hold on!

In America, in the car you’d say: “Buckle your seatbelt!”

In South Sudan, in the back of the truck we say: “Hold onto the rail!”

In other words, get ready for a whirlwind of an update…

We finished sharing the Story Cloth out in the Lomeyin area, and at the end, many stood to say they wanted to follow Jesus!!!  Praise the Lord!  Some people even burned their witchcraft bracelets (first pic)!  I trust Him with their hearts; please pray for fruit of His Holy Spirit in this village.

Mindy’s mom and friends came for a visit this past week.  It was great having them join us for a week of ministry.  It started out with church in Cumakori, where it rained on us the entire time!  Adults and children came and stayed and listened to both stories of “The Good Shepherd” and “The Prodigal Son.”

After we finished praying, we ventured over, still in the rain, to the adjoining village where a large group of women sat next to the grave of a man who died three days prior.  The previous Sunday we prayed for this man, so we went to talk to and pray for comfort for the women of his family.  The women sat beside the grave with their hair all combed out in mourning.  Beside the group was a freshly slaughtered goat, with its entrails beside it—an offering of some sort for blessing of this man’s family or something about him coming back to life.  Not too sure about that one.

Another thing we did with our visitors was show the “Jesus” film in the Lomeyin area one night (where we recently finished the Story Cloth).  It was the smoothest showing ever!  Many people watched it, most stayed awake the whole time, and I think they understood it (especially because we had told many stories about Jesus the week before).

We did our normal daily teaching in villages, the AIDS story where Mindy tells it and I get to be a man-eating lion and the Gospel too!  One day the women of a village told us they were busy building a house and asked if we could come the next day.  We went over to greet them all, were invited to eat some sorghum and mula (kinda tasted like cornbread dressing and gravy! Not too shabby!), and jumped right in!

We also spent some time playing games with some kids hanging around at the gate.  The games are different than those at home, but they are proof they kids play games everywhere!

On another note…Davis just finished his big science project on the nervous system with help from his interviewee, Mrs. Rachel Zamzow.  He presented it to the team at team dinner, and he got a 105!!!!  Great job, Davis!  (And thank you tons, Rachel!  We all learned things!)  It was good that project ended the third nine weeks with his project, since report cards were also given at dinner.  Walker was thrilled that he received a superstar student award for knowing his letters and numbers and for being helpful, kind, respectful, smart, and silly!

And then…RAIN.

Rainy season is here folks.  It rained all night and then all day this past Tuesday/Wednesday.  This was great for Toposaland, but not so great when you consider Mindy and I (and visitors) were leaving in two days for Nairobi.  Equipped with only a satellite phone with battery declining (no battery because no sun and no internet because the Lewis family left the compound), Mindy and I had to decide when to leave based on the amount of rain here and in the mountains and on the road to Loki, Kenya where we would be driving soon.  With the help from Shannon on the phone and Edwin (our guard) in person, we decided to leave a day early in the very early morning in hopes of making it to the road before the river came (or flowed for the first time since November because of rain in the mountains).

We left without our taxi, which means that Garrett, Mindy’s childhood friend who came, and I rode to Loki from the compound in the back of the truck.  Hence the title phrase that driver Mindy shouted whenever she was headed over a ginormous bump or into unchartered giant puddles:  “Hold on!”  This was quickly followed by: “Are you guys okay back there?”  Great fun.  Yes, I have some sick nasty/totally sweet bruises.  But at least now I can say I’ve done it!

We made our flight from Loki to Nairobi the next morning, praise the Lord!  We would have missed it if we had left when we had originally planned.  I still, constantly, have to remind myself that God is sovereign and in control, and that His plan always prevails.  Even when our plans go caput, it means He has something else already laid out for us.