“Cush wi l l s tretch out her hands to God” (Psa lm 68:31)

SIM South Sudan Newsletter

CONTACT US AT: ssudan.rebuild@sim.org

SIM Sudan PO Box 79252, 00200 City Square, Nairobi, Kenya

See updates of Sudan projects at:

www.sim.org

Dec 2013 - Mar 2014

‘Twas the night before Christmas in the Land of Cush… I wondered, “How would we celebrate-- way out in the bush?”

With no tinsel, no lights, no malls or shopping rush… Would the day be spent in a dull hush?

But out in the village there arose such a clatter… That I dashed to the church to see what was the matter!

Continued page 1

‘Our Stories’ A collection of stories from missionaries on the

South Sudan field

Claire Meckler Poet & Campus Nurse, GTC

‘Twas the night before Christmas continued from cover...

‘Twas the night before Christmas on the banks of the Nile… And robust drumming could be heard for many a mile!

Every face bright with a megawatt smile…

What exuberance seen in simple, Sudanese style.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the choir… Each one was singing to get a pitch higher!

No “Silent Night” carols needed to inspire…

The jumping and dancing made us perspire!

‘Twas the day before Christmas… and all through the hut Walls were freshly smeared with mud.

The thatch on the roof top was in good repair,

Families eager to welcome all the visitors there—

The gift of their friendship ready to share.

‘Twas the eve of the night December twenty-four— All the children were nestled on mats on the floor.

The mosquito nets were hung by the parents with care,

In hopes that the bugs wouldn’t be biting them there.

The coffee was roasting on the fire with flare…

As ginger fragrance wafted through smoke and warm air.

‘Twas the Night before Christmas… at the ends of the earth… Like others ‘round the world, grateful for His Birth,

People were packed into our little church.

The singing and preaching had early begun…

I sat for so long on the bench on my bum,

That after 3 hours it was just turning numb…

When at last we stood up—another song to be sung!

‘Twas the night before Christmas… and all through the universe, Though it seems things are bad, news getting worse—

The heavens still resound with the Word of His Truth!

For the coming of Immanuel affirms each soul’s worth.

The reason for this season is His giving of Grace—

A gift that is needed by the whole human race.

A message from our Team Chaplain – from his time in Doro "The very essence of being a Chaplain is to seek and meet people where they are and encourage them. Trying to keep up with Bob Ihrig is like trying to keep up with a race horse that seems never to tire out. Bob allowed me to help him with some things that needed to be done around the Doro base and it ended up that Bob did more to encourage me than I did him. I so enjoyed the hospitality, the servant spirit, and the sheer fortitude of the missionaries in Doro that I came away inspired and encouraged myself."

Mark Conard Team Chaplain SIM South Sudan

n 2009, in Dajo, Sudan a huge influx of Fulani people came into

region where Bubba and I worked. They were fascinating to us coming in with all their cows and camels, very colorful women and beautiful children. They overtook our clinic keeping us busy with prenatal exams, teeth pulling, aches and pains, etc. We discovered the Fulani are the largest unreached, nomadic Muslim people group in the world. We grew to love them and began to share the Gospel.

Then in 2010 we lost our jobs. That was one of the saddest moments in my life. We both wondered, “Who is going to reach the Fulanis now?” But 3 years later God saw fit to bring us to Doro and in His great love and mercy he brought our Fulani friends there as well! Reunited we picked up where we left off. Never did we imagine that we would have another opportunity to speak Truth into our friends’ lives.

“The Best Story Ever!”

Brett & Cathy Hoelzer Housing Supervisor & Health Team Leader, Doro

Yet the door opened wide and we shared from a small picture book called “Good News.” They insisted we share ALL of the stories in the book; from Adam and Eve all the way to Isa Messiah! They claimed the stories were the best they had ever heard! Please pray with us for the salvation of our friends.

I

Welcome to the Dec 13-March 14 CUSH VISION

This issue we are focusing on stories from our SIM South Sudan team members from this past year. They are from missionaries across all our bases; Doro, Malakal and

Melut. The stories reflect everyday life serving God in South Sudan and the joys and challenges we face. We hope you are inspired by what you read.

B U S H R A

c o m e s t o

J e s u s

Vicki Beattie Leprosy Outreach Team Leader

ushra started his leprosy medicine while I was on home assignment in 2012. Bushra came from Myak, Blue Nile State. Many of the Myak people have a faith background of Folk Islam, including Bushra. The first few Myak self care groups met monthly by Bushra’s tent in the refugee camp but when he went to Myak for a short visit we started to meet in another place near-by. We always start the self care groups with a Bible story and a picture. One patient, Nora, is a Christian in this group. Her husband, Yousef, is very attentive and helps us by translating Arabic into Myak. When Bushra returned, he seemed happy to re-join the group

B Then we showed him the picture of the 2 roads; a wide road leading to the eternal fire and the narrow road leading to eternal life. Praise God that he chose the narrow road! William and

Cornelius, two leprosy program assistants, explained to him in Arabic how to pray to Jesus and he prayed in Myak to receive Jesus. There is only a small group of Myak believers meeting in the camp and some m e e t v e r y irregularly. Pray with us as Bushra starts to walk with

Jesus. It’s can be very difficult for people from Folk Islam backgrounds to break from tradition.

meeting where Yousef and Nora live. We noticed he was quite interactive during the Bible story and asked questions at the end. When asked if we could visit him and tell him more Bible stories about Jesus he was excited.

When we visited him we started with the creation story and went through to Jesus’ birth.

Bushra is wearing charms around his by his elbow. He explained that he was

given them three years ago when the war started so he would not be shot at.

think my most powerful language lesson occurred several weeks ago

watching Debbie and Rhoda together. I was sitting on a mat with the

Nile river behind me and the blue sky above me.

were, “Who will tell Deborah?”. Later I visited Rhoda carrying a printed email from Debbie containing words of encouragement, which I read to Rhoda. She clutched the paper carefully tucking it in a special place It didn’t matter she didn’t know the written language... it was words from her friend. D e b b i e a n d Rhoda only have a handful of shared words they can speak to each other. Their shared vocabulary can probably be counted on my fingers (and maybe toes). Yet, that didn’t stop their love.

Debbie’s friendship leapt over communication barriers; the love of God does that. The love of God is our most important language tool (though words help) and watching His spirit do the work to unite two souls into mutual encouragement is such a powerful reminder that, “without love we are but a clanging gong or a clashing symbol.” (I Corinthians 13:1) The love of God is what compels us to do, to be, to love our neighbor. It is the spirit of God that unites hearts and knits souls. He often uses language but is never limited by it.

I

Amie Cross Mother & Language Learner, Melut

Debbie & Rhoda

Debbie sat across from me next to Rhoda and my how those women communicated; friends, separated by distance and time, reunited again. There was laughter, love, and smiles all around. R h o d a h a d anticipated Debbie’s arrival for weeks. Debbie’s hand rested on Rhoda’s belly as they waited for baby to kick. The air was thick with anticipation that he might be born while Debbie was in Melut. The next five days those women were often together under the shade of a tree. The baby didn’t arrive during Debbie’s stay but when he did make his appearance Rhoda’s first words

As I made my way to the door, they said “We’re closed today.” I said, “I am just coming as a neighbour.” I greeted the men and asked what had happened. The husband of one of the women working at the restaurant had passed away in Ethiopia.

I was ushered into a small room where two women sat on the floor. Men sat quietly on beds arranged around the perimeter of the room. I took a seat and sat in silence as the men quietly passed around a plate of roasted beans. Coffee and water followed, all in perfect silence.

I must have sat for ten minutes before it occurred to me that we had a bag of kollo in the house. The Ethiopia equivalent of trail mix, kollo is a snack of roasted barley and peanuts mixed with Ethiopian spices. It happens to be one of my favourite snacks.

me playing guitar in the morning for devotions. I went home, got the guitar and brought it back to play for them. I played a number of songs and asked about their own songs of worship. They sang a several songs as the coffee and kollo came out to be served. T h o u g h t h e m o u r n i n g p r o c e s s continues for the widow, the atmosphere was markedly different with lighter banter (all in Amharic) going on. Really, what more could you ask for than spending time together just being present and sharing a bowl of kollo? Through it all, a simple truth was hammered home to me: all relationships start with presence. Whether it’s in simple silence or singing together, it’s all just part of the ministry of presence.

A friend from Ethiopia sent this particular bag to Nairobi, Kenya. We then carried it with us to South Sudan. It seemed that God had sent it up for this specific purpose.

I gestured silently that I would return, went home and brought back the bag of kollo. A woman preparing food opened the bag and started to serve the mourners. Again I sat in silence for another ten minutes.

A man from the restaurant with whom I usually placed my orders for food turned to me and said one solitary word: “pray.” “Ok, let’s pray,” was my reply. Despite the language barrier there was a quiet “hmm” of acknowledgement when I uttered the word “Jesus.”

The next day I visited and introduced myself fully. They mentioned they could hear Tohru & Claire Inoue

RD Malakal

T he morning of August 28th I awoke to the sounds of wailing shortly past

6am. It was clear there had been a death next door.

When the wailing had subsided around 9am I headed over.

‘A Bag of Kollo’

How to Give $ re you called to get involved? Praying, supporting and volunteering are all needed. Your faith, language abilities and skills will be stretched, but you can play a part in working alongside the South Sudanese. To give financially you can make cheques payable to SIM–USA, SIM-UK, etc and send them to the appropriate country office (see below). Add a note to say which project you want to support (quote the reference number below). This allows us to issue a tax deductible receipt in some cases. To give on-line or for more information check out:

www.sim.org/donate

www.sim.org/index.php/projects

A

SIM Australia PO Box 42 Penshurst NSW 2222 www.sim.org.au

SIM Southern Africa PO Box 30027 Tokai Cape Town 7966

SIM East Asia 116 Lavender St. #04-09 Pek Chuan Bldg. Singapore 338730

SIM France Quartier Les Mians FR-84860 Cader-ousse

SIM Canada 10 Huntingdale Blvd. Scarborough, ON M1W 2S5 www.sim.ca

SIM UK/Europe

Wetheringsett Manor

Wetheringsett

Stowmarket

Suffolk IP14 5QX

www.sim.co.uk

SIM New Zealand

PO Box 38 588

Howick

Manukau 2145

www.sim.org.nz

SIM USA

PO Box 7900

Charlotte, NC

28241-7900

www.sim.org

THIANGRIAL

WORKSHED

980000

HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

ALONG THE NILE

98410

SAFE DRINKING

WATER

98021

MALAKAL MINISTRY

CENTRE

98104

MISSIONARY HOUSING

PROJECT

98300

UEC SECONDARY

SCHOOL

98019

CHURCH DISCIPLESHIP

& TRAINING

98103

MEMORIAL HEALTH & CHW

TRAINING

98018

GIDEON THEOLOGICAL

COLLEGE

84800

HARVEST WORKERS

PROJECT

98400

P.O.Box 79252 Nairobi 00200 Kenya, Africa