Thank you for praying for the safe arrival of Jono, Destinee, Zoe and Ellisha Macleod. They arrived yesterday together with Jono’s brother Anthony and Steve and Larné Wilson.
Rosa and the Kids
Rosa Ewing has been volunteering with our ministry for the past few months and is currently serving as our stateside assistant, working alongside Jim and Dena Ennis. When the opportunity came up for me to travel to South Sudan I was very excited that Rosa wanted to come along and help me. One of the tasks she will oversee is to make profiles of the grandchildren that live with Mama Sabet. These are our nieces and nephews and each one is in need of a long term sponsorship. As soon as we are ready we’ll let you know how you can get involved with that. There are 14 children ranging in age from 13 years to 6 months old. That’s if Rosa hasn’t sponsored them all herself!!!
How’s Mama Doing?
Thank you to everyone who has asked how Sabet’s mum is doing. She is definitely in her last days here and soon to be taken into the arms of her Savior. We are blessed to have a chance to be with her. She told me, “these children are now your children and I can go in peace”. Every day we have with her now is a gift.
Home
It’s Tuesday night, 10 pm and I’m trying to cool down from the over 110 F day. It’s so peaceful and quiet right now. Thank you Lord for bringing me home, even if it’s just for a short time. I’m still recovering from the emotional roller-coaster of yesterday’s arrival at the airstrip.
It’s so good to be here, where I belong, with Sabet, with my people, who God has joined me to. 16 years ago we made vows and the verse the Lord gave us as we committed our lives to Him and each other was from Ruth 1:16, “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.”
I’ll try to update every day and share ways you can be praying for us here.
Grace and peace,
Suzy
March 2016 Newsletter
The Container Arrived!
PRAISE GOD! The much awaited container has finally arrived safely in Tonj. It was a troubled journey, starting with port strikes in Los Angeles, corrupt customs control in Kenya, more delays at the Uganda border waiting for calculations and payments of import duty to South Sudan and then it was in storage for the past nine months in Juba due to the rainy season, poor road conditions and erupting insecurity. It finally left as part of a UN convoy to ensure added safety on the road for the shipping company.
It arrived here in Tonj the last week of February things damaged and missing but most of the important items made it to us. We are so grateful to everyone who donated items for our house, the medical clinic and for the compound. As we unpack we are praising God for each item and thanking Him for the person that gave it.
“It is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’” – Luke 4:8
It is interesting to me that our family has not been able to return to South Sudan and the entire time we have been ‘stuck’ in USA, our house in South Sudan was ‘stuck’ between building phases, mostly due to insecurity. With the containers arrival we can now complete the final phase of building and when our family returns we will have a ‘new’ home to move into.
Clinic Testimony!
Eight months ago, in the middle of the night, Angelina Arop walked an hour, breathing though every contraction, just as she had been shown during her pre-natal check-ups. This time it wasn’t a rehearsal, she was in full labor and hoping to make it to In Deed and Truth Ministries’ medical clinic. Our professional medical team were ready for her and after much encouragement and prayer, Angelina safely delivered her baby girl, Adut. Clinic chaplain, Pastor Judah prayed with her and shared with her about trusting her child in the Lord’s care. He reminded her to get vaccinated and to bring the child to us and not a witchdoctor should she have any health concerns.
Recently, Angelina noticed a deformity in her child and on seeing one of our community health workers (CHW) in the market, she asked him about it. CHW Emmanuel Akol encouraged her to bring the baby to the medical clinic. Dr. Tom, clinical officer Simon and Snr. Nurse Annie, who assisted in her delivery, checked Adut and all agreed she needed an immediate surgery. The government hospital has recently started performing surgeries in Tonj and were able to help her. The surgery was successful and she returned to our clinic a week later to thank God for his protection. She explained she would have gone to the witchdoctor a year ago but now she trusted Jesus, and asked him to be her Savior!!
Suzy Going to Africa!
When I said goodbye to Sabet in August I had no idea it would be months before our family would be together again. After another lengthy phone call to immigration with the same “your case is under review”, I chose to officially become a Floridian! We can no longer put our lives on hold, our ministry needs are demanding our input and attention. So until Agum has her citizenship, we will commute as necessary to South Sudan. This April, I will be going to Tonj to see my husband, welcome a new family joining us for 6 months and possibly longer, spend time with the Macleod family and plan for their next term, work on reconciling the Africa book keeping, Lord willing spend time with Sabet’s mum and the children, find two full-time carers for the children, write profiles for each child and look for committed long term sponsors, sort through the container and give some input on finishing our house. It’s a lot of ‘stuff’ to do in only 4 weeks, so I am taking some helpers, my daughter Hannah (she’s so excited and I’m so proud that she has worked hard to raise her own support) and Rosa Ewing, who has recently joined our ministry stateside, and has a desire to understand all areas of our work so she can better serve the ministry. Please be in prayer for our trip, for security in country, for our health, for Jed and Agum as they remain in Florida and for all we need to accomplish in a short time.