Church of the Brethren Sudan Initiative

As I write, the music is still blaring from the PA system from the US, celebrating our visit here to the Holy Trinity Peace Village, and even more celebrating the five weeks that Mara, a young woman from Switzerland, spend here working with mechanics. Mara will be flying out with us tomorrow morning, and they will greatly miss her and her hard work, repairing engines and other mechanical devices... a bit different than her studies in Mechanical Engineering, but great field training.

It is so late, and morning devotions will come early, that this entry will be short.

We worshiped this morning at a Catholic Mass, listening to (and joining sometimes) some beautiful harmonious singing. The priest called in was a Nigerian missionary priest. He spoke of the Good Samaritan, likening the story to their situation with Taposa and Turkana people - traditional enemies - with a Turkana being the Good Samaritan helping one of their tribe, the Taposa.

We left Lokichogio in the morning and arrived at Kuron on a charter - pictured at right. We were warmly met by Taposa people and others who were ready to unload the plane and accompany us to Holy Trinity Peace Village.

Today was mostly a travel and organizational day. We tried to meet with the Catholic ArchBishop of Juba this morning, but were not able to be received as he was too busy, so we left a note of greeting. We then packed, ate a quick lunch out of stores we had along, and got a lift to the airport to fly back to the UN base in Loki, Kenya, via a UN plane. (We are circling back into Kenya to be able to pick up a charter flight to the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron, Sudan... the only way to get there now, as the roads are washed out, is a charter flight).

Wow, what a day. We are in awe at the riches we have received, and shared wisdom and time given to us by the people here. We were especially gifted by Rev. Peter Tibi, the General Secretary of the united Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), who came after his meetings all day--meetings that are peace talks between the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army, rebels from Uganda, the most significant armed force causing problems in Southern Sudan and northern Uganda) and the government--and then drove us all around Juba. The time with him and the conversation, was incredibly valuable.

12:00 noon -- the previous entry was interrupted as we just got called away, as Rev Tibi came by... so we met with him, then got a lift to the SCC office, met with Tiberius (and ate a granola bar for breakfast that we grabbed as we left) and had phone calls with Anne in Nairobi to confirm tomorrow's flight, got dropped at Bishop Nathaniel's compound and met with him, then walked back to the Catholic compound and guest house.

Enten's personal reflections:

Last night was my first under mosquito netting, and I managed quite well. I am blessed to be able to adapt to various and extreme conditions better than some. Another downpour in the night... I wanted to go out and shower in the clean water--just put on a bathing suit and take a bar of soap. I may yet one of these times. I didn't hear the frogs after that time... but I was sleeping.

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. :-)

Well, today was a busy day, and we're jumping into the thick of it. We started after breakfast by trying to send messages, but had some sort of interference, and couldn't keep the satellite signal. So we packed up and went directly to the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) compound, and there met with Anne to plan as much of the trip, and do as much logistics, as possible.

I was very pleased at the support that my local church has shown for me, and I know that Phil and Louie also had a commissioning service at their church. Boy, we sure appreciate the prayers.

Even preparing for this whole trip has been so...African. So many details, most of which don't come together until... they finally come together, or we try Plan B. Here's a case in point: