It was on a Monday evening when Kiir Mayen (7 years) was brought to our clinic by his parents. The boy had two Hernias in both sides. The boy had to spent the night in the clinic so as to prepare him for surgery the following day. This is because he had to fast for at least six hours for the surgery to be performed. Albino our compound manager together with our medical staffs went and prayed together with the boy and his parents.
On Tuesday at around 10.00 a.m the medical staffs together with the Surgeon Dr. Stick went to the hospital and started preparing for the surgery. They called the boy’s parents who were already there prayed with them and then they signed the consent form.
There was a team of 7: the Surgeon Dr Stick, our Nurse Margaret and Dennis the Clinical Officer and Albino compound Manager. The rest were Sudanese staffs one of them being from the Government Hospital. They all joined hands together before surgery and prayed.
The Surgery kicked off at around 11:30 a.m and took four and a half hours and it was successful. After the surgery the boy was taken outside and you could see the joy from the family. Albino prayed for them again.
The Surgeon said he got supported and said it was a joy to work with the team. The boy was brought back to our clinic and after an hour he was awake. Today in the Morning I went to see him and and he is doing much better. The mother(Abak Akuar) said that she is glad that her son is getting better. I ask her if she knows Jesus of which she replied she doesn’t know anything about God. I encouraged her, shared shortly about God. She accepted Jesus as her personal savior and told me she is Going to share with her husband finally I prayed for them. Lets continue to pray for healing for this boy, and for Abak who gave her life to Jesus and also for her husband to accept Christ.
Thank you all for your continued support and for praying for this community.
“The King will reply, I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” – Matthew 25:40
We (Sabet and Suzy) chose to spend Christmas in Kenya this year to give our family some 1181much needed ‘down time’. This was our first Christmas away from Tonj in three years, which was hard for us to do as we love spending Christmas in Sudan also. But family needs had to come first and with so much time apart this last 6 months we knew we needed to reconnect and spend time away from our compound and work. As it was a last minute decision, we were blessed by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) who diverted a charter airplane to collect our family from Tonj. Africa Inland Mission (AIM) were also kind to offer us a four bedroom furnished home used for their own missionaries in transition. This has been an amazing blessing for our children especially. We’ve had a wonderful time of fellowship with friends, our church family here and have been able to join in all the Christmas church activities. Attending the candlelight carol concert with a picnic was very fun! But being able to go to church Christmas Eve and Day was awesome. We baked cookies for MAF and AIM and thanked them for their sacrificial service to missionaries like us living in the bush. Without these support services we could not survive each day in Sudan. Christmas Day was a joy to entertain 12 people by hosting a dinner for missionary friends also working in Sudan. December 30th we celebrated Hannah’s 10th Birthday (pictured) by spending a day swimming in a pool. She then had a double party with her old friends (one whom also turned 10). New Year was relaxed with Kenyan friends sipping chai, eating baked potatoes and worshipping the Lord around the bonfire. We are so thankful for this time of refreshment and fellowship. We are so thankful for each one of you for being a blessing and joy in our life.
It was great to come back home to my family after many weeks away in the USA. The trip was a success; I connected with supporting churches, home fellowships and many individual ministry partners. In addition to the San Diego and Tonj prayer walks, it was a great blessing to be joined this year by Eastgate Christian Fellowship in Florida (pictured) who hosted their own prayer walk. This has been our prayer that the burden of raising support for this ministry would be shared by those around us. Thank you everyone who walked, prayed and supported this annual event. There is a light shining in South Sudan for Jesus Christ as a result of In Deed and Truth Ministries being there, thank you for continuing this journey with us and walking this path.
We have been encouraged to get feedback from the Tonj community how praying for patients in our medical clinic has blessed them as much as receiving the free medicine. Even the government officials have acknowledged and praised the extra mile we go for each of our patients. This has really encouraged our staff, who serve diligently around the clock to bring the hope and love of Jesus Christ into their medical surrounding. One story that stood out is about Mary Wenglay. Her mother and uncle openly practiced witchcraft and always turned to it whenever Mary or her siblings were sick. Earlier this year Mary’s younger brother died after the family refused him medical help and practiced witchcraft on him. Mary was hit hard emotionally by the death of her younger brother. After some time the other brother got sick and again her mother and uncle insisted in witchcraft rituals. Mary decided to do whatever it takes to get her brother to our medical clinic. There she heard the gospel and met with one of our pastors. She prayed with him and asked Jesus to be her personal Savior. What she heard totally transformed her life from that moment on. Her brother made a complete recovery after receiving treatment and medicine. One of our pastors visiting Mary’s village called Kwanyria heard her testimony and started praying with her for her mother and uncle’s salvation. Many of the villagers were curious at Mary’s transformation and Pastor Joseph felt the Lord telling him to ‘have church’ under a tree. Many villagers now come to church on Sunday and Mary’s mother has turned from witchcraft and asked Jesus to be her Savior and both her and Mary have been baptized. The Lord used this young lady’s faith to reach an entire village with the Gospel. This new church is very grateful for what the Lord has done through Mary (pictured far right in blue with the church) and through the IDAT Medical Clinic to bring them this church in their village. It is our greatest challenge to direct new believers to churches when they come from remote villages that have not heard the gospel but we can clearly see God at work despite these difficulties. As our community health evangelists (CHE) continue in training we are excited for villages such as Kwanyria to be impacted by this program that will provide follow up care and support both spiritually and physically to new believers.