Home visiting has been part of our program to bring up healthy families especially focusing on pregnant and lactating mothers. Today we visited Rebecca Koikathia family in a place called Manyatta about 3 km from our Clinic. She has three children and is expecting the fourth child. We decided to visit Rebecca after one of her friend’s who visits our ANC clinic told us about her. Rebecca has had bad obstetric history of losing pregnancies in the first trimester and we felt that she needed some encouragement, follow up and prayer.
We did the antenatal check up while in her home and encouraged her to visit our clinic. She was so very thankful we took time to see her and is now willing to start her ANC program and even join our Sunday church service. While in the homes we share some health tips on simple adjustments they can make to have a healthy home, which in turn brings overall better health to the entire family. We are really seeing our vision to have our clinic more community based start to take shape and and even we are seeing growth. Please keep praying for the Community Health Evangelist (CHE) program as we combine to the two ministries for the Glory of God.
True christian fruits are seen when mere men chose to put their faith in Christ and in His word despite their hardship, cultures and what the world teaches them. One of the greatest hindrances to the gospel here is a culture that is so much implanted in belief in witchcraft and sorcery. The community believes in them greatly, that is their first option in case of a disaster or sickness. We know that this is idolatry, and God does not want His children to practice it.
Today we saw this change. One of the guys who has been very keen to discipleship is Peter. He is a student in secondary school, and he is born again. He has been coming to our ministry premises at IDAT every week where we spend time in the word of God. He also comes to church every Sunday for fellowship. We also pray together. His story is that of breaking away from tradition by not only embracing Christ but also His teachings.
I see him as a good example of what Paul said to the church in 1 Thessalonian 1:9b, “…and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living God”. Peter’s dad was sick two weeks ago, his brothers were planning to have their dad taken to a witchdoctor (which is kind of the norm here) but Peter said no. He suggested they take him to the hospital in Juba since that is where his dad works. Peter feared that the brothers will not take his advice since they had also taken their dad to a witchdoctor for treatment last year. He came to me asking that we pray together and ask God that his dad not to be taken to a witchdoctor. We prayed and after 3 days Peter came back with a testimony that his elder brothers had agreed to take their dad to the hospital. On Saturday March 17th, Peter came with the good news that his father was now well and had been discharged from the hospital.
This story is one among many others that we witness everyday here ay Tonj. The Bible tells us that we are not to live as the unbelievers do, Ephesians 4:17-18, 24
“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…But we are to put on the new nature which is created in the likeness of Christ”.
For Peter it took courage to say NO to what was ungodly, to walk away from what the culture advocates and to follow what the Bible says.
Prayers points:
Peter and other believers that they will continue to trust in Jesus in difficult situations and they will severe any ties with the witchdoctors and spirit masters.
Pray for Peter’s growth and continual commitment to discipleship.
Pray for his Dad and brothers that they will fully trust in Jesus and that they will accept Him as their Savior.
So we just completed our fourth and final training for this group of trainers! It’s so exciting to see their motivation and hard work now almost a year after they attended the first training. The trainer teams have all started committees in their communities, and most of them hope to finish training those committees by April, which is when the real fun starts!
During our training we discussed leadership skills and responsibilities, biblical roles of men and women, and Farming God’s Way! Though the afternoons were hot, most of us managed to stay awake through each lesson. We also gave each training team some time to share how things were going in their communities. Everyone was really moved by what Pastor David of Lurchuk shared. He and Athunta (pictured above) went to visit a woman in their community who had just given birth to twins. They took some clothes they bought, some food, and also prepared a CHE lesson about infant nutrition and feeding to share with this young mother. During their visit they were not only sharing with her words about God’s love, but they were demonstrating it with their lives. The woman was so touched that she wanted to know more about God and decided to give her life to Christ! She started attending the church where David pastors. Not long after, however, one of the twins died. In the midst of this tragedy, the woman now had a church family that loved her and took care of her during this time, grieving with her. And then, just a few weeks ago, the woman was baptized.
What a powerful testimony of the faithfulness of these two trainers not just to share the word of God and give health teachings, but to come along side someone and really be the body of Christ to that person. And there were many testimonies of how each team is working to seek that transformation in their own lives and the lives of others.
One trainer, Pastor Joseph, shared with me today that what he really likes about CHE is how it helps people grow closer to God. And that’s the point of the Kingdom of God, God’s glory and our good.
The Bridge International has been a partner with us from the very early days in 2000. This month was very special as we welcomed the founder and director R. K. Ulrich to visit our work in Tonj. R.K. was on a tour of ministries and really went out of her way to make sure she got time with us, not so easy when we are living in the middle of nowhere! The Bridge has faithfully supported our pastoral workshops throughout the war, as well as the late pastor John Riack, and our current pastor training programs. It was our joy to introduce her to the pastors she has helped school and for her to actually go out to one of the church plants. Her time was short but very encouraging to us. In April 2007, during a trip around Florida, we visited and met R.K. and her husband Steve for the very first time. During that visit R.K. and Suzy chatted about the challenges of running your own non-profit. This was an area we were unsure about and the Lord used her to confirm some things in our hearts and In Deed and Truth Ministries was born!! Thanks R.K. for coming , it was such a blessing to be with you.
We got the first rain since November today. A good thunder storm with a lot of rain. It has been hot, 120° Fahrenheit so the rain will cool it down.
The baby I admitted Monday evening that I told the dad that I do not know if she will live went home fine Saturday AM. We have not had a death here in over 3 weeks and we have had quite a few sick children. We treat God heals. God is good. The midwives have been busy with deliveries and though many have been difficult all babies and mothers are doing well. PTL
There were many folks who commented on the puff adder bite. Many wondered how she lived. She got bit on the finger tip and I do not believe the snake could inject enough venom to kill the woman. Her arm swelled up a lot. She actually came in almost 24 hours after the bite so I knew that if she was still alive she would probably live.
I am planning to sleep well tonight with the cool weather from the rain it may even get down to the 80s. Love, Tom
