Busy

We have been busy.

We spent 3 weeks in the States in March then 12 days in Rwanda in April and then 10 days in May in the States again. Whew! we are tired!

We were asked what a normal day looks like for us - well, it depends on the day:)

When we are in Juba our days are pretty much the same but you never know what might come up.
We get up around 7 and usually have quiet until about 9 and then the phone starts ringing. Before the phone starts we are trying to get caught up on emails that have been coming in all night long. Sometimes this means 40-50 emails. We may have appointments with people throughout the day so we are either going out or having people come to our apartment. Somewhere in there we make lunch and eat it. Then later in the day Lynn tries to go out and get some shopping done and get fresh fruit.
Then around 5 pm we start getting emails again and spend another 2-3 hours taking care of those.
The best part of any day is when we go to visit with our partners here in Juba. That means going to Nile Theological College or the Offices of either of the churches that we work with. We really enjoy spending time with all of those folks and feel it is very important to build these relationships but they are also our good friends.

I(Sharon) am not having to do the banking like I was before and that has freed up my time quite a bit. We now have all the personnel in the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan offices and this has made things work much smoother.

We often get asked about the famine in the country and if it is affecting us in Juba. We are still able to buy the things we need but that is because we get paid in US dollars. The South Sudanese get paid in local currency and don't have enough to buy food so this means we have an economic famine in the capital and outside the capital there is no food being grown because of the  fighting that is taking place all over the country.

When we took of in the plane to go to the States on May first I turned to Lynn and said " I am glad this is not our final trip away because I am not ready to leave Juba yet". I really do feel that way and I am so thankful that God reminded me of that. Life is not easy here but I would not be any place else - this place gets into your blood!

Life here is basic and real. Not that things aren't real in other places but here you really do have to rely on God and your faith and people are very real about that.

You must think people here are all grim and depressed and that no one has fun - the way I write about it here must make you think that but I want you to know that there is a lot of laughter amount the tears and depression and that people are still trying to work for a better tomorrow. We just spent a few hours with someone in the church laughing about so many things. Life is hard but God is good and brings joy even in this hard setting.