Kuj Family, Ministry, Mission Trips

Friendship

Some friendships are fleeting and some are lasting.  True friendships are glued together with bonds of loyalty and commitment, they remain intact depite changing external circumstances.  Jesus, He is the perfect constant friend that promises to never leave us or forsake us.  It is important to remember that when you are in such a remote place like Tonj and deep and meaningful friendships are hard to find or far away.  Having such a friend visit is a true joy to our hearts and a lifts our spirits.

“A friend is always loyal and a brother is born to help in time of need.” Proverbs 17:17

Today we got to receive one of our dearest friends, Dena Ennis to Sudan.  She has been to Sudan many times but it is her first visit to Tonj, though she has been a faithful partner to our ministry and friend to our family, serving both selflessly for years.  Dena blessed us with her wisdom and encouragemet at our ladies retreat back in December in Kenya.  We are excited to see how the Lord will use her during this trip to help us in celebrating the South’s independance from the North.  Please pray for her time here, for her to stay healthy, safe and effective for His work.

Kuj Family, Ministry

Armed Bandits

“He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us.” 2 Corinthians 1:11

Just as the early apostles depended on the prayers for safety offered by the churches, we also covet the prayers of the saints for our safety here in Sudan. 

Sunday the Lord delivered us from armed bandits.  Our family was driving to Rumbek, 100 miles away, to collect and escort some visitors back to Tonj.  The road was recently fixed and the journey would have been fast except we were ‘inconvenienced’ by a flat tyre that would not let us get going quickly.  One vehicle passed us, we struggled with the tyre change when 30 minutes later another vehicle came and this time stopped to help.  We were just 1 km from where people were killed a week ago, completely stranded on a rural road and trying as best we could to get moving again quickly!  We thanked our good Samaritan for helping us, prayed with him for his safety and continued on our way.  We encountered a few cattle herds in the road and then after 45 minutes came to a village where the army pulled us over for questioning.  They explained a car in front of us had been robbed by cattle herders at gunpoint just before we came through.  We knew immediately our Lord had protected us and delayed us with the flat tyre.  It is a wonderful reminder to allow the Lord to ‘inconvenience’ our lives as we really don’t see and understand all that He is doing for us.  Our trust needs to be completely in Him, giving thanks in all circumstances.

Kuj Family

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated 11 years of marriage on July 1st.  The kids were so cute, we plotted and planned the day before to make it a surprise for daddy and they made us breakfast and set the table with freshly picked flowers and got out my ‘special’ teaset.  We felt very special, like royalty.

Kuj Family, Ministry

Hannah Teaches Sunday School

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Hannah both surprised and blessed us today when she offered to teach the Sunday school children.  We had canceled class this week due to lack of classroom space but some children still showed up and Hannah asked if she could lead the class rather than them go home.  Donato translated for her and she shared a story on Jesus’ miracles.  The Lord is really working in and through her young life.This was her first time and she did a fabulous job, well done Hannah!

Ministry

Fuel Prices Soar!

Fuel prices in Southern Sudan are out of control.  Today we paid $37.50 for a gallon of petrol to run our generator, which we were blessed to even find, as many places just don’t have any even to sell us.  With our solar system out for the past 2 weeks due to a storm, we are faced with paying these ridiculous prices.  As the world’s newest nation, rich in oil reserves and only 2 week’s away from celebrating independence and yet we are in crisis.  Food continues to be unavailable or very expensive also. 

Even though we lived here during 6 years of the civil war which equally had no fuel and food during those tough years, I realized today what it must have felt like to the locals when they saw their countries resources slipping away from them and were helpless to stop it.  In church we were reminded of the power of our Living God who is able to overcome these things and has even allowed these trials to test our faith.  Doesn’t God’s Word say, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”?  It truly is the peace of God that surpasses our understanding and enables us to perservere through the toughest times here.  As a staff, we would appreciate your prayers for contentment, perserverance and focus.  There are so many things to be thankful for despite the financial hardships surrounding us.

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