Mama Penina

God has continued to amaze me this year with the incredible people He has put in our path. Everywhere we have gone during this evacuation period, God has placed people in front of us who are compassionate, loving and devoted to His call. 

The person we have been amazed with most recently is Mama Penina. Mama Penina is from Mundri, but is currently living in Arua. She has lived in Arua since 1997 and moved there to get away from the war in South Sudan. Her husband is a pastor in Mundri and moved Penina and her children to Arua to make sure they would be safe. 

Mama Penina and I after Moru church last week

Mama Penina helped start the Moru church, which still gathers in Arua each Sunday. This church was started so that the Moru people who had fled South Sudan, could have a place to worship together. Penina is the leader of the Mother's Union and also leads the church service each week. 

What amazed me about Mama Penina is her huge heart for her people. Her passion to bring people together to worship the Lord is incredible. She works very hard renting a space, organizing people to preach and caring for the people in the community. 

When we were in Arua last week, she had us to her house to welcome us. She and some other women from the church cooked us a HUGE Moru meal. She invited the male youth over to share the meal with us and we spent hours eating and conversing together.  The food was delicious and the company was great! 

Will and I with our new Moru friends at Mama Penina's house

We were so excited to hear about Mama Penina's heart for her people and desire to see the Word of God preached to the Moru people in Arua. Her love for Christ is extremely evident and despite all the opposition in her life, she does everything with joy and passion. Spending time with people like Penina always reminds me of God's love and care for His people. God is so evident through her and is doing amazing things to love the Moru people in Arua through Penina. We are looking forward to getting to know her and the others in the community better. 

Please join us in praying for Mama Penina and the Moru church in Arua. Pray that God would continue to provide for them as they seek to glorify Him. Pray that they would know the Word of God and be encouraged by His love for them. Pray that Penina would have endurance to continue to lead the church with strength and love. 

Relief for Mundri

Many of you have asked what ways you could help the Mundri community in the aftermath of the violence that took place in May. After much thought and conversation with Bishop Bismark we believe the best way to support the local community is through the local church. In light of this, we are raising money to support the local diocese in two ways: monthly operating costs and relief.

Part of the Serge mission in South Sudan is to empower the local church to be the hands and feet of Christ in their own community and the recent fighting has created roadblocks. A major one is finance.

Many people returned to looted homes after the violence in May. Friends had literally everything they owned stolen. Shops were looted leaving local businesses without a means of making money. These things have led to a significant decrease in the amount of money being tithed in local churches, which a portion of goes towards monthly operating costs of the diocese. Due to this, there is a large budget shortfall for the diocese.

 Another portion of the money would be earmarked for relief efforts of the diocese. We believe Bishop Bismark and his team know what the community needs most and we want to empower them to meet those needs. The money for relief would be used at their discretion for the things they see as most pressing in the community.

Serge South Sudan has a “Community Blessing Fund”. We use this fund as a tool to raise money for special projects and opportunities that arise in the community outside of our normal ministry funding categories. The goal is to bless the entire community, not just one person or family.

Would you pray about making a donation to the “Community Blessing Fund”?

We are seeking to raise $6,000. The money would be spent in the following ways:
1. Help operating costs of the diocese for 6 months = $600/month; $3600 total
2. Relief to be used at the discretion of the diocese = $2400 total

Any money raised above our goal will stay in the “Community Blessing Fund” to be used as needed for other projects or issues that arise in the community.

All money given to this account will be used for blessing the Mundri community. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Thank you for your continued support of the Serge South Sudan team and the Mundri community.

Blessings, Serge South Sudan Team

To give online, please go to: https://www.serge.org/project/id-19220/

To give by check, please make checks out to “Serge” and include the designation number: 19220. Please mail to:
Serge Donations Processing Center
PO Box 1244
Albert Lea, MN 56007-1244

Let us know if you have any questions.

The Familiar

With all of our traveling and adjustments this past year, I have found myself clinging to things that feel familiar. They have been like a breath of fresh air to me as everything else has seemed so new and different.

We arrived in Arua, Uganda on Saturday. We are here to see if this would be a good place to set up a temporary ministry site. Part of what drew us to come and explore Arua was that we heard they have a Moru church here and a good amount of Moru people who have fled from South Sudan. Since this is the people group we work with in Mundri, we thought this could be a great opportunity for us to continue to work on language in hopes of returning to Mundri again in the future.

We had the privilege of attending the Moru service yesterday and it was so... familiar. It felt like going back home to Mundri! It was familiar to greet everyone in Moru and see huge smiles cross their faces (which showed me they could actually understand my Moru.. always a win!). It was wonderful to hear songs sung in Moru that we used to hear every week in Mundri. It was a blessing to see young Moru children and be able to ask their names and understand the names when they responded (that one took me a while when we were in Mundri!).

Children preforming a song at the
Moru church service

What amazed me the most about the service was the joy. There was so much joy in the room! Now, you have to understand that everyone at the service calls South Sudan home. They are only in Arua because of war. After wondering why there were so many women in the service and so few men, we learned that most of the men stayed in South Sudan to work/ protect their homes and farms. They sent the women and children to Arua for safety. Most of them live off very little money and probably in houses that do not feel like "home". In the message, the preacher talked about their great suffering and how little they have. And yet, there was such great joy! The resiliency of the Moru people amazes me.

The familiarity of attending this service reminded me of how grateful I am that God allowed us to work with the Moru people. I always tell people that the only thing that draws me to want to go back to Mundri is the people. The place is difficult, at best. But the people, they make it completely worth it. Having the opportunity to be around Moru people again brought all of those realizations back to the surface. They are incredible. God has given them an amazing ability to bounce back from things that most people would buckle under. They know how to make due with very little- and be thankful for it!

So this week I'm thankful for the familiar. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be around Moru people again and see their joy and resiliency up-close. It's a joy to feel at home again and I'm looking forward to seeing them all again next Sunday.

New Transition

Will, Justin and I arrived in Kampala, Uganda on Monday. We will be traveling to a couple different places in Uganda over the next couple months to try and set up a temporary ministry site until it is safe to return to Mundri. The hope is to find a site where we can continue to work with South Sudanese people to build relationships/ work on language.

As we have begun this next transition, many people have asked if we are excited. To be totally honest, excitement is not even close to the top of my emotions right now. This will be our third east African country to LIVE in this year. That is not what we expected when we signed up to move to South Sudan last year.

However, just because my heart is not excited about another transition, does not mean it is not willing. Although we signed up to work with Serge in South Sudan, what we really signed up for was to follow God where He sent us. We thought that was South Sudan... and it was for a time (and hopefully still is long term). But due to war and instability, we can't be there right now. I am finally coming to realize that is okay. Don't get me wrong, I long to be in the Mundri market sipping (wayyy too hot) tea and eating mandazi while giggling with my friends at my butchered Moru attempts and laughing at the fact that my tongue cannot make the same sounds as theirs can- no matter how hard I seem to try. But more than this desire to be with my friends in Mundri, is my heart's cry to follow God where He sends.

And right now, He is directing us to Uganda.

So in Uganda we are. Ready vessels. Not sure at all about what the future will hold for us here. Not sure at all about if this will be a 5 month stop or a 4 year solution. We have no idea. But we do know that we serve a faithful God. We know He is not leading us astray and that He loves to use His willing children.

Romans 15:13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

As we are facing this new transition, I am encouraged by this verse because it does not say, "Muster up hope and joy by your own strength". Instead it says, "you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". The Holy Spirit provides hope. As we chose to trust in Him, He provides us with hope and joy. How beautiful is that?

So, am I excited to be in Uganda right now with a long list of un-answered questions and an unclear future? No. However, I am excited to know we are right where God is calling us at the moment. Because of that, I am excited for the future. Knowing God will show up and will guide and direct us- in His timing.

Education

When we were in Nigeria, I used to tell supporters often that, "the best way to stop the cycle of poverty is through education". People can get behind that statement because they understand why it is true. After living in a war-torn nation this past year, I have come to expand that quote to say, "the best way to stop the cycle of poverty AND WAR is through education".

I was talking to a South Sudanese friend on the phone the other day and she told me that although war is not currently going on in Mundri, schools have not re-opened because the government isn't paying their teachers. I asked when she thought they would re-open and she said, "when the war ends". With countries like South Sudan, ending a war could take years.

This conversation stirred me up quite a bit because it made me realize one of the ways cycle of war continues for so many years in a country like South Sudan- children not having the opportunity to have an education. What I mean is, in a country that has a history of war, war becomes the only way people know how to deal with issues. Especially when you add in the fact that children live during war and don't have an opportunity for education. When they become adults and things get hard, the only thing they know to resort to is... war. When you are not able to read and reason on your own (due to a lack of being taught to do so), you resort to what you know and have seen your whole life. Also, when you do not have an education, access to good paying jobs is difficult.

Imagine this scenario: You are 20 years old and you are a farmer with a 4th grade education. Due to war, you are displaced from your land and no longer able to farm or earn an income. A respected man from your tribe approaches you with a job offer. He tells you that if you become a rebel and chose to go with him to fight, you will be payed. What would you chose to do? With South Sudan having a 27% functional literacy rate, there are not a lot of other options for most people. Quickly your options become going to a refugee camp (which typically involves walking by foot for days and with limited resources along the way) or fighting.

These difficult realizations have brought me to my knees this week. They have brought me to a place of praying for this to not be true for South Sudan. I have been pleading on behalf of children in Mundri and South Sudan in general- that despite the oppositions, they would somehow have the opportunity for education. I have been praying for teachers to stand against what is going on and volunteer their time so students can have an education. I have asked that we (and more willing teachers who will join me) will be able to return to Mundri soon so we can continue our work of training and building up teachers who love students and want to see them succeed.

Ultimately, it is God who breaks the cycles of war and poverty. He is the one who allows wars to end and new generations to stand against what their forefathers resorted to. He creates resiliency in His people and allows them to be healed and walk in that healing. Please join me in praying for the children of Mundri. Pray with me that they would somehow have the opportunity for an education. Pray with me that God would raise up honest teachers who are willing to sacrifice their time and resources for students to be educated. Hope with me also that we would have more teachers willing to join us on the mission field and that we would be able to return to Mundri soon to continue our work.

Reed Update

What in the world are we doing?!

We are grateful to finally have some answers to this question. We continue to wait, at times with great patience and others with great angst, for all the pieces to fall into place. However, here is what we know so far...

We've just finished teaching at Rift Valley Academy! While it was an unexpected stop and at the beginning we were not too thrilled with it (simply because we wanted to be in South Sudan), we can now say we are very glad we were able to spend a term here. It's been a privilege to get to teach and interact with the kids and staff. It has also been great to form some good relationships with staff here that could end up lasting a long time!

We have some loose ends to tie up here in Kijabe, plus some rest to enjoy, over the next week. July 27-29 we are getting away to a place called Naivasha for a few days with our regional directors to talk, pray and listen before we start the next steps.

Due to the continued unrest in South Sudan it has been decided we should not return this fall as we had hoped. We are uncertain of when things in South Sudan will stabilize enough for us to return and be helpful. 

So, beginning in August we will be spending time in Uganda looking into places to relocate on a semi-temporary basis. We will look at both Kampala, the capital of Uganda and Arua, a good sized city in northwestern Uganda. This does not mean we will not return to Mundri. We simply need to find a place to "settle" until we are able to return. 

The goal is to find a location that will allow us to be in community with South Sudanese people, have good enough communication (internet!) to recruit more people to join us when things stabilize and allow for better access to Mundri.

Both Kampala and Arua offer these things so we want to spend time in each place looking at them through a lens of life and ministry. Arua, in particular, is an exciting option as we've heard there is a Moru community there (the people group we were working with in Mundri) that is large enough to have their own church! This would allow both Theresa and I, Will, to continue in our language learning, something we both want and need.

After 6-8 weeks of this (if you've ever travelled in Africa you'll understand details are hard to nail down so we've left plenty of time!), we will return to the U.S. for a short time. Our focus while in the States is to recruit more teammates, connect with supporters, recruit more teammates, get some rest and, finally, recruit more teammates (want to join us ;)?). I will also be starting my masters degree online during our time at home as well. 

Sometime early 2016 we will return to Uganda (Arua or Kampala) and hope God will open up doors for peace to allow us to return to Mundri during the year. 

During our pre-field training at Mission Training International (MTI) one of the instructors would ask, "What does God do when the missionaries are gone?" and then go on to give many examples of how God moved and worked in the lives of the people while missionaries had to leave for various reasons. So, we're praying this time away is fruitful for both us and the Moru people in Mundri as the Holy Spirit moves in our lives and theirs.

Pray for South Sudan

The reports coming out of South Sudan right now are horrendous. Some of the things going on will make your stomach turn and your heart ache just to read about them. To read a short article about some of what is going on, click here.

What breaks my heart the most about what going on is that is not being talked about worldwide. When we talk about having to evacuate South Sudan, a lot of people have responded with, "Is it bad there right now?". Having no idea of the extent of war and destruction that is taking place. People don't know about what is going on because it is not being talked about on a wide-scale. Why? People don't want to hear about a country who can't get their act together. It is too upsetting to look at a country that only has a history of war- with very short windows of "peace" before war takes over again. It's too devastating to realize the amount of hate a country can have for their own people.

But you know hat happens when you live life with people? They are no longer "a country who can't get their act together". They are Hawa and Riya who are children that fetch water for their family multiple times a day. They are Mary, Amelia and Alice who work long hours every day in order to provide food for their children, nieces and nephews and parents. They are Francis who walks many miles everyday to work in town- only to make the equivalent of a couple dollars (or less) after a long days work. They are people who matter. People who are loved by God and have the hope of a future. People who have nothing to do with the conflict going on around them, but are effected by it everyday. People who have to live with the consequences of a broken government.

Amelia

Mary

Francis Peter

As you hear of tragedies around the world, we don't always have the privilege of knowing specific names and faces of people who are effected by the disaster, but pray for them as if you did. Pray for the people in those communities who are trying to provide for their families. The ones who are walking many miles each day to get water or get to work. Those who are trying to find worth, but are coming up short because they don't know the gospel.

Here are some verses I am praying for the people of Mundri and South Sudan as a whole.

"The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace." Psalm 29:11

"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems His servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:17-22

"But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God." Nehemiah 9:31

 Please join me in praying for South Sudan and other countries around the world that are dealing with horrible tragedies. Please pray with me that God would intervene in His great mercy. Teach us to pray, O Lord, and teach us to have compassion for those we do not even know.