. We have much to be thankful for as we reflect on 2011:
- A peaceful referendum in January and successful election resulting in the birth of the Republic of South Sudan in July.
- The completion of the second year of training for our pastors.
- A partnership with Mango Ministries that has provided us with medical coverage when our staff have needed a break.
- Simply the Story training with outreaches into the bush.
- The purchase of an oxygen concentrator for the clinic.
- The arrival of our ambulance.
- Hosting Tenwek Mission hospital’s cataract surgery clinic resulting in over 170 people receiving sight.
- Individual prayer offered to every patient resulting in more than 500 a month receiving Jesus as their personal Savior.
- Providing critical medical care free of charge to more than 35,000 people.
- Bringing a full-time chaplain for the clinic to minister to patients.
- Partnering with Michezo Afrika to bring Sport’s ministry to the youth through soccer tournaments and leadership training.
- Sending three individuals to Uganda for Community Health Evangelism (CHE pronounced chāy) training.
- New church plant in the village of Gwairai.
- Weekly medical outreach to the village of Maloney.
- Church growth in Tonj resulting in the need for a new location.
- Partnering with AID Sudan to bring a radio tower to Sudan.
- Three successful prayer walk fundraisers to bring awareness, prayer and donations to cover future ministry operations.
We now plow ahead and prepare for the new and we are looking forward to an exciting, fresh, stimulating year doing things from a new and refreshing angle whilst seeking to glorify God.
“And the LORD answered me, and said, ‘Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.'” – Habakkuk 2:2
Our focus for 2012 is to build up the CHE ministry and it begins with the development of training teams through “Training of Trainer” workshops. Prayerfully, In Deed and Truth Ministries can become a host for these workshops in Sudan. The CHE’s are trained in physical and spiritual topics to help their neighbors identify problems, find solutions and implement strategies.
Kuj Family Christmas
We (Sabet and Suzy) chose to spend Christmas in Kenya this year to give our family some 1181much needed ‘down time’. This was our first Christmas away from Tonj in three years, which was hard for us to do as we love spending Christmas in Sudan also. But family needs had to come first and with so much time apart this last 6 months we knew we needed to reconnect and spend time away from our compound and work. As it was a last minute decision, we were blessed by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) who diverted a charter airplane to collect our family from Tonj. Africa Inland Mission (AIM) were also kind to offer us a four bedroom furnished home used for their own missionaries in transition. This has been an amazing blessing for our children especially. We’ve had a wonderful time of fellowship with friends, our church family here and have been able to join in all the Christmas church activities. Attending the candlelight carol concert with a picnic was very fun! But being able to go to church Christmas Eve and Day was awesome. We baked cookies for MAF and AIM and thanked them for their sacrificial service to missionaries like us living in the bush. Without these support services we could not survive each day in Sudan. Christmas Day was a joy to entertain 12 people by hosting a dinner for missionary friends also working in Sudan. December 30th we celebrated Hannah’s 10th Birthday (pictured) by spending a day swimming in a pool. She then had a double party with her old friends (one whom also turned 10). New Year was relaxed with Kenyan friends sipping chai, eating baked potatoes and worshipping the Lord around the bonfire. We are so thankful for this time of refreshment and fellowship. We are so thankful for each one of you for being a blessing and joy in our life.
We wish each and every one of you a glorious, blessed New Year!
Prayer Requests
- Pray for wisdom and the Lord’s will to prevail as we lead the team into 2012.
- Pray for the transformation of individuals/villages as we send out CHE trainers.
It was great to come back home to my family after many weeks away in the USA. The trip was a success; I connected with supporting churches, home fellowships and many individual ministry partners. In addition to the San Diego and Tonj prayer walks, it was a great blessing to be joined this year by Eastgate Christian Fellowship in Florida (pictured) who hosted their own prayer walk. This has been our prayer that the burden of raising support for this ministry would be shared by those around us. Thank you everyone who walked, prayed and supported this annual event. There is a light shining in South Sudan for Jesus Christ as a result of In Deed and Truth Ministries being there, thank you for continuing this journey with us and walking this path.
We have been encouraged to get feedback from the Tonj community how praying for patients in our medical clinic has blessed them as much as receiving the free medicine. Even the government officials have acknowledged and praised the extra mile we go for each of our patients. This has really encouraged our staff, who serve diligently around the clock to bring the hope and love of Jesus Christ into their medical surrounding. One story that stood out is about Mary Wenglay. Her mother and uncle openly practiced witchcraft and always turned to it whenever Mary or her siblings were sick. Earlier this year Mary’s younger brother died after the family refused him medical help and practiced witchcraft on him. Mary was hit hard emotionally by the death of her younger brother. After some time the other brother got sick and again her mother and uncle insisted in witchcraft rituals. Mary decided to do whatever it takes to get her brother to our medical clinic. There she heard the gospel and met with one of our pastors. She prayed with him and asked Jesus to be her personal Savior. What she heard totally transformed her life from that moment on. Her brother made a complete recovery after receiving treatment and medicine. One of our pastors visiting Mary’s village called Kwanyria heard her testimony and started praying with her for her mother and uncle’s salvation. Many of the villagers were curious at Mary’s transformation and Pastor Joseph felt the Lord telling him to ‘have church’ under a tree. Many villagers now come to church on Sunday and Mary’s mother has turned from witchcraft and asked Jesus to be her Savior and both her and Mary have been baptized. The Lord used this young lady’s faith to reach an entire village with the Gospel. This new church is very grateful for what the Lord has done through Mary (pictured far right in blue with the church) and through the IDAT Medical Clinic to bring them this church in their village. It is our greatest challenge to direct new believers to churches when they come from remote villages that have not heard the gospel but we can clearly see God at work despite these difficulties. As our community health evangelists (CHE) continue in training we are excited for villages such as Kwanyria to be impacted by this program that will provide follow up care and support both spiritually and physically to new believers.
Suzy, Hannah, Jed and I got to visit the UK for a short trip. Unfortunately Agum was not able to join us as she did not get her visa but she had a fantastic time staying with our friends in Kenya. It was wonderful to visit family, friends and two supporting churches that have prayed over us and walked with us for several years. We had the opportunity to visit both churches and share with the saints what the Lord has accomplished through In Deed and Truth Ministries in the past 6 years. As we shared all that has happened in that time it was a great reminder of the many blessings the Lord has bestowed on us and to give thanks for His faithfulness throughout. The medical clinic is now in its sixth year and our first class of pastors are getting ready to graduate next year after 3 years of training. It is wonderful to see how the Lord is working in the UK, an area of prayer for Suzy and I for years. When we first married and would visit over 10 years ago we had to drive 2 hours to London to visit a Calvary Chapel church and now there are over 40 in the UK! Mildenhall Baptist church became our church family while we were pregnant with Hannah and they have continued to love and support us since, it was wonderful to see them again and share the blessings and struggles of our work in Sudan. At the 2006 Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa mission conference we met Pastor John Brown, an American missionary to the UK who has planted a church in an area close to where Suzy went to school. After the conference we traveled back through the UK and visited Pastor John in Norwich. It was a real joy to be able to visit Servants Church (pictured praying for us) a second time and pass on a challenge the Lord has pressed on our lives: that we are all missionaries because being a Christian is a call from Christ to come to Him, die to self and live for eternity. Pray for the church in the UK, it has a very cynical audience that needs love and the grace of Jesus Christ. Suzy and I stayed with Suzy’s sister and did some fun tourist sites with the kids before Suzy returned to Kenya, collected Agum and went back to Sudan and I went on to the USA for this year’s fundraiser prayer walk. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and rest, thanks for all your prayers.