Sabet’s USA Visit!

We are praising God and rejoicing in the Lord for Sabet’s safe travel to and from America in May. He successfully was able to reconnect with ministry partners, visit family and friends and update many on our progress in Tonj. This is a calling to bring Jesus to the Southern Sudanese people and something you all have been part-takers in. Sabet was so encouraged and blessed by the outpouring of love many of you showed him during his visit. Thank you for sharing your time and resources with us so we can continue in this amazing ministry for another 14 years and beyond! He was humbled by the kindest and provision for all his needs while he was stateside. Thank you for being such awesome partners to us as we serve our Lord Jesus in South Sudan.

Medical Outreach!

As co-workers together in the Great Commission we feel it is important to bring Glory to God and rejoice in the achievements and impact our ministry is having. As we share some numbers with you, hopefully this will put into perspective the scale of the work we do and the difference each one of you is making in South Sudan and how important your support to us is:

• 1,000 out-patients are seen every month in our Tonj clinic.
• Over 100 patients are seen each week at our Maloney village outreach.
• The Antenatal clinic is seeing over 100 pregnant mothers every week, with an average of one birth every day in the clinic.
• The clinic gives immunization to over 130 children under the age of five per month.
• We only experienced 5 deaths in four months, this is truly a miracle for South Sudan.
• We only had to refer nine cases for further treatment in four months, our lowest to date.
• We admitted over 40 patients a week, even though we are not a hospital we often offer these services knowing the patient would die if we didn’t.
• In four months over 4,000 heard the gospel message as they waited to see the doctor or nurses.
• Over 800 patients got to pray with our pastors one on one; accepting the Lord Jesus as Savior and each one received spiritual counsel. This need has resulted in 7 church plants.
• The Jesus film has been shown to over 400 students in 2 months resulting in a Youth bible study with IDAT pastors.

As you can see we have a lot to be praising God for and much to be praying about as the ministry and the needs continue to grow and more people are reached with the Gospel.

Lab Testing Saves Lives!

The doctor’s at the Center for Tropical and Travel Medicine in Nairobi have given us one of their trained Lab Techs to work in the clinic. Dr. Ruth explained that if the lab tech gets it wrong then all the work of the doctors and pharmacists is also a waste of time. That is why she retrains every lab tech that comes to her whether experienced or straight out of school as nearly all of them need it. Getting the right lab tech is critical to the clinic running efficiently and so we are so blessed to have Maureen join our team and share her skills with the community of Tonj.

Please pray for her as she settles and experiences South Sudan for the first time.

Prayer Requests!

• For the multitude of patients seen by the clinic every month – that they would each feel and know the love of their Savior as they are treated by our staff
• For the processing of Agum’s visa

CHE and STS!

This month was incredibly busy and blessed with back to back teams and workshops working together with us to build God’s kingdom here in Tonj. Mango Ministries facilitated the training to more than 30 pastors and leaders on how to use Bible storytelling to bring the gospel to churches and communities. This included the five churches we planted and the two new churches planted in the last 2 months. Each participant was sent home with 12 stories to learn and share. It is so awesome to see the fruit from the three years of Bible training our pastors received and to see them pouring out their lives to serve the Lord through church planting and preaching.

Mary, an STS participant, has been using the story of Mary and Martha to encourage the local women of her village. Many women are too busy working, getting water etc. to attend church. After hearing Mary share the Bible story, Mary said “many were awoken spiritually and began coming to church and they are asking me for more stories”. Mary has a vision to share the Bible through storying with any woman she meets, whether they are gathering firewood or collecting water from the well near her house. It is our joy to see the church of South Sudan healthier spiritually than we have ever experienced it, maturing in faith and seeing these healthy churches teaching the truth of God’s Word and the saints growing and walking in that truth.

This month we also graduated the first class for our Training of Trainers for the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program. This program is having a huge impact on the communities represented by the trainers. The leaders are being transformed before our eyes through the truth of God’s Word.

Topics of discussion have been about sin issues, trusting the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross and depending on the Holy Spirit for true conviction, repentance and change. The last workshop implemented the teaching of Farming God’s Way as a tool to help communities maximize their harvest. Families live and depend on the land for all their food needs for an entire year, so this teaching was valuable and possibly life-saving to them as we still experience a one month food gap every year following the devastating famine of 1998. Our hope is knowing the Lord Jesus came to give life abundant.

Church Plants!

Two new churches have recently been planted in another area of Warrap state by one of our graduated pastors called Pasquale. One of those churches was planted in the village of Rebobi. Our partner, Every Village, has been drilling bore holes in the Tonj area based on our recommendations. Rebobi village had a three hour walk to the nearest water source and was a perfect candidate for an Every Village water pump. Pastor Pasquale met with the community and shared the Lord’s provision for water with them. After the borehole was drilled Pastor Pasquale called the villagers together for a time of thanksgiving and praise and gave all thanks and glory to God for His answer to prayer and provision for Rebobi. The villagers enjoyed the time of praise and prayer and Pasquale noted they did not have a place to worship the Lord. So he announced that a church would meet every Sunday for those interested in worshipping the Lord together and that’s how the church was planted.

These churches really need your prayers. Pastor Pasquale already pastors a church of 100 + people so he appointed an elder from his church to lead one of the church plants. The other church is still in need of a leader.

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.” — Psalm 1:1-3

Prayer Requests!

• For spiritually strong leaders for the seven churches planted in the last year.
• For the completion of Agum’s adoption and a visa.
• For Sabet as he travels and for Suzy as she remains in Africa.