Lost in Translation
I guess you could say I did a TransAtlantic Translation of “The Big Red Goat.” My Southern-fried tongue gets me in lots of trouble over here. The stories below are only a few of my major gaffes. A word from Curt: This week I’m “out of the office.” DeDe is teaching English at Uganda Baptist Seminary in Jinja. I’m with her catching up on a month’s worth of stories. Your prayer support (we call it “holding the rope”) is needed more than ever. Three prayer requests: 1. DeDe as she teaches dozens of choice young men and women who are committed to learning and sharing the Gospel of Jesus. 2. Our leaders Bob and Nancy who are deep in South Sudan teaching Biblical Storying. 3. That my writing will bring impact and influence for the Kingdom of God. We’ll be putting up fresh prayer requests using Twitter Hashtag #WilluPray? Jerry Clower Lost in Translation: Translating for Jerry Clower I learned early on: don’t try to tell a joke to Africans. It just doesn’t translate well. So I should’ve known better. Known better than to play a Jerry Clower story in the car. My hero, Jerry Clower Three young African friends were riding with me after a full day in the Bush. As we headed back to town, a big goat bounded across the road. These goats have found shelter from the storm. Nimule, South Sudan That’s when the plan was hatched. I knew they’d enjoy Jerry Clower’s “Big Red Goat.” It’s one of Clower’s shortest (2 minutes) tales. My colleague David Crane nearly choked on a piece of chicken when I played it for him. It’s a story that always draws a burst of laughter at the punch line. That is if the hearers understand. With little introduction, I played “Big Red Goat” for my African friends. They listened with polite attention. A glance in the rearview mirror assured me they weren’t getting much of Jerry’s strong Southern accent. They laughed at Clower’s sound effects but the end of the story left them shrugging at each other. I should’ve known they’d have difficulty. Africans have lots of trouble with American accents, especially the more Southern-fried varieties (like mine and Jerry’s.) That’s why most Americans over here acquire a fake-sounding British English accent. It’s not showing off but an attempt to be understood. I decided Jerry’s story needed translating. “Guys, let me tell you the background of the story and then I’ll play it again: It’s the story of two men who are deer hunting. They come upon a deep hole in the field. Not being able to see the bottom, they throw a stick in. There’s no sound, so they get a stump and chunk it in. Still no sound. One of the men sees an eight foot section of railroad track nearby. ‘Let’s throw it in there and I bet we’ll hear when it hits the bottom.’ The two men manhandle the heavy piece before sliding it in the hole. As they wait, a big red goat jumps into the hole. One of them says, ‘Did you see that?’ ‘Yep, it was a big red goat!’ Just then a man came walking out of the woods. He asked the hunters, ‘Hey fellows, have you seen my big red goat?’ The hunters looked at each other and one answered, ‘Yep, he just jumped into this hole.’ The man said, ‘That’s strange. I don’t see how he could’ve done that when I had him tied to an eight-foot piece of railroad track.’ “ I can hear y’all laughing all the way from Doodlefork to Deweyville. My African friends also laughed. We’ve spent enough time together that they’ve deciphered and decoded my Dry Creek dialect. I re-played Jerry’s “Big Red Goat” and they seemed to really enjoy it. I think they pieced together the story from Jerry and me. At least they were polite enough to laugh at the right spots. If you’re ready for a good laugh (and who isn’t) you can hear Jerry’s version of Big Red Goat. You can learn more about one of my heroes at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Clower Jerry Clower at the Grand Ole Opry ******************************************************************** More on the perils of a Southern Accent in Africa: Two days ago I went in a northern Ugandan duka (store) to buy a tub of butter. The dominant brand is called “Blue Band.” I asked the middle-aged clerk, “Dada, I’d like a container of Blue Band.” She dutifully returned with a blue ink pen. At least she understood part of my request. “No. I mean Blue Band.” I used both hands to frame an imaginary butter tub. “Blue Band. Butter.” She twirled the pen in her hand. An Ugandan standing beside me said, “He wants Blue Band.” The clerk went straight to the shelf and returned with my butter. The three of us had a good laugh. My tongue had made us another friend. **************************************************** It was my last day in the Adjumani refugee camps. Pastor Joseph said, “Madeline wants you to come by her store. She wants to give you a coke.” I glanced at my partner in crime, Ethan. He shrugged. I guess she’d learned how much I like coca-cola. We drove to Madeline’s roadside business. After greeting us and giving us each a piece of fried cassava, she hurried toward her house. She returned at a trot, a package under one arm and a rooster under the other. Her gift wasn’t a coke. It was a cock. A big fine Rhode Island Red. Ethan Bossier (on left) and Roho The package was sesame seed to feed our rooster on the long drive across the Nile. I named him Rojo after an old song about a fighting Mexican rooster (told by Archie Campbell). Enjoy “Rojo” on You Tube. Disclaimer: no animals were harmed in the making of this story or video. Ethan, Madeline, and Curt. I’m holding Rojo. I could go on and on
This is too good not to share: Enjoy and Be Inspired!
Microsoft Word – Life Lessons from Navy SEAL Training Too Good Not to Share Yes, some things are too good not to share. That’s true of the African tree. I backed up and took this photo. I’m glad to share it with you. That’s true of the speech below. With respect and a salute, I share Admiral McRaven’s wonderful words. Enjoy! Be Inspired! Don’t Quit! By William H. McRaven May 23, 2014 6:40 p.m. ET The following is adapted from the commencement address by Adm. William H. McRaven, ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, at the University of Texas at Austin on May 17. The University of Texas slogan is “What starts here changes the world.” I have to admit—I kinda like it. “What starts here changes the world.” Tonight there are almost 8,000 students graduating from UT. That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. But if every one of you changed the lives of just 10 people, and each one of those folks changed the lives of another 10 people—just 10—then in five generations, 125 years, the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people. Eight-hundred million people—think of it: over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world—eight billion people. If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people, change their lives forever, you’re wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. A young Army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad and the 10 soldiers with him are saved from close-in ambush. In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a noncommissioned officer from the Female Engagement Team senses something isn’t right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500-pound IED, saving the lives of a dozen soldiers. But, if you think about it, not only were these soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children yet unborn were also saved. And their children’s children were saved. Generations were saved by one decision, by one person. But changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. So, what starts here can indeed change the world, but the question is: What will the world look like after you change it? Well, I am confident that it will look much, much better, but if you will humor this old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that may help you on your way to a better a world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you ever served a day in uniform. It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation, or your social status. Our struggles in this world are similar and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward—changing ourselves and the world around us—will apply equally to all. I have been a Navy SEAL for 36 years. But it all began when I left UT for Basic SEAL training in Coronado, Calif. Basic SEAL training is six months of long, torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacle courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep and always being cold, wet and miserable. It is six months of being constantly harassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from ever becoming a Navy SEAL. But, the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure and hardships. To me basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. So, here are lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be of value to you as you move forward in life. 1. Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack—that’s Navy talk for bed. It was a simple task, mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over. If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made— and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. 2. During SEAL training the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is seven students— three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help guide the dingy. Every day, your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surfzone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off
New Look at the Creek
The Heart Knows Best . . .
A Curt* reply: For better or worse, I’ve followed my heart for most of my life. It’s led us to the beauty of Africa and its wonderful people As well as into the heart of its chaos and tragedy. * The English word “curt” means “rudely brief.” That’s not me. I’m not normally rude but wish I could brief. I’m on the road this week. Please pray for guidance and success on opening four boreholes in the Dinka Camps near Adjumani, Uganda. Also, we’re ready to drill three new boreholes among the Kakwa Congo Camps near Koboko, Uganda. Due to Internet Connectivity, I will be in and out of communication this week. Be patient!
Great News on ‘Getting the Word’ out!
By Erich Bridges RICHMOND, Va.—Southern Baptists gave an unprecedented $154 million to the 2013 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, breaking the record for the largest total in the offering’s 125-year history. The 2013 offering, finalized June 5, reached $154,057,852.36. The total represents an increase of nearly $4.8 million over 2012, or 3.2 percent. It tops the previous record, $150.4 million in 2007, by more than $3.6 million, and marks the fourth increase since 2008. “This gives us an opportunity to reflect on the incredible generosity of Southern Baptists over many years,” said IMB President Tom Elliff on behalf of the missionaries. “The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering represents well over half of our budget each year, so those who give sacrificially and out of concern for the lost can be assured that an enormous portion of all that happens overseas can be directly tied to their support. DeDe and I are fully funded through the generous giving of Southern Baptists. “It’s estimated that close to 1 billion people living now are very likely to go through life without ever hearing the Gospel in such a fashion that they can understand it and respond to it in faith,” Elliff said. “Our missionaries are ‘chasers after darkness.’ We’re looking for those dark corners of the world where the light of the Gospel has yet to be shed so we can get the message of Christ into the hearts of people who need so desperately to hear about it.”
On a Safari
Colleen and Gordy at the Game Park A Word from Curt Safari. It’s a familiar Swahili word that means journey. It’s a trip. It can be an adventure. It may involved animals and if it does it may mean shooting with a camera instead of a gun. Uganda and Kenya do not have big game hunting as some of their neighbours to the South. We’ve been on Safari with my sister Colleen, her husband Gordy and their son Brady. It’s been a time of ministry among the Kakwa people of the area where Uganda, South Sudan, and Congo meet. Today (we’re eight hours ahead of you) we visit Murchison Falls National Park. It’s a wonderful game park where the Nile River flows into Lake Albert. In celebration of this Safari (I’m writing this a week ahead) I’ll pulling out my favourite Far Side Africa cartoons. Enjoy! ;aqg
What I Value Most
A Word from Curt; Today’s word is UpCountry As in #UpCountry. It’s where we’re at today. Seven of us: David and Renee Crane, Gordy and Colleen Glaser, Brady Glaser, and DeDe and yours truly are in West Nile Uganda District. I’ve posted ahead for today’s blog. Enjoy! Pray for our work over the next few days. You can follow our journey at Twitter #UpCountry. What I Value Most www.whativaluemost.com is a neat website that allows you to write your own short story of how God changed your life. If you visit this site, you can read other stories as well as mine (type in “Curt Iles.”) If you have ‘A Story’ you can uploads it at: http://www.whativaluemost.com/Share.aspx If you don’t yet have a “personal story” read below to learn how. My Story: Curt Iles I make my living as a storyteller. Some stories are written, others I tell. Most of the stories I tell are true. Others, although fictional, are taken from real life. As a novelist, I create characters and stories. However, what I want to share with you is a true story. How do I know? Because it is my story. It’s a story of what happened, and is still ongoing, inside of me. Deep in my heart. In my soul. I’m fortunate to have grown up in a rural area. Any lack of material things was offset by the richness of living in a place where my family had settled in the early 19th century. It gave me roots and a sense of belonging. A feeling of being part of something bigger than I am. However, when I was fourteen, I realized something was missing in my life. There was a nagging emptiness, a longing for something more. I tried to fill this void with many things but to no avail. Being from a religious family, I turned toward church activities and a desire to live a good life. But, I quickly found this to be impossible and futile. The empty hole remained. Then for the first time in my life, I became serious about reading the Bible. On my own, I began to explore the words and writings of Jesus. Then I found my value in Jesus. At this time, the first modern translations of the Bible were available and I found the words on these pages alive, fresh, and life-changing. Through careful study, I realized what I needed was not religion. What I needed was a relationship — a personal intimate deep relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I realized through what I read that I could have this relationship by simply asking in faith as I turned my life over to Jesus. Sitting in a car, reading a gospel tract, I invited Jesus into my life. No bells or whistles sounded, no flash of lightning. However, Jesus began something inside me that continues to this day. He kept his promise and filled my life. I realized the emptiness I felt in my heart could only be filled by a relationship with Jesus. That hole was God-shaped and nothing in this world could fill it. I went from a head knowledge about Jesus to a heart knowledge of him. It’s only about ten inches from the brain to the heart. However, it’s the difference that makes all of the difference. It’s my story. And I’m sticking with it. And I’m just as excited about my story as the day it first happened. It can be your story. S.C. “Curt” Iles www.creekbank.net curt@creekbank.net Twitter/Facebook:curtiles
I Stand Amazed . . .
Drop by our updated website and learn more about how God is working among the Unreached of South Sudan. You can also sign up for our monthly prayer letter on our home page . We serve on the Chadan Engagement Team Engagement is the process of reaching Unreached People Groups through Engaging and Connecting them with both American and African churches. How you can pray Current major prayer needs: Peace for South Sudan Training of leaders in newly planted churches. Dry Creek Baptist trip to the Kakwa this week (Gordy, Colleen, and Brady Glaser). I Stand Amazed “My Father is always working, and so am I.” -Jesus in John 5:17 We stand amazed daily. Really. Amazed at the creative ways God is working all around us. I’ve been trying to notice and record all of these “coincidences”* and events.. I tell DeDe that we’re two old people stumbling and bumbling around Africa and in the midst of our shortcomings, God keeps linking up us with the right people in the right places. *I’ve always believed that “coincidence” is a cuss word in the Christian vocabulary. It has no place. No such thing! The numbered bubbles above illustrate how God is always at work. Bubble 1: “MaMa Pearl” is the name of our 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser. It gets us to the difficult places where the unreached are. MaMa Pearl (named after my precious grandmother Pearl and Churchill’s statement that “Uganda is the pearl of Africa”) was bought with gifts of love through folks like you through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Thank you! Learn more at www.imb.org Your giving through Baptist Global Response allowed a Kentucky Baptist Disaster Team to visit and assess the needs of the South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda. You can give directly to BGR’s projects in South Sudan at https://gobgr.org/projects/project_detail/south-sudan-crisis You can be involved in BGR Projects like this. Bubble 2: Adeit. The gifts allowed us to meet a young girl named Adeit. We met her at Alere Refugee Camp near the Nile River. This photos reveals all you need to know about Adeit. Her sweet smile outweighs the fact that her left foot is crooked.. Bubbles 3, 4, and 5; Local church leaders Joseph, Savior and Margaret began ministering to Adeit and her family. They led them to personal faith in Jesus through the bridge of friendship and concern for Adeit’s handicap. Pastor Joseph Anvoyi praying at borehole site. Bubble 6. UBS: Our Uganda Baptist Seminary is where Joseph, Savior, and hundreds of other national church leaders are being trained. Once again, your support of our organizaiton makes this possible. Bubble 7. Alere Refugee Bapist Church, where Adeit and her family now attend, is a melting pot of Dinka (Adeit’s family), Nuer, Madi, Kuku (Margaret) and more people groups. Bubble 8, 9, and 10: Joel V is an American doctor with Samaritan’s Purse. He’s an alumnus of our organization’s refugee camp work a decade ago. During a recent visit, he told about CoRSU hospitial near our home. I asked, “What do they do there?” “Rehab work on children.” “What kind?” “Things like club foot and deformities.” “What does it cost?” He explained that the cost was for transportation and lodging only and any surgery was free. I couldn’t get Adeit off my mind. Everytime I opened my computer, her smile seemed to pop up. Because of the work of Pastors Jose and Savior, a miracle began: Adeit, her mother Rebecca, and Guardian Angel Margaret (who served as translator) traveled by bus to the hospital. Two weeks and two surgeries later, Adeit’s foot is facing forward. Adeit will return in June for more surgery and some tough rehab. I believe her Dinka resilience (and stubborness) will serve her well. We fully expect to see her running footraces. We visited her Camp last week and were thrilled to see how her journey is touching the entire community for the Gospel. All this is possible through our Chadan Team, whose focus is on the Unreached Peoples of South Sudan and southern Chad. Due to the war in South Sudan, we’re going to where thousands of South Sudanese have fled: the refugee camps along the country’s borderlands. Adeit’s Dinka tribe is one of our priority groups. We really do stand amazed at how God weaves things together to bring glory to his name as well as good in the life of a girl with a straight smile and crooked foot Her name is Adeit. God is changing her life, the lives of her family (kin from South Sudan came down to see her “miracle foot”) and even the spiritual temperature of Alere Refugee Camp. He’s the one doing it. We have the privilege of simply telling what we see. And we stand amazed. Lord, help us see how You are always at work around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” -Genesis 28:16 Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries, And daub their natural faces unaware. -Elizabeth Barrett Browning Pews at Ulua 2 Church Plant We need your Passionate Prayer like never before: Pray for the twelve potential church plants in Adjumani and Koboko Camps. Pray for the needs in the northern Ugandan refugee camps: Adjumani, Rhino, and Koboko. We are soliciting folks like you to adopt a camp, camp leader, local pastor, or people group. Contact us at deaniseiles@gmail.com if you’d like to pray for
Living by Six Words
Engagement is the art of making and keeping relationships.
It’s always about Relationships . . . Thoughts from the week
Passed this young man, AK 47 strapped on, pedalling an older woman to the market. Only in South Sudan. From Journal #67 How you can pray this week: 1. Colleen and Gordy Glaser and Brady Glaser arrive late Tuesday night. They join us and David and Renee Crane to travel UpCountry to the Kakwa people. Follow the trip at Twitter #UpCountry. 2. Pray for our team leaders Bob and Nancy Calvert as they return from the U.S. 3. Pray for wisdom in our Chadan Engagement planning. Saturday Snips, Shots, and Sketches It’s Saturday in Uganda and a good time to review our week. Enjoy these Snippets of the week from Journal #71, our camera, and my weird mind. We’ve been in Africa for nearly 1 1/2 years. I could tell you so many things I’ve learned (and still am). But one item stands out: Getting along in Africa is just like America. It’s all about relationships. Being interested in others. Smiling. Being Kind. Greeting. Laughing at yourself. Showing an interest in others and their stories. Listening. You can subscribe to our new Creekbank Podcast on our Home Page. The woman, about my age, walked up with outstretched hands. I admit I thought she wanted a handout. Peter, my translator said, “She said that she thanked God when she saw you again.” I was the face of a new borehole in her thirsty camp. It humbled me to my knees. I simply pointed upward, wanting her to know that God brought water to her camp not some human. Pastor Joseph Anyovi prays over site of new borehole. The heroes of what is happening in northern Uganda are the dedicated Madi and Kakwa pastors who are sacrificing to minister in the refugee camps to those from South Sudan and DRC.
Jonah and Jovan: “Wow!”
A word from Curt: “Wow!’ We got out of the Land Cruiser on the dusty Ugandan road. In the distance, about 3 km away, was the refugee camp called Boroli. I turned to Jovan one of our young church leaders, “Jovan, that’s Boroli Camp. The Lord may send you to be pastor of that camp.” He stared a while before cutting his eyes at me. “Wow!” I wonder if that was Jonah’s response when God told him to go to Nineveh. “Wow!” as in “God, I can’t believe you want me to do that.” Now Boroli Camp isn’t Nineveh but it stirred the same emotion of fear in Jovan. “Wow!” Here’s why: Boroli is the most unique of the clusters that make up what is called Adjumani Camp. It consists of twelve tribes, with the Murle being the majority. All of the other camps are mainly Dinka. The UN knows best to separate the Dinka from the others. They don’t play well together. Their main tribal rivals, the Nuer, are across the Nile at Rhino Camp. It’s a fact that the experts have tried to separate these two warring tribes with the world’s greatest river. But there are no Dinka or Nuer at Boroli Camp. The Murle are capable of creating enough trouble on their own. I love the Murle but they are South Sudan’s most misunderstood and feared tribe. They are known as baby stealers and perceived as always ready for a fight. Both of our visits to Boroli have been fraught with tension. I wrote about one such excursion in our prayer letter: Elizabeth’s Phone. The week that Jovan and our team stood staring toward Boroli was a tragic week. Several Murle refugees and local Madi had been killed in clashes. It began over a football (soccer) game that went awry. There was a tension in the local community you could sense as you drove by. Boroli was off limits for us during that time. That’s why my statement that God might send Jovan (a Madi) to a Murle camp elicited that one-word response that spoke volumes. “Wow!” I’m asking you to place Boroli on your prayer list: 1. Pray for peace and in the camp. 2. Pray that Jovan will be faithful to however God leads his life. My statement was in jest but I’m serious in about how obedience to God may lead us anywhere. Need I say “Dry Creek to South Sudan”?I express it this way: Ready to Go/Content to Stay. It’s all about following Him. Everything else is just geography and a willing heart. 3. Pray for our friend Justin Wani and the church being built at Boroli. 4. Pray for Juliet, a friend of DeDe’s who is a person of peace in Boroli. Pray also for positive tribal leadership and inclusion in the Camp. 5. Pray for our Chadan Engagement Team that we’ll wisely know when and if to begin work in Boroli. 6. Pray for Albert, a Madi who oversees the camp on behalf of the Ugandan government. He emotionally shared of that week’s killing, “They killed one of my refugees.” This Madi took it personally that a Murle under his watch care died. 7. Pray for John K. a Murle pastor I’ve come to know. He’s starting a new church in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. John is very concerned about his mother and family who are stranded in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. I want to invite you to read the blog linked below. It’s my Dry Creek pastor, Charlie Bailey, preaching on Jonah. All I can say is “Wow!” Pray daily. Pray deeply. Pray for Boroli Camp. Read the sermon at http://charbail.blogspot.com [gravityform id=”1″ name=”Contact Us!”]
A Hero named Margaret/A Miracle named Adeit
A word from Curt Today’s word is a favorite: Hero I do not use the word Hero lightly. It’s a medallion-like word reserved for angels and brave men and women. That’s why Margaret is a hero. Margaret lost both of her parents in South Sudan’s war. A member of the Kuku Bari tribe, she became the guardian of her younger siblings. In UN jargon, she became leader of a child-headed household. A brother lost his life and his children became hers. Others joined under the umbrella of her strength and courage. There are new eight dependents living with and around her at Alere Refugee Camp. She takes care of all of them but it doesn’t end there. She cooks simple meals for the children of her camp and sells them at a low cost to the neighbourhood children. That’s how Margaret came to know Adeit. As she watched the children trudging up the hill to the local school, she noticed a preteen girl with a deformed foot. The girl left earlier than the others to make it to school on time. In the afternoon, the girl limped past long after the others had sprinted down the hill. About two months, I met the little girl with the club foot. Her name is Adeit and her smile captured my heart. Coy Webb, a new friend from Kentucky, and I were visiting the PSNs of Alert refugee camp. PSNs are the People with Special Needs. They are the vulnerable. The young child, the elderly women, the infirm, blind, the orphan. Coy and I met Adeit. It was at the end of a long week. The last visit at the last camp. I nearly suggested that we not visit any more homes. We’d seen enough to break any heart. I would have been a much poorer man if we hadn’t met Adeit. She was cutting onions. Her large Dinka smile made me forget to even ask what made her PSN. Our guide pointed to her left foot which faced backwards. Adeit just shrugged and smiled. I gave her a deck of Uno cards and took her photo. I didn’t really expect to see her again. But Adeit took up residence in my heart. I found myself glancing at that photo daily. Shortly afterwards is when God began moving. With your permission, I’ll continue Adeit’s story in the next (Tuesday 20 May blog)
Saturday Snips: A Day to Remember
I want to share several shots from a Saturday filled with waiting. South Sudanese call white people, “Kawaja.” This is in contrast the East African moniker of “Mzungu.” I can easily tell if those calling at me are Ugandan or Sudanese. “If you’re not an optimist, you have no business in South Sudan.” -Francis Deng, UN Ambassador for South Sudan These three young men, Francis, Michael, and Peter are all residents of Ulua 2 Refugee Camp. Thanks to Windle Trust, a NGO helping with secondary education, these young men will be in school next term. They are examples of the spiritual and intellectual strength of the South Sudanese people. Pray for them.
It’s an Ant-Eating Night
A Word from Curt: Curious! There is so much to see and learn such as how Africans collect ants to eat. Scroll down to learn more. Key Prayer Need: Safe travel for Bob and Nancy Calvert as they travel to America More prayer needs are at end of post Invasion of the Termite Ants I stop at the small circle of tukuls (thatched huts). It’s part of African culture to speak to everyone gathered outside the tukuls. After shaking the hand of a dozen children, I worked my way to the adults. Mzee, an older man I see often, was tying together dried weeds. His daughter, sitting beside him said, “We’re getting ready for the ants tonight.” I’m always curious. “What?” “We’ll set these weeds on fire over a small hole. The light attracts the ants and they collect in the hole beneath the fire.” “Do they fly in?” “No, they crawl in under the fire and drop in. We scoop them out and have a feast.” I had another question: “How do you know the ants will be out tonight?” Mzee smiled. “It rained. That makes them come to the surface.” They promised to keep a plate just for me. I’m staying at a guesthouse. As the sun went down, the ants arrived in droves. They took advantage of every crevice and crack to visit the light of my room. It was September Louisiana-Love-Bug thick. I shut my bedroom and endured their arrival in battalions and brigades. At least they don’t bite. My mosquito net is an flying ant net tonight. I hope someone eats my plate of fried ants for breakfast tomorrow. If not I’ll be saying the missionary prayer, “Lord, I’ll get it down but You’ll have to keep it down.” We’re drilling two boreholes tomorrow. Pray for water. You can read the GPS coordinate on one well site near Boratuku Refugee Camp. The other well is at Nyumazi 1, a huge camp with over 27,000 refugees. Pray for the Block E borehole. They are desperate for water. Photo: Beyond the mountain lies the Nile. The large tree is where a borehole (water well) is being drilled for Boratuku Camp (see roofs in background) and the local village. Follow us on Curt’s Facebook Chadan’s Facebook: A Nile Apart Pinterest Enjoy our Boards on Pinterest Twitter: @curtiles #UpCountry The Creekbank Amazon Page Subscribe to the Creekbank Blog We love to hear from our readers. Your comments are welcome. [gravityform id=”1″ name=”Contact Us!”] This is DeDe’s prayer post on our friends and team mates, Shannon and Carrie Lewis: Prayer-What a privilege! Such amazing access! Such freedom! Such delight! We could all go on and on. One of the joys to me in being on the mission field is to actually know the people who live and work among unreached people groups. As we pray for the Toposa to come to know The Most High God, let’s lift up the Lewis family. The Toposa of South Sudan are a Nilotic group that originated from Northern Uganda and are located in the southeast corner of South Sudan, the world’s newest country. They number approximately 500,000. They are animists that heavily believe in witchcraft and ancestral worship. The Toposa are very superstitious and not very trusting of outsiders. They do believe in the Creator God but don’t have a good understanding of how to have a relationship with him or that they can have a relationship with him. Please pray for the Toposa to have ears to hear and hearts to understand the scriptures. Pray for the “light” to shine on the darkness throughout the Toposa villages. Pray against the spirit of witchcraft, drunkenness, and evil. Pray for the Toposa believers as they herald the Good News of Christ. Pray for the Lewis family as they balance family and ministry. Pray for our middle son Davis, as he will be joining big brother at boarding school in Kenya in September. We are now seeing first generation churches reaching out and starting new groups. Pray for these churches as they take what they have learned to those who have not heard. Pray for us as we have a very busy summer with volunteer teams. Rainy season will be in full swing and that makes the roads nearly impassable at times. We have close friends that will be joining our team. They will arrive in NBO on June 23rd. They are the Sigler family. Shannon and Carrie
