“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” – Matthew 24:14

IDAT Bible school opened two weeks ago. The Bible school students were privileged to have a professor of Church history who visited them for two days. Prof. Dr. Bernd Brandl had come all the way from Germany.

Church history for Africa dates back to a few decades after Christ was risen when some of the disciples came to North Africa, to places such as Alexandria in Egypt. Churches were established and later the gospel spread up the Nile river to a region around the present Khartoum.

Later these places were conquered by invading armies that scattered and destroyed the congregations. The churches died partially due to isolation from their mother churches and lack of strong leadership, this being a good lesson to learn for present day church leaders.

“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16

My husband and I are excited again to be here in Tonj to teach the pastors. They were at the airstrip to meet us when we landed.  Monday, our first day of class, began with a song as I entered the classroom and then we prayed together and thanked the Lord Jesus Christ that we were all back together again.

We are finishing Manual 10, the last manual of the BTCP Curriculum, Missions Evangelism Discipleship. Yesterday was one of the best days I have had in the classroom since we started the Bible School three years ago. Part of the daily lesson was for the student to prepare and orally give his personal testimony.

I was privileged to listen to all of the pastors’ personal testimonies of how they became born again. It was truly awesome to learn that everyone of them are “first generation” Christians. Each pastor said that their parents were not believers, they were idol worshipers and involved in witchcraft. The wonderful part was that when they became a Christian and were baptized they returned to their homes and witnessed to their families and their families accepted Christ and they too became believers and were baptized. I was reminded of how the Philippine jailer and “all his household” was saved in Acts 16:25-34.

My husband, Joe, and I are teaching four sessions each day, starting at 9:15am and ending at 5:30pm. The pastors are there each morning ready to start with smiles on their faces and with a song to greet us.  We are so blessed to be a part of this training of the pastors.  We truly thank IDAT for the awesome work they are doing here in S Sudan and that they have allowed us to be a part of it.

Joe and Nancy Losee

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” – Habakkuk 2:14

Pastor Santino has been preaching in Malony for a period of about four months. He is very excited of the outcome and how the people of Maloney are responding positively to the gospel. He have about sixty members in his church. He made one of them secretary and the other a treasurer. The chief of that area gave out the land for the church. The most interesting thing is that the chief  is not a believer in God, or witchcraft.  Santino has been mentoring two people who have a heart for winning souls in Maloney. These two are primary school teachers who have been helping him with evangelism in the evening  after school.

Santino goes from house to house to evangelize the people. He also goes about in the area wherever he can find people to witness to them the gospel of Christ. Every Wednesday when the medical team goes to Maloney outreach he goes to preach to them. The people of Maloney love God and and they also are willing to learn more about the word. He preaches to the sick and prays for them because they believe in the healing power of God.

Santino gave me a testimony of a certain member of his church who had leprosy. He got saved in a Pentecostal church in Wau and was also baptized. When he came back to his village there was no church, preacher or any spiritual leader. He back slid and his leprosy worsened. He then met with Pastor Santino who prayed for him and he gave his life to Jesus again. He believed that God is going to heal him. Santino prayed for him and the leprosy started to heal. He is one of the witnesses in Maloney that God is a healer.

Santino wanted to go home to check on his family for two weeks before the school opens. The headmaster of a neighboring school who is also a member of his church requested him to stay for one more week.  This touched his heart so much and he felt like crying seeing how these people are hungry for the word of God. He believes that God has sent him and he has given his  heart for the people of Maloney.

Fifteen members of his church can read both English and Dinka. Fifteen can read Dinka and little bit of English. They requested well wishers to support them in getting Bibles so that they may be able to read and understand God’s word. They are hungry for the Gospel and what they have learned  by Santino’s preaching and they want to move a forward by learning more about the word of God for spiritual maturity.

The Headmaster of Pawel Primary School, sometimes called SalvaKir primary school, requested Santino to be teaching Christian Religion Education (C.R.E) in his school, for what a favor from God.

Please pray for Santino that God would continue to give him encouragement through the challenges. That Santino would be able to reach those who are still held captive by witchcraft and other traditions that do not glorify God.