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!

FRM Compound-Nimule, Sudan



FRM Chaplain Corps Training Center



FRM Compound

 

Church Sanctuary & women's teaching building





Our living quarters



 2011 Chaplains in training

2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17-Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

We’ve been interviewing the chaplains for a project to raise support & we’ve been hearing their testimonies of how they became born again and came to the chaplaincy program. I gotta say that I’ve heard some crazy testimonies before but nothing like these guys. One guy in particular is a 22 yr old guy named Robert. Robert was raised as a Muslim & at a young age he wanted to be a soldier in the SPLA (Sudanese People’s Liberation Army). He joined as soon as he could and became a notorious killer. His father was killed when he was young and that caused him to turn towards violence. He wanted to be invincible with a lot of power so someone suggested he go see a witch doctor. The witch doctor cut him open on his thigh and both arms to insert some kind of witch craft charm. All he had to do was tap on the places of the charms and he says he would become so powerful and could kill anyone. He spent a few years as a commander in the SPLA and was well know for his violent side. He’s killed many many people including children. One day when he was at the army barracks and a FRM chaplain stopped by. The chaplain was told of Robert’s reputation so the chaplain walked over to him and shared Jesus with him. At first Robert just laughed at the chaplain but he didn’t give up on Robert. To make a long story short, after having several dreams of Jesus calling out to him, Robert finally accepted Christ and 4 days later joined the chaplaincy program. Robert had 2 of the 3 witch craft charms removed from him but because he wasn’t quite sure if this “Jesus thing” was trustworthy he wanted to keep one just in case one of the chaplains turned on him; he would be able to kill them. For the first few months he was struggling spiritually and wasn’t sure why. Every time the chaplains prayed “in the name of Jesus” his body would start to shake. He realized that because he still had the witch craft charm on his arm he was unable to be completely given over to Christ. So he removed the charm from his arm and threw it in the river. Robert finally surrendered to Christ and is now a changed man. The President has invited him to share his testimony with the SPLA soldiers and to share the Gospel with them. It’s so evident that God has huge plans for Robert. I didn’t give you all the incredible details of his testimony because there’s just so much, but as I was talking with him I was seeing God being glorified in him. Even I was amazed by God’s ability to completely turn someone who seemed so far gone in the wrong direction, towards the right direction. All these guy’s testimonies are filled with stories of witch craft, lives threatened by Muslim parents, ex-street kids, ex-drunkards, and almost all of them first heard of Christ by visions or dreams they had. God will stop at nothing when it comes to saving the lost. When the laborers are few God uses other means to lead people into salvation.

Crazy Love

The internet has been down for 2 weeks so we’ve been unable to communicate with home. We just arrived in Juba (capital of the South Sudan). We are doing 2 women’s conferences here teaching the book of 1 Peter. I’ll be here until Saturday then we’ll go back to Nimule. I’ll be posting updates all week taking advantage of the internet while we have it!

I want to share with you what God has done in me the past couple of days because, well…I can’t contain in. This pass week we’ve been doing business as usual, women’s ministry, helping chaplains with Sunday school & book discussions. We also have 3 pastors visiting here from Las Vegas teaching the chaplains.

The other night we were discussing a book that we’re reading called Soul Winner. In our discussion we were sharing that when we’re in Africa or on a mission trip we have no problem sharing Christ with people but when we go back home it’s like we turn off and we no longer find it necessary or appealing to share Christ. Mostly because we’re afraid of what people will think of us. Vicky just didn’t understand why we do that, she said if you love God how does that love or desire to talk about Him change with geographical location? She said the same God that you’re experiencing here right now is the same God when you go home. It’s the same Holy Spirit that gives us the words to share. I was so challenged by her observation, but it was the truth. I felt ashamed, like a fraud almost. Why is it that I can come here and share Christ to anyone and everyone who doesn’t know Him? Yet in America, I run from the opportunity because I’m afraid of being judged; as if the Africans’ opinion of me doesn’t matter but Americans’ do. Since then I have bringing that same question before God. I’ve been praying that when I do get home I don’t retreat to lukewarm Christianity. Since that night Vicky has sensed a cloud over our spiritual life so she gave us a day off to get refueled in the Lord. I chose to spend mine holed up in my room with my Bible, journal, I-Pod, and Crazy Love audio book. God met me in such a sweet way. My hang up is that I don’t fully understand how great His love is for me; consequently my love for Him is held up. In hours of seeking Him I started to have more of an understanding of that agapeo love He has for me and everyone for that matter. As I listened to songs about how He knows me and created me, listened to Crazy Love talk about how He knew me before He formed me (Jer.1:5) I was spurred to read and meditated on Jeremiah 1:4-10. Back in Uganda when Vicky heard me teach for the first time she gave me the verse Jeremiah 1:9 (Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth...) to hold on to because I shared with her my fear of teaching the Bible. This fear of feeling so unqualified to teach the Bible has been looming over me since the beginning and she has encouraged me to let it go. In all my seeking trying to understand God’s love, He’s telling me “I chose you for such a time as this”. I’m not qualified to teach the Bible or worthy enough to be in Africa sharing the Gospel. But because of His crazy love for me and because He is that great of a God, He has blessed me and decided to use me in spite of who I am outside of Him. As I looked back on all the wild, crazy, terrible things I’ve done in my life, His love became more and more real to me. I was lying on my bed, my heart began to beat fast and all I wanted to do was jump up and share this God with someone. Then it clicked, it should be the love we have for Him that compels one to share about Him. John Piper says that the goal of the church should be to worship God and our worship and our love for God should fuel missions. I get it now. I should share Christ with all people not only because He commands us to but because I can’t contain my love for Him. I haven’t fully grasped the magnitude of His love and I don’t think I ever will but I took a forward step in my comprehension. I want to tell you that God has this intense love for you too. This may be hard for some of you to understand I know, because I was right there along with you. But He does, He says so in the His Book and He wants to use you despite of what you’ve done in the past and your abilities or lack thereof. Think about that, God who created the universe loves you and He didn’t create you by accident. This relationship with Jesus isn’t reserved just for me or just for missionaries, it’s for everyone who desires to know Jesus intimately. I want to encourage you to seek out Christ if you don’t know Him and for those of you who do, go deeper. God has a treasure chest waiting for you but it’s out in the deep. You gotta walk out there and get your treasure. It’s uncomfortable at times and you’re gonna want to retreat but God will be holding your hand as you’re walking. I know this because I’m heading out further into the deep day by day.

Here are a few pictures of my bedroom & some fun pictures of the chaplains that are in training here on the compund. They are such awesome guys & I so enjoy being around them everyday.

My bedroom

Sunday school teachers

Having fun w/ a few chaplains! Chief, Moses, Peter & Mbarak

"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

“But how are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Romans 10:14-15

Everyday I complain to myself because my feet are so dirty. Walking around in dirt all day long combined with sweat makes for some seriously dirty feet. The other day I read this verse and smiled because I imagined God calling my feet beautiful while they're covered in dirt as I share about His Son to those who have never heard.

I encourage you to share Christ with someone who's never heard. You won't regret it. It's such a joy to share what Christ has done in my life to the Sudanese...dirty feet & all.