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.