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.

Tonj Update!

A few weeks ago Pastor Kibe, along with our pastors Juda, Santino and Joseph, were invited to minister in the local prison and to hold a service there every Sunday between 9-10am. This is a great opening for the Gospel message in the main prison in this area. In the past, we were the ones to request to go in and share the Gospel, but now the prison officials have invited us.

We also gave some Bibles to the prison staff and inmates whom had asked for them on the first day we went to preach there. They said they spend most of their time doing nothing, but now they will be reading the Bible. Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit will guide and minister to them and many may be drawn to Him. The first week Kibe preached from Psalm 1.

Our team has been very busy from January until now; they have been smaller in size than usual with us being gone and limited medical supplies. We felt it was necessary for them to take a break for a month in Kenya so we minimized the services we give for this short-period while the essential professional team takes their rest.

I want to acknowledge our local team in Tonj who are holding the fort while everyone is gone – Albino and the entire IDAT team, especially the Community Health workers, have been so faithful and wonderful in getting on with day-to-day operations in our absence. Pray for their strength and wisdom as they continue to serve this month.

South Sudan Crisis update!

The news that is coming out of South Sudan government from their meetings with the opposition in Ethiopia and Kenya the past few weeks has been very positive. The two rival leaders, the president and his former vice president, have met twice. They both expressed their commitment to end the present conflict, as a matter of fact, they took a landmark step in the latest meeting in Kenya and laid out the basis to form a national transitional government in 60 days. That was met with huge applause from the neighboring countries and the US government.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27

The Kuj’s Update

We have been on another road trip, this time to northern California. We visited Santa Rosa Calvary Chapel The Rock. It was the first time for our family to visit the area. It was so wonderful to meet the senior Pastor, Ross; the Missions Pastor, Jim; and all the rest of the staff. They have been supporting the work in South Sudan for the past few years before even meeting us. The biggest blessing is how God used our testimonies to bless the church and the church and their love for God to bless us. We give the glory to God for what He has done.

Some of you have received the prayer update regarding Agum’s citizenship; we praise God for connecting us with an immigration lawyer that told us Agum is a US citizen based on her adoption and Suzy’s citizenship. All we need to do is to change her status and apply for a passport. We cannot describe the amount of relief we felt when we heard this news. Pray for all the applications that have been submitted and the time that they require to finish, that God would have His favor on us and accomplishing everything without taking too long.

Prayer Requests!

• Pray for the tax exemption papers from an official in Juba for our supplies for the medical clinics and the compound in Tonj that is ready to leave from Nairobi
• Pray for proper rest for our Kenya staff before returning in July.
• Pray for our local staff as they stand in the gap for this month of June in the absence of hey staff
• Pray for Agum’s application for citizenship
• Pray for Dr. Jan Zip who would cover Dr Tom
• Pray for Pastor Kibe wedding’s plans, Kibe and his fiancé come from different tribes and usually that presents an issue