O Come, All Ye Faithful

“City street lights, even stop lights, blink a bright red and green, as the shoppers rush home with their treasures. Hear the snow crunch. See the kids bunch. This is Santa’s big scene. And above all this bustle you’ll hear…”

This song reminds me of the Christmas preparation that Americans partake in each year. I can just imagine the scene: the malls are bustling with last-minute shoppers; the children are asking Santa for one more toy; lights twinkle in each neighborhood; Christmas music can be heard everywhere you turn; the house smells of cinnamon and nutmeg; neatly wrapped packages, both large and small, are gathered beneath a beautifully trimmed tree. People are also preparing menus for the big Christmas meal, making travel plans to visit family and friends, and wrapping those last minute gifts. Even here in Africa, people are preparing for Christmas in very similar ways. This Christmas the people of Ikotos are preparing to slaughter a goat for the big meal. The people of Torit are busy buying nice dresses, shirts, trousers, and shoes for the Christmas festivities. People all over Sudan are preparing for long journeys to visit family and friends. Even here in Loki, Kenya, we are preparing for a big missionary potluck. But what have we been preparing for?

A voice of one calling:

“In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”

(Isaiah 40:3)

This verse has come up four different times in my quiet times and church services this Christmas season. Although the voice of one calling applies to John the Baptist, the message is clear for all Christians: “prepare the way for the Lord!” I believe the prophet Isaiah is telling us to prepare our hearts to receive the greatest gift of all: Christ our Savior. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). What a wonderful gift! In response to that gift, the only thing God asks of us is to prepare our hearts and come. “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant; O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem; come and behold Him, born the King of angels: O come let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.” We just simply have to come; come adore the King of angels; come adore the baby born of Mary; come adore Christ, our Lord.

As you finish your Christmas preparations, my prayer is that you would also prepare your hearts to receive the greatest gift the world has ever been given. Please do not leave Christ out of your Christmas festivities but place Him at the center of them. I would encourage you to spend some time in prayer Christmas morning, attend a Christmas day/eve church service, or read through the scriptures of Jesus’ birth with your family. Praise the Lord for His glorious gift! May the Lord wrap you with His love this Christmas season. Merry Christmas to you all!

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
~Luke 2:11

Tents, Peace, and Women of Good News

The Home:
Part of the AIM missionary experience is living with an African family in order to get a feel for how Africans live, what their culture is really like, and also to established relationships. This experience is called a “home-stay”. During the first week of December I stayed in a tent at the home of Pastor Peter and Beatrice and their family. Peter and his family (Beatrice, their three girls, and Beatrice’s mother) live in the old parish house right next to the Africa Inland Church. The house was partially destroyed during the war so the family is only using two small rooms out of the whole house while Peter continues to make improvements on the other areas. Peter’s family is not the only one in the church compound. There are at least two other families that live on the compound and several young men that live somewhere close to, if not on, the compound. The families are constantly interacting with one another as if they are one big family. It is not unusual for there to be five or more people at Peter’s house in addition to the six that already live there.

Peace

The Family:
Peter and Beatrice have three beautiful little girls and they do an amazing job of parenting each one. In Africa, parents are not always available to really parent their children; to play, let alone interact, with their children. The mother is usually busy preparing meals, getting water, or doing whatever else. The father is usually working in town or in different countries for better pay, or unemployed and a drunk. I know that last scenario sounds really harsh but it’s actually very common in Sudan. Families are also so large that the children rarely get individualized attention. But these things are not the case for Peter and Beatrice. They, too, are busy with the daily chores of life but they make it a point to show their children attention. Their parenting shows in each of their child’s development. Their eldest daughter, Amama, is an intelligent girl of about six- or seven-years and very much like her father. She is a natural leader and it shows in her composure and interaction with other children. She also has a side of her mother in her because she is already a very helpful, hospitable girl. The first morning I was there she brought me some water so that I could wash my hands before taking tea. Peace is about three- or four-years and very stubborn. For such a young girl, she is already very strong-willed. She knows exactly what she wants. But she is also a very happy child and just loves to play. When I was there she would climb up on my lap and play with my watch or the hair tie on my wrist. She also loves playing with buttons or zippers. It doesn’t really take much to entertain Peace. Linda Hope is only a few months old but she is so alert. She has huge brown eyes and a sweet smile. She laughs frequently at the littlest things. She is very laid-back and I can’t even remember her ever crying while I was there except for when she was hungry.

The Experience:
I would spend the early mornings, late afternoons, and evenings with Peter and Beatrice. In the mornings I would get up and get ready before leaving my tent. I would then try to help Beatrice with breakfast but normally she wouldn’t let me help so I just watched. I watched her make mandazis the first morning I was there. A mandazi is kind of like a triangular donut. I usually took tea and mandazis with Peter and few of the other men. I never had breakfast with Beatrice and her mother since I was a guest. In the African culture, the women usually eat after the men or away from the men. Rarely do they eat in the company of one another. After breakfast I would spend my day either at the hospital or the pre-school. Later in the day after my work, I would go back to the Byler’s house just to get away and have some alone time or do some computer work. Here in Sudan, it seems you are constantly surrounded by people, especially when you live in a setting like Peter and Beatrice.

The Women of Good News

I usually made my way back to the church compound around four or five. As soon as I’d get there I would have dinner with Peter. We would talk about our days and he would teach me some Arabic. Luckily during these times it was still light enough that I could write these things down. I would play with Amama and Peace after dinner up until bath time. Right before bed, we all gathered together outside under the stars and had a nightly devotional. Usually this gathering consisted of Peter’s family, me, and some of the young boys/men in the church compound. Peter led the devotional in Arabic so that the children would understand. Daniel, a young man from the church, would translate for me. We started the devotional in song and prayer then someone would give a mini-sermon (I gave one the third night I was there). We ended in prayer and usually another song. I loved that this time was set aside every night for the entire family to gather and worship God. Not only is it a great example to their children but it’s a great example to those in the church compound. The nightly devotionals were probably my favorite part of my time with Peter’s family.

At the end of the week there was a women’s retreat for the AIC Women of Good News. These women traveled to Torit from all over South Sudan to attend this 3-day retreat. I knew that the retreat was going to take place but I don’t think I realized just how many women would be participating or where they were going to be staying. When I returned to the compound that Wednesday evening, I saw that there were many women and children there. It was then that I realized that these women were attending the retreat and they would be staying at the church compound. A few of the women and children stayed in tents in front of Peter’s house but the rest of the women slept on tarps on the church floor. Thursday evening brought even more women and children, along with an even more overwhelming atmosphere for me. At first it was just awkward being the only “girl” surrounded by “women”. In Sudan, you are still considered a “girl” until you are married. After a while some of the women began including me in their conversation which was slightly difficult since very few of them spoke English. Some of the women didn’t even speak Arabic, only their mother tongue (mainly Acholi or Lotuko). Sometimes it was very difficult to even find a common ground. Devotionals started later than usual that night, but shortly after they were finished I went to bed. I didn’t realize how exhausting it can be to be constantly around people. As soon as I got into my tent, the women began singing. At first it was really neat because they were singing Christmas hymns in Arabic. As the night wore on the songs got louder and they began dancing. The women were performing their shrills (just a high-pitch shrill noise), laughing, singing and dancing. The music went on well into the night. Although sleep was hard to come by that night, it was so amazing to hear the women worshiping God under the stars with their sisters.

Angelina and Bianca

My home-stay was very short and ended quite abruptly due to the women’s retreat. I would have stayed longer but I know that with all the women around I would have been overwhelmed the remainder of my stay. I also wasn’t able to see the family interacting as they normally do since Beatrice’s duties had shifted while the Women of Good News were there. I am thankful that God provided me with the opportunity to stay with Peter and his family even if it was only a short time. I am looking forward to spending more time with that family in the future: chatting with Peter over tea, learning Arabic from Beatrice, and playing with the girls.

Peace and Amama

The Wounded and the Lost

I want to share with everyone two experiences I've had in the past few weeks and offer up some prayer requests. (To those of you on my email support list, I have already sent this same text to you in my last email update.)

First, when Meghan (the short-term missionary in Ikotos) was still with us over the Thanksgiving holiday, she joined me at the HIV/AIDS center at the hospital to see how their counseling and testing process went. After a while, she asked if we could get a tour of the hospital which was a great opportunity for me as well since I hadn’t gotten a tour myself. One of the counselors in the center showed us all throughout the hospital. (Just to give you an idea of what the hospital looks like: it is an open compound with several different buildings designated to certain focuses like surgery, maternity, outpatient, etc.) The most noted ward of the tour was the children’s ward. I was not prepared for what I witnessed when I stepped foot into this building. The rooms will full of beds with screens between the beds for privacy and there were only a hand full of children in the ward, all of whom could not be older than 3 years. One child was there due to malnutrition. When she was brought in they hooked her up to an IV but the catheter was not inserted properly and it somehow caused a rupture on the side of her head. As a result, she has a large opening on her head where the skin has not, and may never, grow back. She was sitting on the bed eating porridge but she looked so frail. Her arms and legs were so shrunken from the lack of nourishment. She was not much older than 1 or 2 years. Another child was in because of severe burns from a house fire. This child had burns all over her face and torso. Her hands were so severely burnt that the bones in her fingers were barely there. It took so much energy for me to not break down in the middle of the ward. My heart just broke for these children. You can read about these things in magazines and see them on television but you do not really understand scenes like this until you are standing right in the middle of them. To those of you who are doctors and nurses, I have so much respect for you because I know that I could never do what you do. Thank you! I would ask you all to lift these children up in your prayers. Pray for their healing and pray that they would experience love from a parent, sibling, doctor, or anyone. So often, children with defects like these are abandoned because parents just do not know how to care for them.

Second, this past Saturday (December 1) Torit and places all over the world celebrated World AIDS Day. I was also part of this celebration. The HIV/AIDS center set up a clinic in the middle of the town close to the festivities and we had close to 200 people come out to be tested. Another girl and I were in charge of filling out forms for people and then sending them to counselors for the counseling session and test. The forms consist of questions like age, sex, marital status, place of residence, had they been tested before, etc. I filled out 87 forms alone. The goal of the day was to create awareness about HIV and AIDS and to encourage people to get tested to find out their status. We were successful in our goal! Praise God! There was one thing, however, that did bother me during the day that I didn’t realize until I got home. When I had to ask about a man’s marital status and they said they were married, I also had to ask how many wives they had. Not only did I ask this but I asked it so nonchalantly. Now, Torit does have a very high Muslim population so it is not uncommon for a man to have more than one wife. But there are also many men here that claim to be Christians and they, too, have taken more than one wife. The day after the celebration I spent the morning in the Word. I am currently going through Jeremiah and I was reading through Chapter 4. God is telling Jeremiah of the disaster He will send to Israel from the north because Israel has denied God. Israel has committed sins against God, so much so, that they have brought this disaster on themselves. I then came to the part of the chapter where Jeremiah openly shares his anguish for his people:

“Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment. How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?” (Jeremiah 4:19-21)

When I read this, I could understand the pain Jeremiah was feeling because I felt the same for Torit. There are so many people here that are just lost. There are many who are drunk by the middle of the day. Teachers will show up in the schools in the afternoon drunk. Sexual immorality is everywhere. There are many mentally-disturbed people who wander through the streets terrorizing people. My heart aches for these people because they do not know the Lord. They do not know peace or love because they do not know their Savior. But this is not only so in Torit but it is all over the Sudan. Hatred has brought war and pain. Even though the war is over, hatred still exists. I ask that you would pray that God would move through this community as well as the rest of Sudan. Pray for peace to come between the north and the south. Pray that the people here in Torit would see that their lives are of the world and not of God. Pray that all of the missionaries in South Sudan would be a light to the people and that God would use us to pour forth His love and truth.

A Sudanese Thanksgiving

Matt, Johnston, Me and Meghan

Saturday, November 24, we celebrated Thanksgiving with several friends from Torit. But before I can dive into the meal I must tell you of our preparations.

To Americans, the Friday after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. This is when it seems the entire country gets up before the sun rises to get to the shopping centers for the big sales. Well, Meghan and I did some shopping on Black Friday: Sudanese style. We left for the market mid-morning and shopped around for a few clothing items before purchasing food for the Thanksgiving meal. In addition to the African gumaas (dresses) we both found, we also purchased things like cabbage, eggs, onions, papaya, bread, egg plant, and other foods. Not entirely like an American Black Friday, but shopping none-the-less.

Our Monkey Friend

Saturday morning, Meghan and I hung Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music. Linda and I started the food preparation while Meghan organized the house a bit and set up Thanksgiving-like decorations. I was pretty much in charge of the baking. I made pumpkin bread (this was the closest we were going to get to a pumpkin pie – and yes, Sudan has pumpkin but they are green instead of orange). Since we don’t have an oven everything has to be cooked on top of a gas stove. There is a pan called an Egyptian oven that is very similar to a bunt pan with a lid. You set this oven on top of a fluted metal piece that sets on top of a stove burner so that heat can move through the middle of the pan as well as around the outside of the pan. This is what I used to bake the bread. I also made a chocolate cake. We had some cocoa and Meghan’s home church sent her a can of chocolate icing and some chocolate sprinkles along with some other things in a care package. I also had some chocolate squares so I was able to make a chocolate, chocolate cake!

We also prepared beef in a brown sauce, cabbage salad with carrots, tomatoes and onions, bread and Sudanese cakes (like corn bread), rice, pumpkin leaves in peanut sauce, homemade stuffing, and boiled sweet potatoes. Our dessert table consisted of chocolate cake, pumpkin bread, papaya, and, of course, tea. After all the food was prepared we also prepared for the celebration. Linda, Lyn, Meghan and I all wore African gumaas.

Meghan and Linda Hope

Later that afternoon our guests started to arrive. There were eleven of our African friends that came, making us 18 in total. While we were waiting for everyone to come we set out large pieces of paper and markers for people to draw the things that they were thankful for. Afterwards we gathered together to share each of our things. It was so neat to see the various things that everyone was thankful for!

After Phil blessed the food, everyone dug in. Most of the foods that we had were African-style foods so no one had any problems finding something to eat. When it was time for dessert I was anticipating none of the Africans to take much, if any, of the chocolate cake because they tend to not like very sweet foods (even though they put five heaping spoonfuls of sugar into their tea!). However, I believe almost everyone tried a piece because the cake was almost gone by the end of the night. After our dessert and tea we spent some time singing and then Phil gave a mini sermon on giving thanks referencing 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. We ended the evening in prayer and everyone went on their way. It was definitely a different Thanksgiving than I’d ever had but I was still surrounded by a family of believers.

Me and Melesh

Ikotos

First, Happy Thanksgiving!!

After being in Torit for only a shorttime, Linda, Matthew and I traveled to the little town of Ikotos. Ikotos is only a short 20 minute flight southeast of Torit. Meghan

Baird is a short-termer there teaching in the secondary school. She lives on the AIC compound with Jordan and Andrea Scotland (AIM leaders in Ikotos), but they are home in Canada for the Christmas holiday. Since Meghan was by herself we went up to encourage her and to get a feel for Ikotos.

Meghan and Wanii

Ikotos is a beautiful little town located near the Imotong Mountains (highest point in Sudan). It’s a little less civilized than Torit, meaning that there are more people who live in the “bush”. (The bush is basically people living in tucles, or mud huts, away from the actual town. There is not much running water, so water must be carried by bike, wheelbarrow, or atop heads from the bore-holes.) The people in Ikotos are very friendly; even friendlier than in Torit. It was hard to walk through the market and not shake at least 50 peoples’ hands.

Imotong Mountains

When we got to Ikotos, Meghan greeted us and immediately took us to the catholic diocese for a workshop she was attending. She was attending a peace-building worship along with several representatives from towns all over South Sudan. There was actually a gentleman there from EMU who was helping with the workshop (small world!). We hung out there and we got the chance to meet with Tobiolo (the pastor of the AIC church in Ikotos). That night we had fun just hanging out at the Scotland’s compound getting to know Meghan. And actually Meghan and I had to share a bed and ended up talking until almost 2am that night. I forgot how much I missed girly time! Meghan is from a little town in Maryland and she attended WVU for her second undergrad. When she finishes her year in Ikotos (September), she’ll return to WVU for her masters in counseling.

Saturday we had to go to the SPLA office to basically sign in with the local government and verify that we were legal to be in Sudan. After a little interrogation (nothing major), Tobiolo took us back to his compound and we just sat and talked for several hours. Toby told us about the LRA attacks on Ikotos and showed us pictures as well. The LRA attacked Ikotos in 2005, killing hundreds of people and leaving even more homeless or without families. It was really sad to listen to these stories and even scarier to know that these awful things took place only two years ago.

Sunday, Meghan and I got up really early and hiked up to the top of this little hill where the Catholic Church was located to watch the sun rise. It was beautiful! When we got back we attended the AIC church and it was so small! There were so many children in the church and they all love to sing! We had the chance to listen to the youth, children, and the Women of Good News all sing. It was so wonderful! After church, Linda, Meghan and I spent some time baking. The Scotlands have a charcoal oven and we don’t have one in Torit, so we took advantage of this! We made bread, peach cobbler (Meghan actually had canned peaches!), chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and granola. It was so much fun to be in the kitchen baking! The woman that Meghan did her home-stay with, Agness, was celebrating her birthday that Monday, but since Meghan had to be at school Monday, we visited her that afternoon with the peace cobbler. Agness is just a young girl, perhaps 20, but she already has two children. She was so sweet! When we got there she served chipatis (a cross between a pancake and a flour tortilla, but more bread-like…ok that probably doesn’t make sense but that’s the only way for me to describe it!) and we served her the peach cobbler.

Meghan's Tukul

Monday was kind of a rough day for me. I was fighting a cold and it just got worse throughout the morning, so I stayed behind while everyone else went to the school. I was feeling a little better when they got back and had to help Meghan and Linda to type up some exams for the teachers at school. Since Meghan is American they have come to her with a lot of their typing needs. She was really thankful that Linda and I were there to help her. Later that afternoon Meghan, Matthew, and I went into the market to do some shopping. The market isn’t as big has Torit but things are a little cheaper in Ikotos.

Tuesday, Meghan and I spent a lot of time copying exams and then went to the school. It’s actually a pretty big school and the primary school is close by. Since primary is bigger, they use some of the secondary classrooms. After introducing me to the teachers, Meghan introduced me to some of her students. Since they were in the middle of their exams we didn’t stay much longer. Later that evening Linda and I hiked up to the same little hill to watch the sun set over the Imotong Mountains. It was so beautiful!

Wednesday, was so busy because we were preparing for Phil to come to Ikotos with a group from Open Doors (this is a Christian organization but I’m not entirely clear about what they do). Meghan, Matthew and I went down to the school to wait for the plane to come in while Linda stayed behind with the Women of Good News to help fix lunch. The group from Open Doors was suppose to come to both of the schools to see how they were doing (I guess they have been supporting these schools) and then we were to have lunch at the AIC compound. Well the plane showed up 2 hours late so when they finally got there, they had to rush to the SPLA office to “check in”, stopped by the primary school, and then finally got to the secondary school. After a few songs and introduction of teachers we traveled back to the AIC compound for lunch. We ate a rushed lunch because we had to meet the plane leaving for Torit. Meghan came back to Torit with us so she could celebrate Thanksgiving with Americans. The Open Doors group was only able to stay in Torit for 45 minutes before they had to board the plane again for Loki. We had such a full day but it was so good to be back in Torit. I think I could definitely stay in Ikotos but God has plans for me in Torit.

I will have to post another blog entry after we celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend to let you know how Americans in Africa celebrate this holiday!

The First Days in Torit

I’m finally in Torit and it has been just a complete change from the States to Kampala to Torit. Linda, Matthew, and I landed in Torit on Thursday (Nov. 8) in this 4-seater plane. We were greeted by Phil (Linda’s husband) and a wheelbarrow (for the luggage). Their house is located right beside the dirt airstrip so we didn’t have far to go. The house is large (4 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, dining area/living area, den, and veranda). The Bylers are currently sharing the house with Russ and Lyn Noble (more AIMers), who are in the process of building a house at the church compound. So, there are 6 of us staying in the house along with the Noble’s cat, Pussywillow, and a number of large lizards (although they just stay outside).

Torit is a rather large town, not a city by any means, but there is a large community here. There are many people who live in town around the main street but also many who live in villages (or suburbs) on the outskirts of the town. The roads are all dirt with many deep trenches in the middle of them. It has been relatively rainy here, so the roads are still muddy in places. (The rainy season should be over but it’s rained just about every day that I’ve been here). There are mountains off in the distance that practically surround Torit and they are beautiful. It’s rather hot during the day but it’s still relatively cool compared to what the temperatures are like during the dry season, which we are fast approaching.

Our first day here (Thursday), Phil took us into town to get our Torit passes (basically a 6-month visa). This process was rather a funny experience that I will have to share at another time. We also visited the Africa Inland Church (AIC) where we were greeted by all the children at the pre-school there. There are children everywhere in Torit! And almost all of them greet you saying “Morning!” no matter what time of day!

Friday, Linda and Phil took Matthew and I back into town. We stopped at the hospital so that I could meet some of the HIV/AIDS counselors who I will be working with. Afterwards, we split up. Phil took Matthew to meet with the Minister of Education to talk about the plans for Matthew teaching in the secondary school. Linda took me to the AIC church to meet with the pre-school teachers. I met with Charles (head teacher, I guess) and his assistant, Rogers (I think) and talked with them for a while. The pre-school consists of children ages 3-10. However, there are only two separate classes: 3- and 4-year-olds and 5- to 10-year-olds. Charles took me to the youngest class and they were just sitting, unaccompanied, under this tent. They greeted me with song and Charles introduced me. He then took me into the church for the second class, where they also greeted me with song. After talking some time with both Charles and Rogers I found out that they would like me to teach math (all I can do is laugh…some of you understand!) and English. I was somewhat frustrated when I left a little later. There are only two teachers (Charles and Rogers…both of whom sat with me in the office practically the whole time I was there) and there is just no organization. It’s frustrating because I just don’t know how many of these children are getting any form of education. I’ve been talking to Linda and Lyn and I have some ideas about how to teach. We’ve also come up with a schedule for me so that I’m in control of what I’m teaching and not loaded down with all the teaching.

Saturday was a down day because it was so rainy and I was just not feeling too great. My body was and still is adjusting to a new environment and new food. Meals are different here. The big meal is during lunch, breakfast is kind of on your own, and dinner is not much more than bread and tea. We eat a lot of bread here and not a lot of meat. Meat is available it’s just a little difficult to get a good cut of meat. There isn’t a lot of fruit in this area. We do have some oranges (which are actually green) and bananas from time to time. We have lots of veggies. There are several different vegetables that are grown on our compound. However, we have problems with the monkeys stealing our vegetables. Apparently, one of the monkeys walked in the back door and took a carrot right from our kitchen (they don’t grow carrots in the area, so Lyn was a little upset to see that get taken!). (There are about 4-5 monkeys that belong to the ministry of environmental wildlife just up the road from our house. They are more of a nuisance than anything else!)

Sunday, we attended church at AIC. The service was about 3 hours long but it really didn’t feel that long. Half of the service was in Juba Arabic and half in English. Russ preached and one of the pastors, Johnson, interpreted. After the service we walked out singing and then made a line right outside the door that wrapped around in front of the church. This was a greeting line. This way everyone could greet one another and shake hands. Africans like to shake hands!

Monday, I went to the HIV/AIDS clinic and met with one of the counselors, Richard. This was such a great experience! Richard walked me through their procedures at the clinic when they’re in a counseling session, showed me how they give the HIV tests, and explained about the different tests (there are 3) and how they counsel. I was even able to sit in on one of the counseling sessions with this young couple. They were to be married and just wanted to be sure of their status. Richard asked the couple what they knew about HIV and gave them the chance to share their knowledge on the subject before he filled in the gaps. He even told them that the clinic promotes abstinence for all people not married and once inside marriage, to be faithful to their partner. This was very encouraging to see. After we gave the tests, we asked a few more questions while we waited for the results. The tests themselves are the same idea of a pregnancy test: 1 line meant that it was negative and 2 lines meant that it was positive. If this test turned out to be positive then we would administer two other HIV tests to make sure of the final results. These two tests had very good results. This was such a positive day and I’m so excited about being able to help out at the clinic.

There was so much that I was uncertain about coming into Torit concerning my ministry. But it seems that God is laying the ground work before me and my ministry is starting to take form. Praise God!!

Learning the Language

Today was the first day of the LAMP course (language acquisition made practical). Now before I get into my day I need to share with you the people that I am taking this course with. Our facilitator is Linda Byler one of my team leaders in South Sudan. There are 6 of us Americans: me, Joelle (a girl from upstate NY who is working in Kampala for 7 months), Matthew (a guy from Lincoln, Nebraska who is working with me in Torit), Jin (a guy from PA, I think, who will be working Kampala), and Mike and Susan (a couple from Mississippi). There are also 3 girls from Germany: Rahel and Sabrina (who are working in Aurora, Uganda) and Miriam (who is working in Gulu, Uganda). There is a girl from Ireland, Louise, who is working in northeastern Uganda. There is also a couple (Nigel and Rowena from the UK) who will be taking over the Matoke Inn sometime in January. Ok, now that you know of everyone…we started the day with prayer and testimonies. Each of us will be sharing our testimonies throughout the next 5 days. Joelle and I shared this morning. Afterwards, we met in the AIM office to watch a few videos on language learning. We are approaching learning the language in a slightly different way. We are taking it beyond the classroom. We will not be allowed to take notes but will need to just listen. We will also learn through interacting with the people and asking them for help. Oh, and I will be initially learning Ugandan and when I get to Sudan I will learn Juba Arabic (It may not really make sense that I’m learning Ugandan first but I’m actually learning how to go about learning a language so that I can apply the techniques when I get to Sudan.)

After our morning session and lunch, we partnered up and went into the villages outside of Kampala to interact with the people. Our task was to listen to and watch the peoples’ interactions with one another and to interact with them ourselves. Our goal was to learn a little of the language. I partnered with Susan and we went into the village of Zzana. We needed to buy some fruit for someone at the inn, so our first interaction was with a woman vending on the side of the road. After buying some pineapple and tomatoes from her, we asked her how to say “thank you”. We were then approached by a man named Julius who helped us with a few more phrases. We talked to several other people and the reception was just so amazing. They were thrilled that we wanted to learn their language. We would go back and forth listening to phrases and repeating after them. They were incredibly patient and laughed with us when we couldn’t say something properly. After an hour we returned to the inn to meet with our individual language partners. During this time we met one-on-one to learn key phrases. We would be recording them on recording devices so that we could practice later on our own time. The phrases we learned today were a greeting for the afternoon, a response to that greeting, a formal goodbye, and thank you. My partner is a Ugandan girl named Doreen. She is 22 and has just finished school. Her older sister works in the AIM office here. She is a very sweet girl and very patient with me. The language is definitely challenging and I get tongue-tied quite often. So a major prayer request right now would be that I would continue to learn the language and apply this new technique of learning so that I may be able to use it in the future. This is what the next few days of our LAMP course will look like.

Experiencing Kampala

Just to prep you, this will be fairly long...Today I experienced Kampala. A Ugandan girl named Jessica would be my tour guide. In order to get to the main road we had to take a boda (public motor bike). I’ve never been on a motorized bike so it was very different. I did enjoy it though. Once we got to the main road, we hopped in a Matatu (public taxi – a van that they squeeze as many people as they can in). It was very warm with all the people. And I was the only white person in the van. As we got into the city we seemed to be stuck in traffic, so Jessica said that we would get out right here. (I found out later that we were actually at a taxi stop…it’s completely chaotic to me but apparently there is some kind of organization.) Jessica paid 1000 shillings for each of us (about 59 cents) and we were on our way. Once we were out of the taxi, we walked past open produce markets and I noticed that people kept calling something out to me. Jessica told me that the word is Mzungu, which means white person (they mean no offense by it). I passed one guy and he called out “Mzungu, marry me!” This happens to young white women and you just have to ignore it. Jessica then took me into ShopRite which is a larger supermarket and it actually remains me of an American grocery store. Afterwards, we continued to walk through the streets but whenever we needed to cross the streets, Jessica would hold my hand. This was weird to me but I started to notice that whenever there were two or more people crossing the street they would hold hands. This is because pedestrians don’t have the right away and the bodas don’t normally stop for pedestrians. We walked on to the post office (which is huge) and then found the ATM so they I could take money out in Ugandan shillings (1700 shillings = $1 US). Jessica then took me to some shops where they sell Ugandan-made crafts. There was so much variety and everything was beautifully crafted. By about this time it was close to noon and getting very hot. With so many people and no breeze it does tend to get fairly warm. Jessica then took me to Bible House for lunch. Bible House is a place where Bibles come in and are distributed throughout the city and surrounding areas. And, obviously since we were there, they also serve lunch. This was my first real experience with traditional Ugandan food. They served matoke (cross between banana and plantain that is boiled then mashed), rice, beef in a sauce, a peanut sauce (it’s purple because they keep the red shell on it while it is cooking), a rolled-up piece of flat bread, stewed greens (not really sure what type of greens but it was bitter), sweet potatoes (not nearly as sweet as American), and passion fruit juice. Ugandans traditionally eat quite a bit but this was just too much. I did my best to eat everything on my plate (it’s disrespectful if you don’t) but when I’m really hot I just can’t eat very much.

After lunch we walked past several schools. It seemed that all the schools were located in the same area. All the children were in different uniforms depending on which school they were at. After walking for a bit we ended up in this place where there were so many taxis. I had no clue where we were or what we were doing. Jessica kept weaving us in and around all these taxis until we finally got into one. I found out later that this was a taxi park and you have to find the right taxi going your way (they have signs posted above where they are parked) because they have assigned routes that only take you to that place. We waited for a while in the back of a very hot van as venders came around to all the vans to sell everything from bottled water and packaged cookies to cell phone cases and handkerchiefs. After we got out of the city and to our destination, we hopped back onto the bodas and rode to the Matoke Inn. I was very hot and very tired when I got back but I was able to have a fairly relaxing evening. It was such an exciting day.

Departing for Africa

Well, I depart early this morning with my sis and Rachel. I'm getting a little emotional and know that I will miss my family so much (Abby and Midnight included). Packing was stressful. Jo and I packed and repacked everything at least 3 times but the bags are finally zipped and ready to go.

We travel to New York today to the Africa Inland Mission Office where we will stay until my departure Thursday evening at 6:30. I will go through a 1-day orientation on Wednesday then Jo and Rachel will send me off Thursday. I travel to London, have a long layover (15hrs), then finally to Entebbe, Uganda. I will be picked up at the airport and taken to the Matoke Inn where I will stay for a couple of weeks. While I'm in the Kampala area (Uganda), I will be continuing orientation and taking a language course to learn a little of Juba Arabic. On November 8, I fly over with my team leaders to Torit.

God has given me such an amazing opportunity and He has provided for me greatly in the past couple of months. I trust Him now to lead me into unknown territory and continue to do great things! My next post will come from Africa!! Hurray!!