Medical Clinic, Ministry

Amy’s Blog – Babies

Hello once again from Tonj!

One of my most favorite things here in Tonj is the babies!  I believe Tonj has the absolute cutest babies in the whole world!  They usually have chubby cheeks, bright eyes and puffy hair.  And most of the babies don’t cry when a crazy, white lady (that is me!) comes up to them and talks to them in English baby voice!  The toddlers usually get very afraid.  Their eyes get big and they run to their moms and cry!  The other day Stacie and I were out on our walk and we came to a family that wanted to say Hi to us.  The toddler reached his little hand out to me and I took it and said “Cheebok” (hi, in dinka) and he just started screaming!  The funny thing was, he wouldn’t let go of my hand….he just held on and kept screaming until his mom came to get him.  I felt so bad, but he was so cute!  We see him nearly every day, so he will get used to me sometime.

Please pray for the babies of Tonj.  They are so susceptible to malaria and other diseases.  We see so many children in the clinic every day.  One of my jobs here is to report to the government how many malaria cases of children under 5 we see each week.  This week my total was 38.  Last week the total was 42.  It is heartbreaking to see a small child suffering with a high fever and laboring to breathe in 90 degree weather….and the hot season is still around the corner.

May God richly bless you as you lift these precious lives before Him.

Amy Yordt

Ministry, Pastor Training

Joshua Blog

It’s day twenty one for me today. It doesn’t feel like three weeks have already past but the calendar tells me otherwise.  I couldn’t imagine being back home working on my boss’ farm right now.  This is where I want to be, regardless of the work it takes to be here.  This isn’t a real easy life but it is rewarding.

Today we will be starting to record the New Testament in Dinka! It is so exciting! We have these little audio players with a small solar panel on the back so batteries are not required. They fit in the palm of your hand and can be distributed to the community. Every day we will have a pastor read from their Dinka Bible for two hours in the afternoon while I record it on my Mac. Then, later, we will edit out any mistakes and send it to the audio player.  This is a great opportunity to get the Message out to more people. I have four pastors who are going to help. Today we will have a pastor reading from Matthew. Tomorrow, Mark. Two days, Luke. Friday, John. Then we start over on Monday. Each pastor wants to read his own book. That’s a great idea so that you don’t have multiple voices reading the same book.  But I am pretty stoked to see what happens with this project.

Your prayers are needed and are a fragrant aroma to God.

Joshua

Kuj Family, Ministry

Sabet Leaves for USA!

It’s always strange and tough when Daddy leaves for a time. Today alone we have experienced several scorpions even though we go months without seeing any!! The scorpion crusher leaves and out they all come!

Sabet will be in USA for 5 weeks sharing the vision and calling the Lord has given our family and our ministry. We pray many will be encouraged, blessed, challenged and used by the Lord to further the kingdom work here in Sudan.

Please pray for the prayer walk, a fundraising event to be held on October 23rd. Pray the Lord’s favor upon it and guidance as Sabet’s leads us to be in prayer over Sudan’s future. Go to our website for more information and to get involved. www.indeedandtruth.org.

Kuj Family

My Bathroom!

3 Comments

I have lived in Tonj for over 10 years and this month I have been blessed with a ‘flushing’ toilet!! And a shower and a bath tub!! With 17 full-time people living in the compound, when we have teams, the kids and I sometimes can’t get into the shower. So we made the decision to convert the storeroom attached to our bedroom, into a bathroom. No more taking baths with our swimsuits on in the kiddie pool in the garden with everyone watching us. No more getting outside to the communul bathroom and then realizing you’ve forgotten your soap! No more traipsing to spend a penny in the middle of the night. It’s so wonderful, a real bathroom.

Mission Trips

A New Session

Pastors are back! Isn’t it exciting? I arrived in Tonj thirteen days ago. I taught for two days, then the pastors went home for a week. They were scheduled to go home later but since I arrived during the teaching, Sabet decided it would be best for them to go home right after I arrived in order to let me prepare a bit. Now that I have had a week to prepare, I am excited they are back! There were nine of them in class today but more will be arriving over the next couple days. We are studying Romans and Sabet is teaching on 1 Corinthians. After I finish Romans we will begin on 2 Corinthians.

I teach for about three hours a day, minus a break at 10:20. It is a lot of teaching, but it is going well. We have quite a bit of discussion, which I appreciate, and they are very involved. It makes me so happy when I ask them a difficult question and they are able to answer it well. It is even better when they refer to other passages of scripture to back up what they said. It shows me where they are in their learning and it also shows that they are paying attention to the teachings. We went over some deep stuff today in Romans 6-8 and tomorrow will be just as deep, but they are getting it! They understand! When I ask them questions, they are able to answer. My only hope is that they apply what they learn. There are cultural misguidings that need refuted in order for them to wholly serve and obey God. If they apply what they are learning in these classes, they will be counter-cultural. That is a lot to ask, but it is what Jesus told us to do. Don’t get me wrong. They don’t need to conform to Western culture. I don’t want that at all. They still need to relate to their congregations. What I am saying is that there are practices within their culture that are sinful. These things need to be seen as sinful and the pastors need to take personal stands against them. It is a big step to go against these things, but if they truly desire to serve God in their villages, they can do it. Their love for God can overcome any boundary. He can make them stand.

So, I am excited about this new six week session, but I need a lot of prayer because six weeks is ninety hours of teaching! Yikes! God promised He would help me to accomplish this task so I have faith in that, but there is still something mysterious about prayer that I can’t understand yet I know it is vital. So, please pray as I teach for twenty-eight more days before the next break. Also pray for the pastors. Pray that they hear these things from God and APPLY them to their own lives and not just preach them.

Faithfully, Joshua

News From The Field