Love Covers Outreach

For our last week in Sudan we were able to bless a school with FRM’s signature school outreach called Love Covers. Lover Covers is a 3 day VBS at a local school. We scouted out schools in the bush looking for one that had the most need and fit other criteria. We found Angel Primary school in the remote village of Mugali. Angel primary had about 50 kids and 3 teachers with only 1 teacher showing up regularly, and had grades P1-P4 (1^st grade-4^th grade). The school has one mud hut which is the teachers’ office and the children sit under trees on broken benches and tires. As the sun moves throughout the day the students move from tree to tree seeking the shade. In the few weeks prior to the outreach FRM registers the children and then makes random drop-ins at the school to check attendance.

             Me & my translator Godfrey

This is to encourage the children to attend school regularly to get an education and not just show up the day of the outreach to receive gifts. On the day of the outreach if a child is in attendance but isn’t on the registry they do not receive a backpack or school supplies because most likely they found out from a friend that Americans were in town giving out things.

During the 3 days I taught P-4 different stories from the Bible that showed the kids that God is our provider. The lessons were broken up with crafts, recess, lunch, and dramas.

Gifti, me, Bosco doing a drama

       I had the prestigious role of playing Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue

                                                     

 In Christina’s class she had a little boy that asked for prayer because both of his parents just died. He was crying uncontrollably and the other kids in her class cried along with him and they all prayed for him. These kids face challenges at young ages that most of us will never face.

                This is the boy who lost his parents

The last day of Lover Covers was the big day! All the classes gathered together and Wes did a short teaching and shared the Gospel. The kids then performed songs and dances for us, and thanked us for being there.

                Wes sharing the Gospel                                                 Girls performing a dance for us


We closed out the day with distributing backpacks stuffed full of notebooks, pencils, erasers, a blanket and mosquito net. We also gave the children new school uniforms and bright red Love Covers t-shirts. I’ve never seen kids get so excited for paper and pencils!


                                                          Godfrey giving out backpacks

Immediately they all put on their new t-shirts and had big smiles on their faces. I just imagine how excited they will be come Monday morning to put on their new uniform and show up to school with a backpack and supplies.

They went from this....                                                         ...to this

       From this backpack....                                                             ...to this backpack

                        



As we were preparing to leave we treated each kid with a soda and then we waved good-bye.

 

                                                      My bodyguard-he's a commando!!!

                                                          Mine & Godfrey's class P-4

                                                                    1 Peter 4:8

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."

Juba Women's Conference - #2

“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:36-38

I was praying throughout the day that I would be moved with compassion for the women we’ve been teaching the past 2 days. Before we started our sessions we handed out beaded bracelets to the ladies to remind them of our teaching (We taught the book of 1 Peter-Living Hope). Immediately the women started pushing each other and crowding around us making sure they got a bracelet; some women even came up twice trying to get more than one. I couldn’t help but get frustrated with them. Sometimes the African mentality of survival gets to me. I hate that they have so little therefore when anything is given to them they turn greedy. But more than hating their mentality, I hate that it causes me to withhold love from them. A younger girl named Elizabeth started to talk to me and asked me to take her back to America with me. I told her I couldn’t and she then asked if she could ride back to Kampala with us or for me to give her money. I told her no and that I didn’t come here to give her money but to teach her the Word of God and if she wanted to go to Kampala she needed to pray and ask God to provide a way for her. These past 2 days I was so bothered that some of these women only came to the church to get something from the Americans. I felt like they just saw me as a dollar sign. Many times I wanted to grab my things and walk out of the church because I was appalled at how the women were treating each other and being disruptive during the teachings and hounding us for bracelets. At times they were rude, greedy, unappreciative, and would be talking during the middle of a teaching.

But then I looked out on the crowd saw many faces that were so tuned in to the teaching. You could tell they were hungry for the Word, they were hungry to know God but they just didn’t know how. They literally did not know that God would give them another chance at forgiveness and salvation. They didn’t know that God could remove them from the sins of drunkenness or adultery. They are a scattered sheep with no shepherd.

I spent most of my teaching trying to ingrain in their minds that Jesus is the answer for them, that He forgives their sins, and that He has a purpose for their life no matter what they’ve done in the past, that He has not forgotten about them, and that their value shouldn’t be placed on material things but on their relationship with Christ. Most started to get it and I prayed for them to accept Jesus or to repent from their sins. As we returned today to finish up you could see a slight change in them. They seemed a little hopeful. We shared the Gospel with them again and Christina taught about trials, Anna-Marie about the foundations of the Bible, and Vicky finished up with how to be a godly wife. As women would ask for prayer, share a testimony, or ask a question about marriage, you’d hear stories that they have been beaten by husbands, committed adultery, were drunkards, and so on. They asked questions like “What do I do if my husband wants to have multiple wives or if a man wants me to be one of his many wives?” “Can I divorce my husband if he beats me?” These women truly want to please God they are just lost on how to do it. I started to have more compassion for them. That young girl Elizabeth that wanted to come to America with me, she is 16 yrs old and is beaten by her mother who is a drunkard. Her dad is gone, one sibling lives in Uganda, the other here in Juba but won’t take her in even though she is beat everyday by the mother. She speaks good English and I asked where she learned it. She said she went to school in Kenya for 10 yrs while they were escaping the war in Sudan. Since she has been back in Sudan she no longer goes to school because there is no money for school fees. Her mom is a soldier in the SLPA and hasn’t received pay for months, even so, it probably would have been spent on alcohol. So now she just stays at home and cleans and cooks all day. How do you have hope with a life like that? Only through Jesus. As I was talking to her I felt terrible that I somewhat shunned her the day before. She was trying to escape a harmful situation. She was desperate. If I was in her shoes I probably would have approached myself as well. She saw us as her one chance to escape a life without hope. I came to Juba to pour out the love of Christ with these women and I failed. I let my pride and flesh get the better of me. That just shows me how much I need Jesus in my life. It’s impossible for me to love all people in my own strength but my continual prayer is that God will enable me to have compassion and love for everyone through His strength, even those that just want something from me. During the conference I just happened to be reading in Luke and I came to chapter 6. I know the Lord was speaking to me through this passage. It’s says in chapter 6:27, 30- But I say to you who hear; Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away from your goods do not ask them back. I felt like God was telling me that I needed to love these women even if they were spitefully using me and ungratefully taking things from me. So as I fail forward in my walk with the Lord I’m trying to be resilient by getting up off the ground, dusting myself off and trying to love again.

As we ate lunch and said our goodbyes I hugged young Elizabeth goodbye. As I looked into her eyes I realized that I will probably never see her again, at least on this side of eternity. I waved goodbye to all the women and hoped that they have come to know God a little bit more today and that they would continue to hold on to Him for hope. I imagine it will be quite hard for them especially in the situations that they deal with daily, but I won’t lose faith in the power of God.

Overall, I was blessed by this conference. The ladies genuinely seemed to want a strong relationship with the Lord. As we were driving back to the hotel and were reflecting on the day, Vicky made the statement that it was such a blessing to teach them and yet it was no sacrifice for us at all.. The sacrifice belonged to the women. They had to leave their families behind the entire day, pay for transport, and sit on hard uncomfortable rocks all day in the 105 degree heat. As I think about that I see how great our God is. He is so worthy to make sacrifices for, yet sometimes I forget that.

Juba, Sudan

Hotel room

So we are here in Juba (Capital of the South Sudan) for the week and we finished our first conference yesterday. Juba is very hot, dusty, dirty and very expensive; apparently the heavy presence of the UN and other dignitaries has driven up the costs of everything. The rooms of the hotel we’re staying in are literally large tool sheds and we have A/C in our rooms! In Nimule, every night I stand under the shower with my night clothes on and go to bed soaking wet because it’s so hot and we have no electricity for a fan. Instead of waking up every night sweating I’ve been waking up freezing!



Restaurant at our hotel

Juba isn’t the Ends of the Earth but you can see it from where we are.

The culture here is much different from the culture in Nimule so it took me a little while to adjust to that while I was teaching. There were so many distractions throughout the entire day of teaching and the translators were struggling with proper translation. I was growing very frustrated but I decided to find the Lord in the situation.
Guess what? I found Him! As I was sitting in the dirt in 100+ degree weather, sweat dripping down me, drinking warm bottled water, I kept hearing in my head, "it's not about you and you need to die to yourself!" I was starting to grow resentful and prideful. We left Nimule, where I would much rather be, and came all the way out here to teach them the Word of God and they didn’t seem to be thankful for that. As if I was entitled to some sort of grand thanksgiving. I was frustrated that the ladies weren’t listening to the teaching and get angry that they don’t understand how precious the Bible is.

Then I felt the Lord was telling me that He brought us to Juba to teach His Word and to love on the women...that’s it. I can not control the reaction of the people all I can do is control my reaction towards them and my reaction should always be in love. As long as I’m faithful to do that I know He will be pleased. I have to trust that God's Word doesn't return void and if only one lady learned something thats enough for God. This church is so lacking in spiritual maturity and they desperately need to be grounded in the Word but as usual the laborers are few so they continue on being deceived.

Today is our day off and tonight we are having dinner with the Commanding General of the SPLA (the South Sudanese Army)…how cool is that?! The next 2 days we’re holding another conference at the Army barracks here in Juba. Please pray for us. Pray that the hearts of the people will be softened to God and that they would be hungry to learn the Bible. God Bless!!!

International Women's Day

This past Saturday we held a women’s conference to celebrate International Women’s Day. The women that we’ve been teaching and working with on the crafts actually had their own chance at teaching the flock.

Doing a skit about witch craft!

I’m so blessed to see the fruit of Vicky’s years of training/teaching these women being lived out.

The day was filled with teachings on how to be a godly woman, dramas, music, dancing and eating.

Washing up for lunch

I spent most of the day helping the chaplains with the children, which was exhausting. Trying to keep young children entertained and from hitting each other for 7 hrs in one building, is quite difficult!

 But I had some really sweet moments with them. We taught about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, played games, did crafts, sang and danced all day long!

Enjoying lunch

 

It was a great day on the compound. You could feel the love of Christ all over the place! As our time here in Sudan is coming to an end I’m relishing every moment and growing sad with the thought of leaving. It’s been the best part of my time here in Africa so far.

By the way this is the remainder of lunch!