Offroad Adventures
Offroading adventures, maintenance and video projects. It has been a fun month with many different tasks and challenges. And we were able to see God’s presence and provision in all of it.
Our God is in control
[…] I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.” Isaiah 14:23-24 NLT
As I read Isaiah 14 this morning, I felt a lot of comfort and peace. The last weeks have been very turbulent with some really sad news (as you will read further on), uncertainties of the future and questionings of my work here (Am I really a witness of Christ here?). In all of this, I can know: God is in control. The Lord has spoken, and whatever He spoke will also happen. No one can stop our God. Nothing in this world happens without God’s approval and His word. That’s not always for us to understand, as we don’t see the bigger picture, but we can trust in God’s goodness, love and also just judgement. Our God knows what’s best for His children and He is a good Father. It is a great comfort for me to know that no one can change God’s plans and no one is able to stop Him.
Offroading, Maintenance and Video Projects
Beginning of April, I was able to go to Torit to film for two video projects. I was able to bring a motorbike back to Torit and had fun on the muddy roads. It was a hectic, but also good time–running back and forth between filming, some shopping and different visits. I then returned to Lopit with the pickup truck to do some maintenance on our airstrip. The roads were even more muddy and so luckily, we only got stuck once. My good German friends were able to pull us out and we arrived well at home—tired and muddy:) Because of the rains, our airstrip has some big wash-outs and furrows. We had the village make us some gravel (hard manual work)—okay … 6 tons of gravel—that we also loaded and unloaded by hand. It was a lot of work, but we (and the pilots too) are happy with the way it turned out. I was also able to work on another field, and finally repair a broken seal on my bike’s carburetor. That is also a big part of missions: maintenance and manual labor.
In all of this, I could see how God has gone before us and smoothened the way for us. He truly is in control!
Leading a church service
Two weeks ago, my team leaders went home for a break and so I was now in charge of one of the church services. That in itself doesn’t overwhelm me, but the fact that no one here speaks English and only some speak Juba-Arabic does make it challenging. The first week, I was able to do it all in Arabic, because my neighbor was there to translate. But this past week, it was just me with a bunch of kids … my neighbor was not there yet and I asked God to show me what I should do now. My Lopit is nowhere near of being able to share a bible story and the kids don’t really understand Arabic or English yet. After some waiting for more people to come, we started with some songs. The kids were leading us in worship and it was so cool to see! And then after around 4-5 songs, my neighbor finally showed up. Thank you Jesus! I was able to share a bible story in Arabic. And not only that. After I was done, my neighbor shared a personal testimony of how through prayer God has healed her from becoming blind—you can read more in my magazine:) It’s been an amazing church service and I praise God for His working!
More sad news
Last week, we got another sad and terrible news. People from another people group came to do business with another village of ours. For a yet unknown reason, a villager killed five of them while they were sleeping. That was followed with different revenge killings, resulting in the death of 12 men. We are all safe, but nonetheless, news like that are shocking and make us sad. Please pray with us for the families of those who have lost their husband, father, brother or friend. Pray also for peace to come and no more revenge killings. And pray for the gospel to break through, because I believe that only Jesus can bring true, lasting peace!
What’s next?
I will be traveling to Torit and then another people group next week for some video projects. Please pray for safe travels. And then I will be finishing up my term in South Sudan. In only 5 weeks I will be leaving to go to Canada. Pray that I would be able to say goodbye well and finish this time fully present.
I’m so thankful to have had these 2 years here in South Sudan and that would not have been possible without you. So once again, thank you for your support and trust in my work (or rather God’s work). I’m looking forward to see you guys again, hopefully soon!
