Here is a typical Sunday for us in Sudan. We love Sunday’s but they can be quite busy. Suzy likes to give the compound cook the morning to sleep in and makes breakfast for everyone, usually pancakes from scratch! The kids help wash, rinse and dry the dishes ready for breakfast and tea after church. Dr. Tom also likes to help out after lunch washing the dishes! Quite a task with a minimum of 16 staff/missionaries living on the compound and sometimes as many as 24-26 when a team visits!
Church starts at 10:30 am and is held on our compound. Sabet is worship leader and pastor, doing a fabulous job of leading the church through God’s Word and in worship.
The whole team living on the compound mucks in together and helps with church and sound set-up, worship, Sunday school, refreshments, greeting and announcements. The Sunday school is a mix of different age groups and ranges from age 1 all the way to 14-15 year olds. The numbers can also be quite overwhelming so we try and screen the kids, pulling ages 3-11 for Sunday school and asking mums to keep infants in church with them. The children older than 11 we encourage to sit in church and listen to the message. This still results in as many as 20-40 children every week with only one teacher and one translator. With the various ages together in one class we have a great need for more helpers!
Here are some prayer needs for help in the church:
- Assistant/Youth pastor
- Sunday school teachers
- Worship leader
- Favor from the local authorities to move the church outside the compound and use a nearby school building
We would love the above positions to be filled by missionaries desiring to serve the Lord on a long-term basis. They would need to apply through our website and go through the missions preparation, cross-cultural training, support raising and team building process before coming, which can take more than a year.
After church we either drive out to our ‘picnic tree’ and enjoy a family picnic with visitors or staff. We picked a tree in the middle of the swamp area as it is not easy to get to and therefore not many people to watch us eat! So it also is quite peaceful and relaxing and a good place to take a little nap. Our kids love this Sunday tradition, it is the highlight of their week.
After our picnic we like to visit members from our church in their homes and just encourage them. They feel very honored and special to have us visit and pray for them. We have seen the Lord answer many prayers of blessing over these precious people when we have gone to their homes on visitations. And it is a tremendous witness to the neighbors of God’s love and care for His church.
Today, Mary and her husband Joseph invited our family and visiting team for a traditional Sudanese meal of chicken, kudra and kisera. Jobs are scarce in Tonj so providing for the family is a challenge and inviting guests for supper is a real sacrifice that we felt so blessed to be asked and participate in. You can read Mary’s testimony on a previous blog and I ask you to join us in our prayer over her home that the Lord would open her womb and bless them with many children. Here are a few photo’s of the surrounding areas where Joseph and Mary live.
Sunday evenings Sabet and I like to take time to pray for the week ahead with our children, for school, for opportunities and for guidance and protection. In Sudan it is so evident that prayer needs to be at the forefront of everything we do and plan to do. The battle is real and the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We realize that our prayers are a key shield and weapon against the enemy and appreciate your prayers for us as we go into battle daily for the souls in Sudan.
Thanks for your prayers – Suzy Kuj
Serving the Lord in Sudan
