Well, I guess being in South Sudan has a lot of advantages - like, we have no COVID-19 here......well at least no one knows about it.
The truth is it probably is here but has not been identified yet since this time of year there are a lot of respiratory problems due to the dust and burning of vegetation. We still shake hands, although some organizations are putting a ban on that. We still go about our normal day.
Lynn is coming back from Kenya today where he went for a meeting and some routine medical stuff. Poor guy had to suffer with Ethiopian and Indian food and getting to go to our favorite coffee shop, Java House. Oh, and seeing friends and being invited to their place for a meal.
We were planning a trip to Sudan but that has been put on hold due to the virus even though it is not in Sudan or here where we live.
I have been thinking a lot about all the travel bans and now the whole of Italy being on lock down. Maybe this is not such a bad thing. Just think, we can stay in our countries and not deal with airport stuff, maybe actually do some real cleaning at home, talk with each other - really talk with each other, take a break from the craziness of our normal lives. I realize that there is the financial side of things and that that is scary but I still wonder if this is a chance to hit a reset button on what is important in our lives.
Okay, on to fun things - like I just tried a bread recipe I got from Kendra and it is SO good. More of a pain to make but really worth it. I would love to try sour dough bread but we travel so much. I was wondering if you can freeze the starter?

Well,it is a new day in South Sudan. On Saturday the Transitional Government was put in to place. The hope and prayer is that this is the beginning of true peace in South Sudan. Please continue to pray that the leaders will put the needs of the people and country first.

We celebrated the day by staying at home. Not because we could not go out, just because we had no reason to go out! I must say, it ended up being a boring day - boring enough that Lynn made a coffee cake in the afternoon!

We are thinking of making a trip to Khartoum in March - well, at least is going and we will see if I can go along or not. With the change in government in Khartoum that happened last year it is now much easier to go there. Of course, we have now waited until the hotter time of year to go but, oh well, a little sweat never hurt anyone.

We will be coming to the States in June this year for 4 months to do speaking wherever anyone wants us. It is always an interesting time doing the speaking. We are building on past visits so it is like seeing old friends and then the new churches is the opportunity to make even more friends. It is tiring and fun at the same time. It is nice to be able to talk with folks who have an interest in the places that we work and the wonderful people that we work with. It is great when people have a lot of questions even political questions that I pass off to my hubby to answer! 😁

Oh, guess what??? We have city electricity at our apartment building! We have had it for about 3 weeks now and while there have been a few outages, they have not lasted long. We have not blown any chargers or computers either so that is really good! We now have street lights in parts of town and each day new areas are getting city power so things are brighter at night. Bad thing now is that there is so much light at night that I cannot see the stars as well.

We are feeling better about things these days. Lynn and I reminded ourselves that we are at the 5 year mark and that is often when missionaries get discouraged. It helped remembering that and talking it through together - we try to laugh more now rather than just look at the negative. Sitting and talking with our friends and partners here over a casual tea time or meal is also a good way of getting past some of the negative feelings.

Something just happened that is one of the difficult things about being so far from family. Our son's father-in-law just passed away and we cannot be there at this time. Please keep the family in prayer as they plan a funeral and adjust to a new reality.

I keep seeing posts on Facebook about snow, ice and freezing temperatures and I am so glad to be back in Juba! We have had the most beautiful weather since we returned. Hot during the day but at 6:30 am when we go walking it is almost cool enough for a long sleeved shirt.

Things are ..... interesting right now. There is so much hope and optimism in the air - many people moving back to Juba, new construction everywhere, city electricity in some areas of the city ( really expensive and not in our area yet, of course) and way to many cars in the city now. BUT.  There is real fear with many people fleeing South Sudan. The transitional government is supposed to form on Feb 22 after being put off twice already. The bench marks for this to happen have not taken place and there is real fear that there will be a repeat of 2013 and 2016 when major fighting broke out.

We were at a ecumenical church meeting this last week and it was interesting to hear how people are afraid and optimistic at the same time. There is also the feeling that it will really take the grass roots people of South Sudan to make a difference in this country.
We continue with our work with the partners of PCUSA, trying to be an encouragement to them as they continue to encourage us.

How are we doing, personally? Not to bad. I feel like Lynn and I are pushing through a wall that has been around us and it feels good to be coming out the other side. You know, with every job you have there are stages of liking and not liking your work. We have always liked living in Juba and working with the partners. Our stumbling block has been so many changes within PCUSA that have caused a lot of stress in the work we do. It is good to know that things are settling down in PCUSA and that there seems to be more communication with everyone, so, we are hopeful for the future.

Hello everyone!

I was informed today that I can no longer use the excuse that my computer was stolen to not post things on my blog. Since I have had a new computer for 6 months I guess this is true.

We have been blessed with the opportunity to spend Christmas with our family this year - the first time  since the Christmas of 2013! Since we had to be in the USA for meetings the beginning of December we figured we may as well stay for Christmas since most things come to a halt in South Sudan from mid Dec to mid Jan. The interesting thing is that the meetings we came for were cancelled 4 days after we arrived.

So, how are we doing? Well, I would say it depends on the day but that is true for everyone. Overall, we are doing okay. We have super busy and stressful times and then we have kind of boring times.

As you know we work in Sudan, Ethiopia and South Sudan. These 3 countries keep us on our toes. Sudan had demonstrations and the leader removed from his position. Ethiopia had its Prime Minister given the Nobel Peace Prize and South Sudan is struggling to meet the requirements for the transitional government. All 3 countries have experienced a lot of violence this past year but all 3 have also marked changes - changes that we pray will stay in place and bring peace to all.

This next year, 2020, looks like a year of travel for us with possibly 3 trips to the States a trip to Switzerland and South Africa and then our usual trips to Ethiopia and Sudan.

I will write more after the holidays. I have some neat pictures to share, some progress with the Education Project and just more about us.

Road Blocks

I don't usually write a post like this as it is not my strong point but I have been pondering this since my trip to Ethiopia.
I planned to go to 4 different areas of Ethiopia to visit 4 different Presbyterian Synods. I mad it to the first two and then was not sure what would happen. I wanted to go to Dembi Dollo  but was not sure  I would be able to make the trip since the road was closed due to unrest in the area. The road opened and away I went. About half way there we started encountering huge rocks, whole tress, tree stumps and branches on the road. At each place small path had been cleared for traffic to to go through but everything else was still on the road. At places we had to weave our way through these road blocks. It bothered me that the roads were not completely cleared as it was vary dangerous driving through all this, especially after it got dark. I was worried about having an accident and then we saw an accident where a truck hit one of these partially cleared road blocks, flipped and the driver was killed. So, why are the road blocks not completely cleared? Because they man y want to put the block up again and why keep moving all the rocks!!

I have thought of this from several different angles in my Christian life. The main one is this. How many road blocks do I put up? Television, sports, food, friends, education etc.? How many do I only partially clear and try to squeeze through? I argue that I have to eat, or that sports is just fun, friends are important......and on  and on. Do I need to do better at clearing the road blocks in my life? These road blocks can keep me from deepening my relationship with God.

Then there is the thought,  do the road blocks in my life have an affect on others in my life? Are they a spiritual danger to them? By my willingness to weave through these blocks without clearing them am I showing others that it is not important to have a clear path to God?

Then I also looked at it this way. God clears a path for us through all the "stuff" in out lives if we but ask Him to and trust in Him.As we drove through those barely cleared paths in the stones etc, I thought how narrow is the path to God and how He will protect us on that path if we just ask Him. There are many twists and turns on the path and sometimes we come to a place where the way is blocked and we need to examine our lives and ask God to help us clear a path again. Ask for forgiveness, wisdom and grace and eyes to see the path ahead.

I arrived at my destination safely but wondering if I would be able to leave on my scheduled day. Another road block? My own desire to stick to my schedule and not be open to God's? I was delayed a day because the roads were blocked again and it did change my whole schedule and kept me from going to another town. God's hand was in this because that other town started having clashes between ethnic groups and it was better for me not to be there.

My final thought from this trip is this. The driver of the vehicle was driving very fast and as it started to get dark he would not turn the lights on. I was afraid he would not see a road block, or the many cows and people on the road. Do I need to slow down and take my time and let God be in control? YES!! He did not turn the lights on until completely dark. Why? I really don't know but I was thinking how much easier and safer it would be with the headlights on. The same as how much clearer we see if let Jesus be the light  that leads the way. Psalm 119: 105 says " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path" The interesting thing here is that I wrote this during church ( don't judge - Church was in a language I did not understand and this was on my heart) and there was a banner hanging at the front with that Psalm on it but I did not see it until I was done writing this in my notebook.

There is also a song that goes " God will make a way, where there seems to be no way, He works in ways we cannot see...."


I am sorry the pictures are not clearer but I had to take them as we were driving - not safe to get out to take pictures of this stuff! And Yes, that is a guard rail that was twisted across the road.

I often wonder what my legacy will be. I know my father, who was a missionary for 42 years, never really worried about that, he knew that he was doing the best that he could and while he was making mistakes, he trusted God to work through him.

Now, I am back in the same country that he served in and I get to hear about his legacy. Of course, at first what they tell me is all very good and nice but as time goes on and I am here longer… well, I hear more of the whole story. It is not a bad story, just one of a man doing the best he could with the knowledge of the times about how to do mission.

I hear stories of how he was a task master at the school he worked at for a very short period of time. How he would not give a direct answer but would rather make people read the Bible, talk about things and come up with their idea of what the answer was. He would also not intervene when the children, of all colors, would fight over my brother’s bike but would rather, tell them to work it out themselves. He would lose his temper, I have been told. Do things that were not culturally acceptable, and I am sure other things that they have not told me about.

The thing I keep hearing is that he is remembered for bringing the word of Christ to South Sudan. Not a bad legacy. What I take from this is we need to forgive ourselves, and each other for the mistakes we make and look at the bigger picture. I am making a lot of mistakes here in the same country as my father. I wonder what my legacy will be since they already have the word of God. I have determined not to wonder about this anymore because the only legacy I want to leave is that I loved God and tried my best to follow him.

Where to begin??
There are times when there is so much going on it is hard to write and then, at times there is nothing going on!
We have been in the States March, April and May then back to Juba for about 5 weeks in the States again until Sept 18. Well at least for me that is how it is going. Lynn has had to go back to Juba for about 2 weeks for a big meeting the church is having so he will return Sept 1 and then go back with me Sept 18. I have a feeling he will not know what time zone he is in for a while!😃
We have had a lot of nice family time but we have been traveling all over the place - Ohio, Penn. Michigan, Florida, Nebraska, Missouri and Kentucky. I have been lucky on this last trip to be able to drive on back roads and see how beautiful this country is.

I am learning to enjoy all aspects of this crazy time in the States, from meeting new people all the time, to talking about our Faith with people we just met to discussing sports teams and of course our President. I am constantly challenged by people concerning my Faith and what I want to stand for and how I want to be seen. I am humbled by what I see so many churches and individuals doing. I am struck by how when we put Christ first how many of these other " things" don't matter.

I don't know if we have told everyone and I am to lazy to read through my other posts, but Lynn and I have signed up for another 2 years of this work and we will see what God says at that time. I know I say this a lot but it is true, I really do feel alive and at peace doing this work.

Sorry this is short but I just can't think of anything more to say.

Thank you for reading my rambling thoughts!!