We’ve been blessed to have a team from Eastgate Christian Fellowship in Panama City, FL serving with us in Tonj for the last week.
Take a look at the sketch Pastor Rob made after their visit to a local cattle camp.
Cattle Camp
Ayak Passed Into Eternal Glory
Written by Suzy Kuj
Sweet precious 14 year old Ayak has been a part of our daily lives for the past 4 months. She’s the young girl we medevac’d to Tenwek Mission Hospital back in July with a tumor on her forearm. After amputation we discovered the cancer had metastasized and her prognosis was bleak. Sabet had an opportunity to share with her about Jesus Christ dying for her sin and she prayed with Sabet to receive the Lord Jesus as her personal Savior. That gave us great comfort as we pursued further treatment for her but doors kept closing as she got weaker and sicker. Her family chose for us to return her home to South Sudan in September where her condition deteriorated quickly and she became an inpatient at our clinic needing full-time medical assistance. The last few weeks have been agonizing to watch as she has found little comfort and relief from the pain. The Lord has been so sweet to each one of us, bringing encouragement to us as a staff and to Ayak through many visitors this past month. Each visitor has been touched by this young girl and her story. Her own family has not been around very much and she was spending a lot of time alone. It’s hard to see someone suffering and our prayer was for complete healing or the Lord to have mercy and to take Ayak to Him quickly. Listening to her cries ring through the compound every time she was moved was so difficult to hear and yet the Lord asks us to bear with one another’s burdens.
As we waited on the Lord’s will we felt an urgency to get her out of the gloomy crowded observation room that had become home to her. Yesterday we choose to have a bedside vigil throughout the day so she would not be alone and to help her. Each staff took one hour to be with Ayak, praying and talking and encouraging her. Today we managed to get her into a wheelchair and I offered to sit with her while I homeschooled Hannah in the garden. We drank ice tea and I rubbed lavender lotion on her body. Even though she had hardly spoken in days she told Awad she liked being outside. It really was a beautiful day, shady under the Neem tree, birds singing, cool breeze rustling the branches. While Awad and I were tending to her she transitioned from being fidgety and uncomfortable to being peaceful and sleepy. Five women relatives (never happened before) stopped by to greet her. They saw Ayak asleep and after 10 minutes asked to leave and come back later. I felt an urgency to pray with them before they left and asked Awad to translate the prayer. The prayer in my heart was for them to understand our Lord’s mercy and love. Ayak’s body was failing but her spirit was healthy and needed to move on. When we finished praying some were weeping, all thanked me and left. I positioned a small fan on Ayak’s lap to help keep her cool and sat watching her sleep peacefully. Just a few minutes later she slipped into the arms of her Lord and Savior. Though she is absent from her body we are confident she is present with the Lord, no tears, pain or cancer.
Our prayer is for her family to have that same peace. Also for Hannah who was with me today, was so touched by Ayak’s life and was with me when she passed away. Hannah has seen many tragedy’s while we have been in South Sudan over the years. She has a sensitive heart and this is one more encounter. She showed great maturity as she thanked the Lord for His mercy and grace but I know this has really effected her. Pray for our staff that have served Ayak around the clock, everyone is feeling the loss. She was part of our daily lives for so long.
Thank you to all who prayed and gave their time and money to help her. What we gave Ayak was the love of Jesus and that’s the very reason we are here.
October 2012 Newsletter
Pastor’s Graduation!
On October 6th, we celebrated the day we have eagerly anticipated for the past three years. With over 500 celebrants in attendance including officials from local, county and state government, our pastors graduated. We were honored by the Deputy Governor of Warrap State to have as the key note speaker. The graduation marked the culmination of three years of intensive bible training. Attired in festive marron gowns, these 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, received diplomas and special gifts from the visiting dignitaries. The name of Jesus was clearly proclaimed throughout the two hour program. The event included worship led by the Don Bosco band and the IDAT choir. Greetings and words of encouragement were given by various government and church leaders. We concluded the day hosting a dinner for the pastors, officials and members of the community.
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” – Matt 28:18-19
Board Visit to Tonj!
We were blessed to have two of our Board members visit Tonj to join us for the pastors’ graduation. Ted Miyake, Jim Ennis and his wife Dena were used of the Lord to encourage the staff and community during their ten day stay at the IDAT compound. God used this time to connect names and faces throughout the entire IDAT organization. The time together was a beautiful picture of the Body of Christ functioning as one for the glory of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” – Eph 4:16
Prayer Walk San Diego!
Our annual prayer walk was held Saturday September 22nd at Horizon Christian Fellowship. This year Suzy and Hannah were able to come to the United States to participate. God has continued to extend His hand of blessing as the ministry expands the level of vital services given to the community. Our basic monthly operating budget has increased to $25,000 to cover the operation of the clinic and the compound, support for the Kuj family and our U.S. stateside support. We now employee over 50 local staff in support of our 24/7 clinic operations. Our five acre compound has become a magnet to the community and surrounding territories as we show the love of Christ in serving the Lord.
Leadership Development!
While visiting Tonj for the pastors’ graduation, our Board recognized the godly potential of certain members of our staff. Lack of development and leadership training is a tremendous area of need in South Sudan and Tonj. The Board has recommended that we increase our level of funding to ensure that we have an adequate budget for the development of tomorrow’s leaders. Our recognition of these candidates is based on evidence of a clear calling and commitment to serve the Lord Jesus.
Prayer Requests!
- For the Kuj family as they host teams coming to Tonj through Christmas.
- For the Lord’s blessing on the graduated pastors as they go to serve their flock.
- For God’s comfort for Ayok, a young girl suffering from bone cancer.
Pray for Ayak
By Ted Miyaki
Ayak. I met her with the team, the first day in the compound. A beautiful slender girl of 13, with an angelic face. Her right arm was recently amputated at the elbow – bone cancer that went untreated. Many have prayed for her and visited her. Yesterday, after the entire team and local staff went to the clinic to pray for her, I stayed by her side with “Mama Nini” (Dena). Ayak was in constant pain, moaning, and saying it hurt. The medications are limited in effectiveness. We prayed more, sang to her and caressed her. She placed my hand on the swollen her right arm and motioned for me to stroke it. That seemed to help her. What a heart break.
Early this morning, before sunrise, around 4.30, I heard Ayak’s distinctive little voice crying out from the clinic. Sound carries far in the compound with open windows and doors. Dinka children rarely cry out like that, so I knew it had to be her. I was compelled to go over and see her. More heart break. By the time I arrived, she had been calmed down by the elderly security guard and was hunched over in a chair, rocking and moaning with pain. The overnight health worker eventually gave her a pain killer injection, the pain of which also terrified her. I held her and she squeezed my hand as the dose was administered. Thankfully, she agreed to lay down and rest after that. Please pray for Ayak as we seek a way forward. Lord Jesus, have mercy…
Pastors’ Graduation
By Ted Miyaki
I have been a week in Tonj. The days accelerate and what seemed like a long time to be here is already almost passed. Probably because the days are so full – even the “down” days.
One of the main reasons for my coming was the pastors’ graduation from the Bible School. What a celebration of God’s faithfulness and a lifting up of Jesus’ name! Local and regional officials from churches and government came. How nice to be greeted by the deputy governor “in the name of Jesus Christ”! I was particularly touched when he describe how the ministry has helped Tonj…he was nearly in tears.
The pastors are a remarkable bunch. All 1st generation believers from pagan backgrounds (one was groomed by family to become a witch doctor). Most were saved during the war as it scattered men in the army to far regions where they received the Gospel and in turn brought it back home or to wherever they were assigned. Many of them were made pastors and leaders with no Bibles, no training, and some with only second grade education. One said he used to just tell the church amusing stories since he knew nothing of the Word of God.
So their appreciation for three years of going through the entire Bible was incredible. Part of the length was due to the fact that all had to learn English so they could read the Old Testament (no OT in local language). Their grasp of the centrality of the Bible in Christian faith and practice is remarkable. In meetings with the pastors, they kept thanking and thanking IDAT, their teachers and the supporters back in the US. You would have thought they had been given a million dollars – in their minds probably more than that.
More than what they learned about Scripture, I was impressed and inspired by their testimonies of how the Word of God and the school changed their LIVES. One, a former soldier, said he was a fighter (he was as big as Michael Jordan) always “boxing” people. He was his own god – now Jesus is his God and he is a lover. Another testified how much he loves his wife now and he wants to help other Sudanese men love their wives – that was pretty sweet coming from a guy who was at least 6′ 4″!
They are SO eager to go out (some have already planted churches in outlaying villages) to teach, preach and disciple. I was honored to be able to pray with and for them, to send them out in Jesus name.
I was especially humbled to meet the main teachers over the 3 years, servant-teachers, a missionary couple who have served in foreign fields for almost 40 years. They love the pastors like their own sons, and they endured so much to graduate them (35 started, 13 finished). Theirs was truly a labor of love. They have inscribed letters of Christ on the hearts of these men. The pastors could not stop thanking Joe and Nancy. May God richly bless them as they must move on from Tonj.