Thankfulness

Celebrating our first Thanksgiving in Sudan was a beautiful success. We brought some ingredients from Uganda and made some substitutions for things available in Mundri to make many traditional American dishes. Tuesday night we started by having a team meeting and writing the plan on the white board in the dinning room.



Then the preparations started. I peeled and mashed a lot of potatoes. Larissa made stuffing, pumpkin casserole, and prepared the chickens. Bethany, Kim, and Karen made pies. We were all busy, but not stressed. It was an enjoyable and restful two days of cooking, talking, and decorating.




The kids did a wonderful job of setting the table and making thankfulness turkeys out of construction paper for everyone on the team. We wrote things we were thankful for on each finger of our traced hands that made the turkey's feathers.

By dinner time on Thanksgiving day, we were all dressed up. I even put on some makeup for the first time since I arrived in Sudan . Liana watched closely as I put on eyeshadow and mascara. Acacia even put up her hair, deviating from her normal look. With everyone all "spiffed up" as Karen says, we took some new team pictures.





For dessert, we welcomed 13 Americans on the short term team working in Mundri this week. We sat in the yard talking and enjoying pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies.

At the end of the day, I was very thankful for our first Thanksgiving in Mundri. I was a day to join together as a team and thank God all the beautiful ways he has been working in each of our lives and his provision for all of us.

On Friday all the Christmas decorations went up, Christmas music played all day, and we watched our first Christmas team movie of the year.

Sudan Water Fund

Many of you received my last prayer letter where I described plans for a water ministry in the Greater Mundri area and our needs.

The latest news is that we now have a button on the WHM website for this fund. It is now even easier to give specifically to the Sudan Water Fund. You can give online at http://www.whm.org/project/details?ID=19202.

For any readers who don't receive my prayer letters, our proposed rural water ministry strategy has two main components: hand pump repair and development of a sustainable management system through community involvement. We are asking that people would prayerfully consider helping us launch this ministry, whether that is financially or through prayer, as we move forward in faith.

Choo Fishing

This morning was full of excitement. Just as Acacia was getting ready to start school, she dropped her flip flop down the choo (pit latrine)! Acacia only has one pair of shoes, so this was a considerable loss.

Then the choo fishing started...


Gaby, Liana, and Acacia all jumped in to help rescue Acacia's flip flop, with a "fishing pole" Michael quickly rigged up.



Success! Michael fished out the flip flop after several attempts.
The fisherman posed for a picture with his catch: Acacia's Chaco flip flop which was now covered in maggots and everything else that goes down the choo.


Acacia then got to work with bleach and soap to clean her rescued flip flop.

All of this before 10 am on Bethany's first morning with our team!