Latest Email from My Missionary Friends in The Sudan

[spain]

Dear Friends,

 

We've been very busy with a short-term team since coming to Sudan on June 19th! Sorry for the lack of emails, but hopefully you've received either an email or paper copy of our newsletter.

 

Can we tell you about our day?

 

It started at 4am with Thomas waking up with smiles and pleas for his morning milk. Praise the Lord (and I mean that quite sincerely) he fell back asleep until 7am. We got up and got moving, and by 8:30am our whole team was loaded into the pickup truck. Traveling with us were 3 bales of blankets donated by Voice of the Martyrs.

 

Moving carefully down a very slickery track through chin-high grass, we passed through an absolutely deserted Damo village, finally arriving at the Damo church. Almost the whole village was at the church. About 60 people were gathered under the trees, seated on logs supported by forked trees driven into the ground.

 

After some bantering and confusion about who was getting the blankets, we turned out attention to the Bible lesson. This duty fell to Jake, Jennie, Cam, and JJ our short-term team. With Beverly, Thomas, and me playing Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, we acted out the angelic visitations from Luke 2. Jake played the angel and the others played terrified shepherds, to the delight of the church people. As usual the English teaching was translated into Arabic, then into either Coma or Uduk. It's a bit chaotic, but the drama communicated truth really well, we thought.

 

There was one significant moment. Since I was a translator I was able to stop and ask key questions to check for understanding. At one point Cam said: "The Spirit prompted Simeon to go to the temple. (Luke 2:27)" I asked the people, "Where is the Spirit? Who is He? Does the Spirit speak to you?" Two of the older women said: "There was a Spirit of God here but we don't know if it is still here." I traded a quick glance with our Uduk church partner Yohann. We sensed an opportunity to teach some truth. He stepped in, asking more questions from the church. About 10 minutes of rapid-fire conversation in Uduk ensued. Finally one man said: "The Spirit of Jesus lives inside us, but I don’t think he talks to us."

 

It's moments like this that remind us how important is it to ground the Coma church in the Word of God. Please pray with us that we can communicate truth accurately despite the language and cultural barriers.

 

As the blankets were being distributed, we socialized with the people. I got some precious pictures of little Thomas touching the face of one of the Coma ladies. Jake climbed a tree to get some aerial shots. Jennie and JJ played with the kids. I helped Yohan count blankets. As the rain began to fall, we loaded up about 15 people with many soggy blankets into the LandCruiser and slid down the trail and arrived safely home.

 

With thanks for your love and prayers,

Chris