Girl Power

Culture. It is a strong force. It influences our behavior, shapes our daily life, and even is a foundational part of our identity. Culture can shape us in a lot of ways. Often times, it is shaping us in ways we are not even aware of because it just seems so normal, so common, that’s just how everyone lives. Other times we may be very aware of the pressure to conform to our culture’s standards of beliefs and behaviors.

The pressure on teenage girls to find their worth in their ability to be attractive to boys is a prime example. I’m seeing more and more that this place is no exception to that pressure. It is not uncommon for girls here to have a child at a young age and even to be married at a young age, and thus forcing them to drop out of school. There are many reasons for these things; a family may want to ensure their daughter’s dowry and so choose a husband for her. A girl may fear that her parents will force her to marry someone she does not like, and so she will get pregnant by a boy she likes.

These are some of my friends from church. Some days they stop by the compound for
morning devotions during their break at school.
They are no exception to the pressures and challenges girls face here.

And for the boys, well, sex before marriage is practically expected, not from the culture as a whole but from their peers, which is not at all different from the Western world.

Christianity is growing in South Sudan, and I am seeing the Church being strengthened in this area but Bible teaching is still limited. There are many who cannot read and who do not own Bibles. It is easy to fall back on one’s culture or to give in to the pressure.

With this need so prevalent in the community, we desire to seek God’s help. This Saturday, July 27^th, In Deed and Truth is hosting a Purity Seminar for teenage girls in the area. With the help of some friends of mine, Stephanie, Stephanie, and new Mango Ministries teammate Tiana, we hope to create a time for these girls to discuss the challenges they face and find hope in the value God has given them. Would you pray for us and every girl (we’re hoping for about 30) who will attend as we seek God’s truth to overcome the pressures of culture and the temptation of sin in living transformed lives for God’s glory! 

Dependency

There are many lessons available for learning quite frequently in my life it seems. Now, whether I have the patience, the will, the keen eye to notice and learn them is a different story. But, I hope these blunders can be looked back upon as a comedy rather than a tragedy, for I love to learn.

Some lessons, well, they come in stages and are to be built upon. For me, one of those recurring lessons is dependence. I have always been one to seek God’s plans for my life. I’m not afraid to dream big, for I know he has big plans. But my default in discovering those plans is to say to God, “Wow, that’s a great plan. That’s amazing. Ok, I’ll get back to you with how it’s going in a little while. Thanks for this ‘next step.’” You see, I love to get God’s input about what to do, but as soon as I feel like he is revealing those things to me, I immediately try to make them happen with my own strength and abilities, instead of allowing Him to make them happen through me. It’s quite a struggle for me.

When I was in college, I had some fish. Now, one of those fish, an angel fish named Romeo, decided one day to jump right out of the tank. No one was around, and sadly we all know what happens to a fish out of water. It can’t survive. At first I thought this fish’s need for water was like my dependency on God. That I was fully surrounded by him and if I didn't depend on him I was jumping out of the water. That if I would not depend on him, I could not survive. On a deep, eternal level, that is true. I realized though, on a day to day level of following after God and being obedient to his will, that dependency looks a little different.

Take this flower, for example. What does it need to survive? The sun. And in which direction do flowers grow? Toward the sun. They intentionally seek out the direction of their source of life. They move toward it. When they don’t get enough sunlight, they become weak and unhealthy. The same is true for my dependency on God, I must strive to seek him out. I am not simply submerged in his sustenance and must not jump out of it completely – like that little fish out of the water. I must be intentional in consciously being aware that He alone is my source of strength and even life. I must seek, little by little in all the daily activities, the source of my strength. When that becomes a focus, then my actions will be based on that truth, rather than my stubbornness to try and do things myself. I can choose to depend on him to make the small things happen and have eternal value, or I can depend on myself, and often be faced with those failures. Let me get more practical. I can choose to depend on God to make CHE better and effective in these new communities, or I can rely on my own strength, feeling as though the success of the program depends on my ability to encourage and follow up with the new trainers. I can seek God to be my strength to work through me, trusting him to help me to know how to do that the best that I can, or racking my brain trying plan the best way for me to do these things. Not that it’s a bad thing to plan or seek advice from experience and trained people, but it’s important to know who really makes it happen; to know who really brings transformation.

One thing I also noticed about flowers, when they are getting the proper amount of sunlight, they have the strength to survive the night without light. When I know and acknowledge that God is my source and it is only through him that I can do anything he asks of me, then I will have the strength to keep going, even when he doesn't seem near. The effects of His work in me are still taking place, as he leads me on to be used by him.

My prayer is that we all may learn a little more what it means to be dependent upon our mighty creator and loving father; that we may experience walking in surrender to him, feeling the goodness of life with him. And as we surrender, may our eyes be opened to how much more is possible through Him than through ourselves.

Here some new trainers take tea with CHE Trainer Pasquale from Kullo (far right)

Would you pray for me that in my last month here in Tonj I can be completely dependent upon God for the work of this ministry and these CHE communities. Pray also that our CHE teams and communities will also experience that dependence upon God. Pray for our first group of communities as they finish up committee training and prepare for selection of CHEs to lead home visits:

1.       Guaria

2.       Kullo

3.       Malony

4.       Lurchuk

5.       Tonj

And for our new, second group of communities in this area (those trained in May) as they work to complete their first seed project, form a prayer team, and build a dish rack for their home:

1.       Warrak

2.       Bobi

3.       Robyibi

4.       Timthok

5.       Werkok

Grace and Peace to you in becoming dependent upon our great God.

A New Beginning Now?

After some time away in April, things are getting back into full swing for me here in Tonj! Some of our CHE trainers (Joseph, Jude, Pasquale, David, & Santino) have been on a very special assignment while I was away. They’ve been selecting individuals from other villages where we are starting CHE this month!

Spending some time with trainers Jude (left) and Pasquale (right) on a recent visit to Kullo

On March 27^th we will begin CHE TOT 1 for an entirely new group of trainers from five different communities! It is really exciting to see this program growing and so quickly, too. With this training, we also have an opportunity to minister to the Luo community in the area; 3 villages are Dinka villages and 2 are Luo. I think the trainers will also enjoy being able to work with those from another tribe – during our last STS training here at IDAT they loved demonstrating their different tribal dances to one another, and it was certainly a lot of fun for us, the facilitators.

Here some Luo participants share a tribal dance at a recent STS training

Now, some of the new trainers have been selected, but the process is still ongoing. Would you commit to praying for the selection of the trainers for this upcoming new beginning? These people are the ones who will really present CHE to their villages, motivate people to get involved, generate community ownership, and help the program really come alive. Without the right kind of people to be trainers, there really is no CHE. So this part of the process is extremely important.

We need to cover each new village with prayer. Will you pray for one of these villages?

                Warrak

                Timthok

                Bobie**Luo Village

                Robobie**Luo Village

                Werkok* this village is actually in Jongelei state, and a partner ministry there is sending a team to   be trained.

Our current trainers are still moving forward with CHE in their communities. Many are finishing up their committee trainings and preparing to start the selection of CHEs to begin home visits. This is when it gets really exciting, and I look forward to sharing about all that is happening when that time comes!

Augustino helps to train the Guaria committee where they meet at his home

Another new beginning is that the rains have started! Now it’s time to plant! Santino Bak, our pastor in Malony, is preparing his garden Farming God’s Way style! Now, this is no easy transition for most South Sudanese for many reasons, but the most important is that for many, farming is their livelihood. If they didn’t farm their children would go hungry. So trying a new technique is a bit risky. What if it doesn’t work? How can I be sure I’m doing this the right way? What if something goes wrong? That would mean a disaster for that family. Santino, being a single guy, is willing to take that risk and hopefully serve as an example for his community. Perhaps in the future he can then teach others about the benefits they can see from his garden, both for the farmer and the land.

Here's the harvest of peanuts from our demonstration garden. Traditional methods is on the right and Farming God's Way is on the left.

 This last new beginning sort of caught me by surprise, but I’m not complaining a bit! I’m engaged! During my time away in April, my boyfriend and I were able to meet up with some friends of ours in Slovakia, and there he proposed! Marriage is certainly a new beginning and I pray that God uses the remainder of my time here to continue preparing us for just that. It certainly can be difficult being apart right now, he’s in the U.S. and I’m here 8 hours ahead of him in South Sudan, but God is so faithful to help us not only survive but to grow closer during this time (and for that I’m definitely thankful)!

Enemy Attacks

It’s an exciting thing to be seeing some of the first fruits of the work that is being done with CHE. People are starting to implement these teachings into their homes, returned to churches, and some others have been brought to Christ through these things! But you can imagine that these efforts have certainly met with some resistance.

We know that our struggle here in earth “is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” (Eph 6:12). The reality of this was being manifested in many ways.

In March we completed our fourth and final TOT (Training of Trainers) for our current group of CHE trainers from the Tonj and Rumbek East County areas. On the first day of this training, we had some time to catch up and hear reports from each community about how things were going. During this time, it became evident how the enemy was at work.

One of our Pastor David's house had recently burned down and he and his family lost everything they had except the clothes they were wearing and a few small items. One woman, Deborah, had been diagnosed with typhoid that was not clearing up after her round of treatment, and another woman named Deborah had been struggling with a worsening of chronic stomach problems. At Athunta’s house, most of the food that she had grown and harvested had been stolen while neighbors were helping her to dig a pit latrine. Mary was having a lot of problems with her left leg – numbness and pain. Augustino had numerous goats “go missing,” and has only 4 remaining. The other Pastor David had been having a lot of trouble with his memory and clarity of thought. That same day, the wife of Pastor Jude had to be sent to a big hospital 2 hours away. She was pregnant and having a lot of bleeding, and she miscarried that very day.

Our hearts were quite heavy hearing all the struggles that so many of our trainers were encountering. But what glory to God that each person that shared was able to boldly profess how they were putting their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ because they knew he was bigger than all these things! It doesn’t make those problems any less real, but it does put them in perspective. These trainers have demonstrated such perseverance in the Lord’s strength, and I praise God for that. But the real work is only just beginning as the programs move forward and more and more people are impacted for Christ. We know the enemy is not going to back down or give up as we strive to move forward.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:55-58)

What a victory! What a promise! May this be our prayer for one another always.

~Guest Blogger Testimony~

"And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

I love how the Lord uses every act of faith and obedience to ripple blessings to the entire Body of Christ. I’ve been affected by one of those “ripples” recently and I’ve been kindly asked to share about it.

It started in South Sudan where my friend Whitney Smith is serving her King. Her faithfulness to share on her blog about the Simply The Story (STS) trainings she has been participating in and helping to facilitate impacted me unexpectedly and personally.

The month of December 2012 I had been intentionally praying that the Lord would equip me to serve Him in my hometown in Florida, and eventually, overseas in Uganda. It was the day after Christmas and I felt prompted by the Lord to catch up on what was happening in the mission work of several of my friends overseas. When I came to Whitney’s blog, an archived post titled “What’s in your pocket?” from November 24^th caught my eye.

“What’s in your pocket?” gave a glimpse into the STS training Whitney helped lead in Tenwek, Kenya. I had never heard of STS but was immediately gripped by the concept.

Sharing the gospel and teaching God’s word in an oral, story teller fashion isn’t a man-made idea. It struck me afresh that Jesus Himself was a story teller in His earthly ministry. He used this technique as a vehicle to share His truth with people of all different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. He had literally created the people group He was ministering to, and had planted in their hearts a love for storytelling! Using oral teaching and stories as a culturally relevant way to reach them, He taught the learned scribe and the illiterate together in one group.

Jesus also knew that the Holy Spirit could use stories to bring down defensive walls in hearts. I believe we’re created to naturally identify with characters in stories. In stories, we start to imagine ourselves in another person’s place without even thinking about it and we don’t feel defensive because it’s not about us. Or is it? Watch how Jesus uses a story to reveal truth and sin to a proud Pharisee in Luke 7: 

"When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:36-48

In the Old Testament, Nathan the prophet was sent by God to rebuke King David after he committed adultery and murder. David’s proud heart was hardened by his choices to cover one sin with multiple other sins and there wasn’t the confession and repentance of Psalm 51 yet. In 2 Samuel 11:1-7, Nathan, led by the Spirit of God, was used to penetrate David’s heart with a story.

I signed up for STS that very December night and was in South Carolina one month later for the leadership course. In the past two months, what I learned in STS has greatly impacted the way I present and discuss the Word of God in women’s ministry, in children’s ministry, and even in one-on-one conversations with unbelievers. The STS training taught me to engage with people in a way that Jesus modeled and our hearts have been created to respond to.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

The power and authority is in the Word of God itself, a living and sharp sword that pierces and convicts all on its own; the vehicle of STS is another beautiful way to plant that life-giving, soul-saving sword into the hearts of men, women, and children.

Thank you, Lord Jesus for faithful servants who humbly obey You without knowing the impact of their godly choices. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word and Your way of penetrating and freeing our hard, proud hearts.

In Christ,

Joy Wood  

What a powerful testimony of how God uses our 

partnership in ministry to impact one another for His Kingdom!

Maybe storytelling could be a powerful way for you to share the Word of God with others? You can find a schedule of training workshops and their locations at www.simplythestory.org under the Training Info tab.

Or perhaps you want to be a part of making sure our STS training team is able to travel in and out of South Sudan where they help to equip South Sudanese to study and share the Bible in a way that really sinks into our human hearts. You can donate to this part of our ministry at http://www.wgm.org/page.aspx?pid=6285

Would you pray for all of those who are receiving STS training this week in Tonj, South Sudan? The training will wrap up tomorrow and participants will travel back to their home places, but like most skills, it must be practiced to be developed and improved. Pray that motivation and opportunity will arise for each person here to continue seeking to share God's word through this powerful tool of storytelling!

Where are my overalls?

Ok, so I suppose I don’t really need my overalls, but I have been doing a lot of farming lately, and overalls and farming just seem to go together for this Alabama girl.

Back in January, my teammate Adhanom and I got to work planting a garden. He had heard about a technique called Farming God’s Way (FGW), and had been sharing the concepts with me, so we decided to give it a try. It is an approach to farming similar to no-till farming, but it is based on Biblical principles of stewardship. We are to make the most of what we've been given and waste as little as possible.

Here we are post-planting in our peanut plot - not a very large area,
but enough for a demonstration garden.

You only dig where the seeds will be sown, so you don’t have to turn an entire field. This helps reduce soil erosion. Also, you mulch very heavily, which can help reduce soil exposure to sun, maintain moisture in the soil, and reduce the amount of weeds. So, there is less work, the plants give a higher yield and it requires less water.

But even with all these benefits, we didn’t exactly pick the easiest time of year to plant a garden in South Sudan. January was right in the middle of the DRY SEASON! The ground was so hard we just had to start by digging small holes and filling them with water to soften up the ground to be leveled. It was definitely hard and hot work in the midday sun.

But this garden has a special purpose, so we had to get it planted within the few available days we had. We hope during our TOT 4 with our CHE trainers, which is taking place March 11 – 15, to use this garden for teaching the Farming God’s Way techniques. That way, after the training, the trainers will have time to prepare their gardens before the rains come in April. This garden will be a demonstration garden, showing the difference between FGW and the conventional methods of farming in the area.

Leveling the ground (ok, so you're probably thinking, this doesn't look like no-till farming,
but after the first year when you establish the slope of the ground,
you don't turn up all of the soil as I'm doing here.)

After the ground was leveled, and we measured out the plots, we dug the holes/furrows, and put some manure, which we got for free from a local cattle camp down the road!

Adhanom digging the furrows for peanuts

Here we laid out manure in our sorghum plot

Before we started any digging, we gathered lots of mulch
 to cover our Farming God's Way plots. It's amazing the difference it makes!

We planted the seeds and laid the mulch. We have in our garden now sorghum (the staple grain around here), corn, peanuts, green peas, tomatoes, collards, onions, and chili peppers! Oh and watermelons! Mmm, I can’t wait for those watermelons.

Now, just over a month later, our plants are doing well…mostly. Many of our corn seeds did not sprout. Perhaps they had been too exposed to the sun prior to planting. Our FGW plots started out a little slow compared to the conventional ones because of the mulching, but now I’m slowly starting to see a difference between the two, which is exciting.

Here, three weeks after planting, I'm standing in our
Farming God's Way peanut plot (don't mind the weeds),
while Andrea, my colleague and one of our CHE trainers,
is standing in our conventional peanut plot.
He helped us know the way people plant locally.

March is looking very busy. Would you be praying for all the ministry endeavors happening?

Upcoming Schedule:

• March 6-8 Simply The Story Training in Tonj with pastors and church leaders from the surrounding areas. Pray that this method will be clearly communicated and can become a powerful way to share the word of God.
• March 11-15 CHE TOT 4 this is the fourth and final training for our Training Teams from Tonj and Akot areas. Their communities now have committees and are moving forward in their committee training. Pray that this training will meet the needs of the trainers as they move forward with their CHE programs, giving them more technical information and resources.
• Mondays and Thursdays I lead CHE lessons with the Community Health Workers in the IDAT clinic. The clinic has made some recent shifts and the focus now is primarily pregnant and nursing mothers and children 5 years of age and under. The Community Health Workers go on home visitation in the community with Kenyan Midwives/Nurses Annie and Sham (check out recent IDATblog to learn more about the clinic staff), and share what they are learning with people in the community. Pray for the staff as they make their visits in the afternoon, which is the hottest part of the day. Pray also for the families they visit to be transformed through the holistic teaching they are receiving.
• We hope to begin CHE TOT1with a new group of CHE trainers in May in the Tonj area. Pray for God’s guidance as we seek to make awareness/preparations and trainer selections
• April 5th Fly back to Kenya for Field meetings and retreat!

What's in the Works

It has been an exciting holiday season for me! I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya the week before Christmas. Had a great Christmas Eve Luncheon with fellow WGM missionaries.

Christmas Eve luncheon at the home of Robyn Moore (far right). Pictured (from left to right): Joy Phillips, myself, Tiana Duncan (Zambia), Faith Shingledeker, Terry Duncan, Karen Duncan, Robyn Moore.

Then, I spent Christmas day with Mango Ministries coordinator Joy Phillips, and with the Duncans, who have recently transitioned out of their role as Regional Coordinators for WGM africa. We had some delicious food and played a game of croquet! It was a lot of fun.

A view of downtown Nairobi, a city of over 4 million people.

I definitely missed my family and friends, but I didn't mind celebrating in the 70 degree weather, that's for sure. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm such a wimp when it comes to cold weather.

After Christmas I traveled to Kericho in the highlands of Kenya for a friend's wedding! This was the first African wedding I have ever attended and it was so much fun! The ceremony was just beautiful, and since flowers abound in Kenya, everything was decked out floral style. We got a bit rained on during the reception, but that didn't put a damper on the fun. The rain stopped just in time for the bride and groom to arrive and everyone danced! Congratulations to Pheanson and Claire!

Pheanson and Claire at their reception!

Now 2013 has come and some exciting endeavors along with it. I will fly back into South Sudan on January 8th with a new friend and colleague, Margit. We are traveling together to a place called Werkok. There are some amazing people at work in the area who have heard about CHE and are really excited about starting in their communities! Margit and I will be able to plan with those on the ground in Werkok for the upcoming CHE TOT1 in the beginning of February. Who remembers what TOT stands for?

Training of Trainers!

During this next week in Werkok, Margit and I will meet with Deng J., Mary, and Deng A. about who to select to be a part of this training to become trainers for the program in their communities. Remember, this is a long term program aimed at seeing people's lives transformed and spreading that transformation to others, so this selection process is very important. Please, would you join us in prayer that the Holy Spirit would lead us to select the right people for this role? We are hoping to have 30 people attend this TOT. Jesus taught us to pray, "your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." That is the aim of the CHE program. There are many details to work out, but we know that God is bigger than it all!

Werkok is located just north of Bor on this map. It's a bit far from Tonj, where I've been staying, but the Dinka tribe is also the prominent tribe in this region as well. They seem to form a band across the center of South Sudan from west of Tonj to southeast of Bor.

God is teaching me a lot through the short amount of time I've spent in East Africa, but one thing's for sure, it takes real dependency upon him for me to be of any use. Know that I'm praying for you, and I'm so grateful for the prayers you said for me, as we lean more fully on his ever-capable arms and learn how to let God work in us as we seek for him to work through us. I pray the Spirit of God is also at work among the people of South Sudan and that each of us may be ever growing in our dependency upon our Sovereign God.