camel crossings.

You laugh, but…

We drove to Loki this past week to pick up the Nehemiah Team of seven college guys who are spending the summer in Toposaland. Here they are with their two translators at the compound:

On the day before they arrived, the whole Toposa team, including Jonathon and Holly Lesley who are living in Loki, drove to Lodwar, Kenya for the day.  There we got gas bottles for our stove/oven!  While grocery shopping, we also found some yogurt! 

Of course, a trip without getting stuck in the mud would not be complete.  The truck was high-centered (where the wheels are not touching the ground) in the mud in Loki the day the Nehemiah Team arrived and it took not only Shannon’s car, but also Jonathon’s car, to get us out from these ruts!

Davis joined the world of double digits on June 5^th, and he really enjoyed the gift Mindy and I gave him…a real US Army survival kit.  He carried the book with him everywhere, even in Loki!

then came the fam.

My family came to visit for a week!!!  It was awesome.  Such an encouraging, fun, crazy, restful, uplifting, special week!  They just jumped into whatever Mindy and I were doing, and they helped out in ways I can't even count.

 Christian, Charlotte, Colin, and me in the back of the truck headed to share stories from God's Word with a group of men under a tree.

 Lots of playing Nertz and Monopoly Deal--I lost a whole lot.  But it was still fun!!!

 After church on Sunday morning.  Mom taught about the bleeding woman whom Jesus healed.  It was a perfect story for Toposa culture.  The woman had been to every witchdoctor and friend, all of which could not heal her.  Until she touched Jesus.  And she knew He alone had that kind of power.  Later, my brother, Colin, taught on the parable of the sower at the tree by the clinic for church on Sunday night.

During a visit to the village nearest the compound 

 Mom with some of my dear friends

Taking the fam out to eat at the one and only "restaurant" in town called Junction Inn

Mom helping carry sodas--it was weird to have people help Mindy and I carry things or unload things or get fires going for us.  It is against Toposa culture for men to help the women, so we do a lot on our own around here.  It was nice having help for a week!

The siblings on my porch in South Sudan!!!

Something that made the week extra interesting was that our gas bottle for our stove/oven was very low, which means that we cooked most of our meals for 7 people for one week all on this charcoal jiko!

Woohoo.  Colin is skilled in starting charcoal fires, so he was a big help for the many fires we started this past week.  Mom and Char helped with making tortillas from scratch twice!  And Dad and Christian, well, they kept us laughing during it all!!!

Dad and Mom with Charles, our translator--so great to have him help us speak God's Word and share AIDS stories with the Toposa people!

 Mom, Mindy, Colin, Me, Christian, Walker, Charlotte, and Dad

And...silly picture!

So glad she's here with me.  There is no one better.

There are so many other pictures and fun things we did, but I thought this was enough for a good-sized blog post.  Thanks to all of you who were praying for their trip!

baptisms!

Yesterday, we got the chance to return to Najie (in Lomeyin) and watch as new believers from our storying group were baptized!  Men and women laid down in the shallow water, and Joseph, a believer from another area and one of Shannon’s leaders, baptized them!

The yellow thing on his head?  A child training toilet.

Afterward, Shannon and Joseph talked about what it means to follow Christ, we sang some songs (including “Acamit Ayong Kuwapa Yesu” or “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”), and then Shannon gave a Proclaimer to one of the men who was baptized so they can start listening to God's Word in their village!

Please pray for these new believers in Najie.  Ask God to give them more of a hunger for His Word and that they would grow in their knowledge of Him.  Pray also that they would be a light to others in their village, and pray for boldness to stand against any persecution.  PRAISE THE LORD!!!

blanching.

One thing that on the Nairobi to-do list is blanching.

Blanching is the method of preparing vegetables to be frozen and then later cooked. 

Steps to Blanch a Vegetable:

1) Cut up the vegetable.

2) Wash it in KMnO₄ (or Potassium Permanganate) for 10 minutes.

3) Boil water.

4) Place cleaned cut vegetable in boiling water for only about 1 minute (for softer veggies like greens) or 2-3 minutes (for harder veggies like squash).

5) Remove vegetable pieces from boiling water, and place them in a caulinder. 

6) Pour cold water over all the pieces to stop the cooking process.

7) Place pieces in an open Ziploc bag.

8) Let veggie pieces air out for several hours.

9) Place bag in freezer!

10) When it is fully frozen, it is now ready to be thawed and cooked a little more whenever you so desire!

Here’s me blanching!

Back to South Sudan in the early morning...please pray for us as we head back home, that we can cross the river and make it back to the compound tomorrow.  And if not, pray for patience for us!  Thanks!

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.

God is doing something.

In a village this past week, we finished sharing the gospel and asked the people if they had any prayer requests.  Immediately, they shared how they know God is doing something since we started coming to their village the previous week.  We had prayed for rain then, to come and help the gardens grow and provide food for all the people, and that morning gray clouds hovered and sprinkled over this area.  They said we prayed for rain and believed that God was bringing clouds.

On another note, Easter morning here in South Sudan looked a lot different from Easter in America.  I barely remembered Easter was coming until last week.  No bunnies or colored eggs on store window fronts (there can’t be when there are no store window fronts to begin with!).  No loud “Hosanna” melodies or clashes of cymbals.  No big crowded room of joyful people on Sunday morning. 

Just us.  Under a tree with about ten women and a whole bunch of kids.  Mindy shared the gospel.  “Just like the messenger Isaiah said, 'God rose Jesus from the dead and brought Him back to life.'”

Back to life.  Living.  Not dead.  Alive.  Breathing.  Real.  Here.

Jesus is Conqueror Over Death.  Overcomer of the Curse.  Defeater of Condemnation for all.  Jesus is The Resurrection and The Life.  And he who believes in Him will live and never die!  (John 11:25-26)

Jesus wants all men to come and know Him.  And as His servant, I do as well.

Because He is not a dead prophet I honor.  Because He is not a dead philanthropist and aid worker I respect.  He is the Living God that I live to glorify.

Because He lives, He is always doing something.

what is your bull?

Driving home with three girls and a baby crammed in the passenger seat with a load of grass and firewood in the back of the truck, I stopped to take a picture.

The villages around the compound had a celebration last week that lasted a few days.  They were celebrating, because a man from another village brought his bull to be slaughtered for eating.  The head of said bull?  In the above picture.

It is high up in the tree, which means someone had to climb the tree to place it there.  This is not a feat too daring for the Toposa.  Shimmying up a tree for them is like using a fork to eat for us…becomes second nature.

Looking up at the bull, which, by the way, I found very creepy hanging up there with those strings of cow hide blowing in the wind, I thought about what this means.  To Toposa, the bull is the most important thing.  Cows run the show in Toposaland. 

They take the top spot in the lives of men.  They are the basis for social standings.  They are more important to Toposa men than wives, children, goats, money, gardens, or food.  Daughters are wonderful to have, only because they will eventually get married and bring more cows as a dowry to their fathers.  For a bull, a man will kill those who dare to attempt to steal it.  They are life and death to the Toposa.  They are providers of wealth and status, milk and meat.

As we left the hanging head, I thought about my own life.  What is my bull?  What do I hang on the trees on the road of my life?  How many times have I climbed up and hung an A+ in the top of a tree?  What about praise from others?  Or my schedule or my plans or my dreams?  And myself?  Have I even climbed up to post myself up for all to see, hoping that people look to me and think ‘wow’?

Thinking about these things made my sick, just like looking at that head in the tree.

What are these things?  Dead. Lifeless. Temporary. Nothing.  Something blown by the wind.

Like the head of a bull.

The only thing that should cause me to drop everything and look up is the face of God.  And as His child and follower, I should climb, with everything I have, to point to the One who hung on a tree for every person, black and white, American and Toposa, man, woman, and child.

When you look at the picture of the bull’s head, ask yourself:  “What is my bull?”

And then run as fast as you can, and tear it down.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 

‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”   

Galatians 3:13

Pray that one day the Toposa will no longer hold cows as their greatest treasure.  

Pray that their celebrations will take place to instead bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.