To Uganda and Back

I want to thank all of you who were praying for our team vision retreat. We each had the opportunity to share the vision God has placed on our hearts for ministry in Sudan over the next year. We each also were able to share our personal histories and the stories of how God has worked in our lives. We played water polo, sang praises under the stars, and enjoyed the sounds and smells of rain.

After the retreat, Bethany, Anna (from the Bundibugyo team), and I went to Lake Mburo for 2 days of vacation. We enjoyed beautiful views of God's creation, delicious food, game walks, boat rides, lounging in the sun, and curling up during the rain. I was so thankful for comfortable and quiet spaces to pray and journal!


I am now back in Sudan, reconnecting with friends and settling back into life. My first night back in Sudan I was flooded by the feeling of being home again. Although it was hot and dry when I left for Uganda, and it is now even hotter and dryer. Tomorrow I will give the final exam for the S1 physics class and Wednesday I will visit the dry season garden of county water officer.

Kitangi Creations

Inspired by Liana's sewing creations, a pattern Bethany brought, and kitangi fabric I bought in Uganda, I finished my second sewing project yesterday. I used the same fabric to sew myself a stocking for Christmas. This time I made a purse and a matching headband. The sewing machine is getting good use by our team.

The Taming of the Shrew

Recently I have had several interactions with a shrew, not the metaphorical kind, but a real shrew.

I had been hearing something scurrying around the tent at night and scratching or gnawing at the tent floor and walls. I suspected a rat or mouse. I woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago and saw something with a tail moving around. The next night Michael set the traps. I heard them both go thwack in the night, and in the morning Acacia was ready and willing to examine the traps. One was empty with some footprints in the peanut butter. The other had trapped and killed what I would have called a rat by the description. Acacia, our resident animal expert, promptly informed me that it was not a rat but a shrew!

So I must admit that the only thing I knew about shrews before yesterday was thanks to Shakespeare. Even now I still say it looks like a rat from the pictures (I refused to look at the dead shrew). I am glad to have the scratching, gnawing, and general noisiness gone, but I would have been just as happy if the shrew had willingly relocated.

All We Had to Offer

All we had to offer was prayer.

There was a fire in Mundri at a storage container that sells fuel to vehicles on the main road. The fuel is stored in barrels and jerrycans in the container. We heard about the fire from Vicki, a friend who is a counselor for the ECS church. Her nephew recently started working at the fuel station in the last month. She received a call to say that he had been burned by the fire. Bethany and I prayed with Vicki at the office and then she left to go home and see him at the Mundri clinic. We followed on our bicycles a few minutes later. On our way back into to town we saw the thick cloud of black smoke filling the sky before we could see the flames. The flames were coming out of the front and sides of the container as the fuel continued to burn. We could feel the heat. There was a crowd of people watching the fire standing uncomfortably close to the container. We met Vicki at her compound and then walked with her to the Mundri clinic to see her nephew. We were still receiving bits and pieces of information about what had gone wrong. Her nephew lay in a hospital bed under a mosquito net in a hallway of the Mundri clinic. He had been given some medication, but his extended family was gathering around him to pray and make decisions about his care. He would need to be transported to the hospital in Lui which would a long painful journey for this young man. One of his arms was burned badly and he had less severe burns on his stomach, back, and hands. He looked frail for a young man who we were told is about 18 years old. Bethany and I joined his family in praying for this young man. We had nothing else to offer. We do not have a vehicle to assist in transporting him to the hospital. We have no medical knowledge to help the family make decisions about his care.

As all of this was taking place, my mind kept on running through all my past experiences with fire protection. Before I was appointed as a missionary engineer with World Harvest Mission, I spent over two years working as the first-call process engineer for the largest Nomex plant in the world. Nomex is a fire-resistant polymer that is made into clothes for people who work in high hazard occupations. I spent two years wearing Nomex coveralls myself while working in the chemical plant that produces Nomex. I have seen countless demonstrations of how the Nomex we produced protected people from devastating burns. Nomex is worn by military personnel, fire fighters, Nascar racers, and by industrial workers including those that work in the production and distribution of fuel. All my first hand knowledge of the benefits and protection that Nomex coveralls can offer were of no use to this young man, and it is unlikely that Sudanese young men like him will be protected by Nomex or petroleum industry standards in the near future.

All we had to offer was prayer, and that is the best thing that we could ever have to offer. If my identity was tied up in my performance, skill, or knowledge, it might have been a sad day knowing that I personally could do nothing to help this young man. Instead I praise God for the truth of Jesus Christ and the power of prayer.

"Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: 'Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.'"
~ Oswald Chambers

Sleep

"Blessed Creator,
Thou hast promised thy beloved sleep;
Give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow's toil.
Let thy Spirit make my time of repose a blessed temple of his holy presence."
~ Valley of Vision

Since I arrived in Sudan, I have had at least three bouts of sleeplessness, the first being the worst by far. I now find myself again unable to sleep through the night, and when I do sleep, I do not wake up feeling restored. To be sure there a lot of things that can interrupt my sleep on any given night in Mundri including a dance party in town, Chai barking, critters scurrying around in the tent, roosters, a motorcycle revving its engine, or the wind blowing the tent around. I have found that once my sleep is interrupted a few nights in a row, I have a lot of trouble returning to a normal sleep pattern. I know that there are many possible causes for my sleeplessness including the work of the enemy. If there is something that I am not aware of that is stressing me out or making me anxious, I am too tired to discern anything that might be related to my sleeplessness.

Please pray that I would sleep in a deep restorative way. Pray that I would have good times with God this weekend and that God would prepare my heart for Christmas. As many people on the team have already prayed these weeks, please pray that we would all be changed by reality of God with us this Christmas season especially as many of us are longing to be with friends and family across the ocean.

Why do raisins dance? (Physics class reflections)

The first term at Mundri Secondary School is now complete. There will only be two terms this year instead of the usual three terms because of the teachers strike at the beginning of the school year. My class has moved through the introduction to physics and has started learning the equations of linear motion.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed teaching physics this term. The teaching part was difficult for me, but I really had fun with the physics. Although I have tutored before and even worked as a TA (teaching assistant) in college, I have never taught a class for a full school year. There were many moments when I was standing at the chalk board at a complete loss for any other way to explain a concept that none of the students were understanding. Physics is a difficult subject for most students, and the students in my class have the added challenge of understanding my English which is very different from the English they are used to hearing.

As with most times when I have done something outside of my comfort zone, teaching has been a means for God to show me the ugliness in my own heart, especially my impatience. It has also been an opportunity to trust that God is working even when I can't always see the evidence.

A few weeks ago I was able to invite all the girls from my class over to our compound for an afternoon of science demonstrations, conversation, and popcorn. I loved seeing them observe carefully and ask themselves why the raisins "dance" or the pepper "runs away" from my hand. With a smaller group I was able to have fun with science and ask questions in a way that would be difficult to manage alone in a class of almost 60 students.

Now that the term is over and I have graded all the exams, I suspect that most of the students have learned more math and English in my class than they have physics, which is fine with me. There are few students who have worked hard, asked questions, and learned the basics of physics. I am very proud of those students. I also saw from the exams that I am going to have to review the equations of linear motion from the beginning when the next term starts in January.

After I gave the final exam for this term, I asked all the students to write about their goals for their future. I would like to share a few of their answers with you.

"My goal is to be an engineering worker according to God's will if I may stay alive from now and future. I always practice some work like connection of electricity in my house, sometimes I cut some trees to burn them as charcoal so as to get some money for school fees. I also practice farming. I have one hectare of eggplant in my garden with a few tomatoes in one side"

"My goal is to be a pastor to preach the word of God because I like to read the Bible every day."

"My goal is to be a teacher to teach our children in our society because 21 years we spent in civil war. My goal is that if God will help me, I will finish my education."

"My future goal is to be a business man after studying. The reason is that I want to help my family at large. I want to support my brother to study also like me. Business is very important for our life in the , I want to overcome the poverty in our society."

"My goal is nothing because there is no work to do. I was working in a farm, but there is nothing in it. That is my condition, and even I don't have anybody to pay school fees. Now I struggle to do some work like burning of charcoal, cutting poles, but there is less money. I will either finish my education or not. I am trying to get some work like engineering or driving."

I ask that you would pray for all the students to have hope for their futures that comes from the truth of the gospel. I also ask that you would pray for wisdom for me as I plan for the next term.

Sustainable Development

What is sustainable development? I have been asking myself that question a lot recently. I have read excerpts of various books, listened to podcasts, and had many discussions on the subject.

The word sustainable has become a bit of a buzz word of the last few years, and is used in various contexts with different meanings. Wikipedia defines sustainable development as pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations. In addition, many people (including myself) would not consider development truly sustainable if it creates an indefinite dependence on foreign aid or subsidized products. In other words, sustainable development has an exit strategy and aims to have nationals managing and operating projects. Other development experts, such as Jeffrey Sachs, would more broadly define sustainable development as the emerging science of global scale change.

It doesn't take much reading to know that development experts do not all agree. Jeffrey Sachs, William Easterly, and Paul Collier have very different views on development. I don't yet know my own opinions on many of the aspects of sustainable development that are being debated around the world. I do know that my relationship with God impacts the way I think about sustainable development. In discussions about human rights, my perspective is anchored to my belief that all humans are made in the image of God. I pray that as I study the broad spectrum of things that are considered sustainable development, I would similarly always anchor my perspective on the truth of the gospel.

Mahogany

Southern Sudan has many natural resources. Mahogany, ebony, and teak can be found growing in the forests surrounding Mundri. Mahogany is used by local carpenters for nearly everything they build. As I write this, I am sitting on a mahogany chair, at a mahogany desk, while the roofs of our houses are being constructed behind me with mahogany 2x4s.

The mahogany used for construction in Mundri could be used for expensive fine furniture in Europe or America, but Mundri does not have access to those markets. Transportation in Southern Sudan is also prohibitively expensive. And then what would the carpenters use for construction in Mundri? To import another type of wood for construction would make it too expensive, especially after transportation costs are added. The mahogany trees in this area are a blessing to those who are rebuilding, giving them access to strong, moderately termite resistant wood.

Few people are currently replanting mahogany for future generations. Next year when we move to our new homes on the church land, Larissa hopes to plant some of these types of trees for the next generations in Mundri.

A Visit to Lui

On Monday morning Larissa and I hitched a ride with some friends to Lui, a town about 45 minutes up the main road. It just so happened that there was a man on a short-term team from Missouri who is an expert on the application of GPS and GIS tools to agricultural studies. Since I have been learning about the use of GPS and GIS for mapping water points and Larissa is our resident gardener, we decided to go to Lui and hear more about his work. There is no cell phone reception in Lui so we didn't know anything more than what he had told Karen when they flew in on the same MAF flight. In fact we didn't even know his last name, but we were off to Lui looking for "Mark the scientist".

The ride to Lui was glorious. It was a cloudy morning with a cool breeze and we were sitting in the back of a land cruiser pick-up. Since it is now the start of the dry season, the leaves are rapidly turning from green to brown. It felt like Fall to me for the first time.

We met up with Mark, and it just so happened that his group had planned to visit a teak plantation run by the Mothers' Union and the ECS church in Lui that morning, so we joined them for the trip while chatting with Mark and Sam, a gardener also from Missouri. *See pictures of the teak plantation from my last post

Later we returned to the guesthouse and sat and talked with Mark, Sam, and the rest of their short-term team. I learned a lot of helpful information for using Google Earth to map water points. A few weeks ago, Google Earth updated the images available for Mundri and the rest of Southern Sudan making them significantly more useful for our work. Michael and I had already seen the new images, but Mark had new insights about the benefits of using Google Earth for water and agricultural ministries. Much of Mark's work is too high tech to be useful in Mundri, but it was also interesting to hear about how new technologies are being used for agriculture in Japan and around the world.



In the afternoon, we got to talk with our friends, David and Heather, about some of the problems they have seen Moru farmers face and possible solutions. We also heard about what has been tried in Lui previously by other NGOs and missionaries. They have been missionaries in Africa for several decades, and we are so thankful for their knowledge and wisdom.

*David showed us what looks like a field of purple wildflowers but is actually a field of crops completely destroyed by the parasitic plant striga.

David and Heather graciously hosted Larissa and me for dinner and let us stay the night in the guestroom of their beautiful home. Their compound is truly an oasis in Lui. We had a perfect, restful night of conversation. They even gave us a ride back to Mundri the next morning.

In the end our visit to Lui was such a blessing. We learned some new things. We enjoyed the cool weather and a beautiful sunset. We had a night of deep sleep uninterrupted by Chai barking or a motorcycle revving its engine at 6 am.

Fall in Lui

*Top three pictures are from a teak plantation in Lui