Mission in Sudan

Referendum Update

2010-11-14T11:20:00.002Z

The registration period for the January vote began on the 15th of November and will last for 2 weeks - probably longer since the first problems have already been reported. It seems that a big migration has started now: Southerners are coming down from Khartoum and the Arab traders in town are packing up to go to Khartoum. The general feeling is that it is not safe for either of them to be in the other's territory come January. There was a shootout in the army camp on the outskirts of Melut last Monday night, which made people very nervous. The reaction of one of our staff members was telling: she was in the market when she heard gunshots. She ran home immediately and found her five children hiding under the bed, praying. So far, however, the security situation is acceptable in Sudan with only intermittent reports of violence and we praise God for that. Things at college are going really well, and I am following my normal teaching routine and work in the library.

Armadillo Security Training

I've had a lot of fun and learned loads last week at the Armadillo Security Training arranged through Medair, our neighbour here in Melut. It was a 3-day training in which we talked about all the (in)security issues that might come up in a place like Sudan, e.g. how to behave at checkpoints with armed soldiers, when caught in gunfire or when ambushed. This became more poignant with the recent shootout in town. The pictures are from the practical sessions when we enacted security scenarios.

Home Assignment

I will be coming to England on teh 28th of January. I will spend 5 weeks in England after which I will be travelling to Germany in March to see my family and my German supporters. I very much look forward to seeing you all at home :-)!

The 2nd Semester

2010-10-05T11:59:00.005Z

The 2nd semester commenced well, and we are now 5 weeks into the term. I am teaching a course called Introduction to Pastoral Ministry and one on Bible Memorisation, in which we look at techniques for preparing bible studies in an illiterate culture. In addition to my teaching schedule, I have now officially taken up the role as the college librarian. We moved the library to the main building a few weeks ago (lots of heavy lifting with about 5,000 books!) and I have been sorting books ever since. The main building has power, which means that the students are now able to use the library in the evenings as well. Over the next few weeks, my task will be to catalogue about 1,000 new books alongside teaching my courses.

Visit from Wendy Atkins

It was such a pleasure to welcome Wendy Atkins in Melut two weeks ago. She is a missionary with AIM usually working in the Central African Republic as an ethnomusicologist, which is the study of the use of music in tribal communities. Wendy and I got talking at the AIM Central Region conference in January about teaching worship and music at GTC and she volunteered to come to Sudan. After some difficulties with flights, she arrived safely on the 7th of September and was here for 2 weeks. I was more than delighted to welcome her here because our students love music so much. It was great to see how they learned to compose worship songs in their own tribal languages and how they grew in their understanding of what biblical worship is.

The Referendum

Up until now, the referendum has not been postponed and it is still set for the 9th of January. On this day, Southern Sudan will vote on whether to split from the north and thereby form its own country. We are thankful that Sudan has been peaceful so far, but it seems we now receive more and more news of army movements and of tanks being put in position at strategic places. It seems that Sudan is getting ready for something but nobody quite knows what that something is. In this climate of uncertainty, it is very difficult to plan ahead for the next academic year. We hope that we can finish this term without interruption and plan to start teaching again at the end of February. Please pray for the months leading up to the referendum, for peace, stability and political wisdom on both sides. Please pray that we can indeed finish this term without interruptions.

Time flies by...

2010-08-12T12:55:00.005Z

Sometimes, time seems to stand still and at other times it simply flies by and we don't know why it went so quickly. Well, these last 6 weeks have literally flown by, packed with lots of teaching, moving into my new house and other excitements. I arrived back in Melut on the 29th of June and started teaching two days later. It's been a pleasure to get to know the new students and see them grow in knowledge and ask many questions in class. Since I missed part of the semester due to my stay in the UK, my lectures were squeezed into 5 1/2 weeks where I normally would have 12! Hence, my teaching schedule was very busy but it suited me fine - I like being busy rather than sitting around doing nothing. We now have three weeks off and will resume lectures again on the 30th of August. I still have lots of preparation to do for the second semester and would be grateful for your prayers for that.

My new home
I was able to move into my new house 3 weeks after arriving back in Melut and have settled in nicely by now. It must have been God's timing because the day after I moved the wall of my former hut caved in! Thanks again to all of you who gave towards this project!

In the middle of the storm
Rainy season is in full blow by now and has made everything look lovely and green outside. Unfortunately, it also means that we have lots of violent storms here and one was outright malicious the other week. It lifted our GTC water tank off its metal structure (it had been sitting there for 25 years!), peeled back the Donker's roof, blew in one of my windows and badly damaged the front door because metal pieces were flying around. We've since repaired the damage, but I don't think I will ever forget that storm. Please pray for God's protection during rainy season - also from snakes and scorpions which love this season and always hide in the high grass.

Computer break-down
Unfortunately, I have to announce the death of my computer. It had already gone for repairs in March and I thought it might give me another year or so, but it died again two weeks ago and this time there is no resurrecting it. When things like this happen, I'm always glad to be part of such a well-connected mission as the Africa Inland Mission, seeing that I live in the 'bush' in Sudan where there are no computer shops that I can quickly go to for help. AIM has a purchasing department in Nairobi and they helped me buy a new one so I could keep working here. MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) then flew it in for me - in a sense an inter-agency effort :-)!
While I'm glad that this was possible, the expense for this laptop (400 Pounds) was not really planned. Hence, I bought the laptop going way into my overdraft. I know it is not very appealing to help with the cost of a laptop, but I'd be really grateful if some of you could give towards this computer. You can do this by sending a cheque to Elim HQ.

Looking into the Future
Please keep praying for the immediate future of Sudan. The referendum has been set for the 9th of January, which is the day that Southern Sudan will vote for its independence from the north and form a new country. Many people already expected violence around the elections in March, which actually went really well - praise God! However, the outlook is not so rosy for the referendum. Hence, we already had a UN security meeting and an evacuation drill since I've been back Please pray for the months leading up to the referendum, for peace and stability and political wisdom on both sides.

Back in Africa...

2010-06-26T07:24:00.003Z

My time in the UK has been a very fruitful and blessed time, thanks to all of you who made it so special for me. I'm now back in Africa where I belong, after a good flight and the blessing of having all my luggage arrive in one piece with me - you can't take these things for granted :-)! I'm in Nairobi at the moment and will be flying into Sudan on Monday, the 28th of June, staying over in Juba for one night of lay-over and then travelling to Melut on Tuesday the 29th. Please pray for safe travel and for the first few days and weeks of settling back into Sudanese life.

Building on a Solid Foundation

Although I have not been in Melut during the building stages, my fellow missionaries have kept me up-to-date on the progress of the house via emails and pictures. The house is now just about finished and at the beginning I thought I could just move in when I get there next week. However, there seems to be a problem with the windows as the builders have been waiting for them for over 3 weeks now and nobody seems to know when they will come and what the hold-up is. Since I can't move into a house with no windows, I'll move back into my mudhut next week and will have to move during term time, which I hoped to avoid. It would be great if you could pray for the windows to come soon and for the house to be finished so that I can move in.

I'm looking forward to getting to know the new students and to getting stuck in my teaching routine. Please pray for wisdom and guidance when preparing my classes and for good relationships with my students. I have quite a busy schedule ahead of me until the 2nd week of August - please pray for strength and good humour in all of it. I have also heard from my colleagues that life at GTC is very busy at the moment because our cook just had a baby and our laundry lady has gone back to her village, which leaves us very shorthanded. Despite looking for additional help, nobody has come forward, so it would be great if you could pray for two trustworthy ladies to come to GTC.

Please keep praying for peace and stability in Sudan and that we will be able to do our work without interruptions.

Sudan Elections

2010-04-24T10:28:00.003Z

Originally, I wanted to wait until I could say something definitive about the Sudan elections, but as was to be expected, everything took a little longer than planned, so I decided to share what I know for now. The whole Sudan team came out in the first week of April has been spread out over Uganda and Kenya ever since. There was a lot of confusion about whether or not the elections would go forward as planned and some of the major parties pulled out at the last minute claiming that the elections had been rigged. Even a few days before the 11th we were not sure if they would actually go ahead - but in the end they did. There have been no reports of violence yet, which is certainly an answer to prayer. However, we always suspected that is would be more likely for violence to break out around the time of the announcement of the results. They were due to come out on the 20th but have not been announced yet. At any rate, the confusion and accusations around these elections have already put them into a bad light and have not set a good precedent for the vote on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for January 2011, which is what people are concerned about. So please keep Sudan in your prayers at this difficult time.

Time in the UK

My trip to the UK was postponed for a few days due to the ash cloud, but I am now scheduled to arrive in Manchester on the 26th of April. I would very much appreciate your prayers for this trip, as flights are still being canceled due to an overload at Heathrow. Also, please pray that all my luggage will arrive with me :-). I will have a new mobile phone number in England and will send it out after I get there. The following is an outline of my speaking engagements in the UK and any important other meetings. Feel free to catch me at any of those locations or to contact me for a separate meeting. For the duration of my time in England, I will stay with friends in Nantwich.

3-6 May: Regents Theological College, Malvern
30 May: Speaking at Elim Longton
5-10 June: Elim Conference
12 June: AIM Conference in Liverpool
13 June: Speaking at Elim Bewbush
19 June: Speaking at AIM's 'Into Africa'

Developments at GTC

2010-03-01T08:55:00.002Z

When I got back to Melut in the middle of January, I was greeted by a large team of Australians doing building work on the Donker's house - the missionary family who moved here in January. They were here for 4 weeks and we had a really good and blessed time together. Chris and Bev Rupke from FAR (Fellowship of African Relief), who are building on our compound now, have already become part of the GTC team and it feels like having a family in Melut now.

Once I got back to Melut, we had an academic meeting soon after and it was decided that we would postpone the start of the academic year until the beginning of May. On the one hand, this is because of elections in April and the disturbance this would cause to the teaching schedule, on the other hand, it was because only 8 students passed the entrance exams so far and we decided to wait until some more would qualify to reach our target of 26 students. Please do pray for this as we don't want to go ahead with just a handful of students, but English requirements and tuition fees seem to discourage many from even trying to come. Since I didn’t have to teach, I dedicated my time to my other role at GTC: librarian. When GTC moved from Khartoum to Melut 3 years ago, the books were simply put on the shelves without organising them, which meant that anybody looking for a book had to look through the whole library first!! The library also hadn’t been cleaned in 3 years – in a whole, there is plenty of work for me to do here even if I’m not teaching :-).

I would like to express my deep gratitude now to all of you who gave towards my house. All that I asked and prayed for has been given now and even more!!! I'm amazed and thankful for your generosity and your support. Right now, most of the contractors are busy with the FAR houses and offices, but my house will be started around the middle of March, once the first FAR house is completed.

Sudan Elections and Visit to the UK
On the 11th of April, we will have the first presidential elections in Sudan in 20 years. The elections are very important for next year’s decision on the separation of the country and for the future of Sudan in general. However, it is very difficult to organise elections in a country with 80% illiteracy, hardly any infrastructure and no means of mass communication other than the radio. Yet these elections are historic and will set the scene for a peaceful implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which was signed in 2005. Yet, many issues cause people to fear that elections will not be peaceful. Omar al-Bashir, the current president of Sudan, was charged with war crimes in Darfur last year by the International Criminal Court and a second count of genocide was added a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, he decided to stand for elections again. The elections will also bring the north/south difficulties to the forefront again. I can only urge you to pray for Sudan during this time of need and upheaval.

Because violence is very likely around elections, AIM has decided to mandate a precautionary leave for a few weeks for the whole Sudan team around elections until we can assess the situation and move back in. Since I had planned to be in the UK in June anyway, we all agreed that I would simply extend my stay for another month, which now means that I will be coming to the UK from the 22nd of April to the 21st of June. I will be at Elim Conference and look forward to connect with many of you there. While this is not my official furlough, I’ll take some speaking appointments. Unfortunately, all my Sundays are already booked, but if you would like me to come and speak during the week, please contact either myself or Elim Missions at Kathy.Cooper@ELIMHQ.NET

Prayer Requests
- for peaceful Sudan elections on the 11th of April and the time around it
- for more students for GTC
- that the building of my house will commence well
- that the time in the UK will be blessed and fruitful

New Year's Greetings

2010-01-16T08:42:00.002Z

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and a good start into the New Year. I don’t know about you, but I still find it very strange to put ‘10’ for the year down... Well, I’ve had a wonderful time with my family at home – after being gone for a year, family time is always special. When I arrived in Germany it was -19C, and I praise God that he kept me healthy and cheerful despite the cold. I got back to Sudan on the 12th, and we have dry season here at the moment – the thermometer showed 43.1C!!!

Central Region Conference
We’ve had Central Region Conference in Uganda, which is an annual AIM conference for the 6 countries that Central Region is made up of: Uganda, Central African Rep., Congo, South Sudan, Chad, and Rwanda. It’s always a special time when all these missionaries meet up together to fellowship, worship and natter . I had been asked to organise and lead the worship for this conference, which was a great privilege and also a lot of fun! The conference was held at Jinja, where the source of the Nile is. We’ve had a speaker from the States talking about burn out and staying healthy in the long-haul. I was sitting there praising God, because I could not tick a single point on his list of indicators of burn out! After having had a busy and challenging year with lots of changes and moving around, I can truly say that God is our counsellor and the one that keeps me healthy.

Building on a Solid Foundation
After having been out of Sudan for a few weeks over Christmas, I’m now excited to go back to Melut on the 18th of January – the first term will start on the 3rd of February. I still have to prepare some course materials and ask for your prayers for that. The same day I arrive, a big building team will also arrive from Pioneers Australia. FAR has already started their building projects on the compound and the contractors stay in tents at the moment. Because of lack of accommodation, the Australian team will have to stay in tents as well, so please pray for strength for the builders and that they’ll be able to acclimatise quickly and stay healthy. We will start the new term and an intake of 26 students and I ask your prayers for them. I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to the Elim Nantwich church, which gave a large sum towards the building of my own house in Melut. THANK YOU!! £1,000 still has to be raised and I’d be grateful for anybody who would like to give towards this project.

Historic Graduation Ceremony

2009-12-02T10:54:00.006Z

The last week has been a proud week indeed, as we had the first historic BA graduation here in Melut after the war. The students worked hard on finishing their assignments and theses, which made me remember my own time as a student. However, at this graduation, I was on the other side as a teacher, which was an amazing experience. We've had many important people coming, like the Commissioner of Melut County, other political leaders, and heads of different church denominations. GTC is one of the few inter-denominational colleges in Sudan and we've had graduates from six different denominations. I was so proud of these men standing there in their robes and thought that I was truely looking at the future of Sudan.

Melut was the original site of the college before the war, which had to be vacated in 1986 due to heavy fighting in the area. The college was then moved to Khartoum where it operated until 2006. When peace came in 2005, it was decided that the college should move back to its original site as the cost of living in Khartoum is very high. The students were then given the option of moving to Melut or staying in Khartoum and finishing at Nile Theological College. 16 out of the 28 students decided to be brave and move - brave because the compound was still occupied by the army , which did not want to leave and during the first two years, there was no power or clean water on the compound. I dare say that the students suffered for their decision to come as did the principal, Philip Eisa, who had moved his whole family to Melut. Having said this, despite all the hardship, last week's graduation service made it all worthwhile for them. Next year will be the first time for GTC to have a new intake after the move from Khartoum - the plan is to then have a new intake every year.

October 2010: Elim Short-Term Trip to Sudan
Elim has now approved a short-term trip to Sudan for October 2010. The trip is mainly aimed at giving participants a look-see and experience of Sudan and will be around 11-13 days with 2 days in Nairobi on either side. We have limited the size of the team to 10 people and the cost for this trip has been set at £1,750 (it might be lower but we will know more once the flights are all booked). If you'd like to participate in this trip or get more information, please contact either myself or Elim Missions headquarters at missions@elimhq.net

Have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Moving from Temporal to Permanent...

2009-10-25T07:21:00.011Z

Often God's plan for us doesn't come to pass as straight forward as we would like it to be, but somehow he still gets us to where he wants us. Before I came to Africa, I thought I would be staying in Torit and lecture at the Bible School there. However, when I got here it became obvious that the school was not ready yet. So we looked for another temporal placement in Sudan to fill time. I've been in Melut now for 3 months and it became apparent to me fairly soon that God wanted me to consider GTC for a permanent placement. So after talking to my unit leader and praying for some time, I am very happy to announce that I will be staying in Melut to become permanent staff at Gideon Theological College. In January, another missionary couple from Australia, Gerald and Kath Donker, will come to GTC as permanent staff, which will be great for fellowship. FAR, the aid wing of SIM Canada, will also move onto the compound in January to run operations from here. So it seems that next year will be a busy and interesting one with a lot of change ahead.

Building on a Solid Foundation

With the decision to stay at GTC permanently also came a decision to build a house for me on the compound. I've really enjoyed being in my tukul (Sudanese mud hut) over the last few months, but unfortunately, there is no electricity here and it's not really big enough for my things - some of which are still in Torit and everything else is spread over 2 tukuls here.... Half of the money for the house will be provided by the AIM housing fund, but the other half has to come out of my own support. The house will have one larger bed/living room, a small kitchen and a bathroom - the estimated cost for the building is set at $12,000 with another one thousand dollars to fit a solar system. This translates roughly into £8,000, of which £4,000 will have to come from donations. FAR and the Donker's will be building next January/February and it would be economical to team up with them in order to cut down on costs.

I would greatly appreciate it if you considered helping with this project as a church or as an individual. Individual private cheques can be sent to AIM directly at "Africa Inland Mission, Halifax Place, Nottingham NG1 1QN" made payable to AIM International with a note to say "Verena Schafroth - GTC Lecturer's House". Elim church donations can be sent to Elim Missions headquarters with the same note.

Prayer Requests
+ please pray for continuous growth of relationships here
+ BA graduation (28 November) and that the students will be able to finish their last term well
+ spiritual protection and good sleep at night
+ that I won't feel lonely
+ that preparations for the new academic year will go well
+ that preparations for the building will go well and that the funds will come together

A peek into my classroom

2009-09-14T08:30:00.003Z

My first 2 months of lecturing have now come to a close and I can’t believe how fast the time has passed – it still feels like yesterday when I left Torit 2 months ago. I was given a course on Biblical Theology and was amazed and deeply touched by many of the class discussions with the students as various topics bring out their experiences with God during the war and some of the difficulties they still face in their spiritual walk due to the suffering they’ve experience. Contextualisation is often taken to a completely different level here when we for example discussed Israel’s exile and the students then asked whether God was punishing Sudan for their disobedience, too...? When forgiveness came up in one of the lectures, one of the students shared that the northern army completely wiped out his village and most of his family. Often when we talk about forgiveness in the West, we talk about hurtful words or other minor things – the experiences of my students here have put things into a new perspective for me. I have come to deeply respect those I am teaching here and can learn from them probably more than they learn from me (and I am not trying to be humble here).

Of Sheep and Evil Spirits

The time here has been marked by great joys and challenges at the same time. I am the only Westerner here at the moment, which was particularly difficult during the first 3 weeks of settling in and not knowing anybody. It seems that the longer I am here the better it gets as I have formed good relationships with the staff and also with the students, although sometimes it still hits me and I go to bed feeling rather lonely. At the same time, I see how God is moving in this place and how I am growing spiritually. I am learning much about spiritual warfare as I’ve had a few bad nights with weird stuff happening in my room - I had to ask somebody at 4 am to come and pray with me. I realise anew how important prayer is and also what a blessing it is to live in a community like this – where it is no trouble to ask somebody at 4 am to pray with you.

There are also those funny stories that you will only experience when being in a place like this. One afternoon I had left my door open and was just resting on my bed. Suddenly, when I heard a loud commotion in my room, I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with a big sheep! I was so startled that I let out a scream – the sheep was probably scared to death and bolted out of the door straight away. We seemed to have struck some kind of friendship in that moment though, because for the two weeks after that, it kept on following me around everywhere!

2009-08-03T08:52:00.004Z

New Adventures and Challenges

I certainly couldn’t have had a warmer welcome at Gideon Theological College (GTC) in Melut. Pastor Philip (the principal), his wife and Joyce, the administrator, made up the welcoming committee. The last two weeks were spent on getting to know the town and its’ people and setting up home in my little tukul (Sudanese mud hut), which I am very thankful for. It never ceases to amaze me how diverse places in Sudan are – different tribes, different languages, different looking people and different climates. Since Melut is a lot further north than Torit, I spent the first days and nights sweating as I still have to get used to the heat and humidity here – we are right on the Nile. I also feel a little bit like a beginner in Arabic again as the Arabic here is northern Arabic from Khartoum, which is very difficult for me to understand. On a work related note, I have dedicated many hours to lecture notes preparation and still have to prepare some more. We’ve had some difficulties here with the electricity as town power was added to our solar power. However, they have made a mistake and cut off the solar and because the town power isn’t very reliable yet, we’ve had no power for the last few days. This meant that all the offices were shut down and I was not able to prepare anymore for classes to come. I’d be grateful for your prayers for that – we do take a lot of things for granted until we realise what it means to be without them! The students arrived a couple of days ago and the first day of lectures will be the 3^rd of August. Please pray for my teaching and for good interaction with the students.

Culture Snippet: Sudanese Tribal Markings

I have now been in Melut for two weeks and am once again amazed at the diversity of cultures in Sudan. While the main tribe in Torit was Lotuko, who are usually small and do not have very obvious tribal markings, the main tribes in Melut are Nuer and Dinka, who are both incredibly tall and have very distinct markings. In the picture you can see Pastor John, a fourth year BA student at GTC, who received his facial markings when he was 16 years old as a rite of passage into adulthood and of identification with his tribe. Although the Sudanese government is trying hard to face out these markings as they are considered to enhance tribalism, they still play an important part in many Sudanese cultures. Pastor John once told me that you are not allowed to get married without them (or it is very difficult) and that people will not mourn for you properly at your funeral – without them you are considered a ‘boy’ not a man, since you have not proven yet that you can endure pain like a man. Interestingly enough, many of these markings only apply to men and not to women.

Moving Up-Country

2009-06-18T08:36:00.001Z

One basic missionary characteristic is flexibility. If you don't have it when you get here, you'll soon have to learn it. I think, I brought some, but still have to learn some more and the current developments give me opportunity for such growth.

After three months of Juba-Arabic preparation, I should have started teaching theology at the Bright Hope School of Theology in Torit. However, the school which should have opened in September 2008 will now only open in spring 2010. So, for the last couple of months we have been looking around for another temporary placement for me and in the end decided for Gideon Theological College (GTC), which is in Melut on the Nile at the most northern tip of southern Sudan. I will be moving to Melut on the 20th of july and will start teaching a course on biblical theology two weeks later when the term commences on the 3rd of August. Until then, I will continue with Juba Arabic for another four weeks in Torit. We have agreed for me to teach in Melut for one term until the beginning of December and will then look at how the school in Torit is moving on and consider subsequent stepts for next year's placement. After a time of anxiety and trying to get my head around all these developments, I now feel quite excited about the changes ahead. I've been in regular contact with the principal, Philip Eisa, and with the staff of Medair, a Christian development organisation, which ahs a base right next to the school's compound. Since I will be the only AIM missionary working in that area of Sudan, I will rely on Medair for flights and postal mail, which means that my mail address is changing to the following from July onwards (I will change it in my email signature as well):

Verena Schafroth
AIM Melut - South Sudan
c/o MAF Kenya
PO Box 21123
Nairobi 00505
Kenya, EAST AFRICA

Developments in Torit
I finished my first phase in Torit well and have been on holiday for two weeks with my sister Mirjam, who flew out from Germany. I am now back in Torit and look forward to getting stuck into language and culture preparation again. Please pray for the remaining 4 weeks in Torit and that I can really concentrate on language learning while also preparing for the move to Melut. Our South Sudan team weekend is coming up from the 10th to the 12th of July - please pray for good interaction and God's Spirit during that time.

Walk with me

2009-05-01T13:38:00.001Z

Well, I’ve been here now for 2 ½ months and most of my time is taken up by language study – Juba Arabic, which is a low dialect of Arabic. Every day, five times a week, I set out in the morning to walk the 2 miles to my language helper’s house, Mary. At first, I turn to the main square where the donkeys usually stand/sleep – they are really cute! While walking, I pass lots of people on the road, particularly children, who will always greet me saying: “Kowaja, how are you?” Kowaja, meaning ‘foreigner’ or generally ‘white person.’ On average, I hear this greeting about 50 times a day. I will go past the borehole where the women are usually busy getting water for their families – during homestay, I got such a bad sunburn from waiting at the borehole for an hour (granted, I had forgotten to put on sunscreen). When I finally reach Mary’s house after 30 minutes of walking and greeting people on the road, she welcomes me and gets ready for the lesson – here, people start getting ready when you show up, so it usually takes another half an hour.

I am just so amazed and thankful for how my relationship with Mary has grown over the last few weeks. She is truly a gift from God – and due to her help, I can now even say that in Arabic! Often, after finishing the lesson, we would sit together and she would make Arab coffee, drunk out of tiny little cups. The peaks are when we cook together on the Sudanese charcoal ovens – I am not good in the kitchen at any rate, but it is quite another challenge to cook on charcoal. However, she is so patient with me and after all, cooking together is just another excuse to spend some more time talking...

When I get home, my little kitten ‘Sid’ is waiting for me. He is only 4 months and was flown in from Kenya a few weeks ago. I’ve called him Sid, because he strongly reminds me of the Sid in Ice Age as he can never sit still and takes ages to go to sleep J. On a spiritual note, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

“We should allow ourselves only to be found where Christ is. We truly can be nowhere else than where he is. Whether you work over there and I work in Africa*, both of us are only where Christ is. He takes us along. Or, have I perhaps avoided the place where he is? The place where he is for me?" *(America in the original) Who is Christ for us, 55

I believe I’ve come back to that place where God is for me. All in all, I feel like I’ve come home, like God has waited for me here and has put my heart at rest.

Homestay

2009-03-14T13:23:00.002Z

3 Women, 2 Scorpions and 1 more Verena

After having finally arrived in Sudan on the 13th of February, Catrin and I did one week of LAMP (language acquisition made practical) and then went on our homestays with a Sudanese family. My family lives a bit outside Torit on a compound that encompasses about 10 houses - all related to each other. It was a challenging and exciting week!! My family didn’t know any English and I only had my rusty bits of Arabic to fend with, so communicating was a bit difficult – as you can imagine. However, I feel like my Arabic has quadrupled during that week. Now, let me tell you more about my heading: I slept with Jasmin and Mary in the mud hut, two Sudanese women. One night, there was a sudden commotion in the room as Jasmin saw a scorpion crawling out behind the wardrobe. Sure enough, where one is there is another also, and the next two hours were spent trying to kill these two without getting stung (a scorpion sting is not fatal, but it hurts like it would be, so people don’t like them!). Anyway, the first night of homestay, we went visiting a compound nearby, where the woman (Mary) had just had a baby. Mary is a lovely woman and has now become my language helper for the time being. At the end of the evening and after much marvelling at the newborn baby, Mary suddenly looked up at me and said: “It is a blessing that you have come to my house today. I will name my daughter after you.” So now there is one more Verena in Torit – Mary will probably never know, what a gift and blessing she gave to!!!

Tales of Travel in Sudan

These past days I’ve spent in a place called Magwe, about 3 hours from Torit in the ‘bush,’ at a women’s conference of the Africa Inland Church. We had about 30 women attending from all over Eastern Equatoria and I enjoyed the opportunity of getting to know the women better and to see how and what is taught at these conferences. I have to confess that I still find ‘dried fish’ and ‘greens’ (the local vegetable) hard to digest, but God helped me eat and safe face . On the way back to Torit on Sunday, my tyre changing skills were really put to a test, as I accidentally drove over a little tree stump hidden in a bunch of flowers on the road. The first tyre burst and I had to change the tyre then. Unfortunately, the second tyre already had a little puncture in it and I had to stop again after an hour. I called the Torit base and the Nobles came out with another spare tyre and a pump - praise God for satphones as I would have been stuck there for quite a while otherwise with 6 women and two children in the car... Well, in Sudan, you can’t just call the AAA to pick you up by the roadside – at least, I now know pretty well how to change tyres :-)

I have arrived... :-)

2009-02-11T12:44:00.019Z

I can’t believe that a whole month has already gone passed again. My commissioning service now seems ages away but I still want to extent a big THANK YOU to all, who came and made this day so special for me.

Central Region Conference
Catrin and I will be leaving for Sudan on the 13th of February. We will be on culture and language orientation for the first 3 months and focus on Juba Arabic and relationship-building in the community. Please pray for this time in particular, as it will be challenging for both of us. The Central Region Conference started on the 7th of January for 5 days and was held on the Nile at Jinja in Uganda. It was great to meet so many of the people working in the same region and hearing of all the ministries that are going on. All my luggage and boxes arrived safely in Uganda, for which I am really thankful. Catrin and I were able to drop off most of our luggage in Uganda, for our team leader to take it back to Sudan, which was great. Otherwise we would have had to pay a lot of overweight luggage...

Africa-Based Orientation

In short, ABO started on the 20th of January in Kenya, and will finish on the 10th of February. We are a group of 32 missionaries, who will take up their assignments after ABO

in various parts of Africa – at ABO various topics are tackled such as African custom and culture. One of my highlights here is to get to know the TIMO team (training in ministry outreach) working in South Sudan – a bunch of 15 people between the ages of 24 and 35, living in the ‘bush’ with the people in an area where the Gospel has never been preached before.

Leaving for Sudan
Catrin and I will be leaving for Sudan on the 13th of February. We will be on culture and language orientation for the first 3 months and focus on Juba Arabic and relationship-building in the community. Please pray for this time in particular, as it will be challenging for both of us.

Praise:
- my boxes arrived safely
- the Central Region conference was a great time of networking
- Catrin and I are getting along well
- ABO is going well

Prayer:
- language learning in Sudan
- culture orientation for the first 3 months
- home stay with a Sudanese family

- making friend in the community

Meeting old friends

2007-12-14T13:36:00.001Z

The first week in Germany was awesome – apart from having to get over Duenge Fever, which I brought back from Sudan. The look on my mum’s face when she saw me standing in the door was definitively worth the flight (she didn’t know I was coming for her 60th)!!! I also had a fantastic time in my church and with my sisters and friends – lots of catching up…

I got to England on the 24th of November and pretty much that day my pastor told me that he would actually quite like me doing my Master’s degree at Regents (my former college). After some discussion I met with the dean of postgraduate studies on the 26th and there seemed to be a wide open door that just fitted – I still consider Nantwich my home so it’s nice to be able to spend another year studying here. After some discussions at Elim headquarters we decided it would be best to do the Master’s full-time in one year thus I will be starting in January and finishing off in December.

I’ve had a great time over the last few weeks, which is a real answer to prayer. I was a bit afraid to come back and find that I don’t fit in anymore but I’ve just had such a great welcome and it was/is a joy to catch up with friends at college and at church. I spoke Sudan at a different church every Sunday for the last 4 Sundays which was such a privilege and I enjoyed myself thoroughly – you have to ask the people in the churches whether they also enjoyed listening to me though :-).

After all that happened this year it was really good to meet up at Elim headquarters and brainstorm and seek God’s guidance together about the future. You might have gathered from the amount of changes mentioned in my newsletters that this year was a bit chaotic regarding the number of organisations I worked with as my first contract with Open Doors fell through in April. It was never planned like this but looking back I really think God had his hands on every single moment of this year and I am thankful for all the experiences and exposure I had in Sudan. Needless to say though, we are very keen that the problems of this year will not repeat themselves over again when I go back so Elim is now making enquiries on an official/organisational level to have things ready in place for December ‘08.

Please pray for Chris Jones and for the enquiries that will be made over the next few weeks and months. There are a number of options/offers on the table and it will take discernment and wisdom to figure out the best move also keeping in mind the always changing political reality in Sudan.

I will be moving on campus on the 3rd of January straight after I come back from Germany. Please pray that the move goes well and that I settle back into student life quickly. I am a bit nervous as I haven’t studied for the last 1 ½ years so I hope I’ll be ok. Please also pray that I will build good relationships at college.

January is full now, but there are still plenty of free Sundays from February onwards. So if you would like me to come to your church please email either myself or Caroline at missionsadmin@elimhq.net

Back in Goli

2007-11-07T00:43:00.002Z

I have been in Goli this week teaching as they were stuck for teachers and asked me to come out. It has been a great week of catching up with students and former co-workers. Goli looks so different in rainy season – and also when things are not burned down and black!!

The weeks previously to Goli where quiet – I kept doing my work in the office for the Sudan Literature Centre and I am glad that I will have finished my 350 documents when I leave next week. I do feel that I’ve made a contribution to SLC and Across, which is a good feeling to leave with.

Talking about leaving: I have less than a week left in Yei and preparations are running high. I was able to sell all the furniture and kitchen utensils I bought which I am really glad about. There will be a big leaving party on Saturday the 10th with barbeque and bonfire, which I am looking forward to – obviously J. Please pray for the last minute leaving arrangements and for all the goodbyes I will have to say over the course of next week.

I will leave Yei on the 15th of November flying out to Entebbe, Uganda. I have about 1 ½ days in Entebbe and then fly out with Brussels Airline midnight 16th to Munich, Germany, where I will have one week with my family. It’s my mum’s 60th birthday and she does not know that I am coming – my sisters know though. Please pray for good and smooth flights and for the time with my family – first time to see my mum in 1 ½ years!! I also have 3 speaking engagements with my church in Germany during this week and ask you to really pray for good fellowship and open hearts.

New deadline for army pull-out
There have been talks between north and south Sudan and a new deadline was set for the army pull-out which is the 15th of December. It was also decided that a joint UN-AU (African Union) force is to be deployed to the oil fields to strengthen peace there. Please pray that the deadline will be kept this time.

Again, all my Sundays before Christmas are full, but I am still free from January to May. If you would like me to come to your church please email either myself or Caroline at missionsadmin@elimhq.net

I will see most of you in about 2 weeks

The Cush Consultation

2007-10-08T00:35:00.006Z

The Cush Consultation is a conference for Christian Non-Government-Organisations (NGOs) and missions working in Southern Sudan and was hosted by Across in Yei at the end of September. The theme was “The Body of Christ Working in Unity – Strategic Ministry in Southern Sudan until 2011” (in 2011 southern Sudan votes for independence from the north – a decisive year for the peace in Sudan).

The two weeks before Cush were super busy with organising things – I was doing the registrations on the Yei end and was put in charge of the worship for the conference. But I can honestly say it was a joy and a pleasure! In a whole we had approximately 100 people present representing about 25 organisations and it was a fantastic time of networking and meeting people. I was greatly encouraged by the fact that we had a working group dedicated to Nuba Mountains and there seems to be increasing interest in working there. I was also so happy to see Pastor Moris again who flew down from Nuba to attend the conference. I spent 1 week with him and his family when I went to Nuba in June.

I have about 5 weeks left in Sudan and I’d ask you to pray for a good wind-up with Across, work-wise and also relationship-wise. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as I prepare to leave Yei knowing that once again I have to leave behind friends that have become family to me.

All my Sundays before Christmas are now full, but I am still free from January to May. If you would like me to come to your church please email either myself or Caroline at missionsadmin@elimhq.net

I will see a lot of you in about 6 weeks :-)

Master's Degree

2007-09-08T13:56:00.001Z

I've had a good break break in Kenya for a few days and have come back refreshed, though feeling that the break could have been longer. While I was out on break I finally got down to tackle some emails that had been piling up and realised that one of them was about student support for possible further studies. After discussions with my pastors and my missions headquarters, we have decided that it would be good for me to come back to England to do a Master's Degree, which is why I will be in the UK from November onwards for a year. I'd lose my support if I put it off any longer and once I've got a Master's degree under my belt, I can always teach on a BA level. Anyhow, I am in the process of registering with Redcliffe college for an MA in Global Issues and Contemporary Mission for that purpose and will let you know how it works out.

Coming back to the time now: We have just had a great week of Across staff retreat in Yei where everyone came together to fellowship and worship. I have attached pictures and hope you all enjoy them. Please pray for the Cush Consultation that is coming up at the end of September and which is hosted by Across as well. Cush is a conference for Christian NGOs working in Southern Sudan to come together to network and has been crucial in the past for many organisations. Please also pray for the rest of my time here in Yei that God will continue to work in me here and that I will have a good wind-up with Across. I will be flying out to Europe on the 16th of November – first to Germany and then to England.

ECS Theological Commission

2007-07-27T06:41:00.000Z

First of all, thank you for prayer for the trip to Juba. It was an amazing time. I was an observer to the ECS (Episcopal church of Sudan) theological commission in Juba (Across partners with ECS in the south) and there were reports from the 5 ECS provincial colleges alongside reports from the TEE (theological education by extension) centres of south, central and northern Sudan, which were very interesting. It was a great time of fellowship with Patricia Wick (she is a British Anglican Minister who has worked in Sudan for the last 9 years) and other Bishops from ECS.

I also spoke to the TEE north coordinator and found out that they have already translated the TEE materials into the Arabic script, which will speed up the process of translating it into Nuba languages… Across didn’t have a record of this because those materials were translated in the 1980s when the war was going on which made communication difficult. The TEE coordinator also confirmed that ECS north has not really branched out into Nuba Mountains yet – they have one small class of 18 students in Kadugli and that’s it for the whole of Nuba. In addition, I got to know the principal of Shukai Bible College in Omdurman last week too and he has already emailed me the contact details for the Bishop of Kadugli (capital of Nuba Mountains), which will be a useful contact. Please keep praying for God to open a way for me to go to Nuba permanently.

After the theological commission finished, I accompanied Patricia to Lui, which is about 4 hours north of Juba – 8 hours from Yei. We met with some more CMS missionaries up there and I had the great privilege of looking at other people’s work and asking lots of questions again.

Summary of the time in Nuba

2007-07-08T16:21:00.000Z

Thank you for your constant prayers and encouragement during the time in Nuba Mountains. Some of you have received weekly updates throughout my time there, though not all of you, which is why I’ll just give you a brief summary of Nuba here. The past month in Nuba has been an extraordinary experience for me and it is really hard to be back in Yei now as I left my heart in Nuba. I am hoping and praying very much that God will open up a door for me to go up there and work there permanently. I spent most of my time in Moro, which is one of the least exposed areas to foreigners and there were lots of (older) people that had never seen a white woman before – they know Chris and the SP guys but there are no women working with SP here. They would all come and touch my skin and brush through my hair and I would just sit there and smile – they are amazing people.

One big testimony for me was when we got to Moro for the second time and there were already 2 of my students waiting for me that had waited the whole day!! We were still in the car when somebody radio-called to say that they were there and then the others just turned to me and said: “You have never been here before so how come you already have people waiting for you?” I think for me it was really encouraging because 1. it shows that Goli was strategic in God’s plan for me and my future ministry and 2. because it confirmed that God has given me teaching skills – otherwise my students would not have wanted to see me again J. When I finally got there, we sat down and talked and I told them of what I’d like to do in Moro. They were very supportive and arranged a pastors’ meeting for the following week. 15 local pastors/elders were invited and 25 showed up – it was incredible. We had about 2 hours together in which I introduced myself and then the suggested work in Moro and they really took it on board. I have now left the TEE material with them for translation and will communicate with them through Chris.

But for now I am now back in Yei, but only for a couple of days. I’ll be flying to Maridi to meet with Rev. Patricia Wick on Friday, who is a female Anglican Pastor here (British), who is heading up the TEE programme for Equatoria. I’ll spend about a week with her talking about TEE and then will be back in Yei. I’ll probably spend the whole of August in Rumbek on the Across base as they have the best-structured TEE programme there so far, but also because I want to participate in an Anamed programme on natural medicine, where they teach you how to make soap, and how to use medicinal plants as etc, but its not yet confirmed. I guess I keep myself busy :-).

2007-06-28T16:05:00.000Z

2007-06-23T16:01:00.000Z

I had a fantastic time in Moro, though it was quite stressful staying at lots of different people's houses and meeting so many people. We had two SP church openings and one wedding. My birthday was a little weird since Sudanese don't celebrate birthdays and all the SP guys down there forgot it... Men!! :-)

I came back to Kauda yesterday for one night and I am off to Heiban today to another wedding celebration of one of the SP guys. I will stay up in Heiban for a little bit as I have some more students up there who I really want to meet. I will fly back this coming Thursday, have one day in transit in Nairobi and will be back in Yei by the 30th of June. Thanks so much for your prayers and all the emails congratulating me.

2007-06-22T15:57:00.000Z

I was in the middle belt of the Nuba for the last 5 days looking at the area around Kauda and some of the projects Samaritan's Purse are doing here. I will be leaving for Moro again this afternoon and ask you to really pray for this trip. I'll stay there for 10 days with one of the pastors in the village. It's going to be the "testing time" and I am quite curious what I will say 10 days from now...

Visit to Moro

2007-06-12T15:52:00.000Z

I was in Moro for the last 3 days, which is about 5 hours from Kauda. I met some students there, which I had taught in Goli - it was quite surreal to see them here but a wonderful experience to be able to visit them in their home villages...We got stuck in the mud on Saturday, and the traktor came to pull us out, but then the traktor got stuck too and a larger traktor had to come to pull the traktor out and then us... :-) It was kind of fun though it took us the whole day to get it out.