highlights from the last few months

i haven't written in a ridiculously long time. i've been busier the last few months than i've ever been in my life. i traveled to Uganda at the beginning of September for a short holiday, desperately needing a break and some good food in my system. i laid by the pool for 3 days, got a wonderful haircut and pedicure, and had lunch with one of our recent secondary school graduates who is currently studying in Kampala. i’ve learned many things since moving to the mission field almost 2 years ago, one of them being to fully enjoy good food and pampering and not feel bad about it. i used to, thinking “the poor don’t get this, so I will deprive myself of it”. that is not God’s heart at all. if He blesses me with something, He wants me to enjoy it and enjoy life. it can’t be just hardship and sacrifice all the time. as a missionary, i’ve learned to work hard and play hard.

we battled a sickness outbreak on the compound a few weeks ago. about 25 kids had malaria and 15 had typhoid. we are not sure that it was typhoid because the tests used here are outdated and inaccurate. whatever it was, it was bad. i wasn't around for most of the outbreak. after getting back from Uganda, i felt i was still too tired to re-enter the craziness of work and went to stay with some friends in town for a few days. the other missionaries and some visitors did an amazing job handling it, treating kids and driving to the clinic as much as 4 times a day on some of the worst roads you can imagine (let's just say it takes 30 minutes to go 5 miles). We decided to medicate all the kids with a generic antibiotic that treats multiple sicknesses, to nip this thing in the bud. so followed a week long process of medicating 119 Sudanese kids twice a day – a very hectic, exhausting undertaking. eventually, all kids were treated and cured.

we took in a girl off the streets in July. she had been living in the local market for 2 years, the store owners told us. we wondered if her parents had died and she had no one to look after her. further investigation showed that both her parents are alive but dumped her on the streets because she has a severe learning disability, and the mentally disabled are viewed as less than human here. she didn't know her name, so we called her Mercy. she was pretty wild when she came, constantly running around, attacking kids, not responding to instruction. when you are treated like an animal, you begin to act like one. i wondered how we were going to handle this, and whether we should have even taken her in. but how could we have passed her by? that is not the love of Christ. even though it was going to be difficult, her life was worth it. there were many times of prayer over her, one in particular that I participated in. it was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. we sat together on a grass mat with the some other missionaries, kids, and staff. i played guitar and worshipped over Mercy the whole time. the others prayed as the Lord led. she sat still, the calmest I’ve ever seen her. the most beautiful part was seeing the Sudanese pray over her. in a culture where people like her are thrown out, they were embracing her and pouring out love. Eudita, our head mama, at one point took Mercy on her lap, held her, and wept over her. most of us started crying at that point. the whole experience was like watching Jesus pull the lowest, most unlovely person out of the deepest gutter and into love and worth and beauty. Mercy has greatly improved since this time. she is still rather hyper and active, but calmer, more obedient, and not violent towards the other children. God’s at it again, doing those amazing things He does.

on a funny note, I went to Juba a few months ago with one of the other missionaries, for work purposes. we got to eat cheese and burgers and melt in the blistering heat. on the way there, we were stopped at a checkpoint and asked to show our paperwork. as we were sitting with the immigration official, he said, “many people come to our country as missionaries or pastors but they are actually disguised as CIA agents. so, you two must be CIA agents.” i had to try really hard to not burst out laughing. we calmly assured him we were not CIA agents, and he ended up buying us water and soda. it’s a moment I will always laugh about.

we’ve gotten several new long term missionaries, as well as a steady stream of short term visitors, over the last few months. it’s amazing how God has answered my prayers of last year, when there were 3 of us total and 2 or 1 at any given time on base. now there are 7, and more coming next year. it changes your whole experience to have people from your culture, who understand the way you think and feel, to talk to on a regular basis. we found a meat grinder in town and made delicious burgers last week. i’ve learned to make hummus, fajitas, and stuffed peppers and there’s now mozzarella cheese in town. one of the newest missionaries bought an entire solar power system, so there is now power in the staff office and each of the houses. the quality of life is definitely improving around here.

those have been the happenings of the last few months. it's sometimes crazy, sometimes funny, but always an adventure.