Training Indigenous Leaders!

Before going to the mission field I heard a missionary share that if you have sat in a bible teaching church in USA for at least 6 months you are more qualified to teach God’s word in a third world country than most indigenous pastors. About 90% of these global church pastors and ministry leaders have very little training to do the vital work they are called to. IDAT has made training indigenous leaders a priority because it fulfills a Biblical mandate.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. – Ephesians 4:11-12

Paul’s instructions are clear and a God given assignment, to equip believers to carry out the work of the ministry, wherever a body of believers exists, we are appointed to equip them!

Ten years ago we graduated 13 pastors from our Discipleship Training Center. We now have 25 full-time pastors and ten new pastors needing to be trained. IDAT is committed to equip these servants of God to share the Word of God effectively. We are currently doing monthly pastor training and if you’re interested in partnering with us to help with this need, please let me know via email, we have scheduled trips in April and July.

Please pray for the Lord’s blessing and favor over a connection I made at the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference. We are hoping to partner with a ministry that will start a bible school!  They are planning to come to Tonj and teach May 4^th-11^th.

Missions Conference!

What a joy and blessing to attend the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa Missions Conference in person and with Hannah, Agum and Jed. It was great to connect with old and new friends and make some ministry connections, especially for training our pastors. It was also refreshing, encouraging and affirming to sit under such great teaching. We were reminded that as Christians we are serving on a battlefield not a playground! As missionaries we live a risky but rewarding life to take the gospel to the unreached. It was a great privilege to be part of the Africa panel and share what the Lord is doing in South Sudan.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet and share with many of you in Southern California while I was there.

Suzy sharing IDAT’s Vision for 2022Many of you showed an interest in a short-term mission trip to Tonj in 2022. Here are some dates to pray over:

April/May 2022 – Church dedication, and Chaplain/pastors training.

July/August 2022 – CHE Well Drilling Training, medical outreaches and pastors training.

October/November 2022 – Cataract Outreach, medical outreach and pastors training.

 New Church Building!

Please pray as we continue with the construction of our new church.

One of the challenges we faced that caused a significant delay was our brick machine stopped working. So thankful for MAF who sent us their mechanic to fix it.

The builders use these interlocking bricks which use little cement and no mortar.

Our prayer is to dedicate the church on Good Friday and have our first service on Easter Sunday!

Happy New Year!

As we celebrate the New Year, we thank God for YOU our partners and supporters. It’s because of you we are now going into our 23^rd year of serving in Tonj, South Sudan!! We are so grateful for the way you supported us in prayer and partnered financially with the vision of In Deed and Truth Ministries. 2021 was a challenging year but also a fruitful one! Here’s a recap of how the Lord used us in 2021 and impacted an entire community for the Kingdom of God.

Our ministry has three areas we reach out to the Tonj community: our church plants, our mission hospital, and our community health evangelism program.

In 2021, our Maternal and Pediatric Mission Hospital treated over 44,000 patients! We saw over 9,000 pregnant mothers, an increase of 2,000 since 2020. We delivered 541 babies in a safe environment, which is a growth of 60% from 2020.  We vaccinated thousands of children and cared for 1,715 inpatients that were admitted on our ward. Many of these were premature babies in need of oxygen and an incubator.

Our 24-hour care literally saved hundreds of lives physically but we also poured into each patient spiritually, making sure every patient was prayed for and heard the gospel. Many prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior before going home or being discharged from the ward. Our chaplains pray with them, pray over them, and bless them.

CHE!

Ten years ago the Lord gave us a vision for Community Health Evangelism (CHE) Centers for villages in and around Tonj. By 2016 we had three active CHE centers that were working really well. In 2019 we added five more and 2020, despite the covid and civil unrest, we still managed to establish three new centers, increasing our CHE impact from 3 to 11 village communities. CHE was influencing so many people we had more requests from village chiefs to start CHE in their villages and in 2021 we added another 20 CHE centers with seven more planned for the first quarter of 2022!

We now have 2,530 Community Health Evangelist’s serving as volunteers through 31 CHE centers. They made 37,660 homes visits in 2021, sharing physical health and spiritual lessons. Using solar-powered audio bibles these CHE villages held 427 bible listening group meetings in 2021 with 6,075 attendances and 4,953 decisions for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

This explosion in our CHE villages has led to a hunger for bible teaching and the need for church plants. This new year as we embark on true life change, we start off the year with a spirit of praise!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3

Church Planting!

It is important that we start this New Year by praising God for all the amazing blessings He has given us in 2021 and by faith we praise Him for the blessings we are about to receive in 2022. We are excited to dive into this year, ready to glorify Him. We currently have 21 church plants, with a combined annual attendance of 110,000 in 2021! Of those, 4,261 were new to church.

We are praising Jesus for the 3,959 new believers that received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We started the new year with a mass baptism of all the churches and making the total of baptisms 2,845 in 2021.

Pray for Pastor Mabior and our 25 other pastors. We will be doing monthly pastor training throughout 2022 and if you’re interested in a trip to South Sudan to help with this need, please email us.

Cataract Surgeries!

In Deed and Truth Ministries has been partnering with Tenwek Mission Hospital for more than 10 years to bring cataract surgeries to the people of Tonj. This year Samaritan’s Purse supported Tenwek Eye team to get to the field and covered the expenses of us hosting the team.

We turned our maternity clinic into an operating room and completed almost 400 surgeries in 5 days!!

There were many amazing testimonies from the week but this one really stood out. A spear master was blind and came to the cataract clinic. He briefly heard the gospel while being screened. After he had surgery and the patch was removed, his sight was restored. The spear master then requested to hear the gospel in greater depth. He brought his two brothers with him and Pastor Joseph sat down with them and shared the gospel.

The spear master and his brothers all gave their hearts to God and openly declared they are giving up their previous life. They were jokingly saying “there is no witchcraft that can do surgery on the eyes!”

Soccer Final!

Our 2021 sports outreach ended with the soccer tournament final and an amazing turnout of spectators.

The pastors witnessed thousands of people attending the final match. During the course of the tournament, so many were evangelized at each match by pastors sharing the gospel using tracts and also through the radio broadcasts.

The biggest radio station in Juba called Radio Tamazuj, picked up the story of the tournament and shared it across South Sudan, praising IDAT for their service and care of the Tonj youth!

Congratulations to the winning team ‘Tonj United’. We are so proud of you!

Church Building!

We have so much to be thankful for in 2021 but one area is the rapid growth of our church CC Tonj. We have started the building of the new church and ask you to be in prayer for us to complete it in the dry season (Before June).

‘The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ – HAGGAI 2:9

Happy Christmas!

May your Christmas be peaceful and filled with love, laughter, hope, joy, and the Spirit of the Lord be upon you and your family.

On behalf of our family, the IDAT Board of Directors, our USA volunteers and our Tonj Team, we thank you for all your support and prayers in 2021 and we look forward to our continued partnership in 2022;
Have a Blessed Christmas!

Partnerships in Christ!

Obstetric fistula is a condition that occurs because of lack of access to skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care. In an obstructed labor, the tissues of the woman’s body are compressed, and the blood supply is damaged, while she suffers in the agony of futile contractions for many days. Some women in countries like South Sudan do not survive such an ordeal. Those who do are often left with damage to their bodies, causing urine or faeces to leak uncontrollably. Not only is this physically devastating, but these women can also be socially rejected, divorced and shamed because of their condition. Until now, we have found it close to impossible, as well as financially prohibitive, to find good surgical care for these suffering women.

Praise God that last month, He opened the door for a partnership with a world class fistula repair ministry, called the Barbara May Foundation, who have recently begun work in Juba and are doing incredible work all around Africa. We recently sent 13 women to them in Juba for surgery. Praise God for their successful operations and safe return to Tonj.  Pray God’s blessing over an ongoing partnership that will bring hope to many more Tonj women in the future!.

A beautiful rainbow appeared as the fistula patients left the IDAT compound for Juba. A symbol of the new hope of being healed and His promise to never leave us or forsake us.

Cleft Lip and Cataract!

Nyanchiek said that she was being teased and called names at school because of her cleft lip.  In Deed and Truth Ministries was honored to partner with our friends at Samaritan’s Purse, when they sent a team of medical professionals to Juba to repair cleft lips. The surgery not only transforms the appearance, but it brings hope and healing in other ways. Samaritan’s Purse run a cleft lip program in Juba every year and repair over 100 cleft lips. We sent Nyanchiek along with 10 other patients to receive this life changing surgery and the results were incredible.

Often the deformity is seen as a curse and people spend their lives living as outcasts in their community.

After the surgery Nyanchiek was so happy and said she feels beautiful and that the kids will stop teasing her.

The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8

Every few years IDAT hosts a cataract team from Tenwek Mission Hospital in Kenya. Samaritan’s Purse helps them and us logistically with getting the team and equipment into Tonj and covers the costs of this life changing surgery. Our team in Tonj has been busy registering 500 patients in need of cataract surgery and preparing to receive the visiting team of 16 medical professionals.

Sports Outreach

The youth of Tonj are so excited to take part in this year’s IDAT Sport Outreach. It is going really well, with volleyball, basketball and soccer.

For one whole month our pastors are sharing the gospel at every game and we are already seeing an increase in church attendance. Several people have shared their testimony in church of how the Lord touched their heart through the sports outreach.

• We are still in need of $12,000 to cover the cost of this outreach. Please go to our website if you feel led to help.

Maternal Waiting Home

Imagine being pregnant, last trimester and labor starts. The nearest medical facility is 6 hours walking…. At night!! Do you risk going and giving birth on the road? Do you stay in the village and risk losing your baby and/or your own life if you don’t go and there’s a complication? This is a daily challenge faced by thousands of women in South Sudan. In Deed and Truth Ministries missionary, Dr. Destinee Macleod, suggested five years ago we build a maternal waiting home to give a safe option to pregnant mothers facing these impossible choices. The idea is that any woman close to her due date that lives far away or has a high-risk pregnancy, can relocate with her family to a Maternal Waiting Home (MWH) located next to our mission hospital and deliver her baby safely.

Nyanut lives in a remote village called Ariamduar, very far from Tonj, a whole day walking. This is a village that we have planted a church and CHE center. She learned from IDAT Pastor Santino about the MWH option and decided to come. This was Nyanut’s tenth pregnancy and the previous two had been emergency cesareans, so it would have been extremely dangerous for her to labor in such a remote location. This is the happy couple with their newest (and final!) addition after IDAT arranged for Nyanut’s uncomplicated elective cesarean.

Neither Nyanut or her husband had any faith before they came to IDAT but during their time they attended staff devotions every day and were visited regularly by Pastor Rueben.  When they returned home they expressed their sincere gratitude to IDAT and told us that their lives had been changed and they would be following Jesus from this point onwards.

CHE Update and Testimony

It was an exciting summer witnessing the amazing movement of CHE in the villages as God continues to have favor and multiply. Back in June we shared our desire to plant CHE in 25 communities by the end of the year. Well God continues to do “immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to His power” (Ephesians 3:20), and in September our team planted the 28th CHE center in Tonj! The Lord continues to bring deep transformation to the hearts, minds and bodies of so many through the lessons taught by our 1,200 CHE volunteers each day.

When Angelina was selected by her community to be a CHE committee member she didn’t understand the gospel or how she could have a relationship with God. Each week she has been hearing stories from the bible, and in April this year Calvary Pastor Rueben Yak shared the parable of the sheep and goats found in Matthew 25. Angelina realized that she had to decide who she was going to serve with her life. She decided to follow Jesus, and her life has been totally transformed as a result.  The Gospel message is clear that it is by faith, through grace, that we are reconciled to God.

John 1:12 says,
“All who did receive him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

Also, Daniel Ding, his family lacked enough money to pay high school fees and he lost hope in achieving his dreams for the future. However, after joining the Kuanja CHE team and hearing the parable of the talents, (Matt. 25) he realized that through focus and hard work he could support himself through high school. He started saving the money he made selling fish he caught in wet season, and bricks he made in dry season. Now he’s in his second year of high school and is once again full of hope for the future!

IDAT Hospital Update

The IDAT Hospital continues to treat large number of patients creating an overflow of inpatients on the ward.  During the past couple of months every single bed was taken on the ward with additional patients occupying two sides of the clinic verandah with mattresses on the floor.

We have accommodated almost 40 patients every night with only 26 actual beds. As soon as we discharge one premature baby they’re replaced by another. Despite these challenges we are bringing God’s love and hope every week, like for Baby Laat’s family.

He was born premature in the village and was admitted weighing only 2.6 lbs. Seven weeks later, with his very happy family, he was discharged, healthy and strong, weighing 4.8 lbs! Please keep him in prayer.

Prayer Requests

• For IDAT’s Soccer Tournament which still needs support and is supposed to be launched this month.
• For the patients we registered to return to Tonj in time for the upcoming Samaritans Purse Cleft Lip mission.
• For next month’s cataract surgery outreach to go smoothly.