This is a question that I’m pretty sure the Sudanese rarely ask.  Their meals almost always consist of an easy to obtain starch like rice or posho, greens fried with onions and tomatoes, and a sauce.  Sometimes they have beans and a couple of times a week they may have meat- chicken, beef, or goat.  When I asked about cheese I was told that you can’t even buy cheese in Yei!  As you can imagine, this new diet is taking a bit to get used to.  Although it is easy enough to find the ingredients it takes a lot more muscle to make.  The two main kinds of posho are maize flour and cassava flour.  To make either, they start with grinding the maize or cassava into a fine powder.  Then they put the flour over heat and add some water and begin mixing with a stick or a paddle.  They mix and they mix and they mix while it is over the heat and also when it is not.  When the posho is finished it has the consistency of very dense dough.  The posho is eaten by pulling off a bit with two fingers and the thumb, rolling it into a ball, and then using your thumb to shape it into a scoop for the sauce.  The whole thing is done using only three fingers from your right hand.  I have not yet mastered this and will stick with a spoon for a while!  Evening after evening as we sit down to our meal, which has very often consisted of rice, fried okra, and beans or a sauce, and we talk about how fortunate we are in the United States to have so much variety and so many choices.  I have seen so many people who are thankful that their bellies are simply full.  We have found ourselves laughing at the breakfast table when one of us asks the Sudanese who dine with us which type of jam they prefer.  Choice is not something these people are used to and they definitely won’t squawk if we hand them mixed berry jam rather than the orange marmalade!  So I’m slowly learning to not take for granted that at the end of the meal my belly is full.

On Saturday we were fortunate enough to get an official invitation to the Independence Celebration!  We were given seats just two rows behind the commissioner and were able to see and hear all of the speeches that were given! The celebration began with a parade into Freedom Square.  The organizing committee for the event planned for the parade to last 20 minutes, but it actually took more than an hour for everyone to proudly march into the square.  There were schools, churches, and many other organizations that had to walk several miles in warm Africa to be a part of the big event! The celebration included lowering the old Sudan flag and then proudly raising the flag of the new South Sudan!  I wish I could describe the way the atmosphere felt- it brought tears to my eyes more than once!  After the speeches had concluded and the military and parade participants cleared off, Freedom Square was then filled with many local tribes dressed in garb doing their traditional dances.  We were able to experience that, as well.  The people were so full of joy!  Needless to say we were all exhausted by the end of the day!

On Sunday we took a six kilometer drive though bumpy, muddy roads to the church at Logobero.  We had had a hard and needed rain on Saturday night- it was great for the crops, but not so great for out vehicle.  We ended up stuck in the mud just a half of a mile from the church.  As we sat in the Land Rover, trying to decide the best way to get ourselves out, we were greeted by the congregation of the church! They came singing and dancing to welcome us to their worship!  I have never experienced anything like their worship.  Not only had the people walked a couple kilometers to get there, but they then began worship by singing several “hot songs” that include not only loud, vivacious, singing, but also jumping and dancing.  They spoke the truth when they named them “hot songs.”  I can’t remember seeing so much excitement in any church I have ever been to.  If I am honest, though, one of my favorite parts of the service was the woman who stood in the aisle with a branch.  When they children started to misbehave or got a little rambunctious she would first try a stern look and if it didn’t work, she would resort to the use of her stick to get their attention.  She never did use it hard, but the children definitely knew she meant business!  The whole experience was unforgettable!

Tomorrow I will begin the retreat for the youth leaders.  Please be in prayer for all of us!

Love,

Elizabeth

PS I am working on getting pictures posted, but for some reason its harder to post them here than on Facebook.  Please look there for pictures!

Praise God! I just learned that there will be 51 United Methodist Youth Leaders at the two day retreat that I am facilitating early next week!  We are also expecting more than 150 youth at EACH of the 5 one-day follow up sessions that will be held in the villages.  This is more than double the number we originally anticipated! My initial budget for these gatherings did not include the cost of food for nearly this many people! In order to accommodate these 750 youth, we will need an additional $500. This additional money will keep us from having to turn away youth who have been looking forward to this event.  If you area able to contribute, please email me and we will work out the details! My heart is so happy to know that God has given us the opportunity to make disciples and be a blessing to so many youth! Praise God!

I arrived in Yei on Tuesday morning and received a very warm welcome from Fred and Libby Dearing as well as a few of the pastors and youth leaders at the local church.  During these first few days I have been working on adjusting to the culture as well as the time and the heat!  I have also been working closely with Peter Lomoro who is one of the youth leaders from the district.  We have been planning and budgeting for our upcoming two-day Youth Leader Retreat.  He tells me that the Youth Leaders are excited to gather together to worship, praise, and learn.  I have been relieved to learn that Peter thinks the things that I have prepared will work very well.  Please be praying for the upcoming retreat which will take place from Tuesday evening until Thursday afternoon.

I have been learning many things about the culture of the Sudanese people.  One thing that really touched my heart was hearing that because mothers have many children, an older sibling is often responsible for leading and teaching the child that comes after.  They a child will say about a younger sibling: “This is my follower. I will lead and take care of her.”  A younger child may say: “I am her follower, she guides me.”  This makes me think about what it means to be a Christ Follower.  He asks us to come behind Him and let ourselves be taken care of and led!  The thought brings peace and joy to my heart!

And the nervousness has finally set in.

My first flight leaves for Chicago at 4:45 this afternoon.  From there I will board my 8 hour flight to London where I will meet up with Steve and Diantha around 1 o’clock London time.  On Sunday evening we will head for Entebbee, Uganda- another 8 hour flight.  We will spend the 4th of July in Uganda and then travel on the 18 passenger plane into Yei, Sudan early on Tuesday morning.  Please pray for us!

My list of to-dos feels like it is growing by the minute and the days until I leave are shrinking just as quickly- its down to ten.  I just shot off a list of more than 25 questions to Steve and Diantha in hopes that they can help me decipher what I should and should not put in my must-weigh-less-than-33-pound suitcase packed with everything I need for 6 weeks.  Thank goodness its hot in Africa!

As I check off and add to my to-do list (and yes, some of the things I add are already done, but who doesn’t get a slight high from the feeling of accomplishment that comes with checking that little box beside the task?), I am also compiling a mental “to-don’t” list for my time in Sudan.  There are many things that Westerners and Short-termers get a bad rap for and the last thing I want to do is more harm than good! So here begins my list…

1. Don’t be a monkey
2. Stay away from the weeds
3. Don’t feed the bears

The story below will shed some light on the first to-don’t…

The Monkey and the Fish

A typhoon stranded a monkey on an island. In a protected place on the shore, while waiting for the raging waters to recede, he spotted a fish swimming against the current. It seemed to the monkey that the fish was struggling and needed assistance. Being of kind heart, the monkey resoved to help the fish.

At considerable risk to himself, the monkey moved far out on the precarious limb of a tree, reached down, and snatched the fish from the waters. Scurrying back to the safety of his shelter, he carefully laid the fish on dry ground. For a few moments, the fish showed excitement but soon settled into a peaceful rest.

– An eastern parable

Its something to think about..

🙂 elizabeth

This weekend I had a garage sale and it was a HUGE success! There was a steady flow of people in and out starting at 9:30 on Thursday morning and continuing until 5:15 Saturday evening.  At the end of the evening on Saturday the  Lucky-Brand-cologne-tin-turned-till contained eight hundred forty dollars and six cents! Now, some of you might be thinking “that’s not all that great for a three-day garage sale” but those thoughts should change when I tell you that the only things I sold were a set of used Wal-mart brand dishes and a couple of shirts that were in a bag headed for goodwill!  I know- amazing, right? In case you’re wondering, Wal-mart did not ever produce gold-dipped china, the shirts were not magical in that they made you look super-hot and although Susan and my mom were great in helping me set up and run the sale, they have never been known to sell ice to Eskimos– the money was all made because my family, friends, neighbors and co-workers took the time to sort through their things and donate to my garage sale.

It wasn’t the dishes and the shirts that got me $840.06 closer to reaching my support goal for my mission trip, it was a bunch of other junk. Let me list for you some of the ‘precious’ things that brought in the big bucks: a carload of stuff leftover after Michele cleaned out her garage, seven bags of toys that Mandy was tired of tripping over in her attic, a lawnmower that my dad collected from the side of the road, several books from Sandy’s shelves, a set of patio furniture that my neighbor Scott didn’t need anymore, eight boxes of very random glassware from Justin’s mother-in-law, a globe and a rocking horse that Cheryl’s daughter had outgrown, a filing cabinet that was taking up space in Jeanne’s scrapbooking room, a few bridesmaid dresses that Renae would never wear again, a Mr. and Mrs. Claus that move when you plug them in from Donna, a suitcase that hadn’t been used in years from Bobbi, my Wal-mart dishes and a few shirts.

So now you are probably asking the same thing I did at the end of the day on Saturday: “How in the world did I end up with eight hundred bucks from THAT?”  It must be the same way the disciples were feeling as they collected the leftover fish and loaves. What a miraculous blessing!

I sit here this evening not only in awe of the way God has provided me with the money I need for my trip, but also feeling very grateful for the wonderfully supportive co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family He has blessed me with.  I can only imagine the Stone Soup we could make if we tried!!

Elizabeth

says Dr. Fountain as we conclude one of our 30 lessons on how to improve health, agriculture, culture and community.  Over the past three days I have been in a classroom with 22 doctors, surgeons, nurses and their spouses (whoops, I must have overlooked the fact that this training was aimed at health care professionals) and learned more than I ever would have imagined from Dr. Daniel Fountain.  He gained his experience (and a million and one amazing stories) over the 35 years he spent working with his wife in the Democratic Republican Congo (DRC).  To be honest, he had me hooked (and feeling more comfortable about being the only teacher in the room) from the moment he began.  Let me paraphrase what he shared with us…

“God has put it on all of your hearts to provide health to needy people in many parts of the world.  Let me tell you, you will NOT be able to make people healthy without teaching them proper nutrition and how to be sanitary.  They will not have access to proper nutrition unless you teach them the agricultural skills necessary to grow their food.  And, by the way, you won’t be able to teach them anything at all until you understand their culture and community.  The only way to learn about and understand these things is by forming relationships with these people.  To form relationships, you must let them share their stories– the story of their culture, their beliefs, their values, etc.  And then, and only then, will you be able to begin to share your story and God’s story.  God’s story, the Bible, will then provide all of you with ALL of the directions for health, agriculture, culture, and community.”

Wow. Nope, I don’t think I’ll get bored!

I agreed with everything he was saying- I know the importance of forming relationships, especially when teaching. It makes sense that you can only teach someone after you understand where they are coming from and after they trust you; I experience this everyday!  However, I was a little skeptical when he told us that the Bible provides instructions for EVERYTHING.  I mean, really?  I know that Jesus teaches us how we should treat people and proverbs tells us a lot about how we should raise our children and live our lives, but surely it isn’t all encompassing?  But that discussion is enough for an entire new post…

Back to his opening comment.  The things he said really make sense to me.  We can’t help people heal unless we are in relationship with them! From that point on, I didn’t feel a bit intimidated by the room full of doctors– Relationships, community, culture?  Those are the things that are on my heart.  I praise God for bringing me here and letting me learn from someone with so much personal experience!  To top it off, everything we are talking about fits right in with what I have been learning about Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and what I expect to learn in Community Health Evangelism (CHE).  How wonderful that I God is working to equip me with the skills to help the people of Sudan to have “life more abundantly!”

is what I keep telling myself.  I had no idea that booking this trip to Sudan would so drastically change the way that I think about the rest of my life.  I have thought for several years that someday I would make a career out of missions, but am starting to wonder if that change is closer than I thought.  The hardest part is remembering that I don’t have to keep straining myself to see further down the path that God has laid out for me.  For now, I’m trying to focus on the part of my journey that I can clearly see: me traveling from Dayton to Yei.

Step 1: Get that body movin’!

One of the first commitments that I made after I booked my flight was to get my body back in shape.  The average person in southern Sudan lives on less than $1 per day; I’m sure their budgets don’t leave room for extra snacks.  I am determined not to arrive in their country and showcase the fact that food is so readily available to me.  Even more so, I no longer want to be that person without self-control over what I put into and do with my body.  As Mike Slaughter often reminds us, “All leadership beings with self-leadership.”  But as all of us know, making that type of change is a hard one.  So the fight to get down to and stay at a healthy weight began… again.  I have committed to keeping track of my eating, exercise, and how much water I drink each day.  I even keep a sticker chart to reward myself on the days that I stay within the limits.  I am currently three weeks in with stickers every day- so far, so good!

Step 2: Dust off those history books (or open the computer)

Another step that I am taking is learning as much as I can about Sudan before I go.  I have recently started reading about the history of the country and have been considering making myself write a research paper.  Maybe its time I put the skills Mr. Leugers taught me to some good use!

Step 3: Rally my supporters!

Several weeks ago during a bible study we were reading Matthew 14:28-31

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

We were discussing the importance of keeping your eyes on Jesus rather than the things that scare you or threaten to stop you.  I kept wondering about the rest of the disciples and whether Peter’s outcome might have been different if they had been cheering for him and reminding him to stay focused on Jesus.  It’s hard for me to describe how many doubts and fears I have about going to Sudan.  I often wonder if I am faithful enough, knowledgeable enough, strong enough, brave enough, or even Christian enough to go do God’s work in such a different place.  I can’t help but think, though, if I can gather a boatload of people who are willing to help me stay focused on Jesus and His plan, together we will get His work accomplished!