Back to Juba

mosquito net over the hospital bed :)

I have waited to write anything until we got back to Juba so that I could do an update on everything at once.
Lynn did get an MRI and a CT scan done. The scan showed one large stone and several smaller stones right behind it so no wonder he was in a lot of pain. All the tests they did that first day came back kind of scary, they said his kidneys were working at less than 50% and other numbers were off also. Not what you want to hear when you are far from home. On day 13 of pain he finally passed the stone but by then he was so worn down it was hard for him to eat and drink like he needed to and he ended up in the hospital with dehydration and a fever but was discharged after only 2 nights in the hospital.
I feel like the last 2 weeks would need about 6 blogs just to get caught up!
Some things we learned:
1. Every time you go to the Dr or get any kind of test done at the hospital you need a letter from your insurance promising to pay the bill. It does not matter if you were there the day before for the same test, you better have a letter.
2. God provides support where ever you are.
3. I (Sharon) do not have any patience for dealing with people in the States who are supposed to know how to handle things, insurance wise, in another country and don't believe me when I say I cannot get a certain phone number for them.
4. It is easy to pick up with friends you have not seen for 20+ years
5. The food in the hospital was served stove hot.
6. God is good!

I love that whenever we go to Nairobi we see beautiful flowers!

7. Even good guesthouse food gets old after 2 weeks.
8. Even with all the uncertainty at first with Lynn's health, we felt the prayers of you all and we knew that God was in control - even when it was hard for us to pray.
9. In Kenya, Lynn is a girls name only, so at the hospital everyone was getting a good laugh out of his name. Yes, Lynn fed into the jokes all the time.

Lynn did get a real ego boost our first day in Kenya. When we went down to get an appt. for the MRI the lady there wanted to know where the person was who was getting the MRI. When I pointed at Lynn, who was standing right there and talking to her she said there was no way Lynn is 60 years old! She was looking behind us to find an old man :) She thought Lynn was 45!!

We did enjoy getting away from the heat of Juba and even though I would not call it a relaxing time away we were still ready to get back to Juba and try to get into a normal routine again. We are hoping to find another language teacher and continue with learning Arabic.
There is really no way I can express how much your emails meant to us during that time. I know some of you felt like you did not want to "bother" us but reading those is no bother and I answer as I can.

Please continue to pray for Lynn to gain strength. Pray also for South Sudan.

Headed back to Juba!

Traveling Fun

Well, our adventure continues! We are taking a little break in Nairobi, Kenya and the process of getting here was....interesting.
We were to be at the Juba airport at 2pm for check in and when they say 2 they mean 2 and not one minute before! We arrived 20 minutes early and while the people were at the desk they said not before 2, so okay, we wait. At 2 the people behind the desk get up and leave! So, wait a minute, you said wait until 2 and then you leave???? They came back in about 10 minutes with 2 briefcases which at first we thought were computers and since the power had just gone off we thought, oh boy, but the cases were full of boarding passes, luggage tags etc. Ok, so now we get checked in, someone takes our suitcase to weigh and we try to keep track of it through the crowd. Oh, and it is over 100 degrees, no air-conditioning and no breeze, just sweat running down the body in rivers. Ok, get our suitcase back and tagged, now what? Oh, on to immigration, ok. At immigration they have one of those things that scans your face but they can't have air-conditioning in the building? I love Juba:) Done with immigration and off to go through security and into another HOT room where there are no empty seats so we stand until a plane boards and then there is a rush for the empty seats. Guess what? there is air-conditioning in the room -  you just  have to sit right beside the air-conditioner to feel it! I was just glad to have a seat! Our plane was to leave at 4 with boarding at 3:30. Mind you, someone just walks through the area announcing boarding so you have to pay attention. At about 5 til 4 they announce our plane and we go to the door where someone leads across the tarmac, under the wings of other airplanes, around airplanes, through other people getting off airplanes and finally to our airplane which I think was the furthest from the building. At the plane you go over to a cart, identify your suitcases and then they put them on the plane - it was nice to know our suitcase was going to be on the plane with us.
We arrive in Nairobi and, wow, was I impressed with the airport! Mind you, it has been 20 years since I was last here so things should have changed. We landed and went through immigration, got our suitcase, went through customs and were outside in less than 30 minutes!!!! We we got off the airplane we went down the steps and walked over to a bus that would take us to the building. Well, when we got off the airplane it was breezy and cool - maybe 70 degrees and it felt great! I know, I know, we have been bragging about our hot weather but I will admit that Juba is just plain HOT so this felt really good. Now, don't get me wrong, I will take Juba weather any day over what Ohio has been getting this winter!
So, here we are at Amani Gardens Inn ( formerly the Mennonite Guesthouse ) in Nairobi, for a week. We have stayed here many times years ago, but things have changed - new buildings, different meal set up but the feel is still the same. This is a little piece of heaven. Beautiful gardens, big play area for kids, tennis court, friendly people. A chance to recharge the body.
We are also going to get some medical things taken care of while here and do some shopping for things we can't get in Juba.
I could not get this posted yesterday so I can give a bit of an update today.
We spent most of the day yesterday at the hospital getting tests done on Lynn. We still have some more to do but would really appreciate your prayers. Lynn is having trouble with pain in the kidney area and the Dr. here in Nairobi wants to do an MRI on Monday.
One thing about Nairobi that has changed that we really do not like is the traffic. I think we could have walked back from the hospital faster than the taxi drove! It is nothing for a 20 min ride to take an hour! I am really glad I do not have to drive in this city. What is normally a 1 hour drive to the airport can now take close to 3 hours depending on the time of day.  There is a very narrow window that you can do it in the 1 hour.
We are blessed to have all of you praying for us.

I keep seeing how cold it is in Ohio and all the snow that they have and I keep thinking " THANK YOU, God for allowing me to be here, in Juba, where it is 104 today.  Now, I am not really trying to rub it in ( ok, maybe a little ) I am just very thankful I am not in that cold and snow!

We are almost two months into learning Juba Arabic and we can now say....... well I am not sure WHAT we can say:) We both thought we were doing about as good as could be expected and then we tried to talk to the taxi driver and he looked at us like we were speaking gibberish. What we have realized is that there are about 3 different levels of Juba Arabic and while we thought we could aim for the middle one we have found out that we need the top two. This means that for a lot of the words we have to learn 2 different ones or at least understand one and use the other. Now, for our tired brains, this is proving difficult. There has been progress in that the one shop keeper seems to like that we are trying to learn a little more classical Arabic and is willing for us to try our luck with him. Actually, I think we could ask basic directions (very basic) and maybe even understand the directions given. We have started going to and Arabic church service just to get used to hearing the language and picking out words that we know. We are pretty proud of ourselves when we get the chapter and verse of scripture, now if we could just figure out which book they are in!

We were cautioned that it may not be a good idea for Lynn and I to be in class together but we have found that it has been good for both of us. Interestingly, I hear the language(right now) better than Lynn but he remembers words and speaks it better than I do. So, I listen and he talks!:)  I know, I know, I can hear the comments now - be nice!

We continue to explore the city.  Lynn has had great luck in finding little grocery stores that carry wonderful items like almonds ( about the same price as in the States), cocoa from  Saudi Arabia  and Ferrerro Roche chocolates! It is kind of like a treasure hunt when we go to new areas. We also keep trying new restaurants and little cafes that serve ice-cream (mango flavored!) so we are not suffering.

Lynn had a meeting with a man from one of the villages that wants a school built and so while we are not officially on the job, we are trying to do some things around language school. It is nice to have something to think about besides Arabic and my lack of grammar skills. :) Most of the people we work with, like this man, know English so we can get by but when you see how pleased people are that we are trying to learn Arabic it gives us the push to keep going.

We really do like to hear from all of you! It is nice to know our ramblings are being read and that people are praying for us. I think it is those prayers that have been getting us through language school and spending all of our time together. As most of you know, Lynn used to drive truck and would be gone from Sunday evening to Friday evening so this has been a huge change for us.

Please continue to pray for peace here in South Sudan, for the people as they put their lives back together and for the love of God to be felt here. Know that we are praying for all of you.

Pochalla Trip

                                                               December 23, 2014

For those of you who were doubters I "Lynn" a soon to be 60 year old am actually making a blog entry (I can't believe it either)

An MAF plane arrives in Pochalla, South Sudan with a bunch of westerners hoping to some day make a small difference in a small village. A choir is singing and probably 200 people show up to welcome the long awaited arrival of these people. Maybe Pochalla will some day have a school ! Pochalla is so remote that change is almost unimaginable. Sandwiched between two rivers access is very difficult. Plane, funny as it may seem is one of the few ways to get to Pochalla. By foot is the other sure way. Trucks, pretty much impossible unless you have a 6 wheel drive army truck and it's the dry season so the river will only be 4' feet deep.

 The use of the building shown above has been promised to our fellow mission co-worker Lisa to use for teacher training purposes. Much better than under a tree which happens at some places. Pochalla will likely be one of the first places that we'll be helping to build a school building. The local people will be responsible for doing the actual building and our partners in the US will supply money for a roof , transport of materials, and some cement. My job will be to help with the logistics of doing all of the above mentioned. Some materials will likely be flown to the site. Maybe someone has an army truck I can borrow. That sounds like a risky proposition in an area where there was a war going on recently.

 The building above is the local Presbyterian Church building. Although a humble building I'm sure there is a lot of enthusiasm on Sunday even so. Very few are the worship services in Africa that I've been to that don't have clapping , dancing, and praising of God in many different forms.

The river in the photo below is the Akobo River . The land on the opposite side is actually Ethiopia. Pochalla is a beautiful town and I wouldn't mind living there but the area also presents many challenges. Peaceful and quiet yes. Also no schools, medical care, internet service, phones, etc.

It will likely be the end of this year before much of anything will be happening in Pochalla, but we hope to make a difference there with time.

Prayer concerns for the Kandels:
Language learning
Continued good health
Smooth transition to our new roles once we finish language learning.

Learning Arabic

This will probably be a short one.

Our big news is that we finally have a language teacher and have had 4 classes so far! Lynn and I are learning from the same person at the same time even tho we had first wanted our own teachers. This seems to be working pretty good for us - I can hear what is being said and I tell Lynn and then he knows how to answer! :) We are recording the classes so that we can listen to them later to pick up what we missed the first time around.  The classes are for 1 - 1 1/2 hours and my the time we are done so is my brain.

Now that we are learning some Arabic we hope that we will be able to move around the city with more ease. Many people know at least some English but when asking directions it will be helpful to know Arabic.

Saturday we spent 3 hours trying to find a hotel on the outskirts of town and never did find it. We will go back and try again now that we have a better idea of where to look. Lucky for us it was not as hot on Saturday - only about 93 - so walking around all that time was not to bad. This place we are looking for is supposed to have pretty good "American" food and we thought it would be fun to try.

How could I forget my other big news??? I found baking cocoa!!!! That makes for a very happy Sharon :) We have been eating mangos ( hoping to make my brothers jealous) and papaya and even some passion fruit.

Okay, that is all I have for now. We are looking forward to some visitors next week from our head offices in Louisville so maybe next time I will have some travel things to write about.

Happy New Year!

We had an interesting night New Years Eve. The singing at the church behind us started at 10 pm then at midnight the church bells started going as well as the fireworks. At 1 pm things quieted down for about 5 minutes and then the LOUD, kind of like rock, music started and it went all until 3 or so. to say the least, it was not a restful night!

We did not go to church on New Years Day and the lady who cleans our apartment scolded me for that. She said" It is an important day and you should go to church on important days!" Guess I got put in my place:) This woman is wonderful - she has been helping us learn the greetings in Arabic and she always puts me in a good mood cause she is always singing Christian songs as she cleans.

We are feeling a little more comfortable here. This last week we have been taking the "bus" different places just to see what is around and how the bus system works. Our first big outing was to find where Lynn lived 34 years ago. After emailing a friend in Kenya who got us in contact with people living on the SIL compound here and getting their phone number and then directions, we set out. When you get a bus here, you go to the bus stop and there are 4 lines of buses and they each have their own area that they go to. Now, we knew that we needed to get to the Juba University but did not know which bus to take so we get to the buses and just start asking around and finally are told to get on the bus that goes to Customs. Ok, we get on the bus and Lynn asks a guy if he will tell us when to get off and another guy speaks up and says that is where he is going so we just following him. We get off the bus and have no idea which way to go so again we ask and get some sort of directions. Another phone call and we are on the right road wondering down it and we see another foreigner standing outside a gate and, yup, that is our guy looking for some lost folks:) It was great to see the place and see all the changes that have happened.  We then walked 1 1/2 hours to get home.  All that to say that we are finding our way around town and it feels good to be able to get where we need to go.

We are looking forward to 2015. We pray it is a year of peace here in South Sudan and a year for people to start putting their lives back together.  We also pray for each of you and give thanks for the support that you all are giving us.

Merry Christmas!

We had no idea how we were going to spend Christmas day. Christmas Eve was just about how we figured it would be, lots of loud music until after 1 am! I (Sharon) have not been sleeping well anyway so the music just kept me company as I stayed up late reading and thinking. The music started out in English with the old Christmas songs then changed to, I think, Arabic and tunes that I did not know. What I did understand was the joy and enthusiasm of the singers. Believe me, it was LOUD and joyful. As the people were leaving the church you could hear young men shouting "hallelujah" and women still singing.

There are two reasons for so much joy. Celebrating the birth of Christ and celebrating being alive and there being no fighting this Christmas! Talk about putting things in perspective.

We got a call about 7:20 wondering if we wanted to go to a Christmas day service. Not knowing this was a possibility I had just put a banana bread in the oven and it would not be ready in time so Lynn stayed home and I went with Leisa (mission co-worker). We left home about 8:30 and returned about 12:15! It was a wonderful service! We sat in an open tent and with the kids there were about 180 of us. The preacher preached in Arabic and it was translated into Anywaa with some English thrown in for us but Leisa said it was mainly for me. I love the start of the sermon time. The preacher (a woman) got up and started preaching and then stopped and called a young man up. She then explained that she knows English, Arabic and Anywaa and asked if they all knew Anywaa which they did not so she preached in Arabic and the man translated into Anywaa and she threw in English here and there so that Leisa and I could at least get the gist of the message. If the translator got it wrong then people shouted out the right translation!

At the end of the service the singing really started and then the jumping! The women went outside the tent and jumped in beat to the music - not high jumps but jumps of joy and enthusiasm! It brought a huge smile to my face but, no, I did not join them even though I kind of wanted to:) So much joy all around me! How humbling and focus changing.  It is not that they do not get gifts ( all the kids were in new clothes) it is that the focus is on Christ. I have so much to learn from the people here.

This has been a wonderful Christmas in spite of my worrying about being away from family. God continues to show me that if I just trust in Him, He will make things work out. Why, oh why do I (am I the only one?) have to learn things over and over again?:) 

I hope you all had a Christmas filled with as much joy around you as we did.