Rockin' it in Rumbek

American Girl!

2010-03-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

Hello All! So, for about one month I've been back in America. I wasnt able to give a proper notice that I was leaving South Sudan, because 5 days before I was supposed to fly home, I discovered I had a bacterial gut infection. Those are no fun. Praise God I was finally able to hold down solid foods the night before my big 20hr flight home. When I got home, I was comepletely out of it for a good few weeks. I'm still trying to adjust to American life. So sadly, I'm no longer "Rockin' it in Rumbek". But I want to thank you all for all of your prayers and support.

It's In English!

2009-12-05T03:04:00.000-08:00

So, for quite a while my blog has been all in Arabic, and I have not been able to navigate it whatsover. However, I am now in Nairobi and hope to have some long over-due blogs up shortly :-)

So, I Basically Love Living in Africa.....

2009-02-07T01:26:00.000-08:00

So alot of people ask me "What's it like living in Africa? What is your typical day like?" And really, the only answer I can give is "There are no words to describe what it's like living in Africa, and you really don't know what each day holds." For example...

Yesterday (that is Friday), I rode my bike over to the Rumbek Youth Union in the morning to teach our Women's English class. That day, we learned very valuable vocabulary, such as vomit, diarrhea and so on. Afterwards the manager of the Youth Union persuaded me to stay for lunch, which ended up being green slimy stuff with chunks of "meat" (and meat is a relative term here). Praise the Lord, he is faithful and helped through lunch, and made me thankful that we were even able to have meat. So anyways, we finish lunch and I have green slimy stuff all on my fingers (because we don't use utensils here) so I walk over to the water bucket with a spicket to wash my hands. As I stood there waiting for my turn, a hawk come swooping down from behind and bites/claws (not too sure which one) my green slimy fingers thinking they were food!! I was terrified/amazed by the whole ordeal.

And that is why I love living in Africa. The End.

Women's Bible Study, Take Two

2009-01-21T02:44:00.000-08:00

So this morning we had our women’s bible study, and it was so exciting, I had to blog about it immediately. The past few weeks have been a little difficult when it came to bible study time, because our friend who has been translating for us has been M.I.A. So we have been trying to teach the ladies ourselves in Dinka the bible stories. While the ladies absolutely loved that we were trying to learn their language and wanted to teach them these stories, it was extremely challenging for them to learn from us. One lady, Mary Agum, is the pastor’s wife and has basically stepped up to be a tremendous leader in the bible study. So, Whitney and I prepared the story that we wanted to teach, translated it ourselves into Dinka, and then met with Mary Agum on Tuesday evening. Mary came with her husband, Maleth, who knows a little bit of English, and we taught her the story of Cain and Abel, so that she can teach the ladies the story in the morning. We showed up in the morning, and Mary had everything rolling! We thought she had already started telling the Cain and Abel story, but soon realized she had just finished reviewing over all the stories that we have learned to far to make sure everyone still knew them! She then proceeded to tell the story, and did so beautifully! Watching the ladies, I could see that they understood what she was saying, and were learning! She then made the ladies break up into three groups so they can tell the story among each other, and then later had one lady from each group tell the whole group the story of Cain and Abel! Praise the Lord! It was so good to see these ladies learning the word of God, discussing it, and teaching each other. Please continue to pray for these ladies, and that God continues to give them a desire to learn more about Him.

Women's Bible Study

2009-01-18T00:15:00.000-08:00

So I wrote this blog a month ago and just realized that I forgot to post it. oops, sorry about that. But like they say, better late the never aye?

So my teammate Whitney and I have started a women’s bible study at the small church that we’ve been attending. It has been so cool seeing how God’s hand is the one that is completely guiding this study. We were blown away the first day with a great group of ladies ready and excited to learn God’s word. Nothing went according to our plan, which was good because they were our plans not God’s. In the end, that first day many ladies heard about Jesus for the first time! Praise the Lord! One lady in particular, Rosa Rial, is seeking the Lord like crazy! It was amazing to see her wrestle with the Word of God and ask questions and desire to know more. So all in all, the first bible study was a big success, Praise the LORD!

The next bible study however, was more of a challenge. Our friend John Puot, a Dinka Baptist pastor that goes to the Rumbek Secondary School was not able to come to the bible study to help us translate. So Whitney and I prayed and prayed that God would provide a translator for us or grant us with the gift of tongues (specifically the Dinka tongue). So it was the night before the bible study, and there was no translator and it was my turn to teach the story. Looks like it’s gonna be the gifts of tongues.

So that night, I prepared to teach them the story of the woman who was bleeding for 12 years and was healed because in faith she reached out to touch Christ’s clothes…. In Dinka. Now although I have been in Sudan for about 8 months now, my Dinka is not quite up to the level of teaching. So Praise the LORD, for He is faithful. The ladies were able to tell the story back to me and to each other. It also really solidified our relationship with them.

Please be praying that God is stirring in their hearts and giving them a desire to worship Him only. And please also be praying that Whitney and I are constantly walking in His Spirit and seeking His guidance in how to lead His precious sheep so that He is glorified.

Ok, So I Hit a Cow

2008-12-09T03:53:00.001-08:00

So, about a week after I returned from my leave in Nairobi, Kenya my partner (in Sudan, not life) Jamie and I piled into our sweet land cruiser for a quick day trip to the village of Akot. Our mission was to seek the counsel of three Dinka Baptist pastors on the matter of our Christmas play. We were driving along, and all of a sudden we hit 9 am traffic. Now this kind of traffic is very different than the kind everywhere else. See, the Dinkas are big cattle people, pastoralists if you may, and figured “Hey, why don’t we drive our cattle on this nice big road every morning and every afternoon?” And so 9 am traffic and 5 pm traffic means trying to get through herds of 200+ cows. So we manage to get through 2 big herds of cattle and only had one last small one to go. As the last cow was following her fellow heifers out of the way, I almost gave a sigh of relief until that last cow decided, “Wait, I don’t want to follow my fellow heifers”. BAM!! The cow caught the corner of our vehicle.
We then spent the rest of the morning, and a good chunk of the afternoon, stuck in a police shack negotiating. Since cows are basically the currency here, I was in big trouble. The cow owner, began to demand $1,500 U.S. dollars for breaking two ribs of his cow. But, God is faithful, and sent our friend John who happens to be a Baptist pastor to help us.
At one point, I was stuck in the police shack by myself with about 7 Dinka policemen, and decided to practice my Dinka. After using about every Dinka word and phrase I could think of, I began to recite bible verses that I had memorized in Dinka. After messing up John 3:16, I brought out my Dinka New Testaments to say it correctly. One of the policemen then grabbed my bible, and started reading the rest of John chapter 3 to all the people in the shack! Praise the Lord!
The funny part of the story is that according to the policemen, the reason why I hit the cow was because I was “…Wearing the sunglasses, and so you could not see the cow in front of you. And that is why you hit the cow. You are a very bad girl” In the end, everything got sorted and we were finally able to go home.

Moral of the story: Don’t wear the sunglasses or else you might hit a cow.

Random Ponderings

2008-10-27T01:36:00.000-07:00

So the other day, I was trying to think deep thoughts and meditate as I sat outside on the beautiful, soft grass of Kenya. However, I kept getting distracted by this ridiculous bumble bee that was hanging around me, and when I say “hanging” I literally mean hanging. For some odd reason, this bee refused to use his wings and was maybe also blind. For a good fifteen minutes, I watched this bee crawl up blades of grass, run out of grass to crawl up, but still tried to get higher and higher, until he eventually fell back to the ground landing on his back with his feet fluttering as if he was surprised. After doing this more than a dozen times, I was astonished at how dense this bee was. Didn’t he realize that God gifted him with a pair of wings that can take him higher than any blade of grass could ever take him? And then it made me think of how many times I try to accomplish things completely by my own power while neglecting the gifts that God has given me. No matter how hard I try, I always look foolish grasping for the grass that is not there, when I could be flying through the sky. Just as that bee finally realized he could use his wings, please be praying that I also continue, or even begin, to use the gifts that God has blessed me with to do his work.

Safari it Up!

2008-10-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

So last week, the team came to Kenya for our R&R/prayer retreat time. So we girls decided it was time we took a safari! So we joined a missionary couple based in Kenya on this excursion. It was A-MAZING! We were constantly in awe of God's creation! Although they don't do the experience justice, here are some pictures from the trip.

Cattle Camp!

2008-09-17T11:50:00.001-07:00

So last Saturday, the team woke up way to early for a Saturday morning to pay a visit to a nearby cattle camp. Now in the Dinka culture, cattle is almost like their currency. There is a deep love in the heart of a Dinka man for his cattle. The way things are set up, is that there are special people from each family who are sent out to take care of the family's cattle, and they basically live with the cattle out in the bush, taking them way out for good grazing. At night time, they tie up all the cattle and set up camp in crudely constructed shelters. Life out at cattle camp is pretty rough, and usually the people from cattle camp are a little rough around the edges. On this particular morning, it was raining, so it was muddy and dungy. I laughed at myself when I was not horrified when multiple kids shook my hand with dung all on their hands. I think I've had quite a few dungy handshakes. So here are some pics from the adventure.

Check out those tassels!

Crudely constructed shelters that they sleep in

Maleth, the pastor of one of the Baptist churches, taking a picture with the cow Maleth

Me and my new friends!

Cute Cattle Camp Kids!

Hey, I was just standing there and this girl hands me the baby. Oh well, Kodak moment.

They cover themselves with the ashes of the dung fires to keep the mosquitos away at night

Divine Appointment in a Mud Sucking Death Trap

2008-09-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

So one morning, the girls and I were biking our way to school, same old same old. And there’s this one huge puddle that is kind of like the Greeter puddle that welcomes us to the beginning of the puddley path. Oddly enough, this puddle has also has a very narrow ledge on the side of it that is bordered by a chain linked fence (as opposed to a palm tree, see “Laura vs. Palm Tree” for more details). Every time I ride by that puddle, going and coming, I think to myself, “Man, one day I’m going to fall into that huge nasty looking puddle”. Well that lucky day had finally arrived. I was riding around the puddle, quite confident, and quite in control, when all of a sudden, I started to steer INTO THE PUDDLE! I don’t know why I did this, all I know is that I was knee deep into mud and still sinking. I also must add that a Four-Wheel Drive UN vehicle was also stuck in this same puddle, so it was more like a mud sucking death trap! Of course I had to take a second to laugh, because let’s just be honest, that was funny. So anyways, the guys in the UN vehicle crawl out of their window, on to the top of the car and to the back to help me get out of this mud trap of death. While one of the UN guys was helping me, the other, his name is Mark, was talking to my teammate Jennifer. Apparently, Mark is from a Baptist church out of Kenya, and knew we were here in Rumbek and said he has been praying for us! Talk about a divine appointment! Needless to say, we have a new friend. God is so good! And so funny! Only He could arrange for us to meet one of our prayer warriors by both of us getting stuck in the mud! Please pray that we continue to be daily led by the Spirit, even if it is into a nasty pit of mud.

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” –Proverbs 19:21

It's a Celebration!

2008-08-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, we were invited to a celebration at our language teacher's home. His 5th born daughter has become a lady, so they are having a celebration. This is like the girls rite of passage/coming out party, to let the world know she is available for marriage. This is the second celebration of this sort that we have been invited to in the last month. We arrive at the celebration with both excitement and curiosity and were received with warm welcomes. We were also pleasantly surprised to see the ladies we befriended who live on the path that we walk to school every morning.

As the ceremony began, there were lots of people, and lots of speeches. Then came the time for the young girls to dance, of whom the daughter was among. However, she had to be very serious, and approached with a veil over her head, while the other girls were singing and dancing with joy. The ladies then removed her veil symbolizing that she is now a woman and is available for marriage.

There was then more dancing, a feast to follow, and then more dancing after that. Anxious to get some good pictures of the dancing, I wandered closer to the ladies and young girls. However, before I knew it, I was completely surrounded by the entire throng of dancers, who were prodding me to bust a move. The phrase "Go Big, or Go Home" then popped in my head, as I tried to jump as high as my short mexican legs would allow.

All in all, it was a great experience of a traditional Dinka rite of passage. And just like Veronica Moses Mapuor is prepared for marriage, please pray that God is preparing the hearts of the Dinka people for marriage to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday's Church

2008-08-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

For the past few Sundays, we have been attending a small Dinka Baptist Church that is being started by one of my supervisor’s workers. This Sunday, however, one of the national men my supervisor has been training (whose name is actually Sunday) has started up a church about 10km from town and wanted us to come visit. Curious to see what state this new church is in, we journeyed to the small village of the new church plant.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the church near a cozy village set in the middle of a small clearing under a mango tree completely surrounded by green. I was in awe of the beauty and the tranquil setting. As in all things, when they say church starts at 8, it really starts at 930-10, so the missionaries were of course the first ones to arrive. But when those drums started beating, signifying church is starting, one by one people began to emerge from the bush ready for church. Surprisingly, there were a lot of young men in attendance (which is very rare), and they were not only there, but they were actively participating. Overall, the new church looks like it is off to a good start. They are receiving sound teaching from scripture and have a good group of believers who are hungry for the Word.

We left church this morning feeling encouraged, that national believers are reproducing healthy churches without being completely dependent on local missionaries or organizations! Praise God! Please pray that this church continues to grow spiritually strong, and also for Sunday, the pastor, that he will faithfully shepherd this small group of believers into becoming passionate followers of Christ who strive to become more and more like Christ.

These are pictures of us waiting for church to start.

Pictures!

2008-08-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted very many pictures. So here's a picture of my teammates and I at our first day of language school.

Left: Andres, Jennifer, me, Whitney, and Jamie

Please be praying that God is preparing the heart of a godly partner for our teammate Andres.

And here are some pictures of the path that we walk every morning to language school.

Our friend Mary pumping water at the well

Baby boy, rolling poop with a bottle.

Rejoice!

2008-07-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

So one morning I woke up, and I knew it was going to be a rough day. First off, I woke up way later than I intended to, and my partner Jamie (in Africa, not life) and I had to run out to our supervisor’s house (which is about 10 kilometers from town) before language school in the morning to pick up some sheet metal for the out-house they were building for us. And as I have said before, it always takes a lot longer to accomplish things here in Africa than they do in the states. Heading back on the bumpy roads, we had to stop twice to re-strap the extremely long sheet metal to the top of our land cruiser. Once we got into town, we soon saw that they were blocking all the roads going into the two traffic circles. I skillfully dodged the first one, but was not able to go through the second one. The traffic man stopped me and told me “You must turn around and go to the police station!” (now imagine this being said with a thick African accent which means r’s turn into d’s and p’s turn into f’s). Apparently, they decided that all the license plates need to have “SS” (Southern Sudan) instead of NS (New Sudan) on them. Knowing that going to the police station would take hours and lots of money, I spent 15 minutes trying to sweet talk my way into letting us pass through without going to the police station. Praise God, he finally let us go, laughing when we promise to drive our vehicle home and to walk to school (which we normally do anyways). As we were walking, I could feel the frustrations building up inside me, at that moment, it was very hard for me to love the Dinka people. And so the whole 45 minute walk to language school, I was praying for God to change my heart, and to help me love the Dinkas like how He loves me. When we were walking back home after language school, we stopped to greet a couple ladies at the well when all of a sudden, a herd of Dinka ladies come jogging/dancing/singing up to us surrounding us with their smiles and their joy. They were all wearing their best clothes, and looked like they were on their way to somewhere quite important. After chatting with them for a bit, they all assembled and started singing a song, and dancing! They were jumping up and down, doing chest thrusts and flapping their arms like they were wings, and I was LOVING IT! And I remember thinking “I am so glad I am right here, right now”, and then realized that God had answered my prayers. Please pray that I not allow satan to overwhelm me with these little frustrations but rather rejoice in in the God of our Salvation. And also pray that I not be alone in my rejoicing, that God is preparing the hearts of the future Dinka brothers and sisters to rejoice with us.

"Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth." -Psalm 67:3-4

Prepare for Launching

2008-07-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

So last week, my team and I had a refreshing break in the mountains of Kenya at our region’s sectional meeting. It was actually a lot like summer camp for missionaries, minus the whole meetings all day long. While there, I had the privilege to hang out with some of the coolest MK’s (Missionary Kids) ever. We would play games at night, such as ultimate spoons and capture the flag, and other games like touch rugby and ultimate Frisbee during the day. On the last night, I walked outside only to find the MK’s launching each other down a hill off of a giant inflatable football. I mean, these kids were flying through the air, and it was awesome!! I was amazed by the creativity of these MK’s to take something that is seemingly ordinary and actually useless, and turned it into something extraordinary, that launches them in the air, literally. And just like that inflatable ball, God has given each of us different gifts and passions or even random friendships with people that we may think are insignificant, but He intends to use them for extraordinary things, and to launch us in the ministry he has planned for us. Please pray that my team and I do not put limitations on what God can do, but rather allow Him to send us flying through the air.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” -Ephesians 3:20-21

(Below: Pic of the Capture the Flag Crew decked out in black with mud-war paint on our faces! Love these guys!)

Laura vs. The Palm Tree

2008-07-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

So here’s a funny story for you guys. After a full morning of language school, a couple of my teammates and I were biking home for some lunch. As we “cautiously” maneuvered around all the puddles and mud pits, we rode past a group of ladies I had met a few days earlier. So I smile and wave at them, and greet them in Dinka as I’m riding through….big mistake. I was suddenly forced to make a quick decision. Do I a.) splash through a huge puddle about as big as a car that I will probably get stuck in and plop over in the middle of it, or b.) try to go around it on an extremely narrow strip of dry ground that has a palm tree right on the edge of it (with a big palm obstructing the pathway). Neither of them seemed like very good ideas but in the end, I chose option B. I figured I was going pretty fast, and if I drop one shoulder and tuck my head down, I could just plow right through the cluster of palms like in football. Tragically, I was very, very wrong. Turns out the cluster of palms were more sturdy than I thought and it definitely clothes-lined me into the huge puddle I was trying to avoid. As I was laying in the middle of the mud puddle, I realized that so many times we get so wrapped up in what we are doing at that very moment that we forget about the big picture. And at that moment, all I was thinking about was I didn’t want to be late for lunch when really the sole reason for me to be here in Sudan is to build relationships with people to share the Gospel and disciple them. Sometimes, we need to be taken out by a palm tree to remember that bigger picture. Please pray that I not get distracted by my immediate tasks, but rather be completely guided by the Holy Spirit and seek his discernment.

Posts Coming Soon!

2008-07-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's taking so long for me to post things, but I'm working on! I'm learning that it takes alot longer to accomplish things in Africa than it does in America.