Merry Christmas from the Toposa Team!

I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so I am sharing them all!

And just because this one was fabulous...

Merry Christmas from the South Sudan Journeygirls!

decked the "halls".

We decked our "halls" this past weekend.  Here's to chains of thanksgiving, each one with a written inscription of something someone from back home or here on the compound is thankful for!  They make delightful Christmas decorations!  (Thanks Mom!!!)  Especially because they match the strange colors of our kitchen!

On another note, our solar power has been finicky due to...the sun.  That's right!  The sun moves positions (or rather the earth tilts during the changing season).  Therefore, there were more trees blocking the solar panels and decreasing the amount of power coming in and being retained.  Thankfully there was a man from the solar company in Juba that was here in town working on something else, and he stopped by the compound and checked out our system.  He also told us the best way to fix it.

Enter....Loparinga (aka Shannon) + chainsaw.  He shimmied up trees and chopped off three giant branches, correctly calculating the exact place they'd fall on the ground.  The branches missed the panels, missed the fence, and missed the kitchen!  Since then, we have had an increase in sunlight hitting the panels in the afternoon, and more power, enough to last through the night!!!

Hadn't seen 23V in weeks!

And it added to our Christmas decorations!  That "tree" you see?  A very thorny limb from a nyaronyit (or desert date) tree!

Praise the Lord.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Come Lord Jesus, come.

because of Lottie Moon.

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Some of you may completely understand what I mean by this.
Some of you may only remember hearing it somewhere.
Some of you may have no clue what it is.

Don't worry!  To be quite honest, I had no idea what it was either until a year ago when I began the journeyman process.  But now I do, and I praise the Lord for the LMCO!!!

Lottie Moon was a single female missionary to China for 39 years.  She went to China in 1873.  While there, she wrote many letters home pleading with people in churches back home to come and serve God alongside her in China or to send money so that other missionaries could go to reach the many in China who had not heard of Jesus Christ.  A group of Southern Baptist women, by the year 1888, had gathered together and raised over $3000 for missions in China.

Eventually, the annual offering taken up around Christmas time in Southern Baptist churches was named after this amazing woman of God.  It is called the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.  Most churches belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention collect this offering this time of year.

So nowadays, where does the money go?  Well... let me show you...

About 57% of the money that goes to International Mission Board missionaries, like me, is raised from the LMCO!

Right now, there are currently 4,952 IMB missionaries all over the world.
Right now, there are currently 6,750 unreached people groups, meaning less than 2% are evangelical Christians.
Right now, there are currently 3,684 unengaged, unreached people groups, those where there is no church.  Period.

I don't know if your church has this offering or not, but please take time this Christmas to think about Lottie Moon and her passion for those people who have not yet heard the Truth, those who have no idea who "The Reason for the Season" is or even what that phrase means.  If you struggle, because you may not see the end result of money you might be feeling led to give, think about me.  I would not be able to take people to the clinic without the car Lottie paid for.  I could not encourage to a language helper to meet me to translate without the bike Lottie paid for.  I would not ever have cold food without the refrigerator and solar power that Lottie paid for.  I would not even be here at all without the money given to SBC churches for the LMCO and at other times by people like...you.  Thank you!

And, I thank Lottie.

"How many there are ... who imagine that because Jesus paid it all, they need pay nothing, forgetting that the prime object of their salvation was that they should follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back a lost world to God ... Why should we not ... instead of the paltry offerings we make, do something that will prove that we are really in earnest in claiming to be followers of him who, though he was rich, for our sake became poor?"

- Lottie Moon

Tungchow, China

Sept. 15, 1887

He heals!

This afternoon, Carrie and I returned to the clinic and found Lotaa (or Loataar) and her family.  Lotaa is better!!!  She is still on malaria medicine for now, but the doctors okayed her return to her village.  Once she got in the car, she did not stop smiling.  We had to stop as we left the clinic area, because she wanted to come sit up front with Carrie and I.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!  HE HEALS!!!

too late.

Nyamuria's parents were too late.

The precious anemic girl, Nyamuria, from the clinic yesterday passed away around 8:00pm.  Even if she had made it the hospital to get blood, it still would have been too late.

Please pray for the children and the adults who get sick and are taken first to the witchdoctor.  They remain in their sickness, getting worse and worse.  Their families only resort to taking the sick person to the clinic when it is already too late.  Please pray that instead people would begin to trust in God's power when someone is sick.  That turning to Him first would be their response.  And then, that they would see how God has provided medicine and doctors in this area to help them as well.

Thank you.

there was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

I am not old,
But it was I.

I was talking in the car ride home from another crazy day in Sudan, and a bug flew into my mouth nearly choking me.  I spat.  Instead of coming up and out?  It went down and in.  Blegh.  Nastiness.

Anyway...guess what happened today?  If you guessed changed plans, you are correct!!!

Today is Tuesday, which means that we have the women's gathering to hear God's Word on the compound in the afternoon around 3:00pm.  I finished school early today, the subjects went fast, and ate lunch around 12:30pm.

Carrie then came over to remind me that we needed to pick our translator up in Lomeyen (I saw a sign today--this is actually how it is spelled) which is about a 30 minute drive away.  And we had wanted to ask her some language questions before the women came.

So Carrie and I left for Lomeyen.  We found Rebecca where she said she would be!  When we got back to the compound, she helped to translate some very useful sentences such as...

Tochoito iporonokinete nyagari ikwamakin iyong totan.
Take care, don't chase the car.  You will fall and die.

Ayakae ayong akisimar Felicie.
I have been teaching Davis.

Nyacamitai ngitunga lukwalak, ikarabaar ngakajen ka nyagari na nyichuri elote.
We don't want many people, it will destroy the feet of the car (tires) and it won't go.

Acamit ayong ngamadarai kotere nyiyekito ngakongyen kang ejok.
I want spectacles because my eyes do not see properly.
(this last one's because they always want to take my glasses so they can wear them for their ngakidamdams, or celebrations--many people wear sunglasses as decoration for these jump fests)

When it came time for the women to come, only three showed up.  Odd, because before picking up Rebecca, we reminded two villages about coming at 3:00pm.  We soon found out why.

A little girl, maybe five years old, was having seizures and convulsions at the clinic that is right by our compound.  They do not have emergency medicine at this clinic, so they needed to get the girl quickly to the clinic in Naskal (out toward Lomeyen but not quite as far).  There are no cars to be used by the clinic so they came to us.

We made the quick decision to have the women's gathering on Thursday this week, and Carrie and I took the car and drove to the clinic.  We picked up precious Lotaa and drove to Naskal.  I held her head the whole bumpy and muddy way, as she was spitting up a lot and needed to have her head kept sideways.  Both Carrie and I prayed aloud in the car for her healing and for God's power to be shown.

We got her there, and they immediately gave her a relaxant for the seizures and began treating her for malaria.  She did calm down some, taking time in between seizures to rest and sleep.  After we left, we encountered her mother walking to Naskal.  She was not in the village when all this happens, but was in town.  I have never seen emotion like hers from a Toposa before.  She was panicking and so afraid for her daughter.  Please take time to pray for little Lotaa.  For complete healing.  For no permanent brain damage.  For peace for her mother, Lokuru.  For God to demonstrate His power and to receive glory in the midst of all of this.  Thank you.

There was another little girl in the clinic with serious anemia.  Her name is Nyamuria.  She has been sick for three days, but her parents sought help from the witch doctor first.  She had fresh scars on her chest from where they cut her to let evil out in her blood.  She looked like she was in so much pain.  Please pray for Nyamuria as well.  For complete healing and an end to the pain.  For transport to the hospital in town as soon as possible for a blood transfusion.  For God to be glorified.

On the way home from this trip was when that bug decided it wanted to end its life by flying straight into my esophagus.  Oh well.  More protein, right?

a night to remember.

Church in Kop on Sunday night was a night to remember.

Stood under a beautiful night sky, one perforated by a half moon and stars, and even at one moment a shooting star, for almost an hour with over fifty people singing worship songs to God in Toposa.

And then...

A drunk young man stumbled into the circle.
He was chased away.

And then he came back, this time high kicking left and right.
He was chased away, after scaring away people from the group.

Then, he came back again and fell on the ground, so drunk.
For all practical purposes, he was passed out.  People scattering.
Finally, several men came and toted him off to his village.

The leader, Joseph, just kept preaching away, once the crowd sat and settled down again.  He talked about Jesus as the Door and explained miracles that Jesus performed (those that are made visual to the Toposa through the "Jesus" film).  He ended with a prayer, and all the people said, "Amen!"

Not your typical church service, although on several other occasions drunkenness has played its hand in interrupting and disrupting worship time.

What disrupts my worship?  What things cause me to be distracted in church?  What about you? You may not have a VERY drunk man stumble into the middle of your church and fall on people.  But what other things pull you away from listening intently to God's Word?  Those questions threw themselves into my head when Mr. Drunk Man threw himself into the church crowd.

The best part?
The message was still proclaimed.  And heard.
And His Word never returns void.  Never.

And THAT, my friends, is the real reason it was a night to remember.

Some pictures of other things I am remembering...

 Kindle by candle.  Our solar power had been strange.  Not holding enough charge.  We think we have finally found how to adjust certain things to make sure we have lights at night!  This means turning the fridge on around 9 and off by 5, but it seems to be working well so far.  Please pray for His sufficient grace as we go sometimes without power.  After all, it is but a light and momentary trouble.  :)

 Ngakidamdam time!  A celebration, this time by the nyapeses (or young unmarried girls), after a bull slaughtering (for food).  Consists of clapping and singing in a circle, while a three to five girls jump around in the middle.  They all take turns jumping in and leading the singing.

 Mindy and I were in attendance at this one!  

 So was Carrie.  In a crowd of Toposa greeting her!

 A little girl with bottlecaps on her head.  Either they were decoration on her nyakou, or some other girl had them formerly tied to her calves (to jingle like bells as she jumped) but grew tired of them and gave them to this little girl to hold on her head.

 The bright green skirts are celebration attire.  They are goat skins with bright beads sewn into them!

Away in a manger...bought in a Zambian market now sitting in a tukel in South Sudan...a Savior was born!!!