July 2009

Meet Some New Sudanese Christians!

From Captivity to Freedom

Merriam Lakot Akoi and her son Joseph were locked in their house by the Ugandan rebel group (LRA) during the war between the SPLA and the Sudan Armed forces. The husband was away from home.

The rebels waited for him in vain and finally went away leaving Merriam and her young son Joseph in the house with the door padlocked. Only when the husband finally came back did he find his family locked inside the house! Now Merriam and her son have accepted the Lord and been baptized. Their story will be continued….

Materialism Not a Problem in South Sudan

Here is another couple who have just returned from a refugee camp in Uganda.They have been attending Bible studies and are also now ready to be baptized.

As you look at these pictures, you will notice that the clothes they are wearing aren't very fancy. You can also tell by looking at the background of the pictures that their possessions are few. This is common. The reason for their poverty is that they have recently been returned from a refugee camp where they lived for perhaps more than 20 years.When they were brought back to their home country of Sudan in the back of a UN truck, the only possessions they were able
to bring with them were what they could carry in a plastic bag. So now they are starting over from scratch.

They are very happy to be back in their homeland and among their relatives and friends, however.With a little time, they will improve their life's situation and will have cooking utensils, chairs, better clothes,etc.

Would All You Own Fit in One Plastic Bag?

During the great Sudanese civil war that lasted approximately 20 years, about two million people in South Sudan were displaced. Thousands upon thousands were given refuge in camps in neighboring countries.
These refugee camps were administered by the UN, which also supplied each family with very small allotments of food--just enough to keep them from starving to death. Most of those refugee camps are being closed this year,andall the refugees are gradually being repatriated to their former home areas in South Sudan.

In these pictures, you can see how they are returned. They are transported in the backs of large trucks. Each refugee can take home whatever he or she can carry in a plasticbag.
The UN also gives them some corn to eat which will sustain them for a short time. When that is used up,they are on their own. They have no way to feed themselves because they have no tools to prepare the ground or seeds to plant to grow food.

So Much From So Little
Pictured here is a proud farmer. He received the seeds for this cornfield through the assistance provided by Healing Hands International of Nashville, TN. When this picture was taken, he had already harvested one corn crop and used seeds from that harvest to plant this one. Through the help of Healing Hands International, about 1,050 families received seed and farming tools and now have sufficient food to survive.

Refugees like this man have returned by the hundreds of truckloads this year, and they are all going to need tools and seeds to feed themselves and their families. If this help is not furnished by people like us who have been blessed with plenty, these people will soon be starving to death.
We are soon going to be called upon by our brethren in the churches in Sudan to either help provide tools and seeds to these people or to later provide famine relief for their starving children. The best choice, of course, is to get them seed and tools to feed themselves. We all know the truth in the old saying, “Give a man a fish, and he can eat that day; but teach him to fish,and he can feed himself for the rest of his life.”

Baptisms Continue!

Sometimes communication is difficult among the churches in South Sudan because most of them do not have even the simple methods of communication such as postal service, telephones and e-mail.
These luxuries were all destroyed during the long civil war and have not been rebuilt.
But bits and pieces of exciting news come through occasionally.
For example, Andrew, one of the preachers in Magwi, reports six baptisms on a recent Sunday. How long has it been since six were baptized on a Sunday in any of our congregations?
Attendance has also picked up in the Pajok and Pogee congregations because the UNHCR (the UN refugee relief agency) has recently brought in over 30 truck loads of refugees to those
places. So both the fields and the harvest are growing!

An Enormous Thank You!