Church of the Brethren Sudan Initiative

Well... we're here in Sudan. Things are typical... which means waiting, wondering about logistics, improvising, and yet seeing God work in may powerful ways. Such is often challenging to Westerners, but fortunately we have some sense of being able to flow with this. :-)

Our day started early, eating food in our room, then heading to the airport before 7:00am. We made good time despite Nairobi traffic--Lawrence is a good driver. The airport was such a case in point, where the signs for our airline were not put up yet, and things were relatively unclear, but we were able to find out flight without too much trouble by asking and listening and watching and changing.

While waiting for the flight, I started chatting with the man next to me, Bob (actually, Jean-Robert from France), seeing photos of his children, and then photos of his work in Afghanistan. It turns out that he is a personal friend of the head of aviation for the World Food Program (WFP, UN) based in Rome, and so I walked away with the phone number of this person in case we would need it, along with Bob's offer of assistance in Juba should we ever need it. We also talked to other NGOs going into Juba, some from northern Ireland... contacts seem so important here.

After a flight--turns out that JetLink was actually code-sharing with Delta Connections, and so the flight was on a Boeing 737!--we landed in Juba, but after clearing customs (much less formal than we are used to in the States, yet just as important--and more people carrying machine guns), no one was present to meet us. We waited half an hour to an hour, then hired a taxi, and eventually made it to the Catholic guest house compound, where they were expecting us (thanks to Anne of SCC-Nairobi, who helped make all these arrangements yesterday!).

It is very hot here in Juba, not cloudy like Nairobi, and we felt it immediately. Waiting to meet with former Bishop Paride Taban, we had a few hours to rest, during which a heavy downpour settled the dust, although not moderating the heat so much.

At 4:00pm or so we received a call to see Bishop (emeritus) Paride... who met Phil and Louie excitedly with hugs and much joy. We then talked for several hours, incredibly fruitful time about whether we should be in mission here in southern Sudan, what areas would be fruitful for planting churches, and contacts and logistics. Here are some vignettes.

In affirming the Church of the Brethren coming to live and work in S. Sudan, + (symbol for bishop) Paride said the people in South Sudan need a lot of the presence of Christ's face. The Church of the Brethren can offer that. The harvest is plentiful, the workers are few. What's important is that the harvest is accomplished.

The Church of the Brethren, he said, is a deep and strong church. "We need churches that can stand together. We need to learn from each other to deepen the faith of the people." He knows the Church of the Brethren as a strongly ecumenical church, which is so vital here for the health of Christianity. He stated there are many under-served areas - so much work to do. It was all a wonderful discussion with a man of deep faith and commitment. We were all inspired.

Well, this morning we were wakened by the Muslim call to prayer over the loudspeaker, and the first responder was a rooster. I (Louie) wondered if the rooster was saying, "Hey, that's my job. I'm supposed to waken the people." A little competition. I think it will happen here too, since a mosque is nearby and we've heard the roosters.

It's such a delight to be here. We (Riemans) were never here since this was a garrison (controlled by the government and land mined) the whole time we were living and working here.

We were waiting for a meeting with Rev Tibi, but plan to find some supper anyway, as it is 8:20pm... we might find him there!

Greetings, peace and love to all.
Enten, Phil and Louie