Peace

Good News... Great News! The election results are finally in (after an almost 10 day delay) and, for the most part peace has remained in Sudan!! Praise the Lord :) This means that we are going home! I fly in less than 12 hours out to Loki (northern Kenya) where I'll stay tomorrow night, and then early on Friday morning I'll be Sudan bound yet again! :) After 5 weeks in Nairobi (that I thought was going to be 2)... I am VERY anxious to get back and see all those that I love. My Mabaan Mom and Dad are supposed to be coming to Doro to see me (I'm sure they also have business in town... I don't think I'm THAT special), and I'm excited to see our guys that we worth with everyday at the clinic... so many friends that I have missed!! Now I just need to be patient until I can get out to Gasmala and grab an armload full of my kids :)

Thank you... TRULY, THANK YOU for praying for this country during this past month. I am thoroughly impressed with the whole election process (in spite of many allegations of fraud and mismanagement that have plastered media - African media, that is - I sorta doubt that the west has covered this much) I am thrilled and flabbergasted that the people in the little corner that I live in even got to vote... Until you've seen the enormity and remoteness of Sudan (particularly the South) I don't think one should say too much about how badly the process was... I am impressed, and stating it for the record :)

May the Peace of the Lord continue to spread throughout this country and beyond.

Elections - Prayer Needed

(this photo is of an SPLM party member who came to Gasmala one day promoting their local candidate and the party as a whole. They sat with the men for a while, then this man came over to the ladies group and sat to give them his speech about the candidate. Then he promptly turned the poster over and had each of the ladies - all of whom are illiterate and have never held a pen in their hands, really - practice making the check mark inside the circle so that they would know what to do on election day, and so that their vote would count. I was impressed with this effort and SO proud that even in a country who has gone through the turbulence that Sudan has... the Women are voting... Praise the Lord :)... oh, and that's my Mabaan Mom, Ama, practicing her vote :)

April 11th - 13th is election time all over South Sudan. Please people, on behalf of millions of people, and thousands of Believers, I ask you to be praying for Sudan during the next few weeks. As you can imagine there is great potential for insecurity and really, the future is unknown to all of us, but the Lord. We certainly hope for the best for this country, the people undoubtedly deserve a fair election with an outcome that will benefit everyone - from bush hut to city street.

My friends and family in Sudan have been praying diligently for their country for years... and I am ashamed to say that they assume the world wide Church is doing the same - but you and I both know that's not the case. The confusing politics of this country has made people lose interest long ago, I'm afraid. Even I myself have not been devoted to prayer as I should have been.

If you are willing, please join with me in praying and fasting for the country of Sudan and for her Believers - those who follow after Jesus Christ and claim Him as their Lord and Savior. These people have seen heart ache that I cannot understand, yet their Faith in the Lord and His Goodness remains.

I can't help but feel that we are standing on the edge of the ocean, watching the tide pull back off the shore, and are left wondering if it will return in a regular sized wave, or if one of gigantic tidal proportions is coming our way... even though we can't yet see it...

Please join us in praying for the Beloved people of Sudan.