Merry Christmas Everyone From South Sudan!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is getting ready for the big day to celebrate Jesus entering into our world. On Thursday we studied Isaiah 9:2-8. It was a great reminder that Jesus enters into our darkness to bring light, and breaks the bonds of oppression we face all because he humbled himself to come as a baby. Really awesome and cool! Today I am going to celebrate Christmas Eve by joining in some sort of caroling parade, celebrating Norwegian White Christmas, and then celebrating Holy Communion at Midnight to bring in Christmas Day! Merry Christmas once again.

Love you all and miss you at this time of year!
-Thomas

Ps. I have a Newsletter, but I have no idea how to upload it on here. Once I figure that out, I will get the link to you.
** Figured it out! Christmas Newsletter.

Now this is more like the Thomas I know.

I am somewhat surprised that this is the first real big gap between blogs so far this trip that is not due to internet or other complications. Just laziness, and as most of you who know me, it is these long gaps in communication that is more typical of me. Don't believe me, look at my blog from South America, pretty sure I only posted once.

That being said, here are a smattering of ideas, thoughts, observations from the last week and a bit.

Canada eh?
Would you believe there are quite a few reminders of home that exist here in Mundri. First one I have noticed is the existence of plaid and toques. It is wintertime here in Mundri, doesn't mean it is actually cold, but the people here apparently seem to think so. I have to constantly remind them that this is not cold, but it doesn't stop them from adorning their favourite lumberjack attire. Which actually makes my heart quite happy. It is not just for the Canadians and hipsters of the world after all.

Secondly, I have seen quite the number of hockey jerseys around here. I have seen at least 2 or 3 Toronto jerseys (insert generic anti-Toronto comment something along the lines of no one in Canada actually wants to be seen wearing them so that is why they have ended up in Africa), an LA Kings jersey, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and I think that is it so far. I have seen some Canucks Merch as well, which really made my heart happy.

Finally and maybe the most important, the other day I saw a Tim Horton's Timbits Jersey... mmmm Timmy's coffee.

Have I told you about my Bicycle
I might sound like a broken record now when I talk about my bicycle, but the other day had a nice adventure with it. I was travelling with Tata to go visit his sister who lives about a 20 minute bike ride outside of the main part of town. Once again my faithful steed proved to be not so faithful. On the way, the chain somehow got wedged in the gears. To pry it out I had actually bend back the chain guard (I am strong enough to bend the flimsy metal of this bike). Then finally when we reached our destination, we realized his sister was not there. Not really a big deal until we started to ride back and I heard the flapping and rubbing of a flat tire. The rear tire was completely punctured. Cue long walk back to town...

Football Tourny
Starting this past Sunday there is a football tournament in Mundri West County here. And would you believe it, somehow I cracked the starting lineup as a defender on one of the teams. I even was asked to join about 3 or 4 different teams. If I was a UFA in the NHL with that kind of demand, imagine how much money I could ask for... and give it all away to build a school and office in South Sudan. Time for a quick plug... starting in January ACEM is trying to start construction of an office and start the work on a Primary School here in Mundri. Since Christmas is coming, maybe you can consider giving to support some of the work here in South Sudan! My team Ocari won our first game and we play again Friday in the semi finals. Pretty excited and I kind of like our chances as long as we can find a goalie... our first game was way closer than it should have been due to a lack of a keeper.

My Family
So, I definitely have a great South Sudanese family. Paul's family is fantastic, I love living on the land with them. There are 6 kids living on the land, they are now all my brothers and sisters. The little ones will sometimes walk with me to school holding my hands. We will go to church together, and it more or less just makes me melt. I am a little softy for them. They definitely get spoiled by me, I always give them little trinkets and stuff. But they are just tooooo darn cute, and I love them.

Forgiveness
I had actually written a whole blog on forgiveness after a conversation I had, but I have decided not to post it basically because I am an outsider looking in on a situation with a horrendous past, and it is really hard for me to talk. But it definitely is a fascinating this forgiveness that we talk about sometimes. So here is a little exert from my long rant, about what I do know and what I have experienced.

I know me, and I know the things I have done that have been a direct affront to God and have been wrongdoings against him (Psalm 51). Yet still, in my place as a sinner He came and extended reconciliation and forgiveness. While I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8) He came and died to take my punishment so that my debts can be cancelled. Even though I still do things that are wrong He is still forgiving. It is because of this that I can forgive. I cannot even begin to know what forgiveness means and how it should look if it wasn’t for the cross. 

X-mas Coming Soon...
I have never been in a place that has called Christmas Xmas as much as I have heard it called that here. Despite that, there is definitely a fervor that grows here in Mundri at this time of year. People are spending money buying new clothes for their family, and I have many friends going to Uganda trying to bring back merchandise to sell for xmas. I have yet to really get a grasp on what Christmas is going to be like here, but I know one thing for sure. It will be spent with people. I will either, as far as I can tell spend it with my family and friends here eating lots of food, or I might be heading into the bush to celebrate a more authentic Moru Christmas. Either way I am just as excited as everyone else! I am also excited for everyone back home. I have posted a youtube video that apparently is super choppy and poor quality, but I will give you the link anyways because meh, it is the thought that counts right (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZblytMX9MM&context=C2b67fADOEgsToPDskIvjGIkMmvWsEZx-AL7SvKW).

So in case I keep up my new trend of delaying posts, maybe I should wish you a preemptive Merry Christmas. Much love from Mundri!

Thomas

Language Nuances

First language thing, I have no idea if I am using the word nuance correctly, and I am too tired and have a bit of a head cold so do not care so much as to look it up.

Secondly, tongue twisters. They exists in all languages. Caleb (another wonderful member of the World Harvest Mission team here in Mundri) and I while hosting bible study went about getting our tongues tied in many languages. In trying to learn how to tell one of our friends how to "shut up" (all in love of course) we found out how to say close your mouth, or something along those lines: gafol cassuma. This lead to Tata saying kamsa cassuma, eventually leading to kawaja kamsa cassuma. Needless to say we looked like fools trying to say it. You try... not easy. Then trying to return the favour we told them to say toy boat, and sure enough they could do it just fine. I blame it somehow on the language barrier.

Finally, I don't know what it is about tribal languages, but they are just incredibly hard for me to learn. Mainly because I end up laughing half of the time when I try to say the words. My favourite might be the word for almighty/powerful: mbarapara. Prayers are just great in Moru to listen to! Lu mbarapara, opi amaro ci (Almighty God, Lord... then I don't know). Today I was practicing how to say goat, since my new pastime is throwing old corn on the cobs at them. Apparently I just cannot get it right. I don't know if my intonation was wrong, or my emphasis was wrong, or maybe Tata was just messing with me, whatever it was we spent a good 10 minutes trying to get me to say indri. As usual I ended up laughing and I probably still don't say it right because of that stupid rolled r.

Anyways, time for sleep. Nyu du ka'do (Sleep well... I think)

Thomas

Good Friends, Good Food, Good God!

The two month mark since leaving home has officially passed. Next big moment is the being here in Mundri mark which is only one week away now. I am still blown away at how fast the time moves here despite the pace of life. I thought I should try to get one more post in here this month before bringing in the month of Christmas. So I feel as if I have not mentioned yet, but I celebrated my first American Thanksgiving while here in Mundri. Gotta love that delicious harvest time food. Pumpkin goodies, including different types of pies and face stuffing goodness. It is a blessing to have people around here who are brilliant cooks. Including my dear Esther Roba who cooks for me and makes the most magnificent fresh bread. I eat way too much at times here.
Good thing the football playing has gone up as well. I might be trying to find my way onto a local club here so that I can play and be number one all star defender. Speaking of which, I scored my first goal since being here. Kind of a big deal, not sure actually when even the last time I have scored a goal period in soccer.  Not for some years at least. Thank the Lord my legs are feeling better because I love those guys I am playing soccer with, and I am hoping to build those relationships up even more outside of football. There are some really quality guys who are unbelievably generous that play there.

One friend of mine Samuel calls me about once a day to talk for a little bit and to see how I am doing. I try most days to go by his store and spend time with him. But this man, he will not let me pay for things. I go to charge my camera battery at his shop, and he does it for me for free. Also food, people here are always offering food, even when I have already stuffed my face with Esther’s bread. Rarely will they let me pay for it as well. The generosity of people, who I feel like I should give to, is flipping my notion of many things on their head. They are always looking out for me and it is a true blessing that God has given me such incredible friends.

Speaking of friends, some sad news of today is that my really good friend Scott from USA left Mundri today. He is going to Uganda for 2 weeks before heading back to the States for a Home Missions Assignment. He is going to be very sorely missed by me and many many people here in Mundri. His ministry blows me away. This man loves relationship and God has blessed so many people through him opening his house and heart to spend time with people and talk. He has been an amazing example of a way to serve God here on the other side of the world. Surprise surprise, it is not all that different from anywhere else. God has created us for relationship everywhere we go. We need to take the time to just sit and talk, to be with people, to open our hearts, to share with them experiences and possessions, quite simply just to love. As Scott has taught me, one of the most important things you can do is just taking to time to know someone. I have already seen God at work in some of my relationships. I have come to teach people about Jesus and to teach in general. Even tonight I had an opportunity to do both. I was telling some of my friends tonight about how Jesus has taken away their sins, and about 10 minutes later I was teaching how the world is round (apparently they didn’t know), how the sun rises, and more. These opportunities would not come, if God did not call me to just live in relationship with people. I am excited also to see all of the relationships that have come from the other work.

*Please pray for Scott as he goes home that God will fill him and provide him with all he needs in this time. Also that God would continue the work that Scott has done here over the last 2 years.**Please also pray for me as I will miss Scott’s friendship here. His friendship has made the first 2 months here an absolute blessing and now represents a time of change in my time here in Mundri.

Today, I finished what has been a relatively busy week. Starting last Friday, continuing yesterday and today I offered a workshop for around 400 students in Primary 7/8 and Senior 1/2. The workshop was super simple and short, but covered some basic advice on how to study better as well as gave the students some practical advice for how to actually take an exam. While it was a bit expensive I also was able to provide tea after one workshop for around 100 people, and printed off about 400 pieces of paper for the student handout I made. I am hoping that the information I gave out will help these students on their exams.

I think that is it for today. Thanks once again for your prayers. Hope you are all doing well. Also, remember that Prostate Cancer is very serious. When you see a bunch of moustacheless faces, including mine, in a few days remember this.

Love God, Stay Strong, Drink Milk

Thomas

I hope you don't mind that I put down in words...

Today feels like a good day for a bit of rambling in the most thoughtful way possible when just letting ideas flow onto the page. So here goes.

Peace is a fragile thing. This weekend I had the unique opportunity to take part in a anti-war rally that involved many of students that I am working with. I had initial hesitation about getting involved, you know the whole being a foreigner and not wanting to stir the pot. It did not take long to get me excited though, as I saw hundreds of students taking part in at least what seemed to be free, democratic action. Wanting to encourage something in these youths, which I and from what I have seen many young people back home lack, I quickly jumped in, grabbed my camera and was on my way. The signs for the most part stated a desire for education and development and not for rebellion. While I did not know this at the time, a politician in South Sudan had gathered together a militia of sorts in Mundri East County and had begun training to march on Juba when some sort of fighting broke out and 2 people were killed. Peace is a fragile thing. This country not yet 6 months old already has people trying to bring it down. Hence this peace rally denouncing the actions of this man and staking a claim
in a desire for development and education, no more war. There has been far too much fighting and people are sick of it. That being said, earlier this week some sort of gun shot went off (non-violent intents is the information that I have gathered) and sent some of the children running near the school I was visiting. It blows my mind coming from Canada how fragile the peace is and how much of a toll fighting has on the people from around the world.
**Please pray for the government, and for the nation that they would find ways to not just sustain peace but actively strive for it.**

I think I saw a dung beetle today though. At least it was a beetle rolling a small ball of something.

I finally visited one of Mundri's secondary schools here, Mundri Secondary, and it was hauntingly beautiful. Speaking of war, this school had been bombed during the war and it has left this school compound empty shells of what used to be buildings. Then when money was supposed to come for reconstruction, that money somehow disappeared. Despite that, I walked up to the school compound to see children playing football, to hear laughter, to see trees surrounding, to find this place with a destructive path seem so peaceful and beautiful. Strange how God can redeem certain places; people too come to think of it.

I got to celebrate my first American Thanksgiving, five days early. Food can be so good and combine it with good company and a reminder of how thankful of all things I have, it has a healing quality. Based on my five fingers I am thankful for family, friends (all over the world), forgiveness, adventure (being here in Mundri), and wouldn't you know it: amazing food.

Language is a funny thing. Why does it take forever to learn. I want a Matrix program to teach me how to speak Arabic and Moru.

Speaking of patience, I have to wait until March for Mangoes.

Slightly glitchy photo of George,
Caia, and Me

I apparently have less to rant about than I thought when I sat down. This week is a busy one though so please pray. I have organized at this point three workshops, all the same but for different people and different days. Starting Friday I am giving all Primary 7 and 8's a workshop on study and exam prep tips. I will give this workshop two more times, once Monday at Motherland Secondary, and then finally on Tuesday at Mundri Secondary. I hope to also give it at Comprehensive Academy but I have yet to meet with their headmaster. Please pray, and also we are having a small budget for tea and snacks and handouts. Please support ACEM if you feel God tugging on your heart. We also hope to start building a permanent office, rather than just half my house, and start building a school in the new year. All of these things require money and we are praying and hoping that God will provide all we need in His timing (can I help if I hope His timing is sooner rather than later?)

Much love for all of you. And any Americans reading this, Happy Thanksgiving!!!
TK (Thomas Kanada) [a nickname George gave me before I explained Canada starts with a C not a K. I think TK still sounds better]

Is this routine I sense?

The week has come to a close as Friday night is now upon South Sudan. The sky is dark, there is no light in my Tukul other than the glow from my computer screen. The battery powered fan is perhaps the greatest invention... ever!

I don't really have too much to say today, beyond the fact that I now finally have some more pictures of my time here. My camera has been sitting idle with the battery dead for about 2 weeks now, but yesterday I finally got it charged and went on a picture taking roll. I decided to take some pictures of where I live, some of the kids and the view, and also to prove that I am actually doing some work I took some pictures of the students. Which means obviously I wasn't teaching at the time, but you kind of get the point.


So today I taught at Hay Malakal, a Seventh Day Adventist school today. Had around 10 students come out. It was kind of a weird day as I did not want to be there, but regardless I was able to teach about recycling today... maybe inspired the students to start thinking more about throwing trash on the side of the road. Also got to teach about soil erosion and conservation... really riveting topics. Final topic of discussion today, drumroll please, circumcision. Got to love that CRE. All three weeks so far, sex or sexual organs have come up in that class. I think we are almost past this unit. At least that is my hope. The most amusing but frustrating part of teaching today though was some younger students who came in and were super distracting. I was able to laugh it off for the most part, but man it sure was not easy.

The teaching continued tonight too as I had a student in secondary school stop by my place to work on geography. I was so happy to see an entire unit covering a case study of BC and our use of resources. I told him to study that one closely.

Oh ya... Bible Study, this week by candlelight!

This is the second week of trying out Bible study in Moru and English and well it went a bit better this time I think. We moved Bible study to Scott's house, and made some pizza which really only us North Americans ate, and then worshiped and read the bible together. Essentially what we ended up doing is picking a verse, have someone read it in Moru and then try to explain it in English. This allowed us all to wrestle with what the verse was really saying. It was pretty fun. 7 people were there this Thursday, let's see how it grows. So please pray that God will take that seed and let it grow.

Other than that here are some of the adorable children that live near me or on the same plot as me.

Also I want to take this boy home with me... his name is Conda.

Finally, please pray as I am trying to organize a workshop to train students on how to study better and prepare well for exams.

Love you all,
Thomas

Teaching, Bible Study and Football = Great Week!

It blows me away sometimes how God's plans can definitely be quite different than our own (I think there is a chicken fighting for its life in the kitchen as I write this, so I will try to stay focused). I came into this weekend to once again have the opportunity to teach somewhere between 50-90 students again. Friday came about and there were 20-24 students who came to the extra teaching time that I am providing through ACEM for Primary 8 Students. I was much more confident this time through, and I hope the students learned more. I definitely think we had more fun. We played Simon Says to work on their English listening skills, I learned their names, we played with fire a bit, found out who the first polygamist in the Bible was: a foolproof mixture for learning and fun if you ask me.

After this I went home and started to prepare for students at 2 different schools on Saturday. I showed up Saturday morning at the first school, and take a guess how many students were there. ONE! Technically two, but the boy left to spend time with his father and he forgot the questions he had at home. So instead of teaching the brilliant lesson plan I had worked on, I sat for about 2 hours with this girl, who was the same age as me with 2 children in Primary 8, working on SST. Being slightly discouraged by the lack of students showing up, I went home for lunch, delicious bread, gnut paste and honey... my favourite!!! The afternoon came quickly as I went to the last school of my weekend. 2 o'clock came around and 2 students came rolling in. I thought oh boy, here we go again. Well by the time we were done around 8 students had come. More or less, we did the same thing at this school though. I told them give me your questions and we will work on them together. By this time I was not all that discourage by the lack of students coming out (mainly because I told myself it is because of a lack of communication this week as I got sick and was unable to visit the schools). Instead I was able to focus more on relationship building, but also I was able to learn another lesson. These students need this extra teaching, but more than that they need resources to study. Only few students actually have a textbook (most in sad shape), or bible, or any other resource they need to do assignments or study from home. So, I am now hoping to establish some sort of after school drop in tutoring center. That being said, I would love for (there goes the chicken again) any advice from those who might be more knowledgeable about such things on how best to implement something like this. Also, I have been asked for a bunch of English Bibles, which to buy here are a bit expensive, so I was wondering if anyone from back home would be willing to donate some?? On top of that, please pray as more projects are now in the works and we hope to get some more work done in the next month and a bit.

Two other quick stories to share with you. On Thursday I hosted my first Bible Study here in Mundri. I was able to borrow a guitar from a fellow kawaja here, and I invited a bunch of friends over. Only 4 people came out, but we had some fun playing and singing songs on the guitar together praising God. We then sang some songs in Moru and Arabic. This was all followed by eating together and digging into God's work in Moru and English. This week, I am praying that God will take it and expand it so that it can continue to grow and that I can continue to speak into young people's lives here through God's word.

Finally, I must say that today I am very very sore. This is because yesterday there was a football match, and I got to play. A few weeks ago a group of the best players from Mundri here all got to go to the capital city of the state to go play in a football tournament. The boys made it to the semi finals so they did awesome. However, now that they are back, many of the players who did not go want to prove that they should have been on the team. As a result, last night the left behinds (aka. Red Stars) played the team that went to Yambio. I made the Red Stars as a reserve, BooYah! The final score 5-3 for the team from Yambio. We did pretty good though, put up a decent fight for sure.

That is all for now,
Love you all and thank you so much for your prayers

Thomas

*Prayer Requests
-School building project proposal
-Supplementary Teaching Time
-After school tutoring center
-Provision of Bibles
-Team from America here to do water sanitation training
-My good friend Scott heads back stateside at the end of the month and he will be sadly missed so please pray for his last 2 weeks here and also for all of the young men he has had an opportunity to impact while he is here.

Am I a teacher now?

I survived my first experience of teaching school subjects. Whether any of the students learned anything, who knows. I learned something though, I can talk for a really long time if I am given the space and stage to do it. Between Friday and Saturday I taught around 9 hours of class covering subjects from English, Science, Social Studies, and Christian Religious Education to around 90 different students at 3 different schools here in Mundri West County. I truly am unsure how useful that time was for the students themselves, but I now have a much better grasp on how to structure that time in a much more productive way for those students: at least that's the hope. We did get to have some fun working on pronunciation from a great poem involving a whole wack load of tricky words in English. For those who have had to learn English as a second or third language, I am so so sorry. Our language is ridiculous. I also got to play duck duck goose with 2 of the classes (my rational was that it helped them remember at least two animals that are raised by poultry farmers). Also, I shot a water bottle cap across a classroom in an attempt to teach that air can be compressed. 

Perhaps the best part of my teaching experience though was when I got to the 3rd school (Mundri II). I was exhausted Friday after only teaching for 3 hours, imagine how I felt after teaching another 3 on Saturday morning and doing some lesson prep in between that first lesson and going to the last school. Not really looking all that forward to teaching. I trucked along anyways and got to the school at 2 which was when I said we would start. Only 2 students were there. At the other schools there had been a teacher to unlock the classroom and to get me chalk and was there as a form of support. At this last school, just 2 students. I thought, well at least I won't have to teach for long. After waiting for about 10-15 minutes about 10 more students showed up and together we started wandering around the school checking windows to see if there were any that were unlocked that we could climb in. We found one, the Primary 5 classroom. So in we all hopped through the window. It was quite the mess inside. I think there was all of one desk that was somewhat still in working condition while the rest of the seats were either half broken plastic chairs or rocks, or little kids seats. In and among this mess we started to scrounge for chalk. With all of the little nubbins combined I began to teach. Throughout the lesson a rain storm came along leading us to close half the windows leaving us in near darkness. So much for any students reading anything off the board. All in all we had at least a good time, laughed a lot for sure. **Please pray as I prepare myself for teaching again this weekend. Also please pray that the students will be a bit forgiving with my first time and come back.

Today I spent a bit of time getting ready to move into a Tukul for an indefinite period of time. I am excited to get outside of this gated compound and to have a bunch more people come for visits. That being said, I am inviting a bunch of friends over on Thursday to host a dinner/games/worship/bible study/movie night. We will see how it goes. I hope that at least some come out and that we can have a bit of fun looking into God's word together. Also, on Wednesday I am heading to a friends field to help him with his Cassava. That should be a good experience. It will be good to get my hands dirty for once, enough of this project proposal writing and teaching (please pray for our project proposal and that God will provide the money for us to build an office, and start work on the school).

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Thomas Canada (as I am now called)

Reality Check

Today while out and about, checking in with schools about teaching curriculum, greeting students and teachers alike, I came across an event that struck a chord in my heart and really brought some gravity to my time here. After barely leaving one of the school compounds I noticed the sound of wailing. Walking a bit down the path I noticed a group of women and some men gathered around weeping and crying out. As I stood there trying to figure out what was happening I noticed a woman sitting in the middle of the gathering with a still body wrapped in cloth. Even though I could not understand what people were saying, I quickly realized a young child had died not all that long before I came to walk by. This caught me quite off guard, and I did not know what to do. I wanted so badly to go and talk to those grieving and offer some form of condolences, but lacking the language skills to do so I just stood there. Also, not wanting to impose on the family in any way I tried to stay back. I had no clue how to react, I could not just walk away as if nothing was happening, yet I was absolutely powerless to do anything to help these people. So I did just about the only thing one can ever do in every situation. I began to pray. I just there, dumbfounded in the road praying. Praying what I do not even know. What good did my prayers do, again not a clue. But, there I was just praying, blown away by the fragility of life and how hard it is for many people here in Mundri to live.

This moment in many ways impacted me, but maybe the greatest way is the powerlessness of me. I can so often come into a situation thinking that I can fix it, if I just do this everything will be better. But, just like for this poor grieving family, I can't really do anything but pray. Thank God He listens to our prayers! They are sometimes the most powerful way that we can spend our time. 

That being said thank you for your prayers. I love you all.

Thomas

Prayer Requests:

-The family who lost a child today.

-Tomorrow I am starting an ACEM Supplementary Teaching Time for Students in Primary 8. I am covering 4 subjects (Science, English, Social Studies, and Christian Religious Education). I need your prayers for wisdom, love, knowledge, patience, endurance (as I am teaching for 9 hours between Friday and Saturday, and all to follow for a while).

-My quadriceps are acting all funky and this is stopping me from playing football. So quick healing would be appreciated because that will allow me to continue building relationships through sports. I have seen many friendships develop so far and I do not want to see this stop. So also pray for the relationships.

One Month Already?

Crazy how fast time flies sometimes. It seems as if the time leaps off my cheap dollar store watch and goes right out the window into the Mundri countryside. But enough of that silliness, it seems in many ways as if I have been here forever and have been living the life of adventure waking up every morning, usually completely unsure of what I am going to be doing. It has been a really big reassurance reading scripture the last few days and being reminded that despite how small I might be, God has a plan for everything that is going to happen. Even when I get frustrated if things do not go how I expect them to, it is ok because there is going to be something different to come about instead.

It is hard to believe that I have now been in Mundri for over three weeks and away from home for over 1 month. But fear not I have not lost my Canadian roots. Just the other day for the Mundri Volleyball League Championship game I decided that I would make a snack, this snack... doughnuts. That is right Tim Horton himself here in Mundri. Ok nowhere near that delicious quality, but I gave it a shot and after 2 hours of work the results were gone in less than 5 minutes. So either they were delicious of kawaja has food let’s try it.

I also, got to bring out my inner lumber jack, but let me tell you how I got there. So a project that ACEM is starting is a supplementary teaching time for students in Primary 8. This teaching time will cover material otherwise missed in class time, and will better prepare them for their Secondary School Entrance Examinations. In order to start this project, I have to visit the schools. While visiting one a student named Isaac invited me in to a room to watch a debate. The debate was about whether agricultural countries are better than industrial countries. A topic I have my own opinions on, I kept my opinions to myself and listened. The students did a very good job and I was thoroughly impressed and excited by the engagement of students in learning. After this I ventured to another school and on my way climbed up a tree to sit and talk with some of the children. I learned how to ask their age and how to call them monkeys. It really was a productive tree sit. Finally on my way home after visiting this school someone called out my name. They beckoned me to come over and help them. And what did they need help with, chopping wood. Since we couldn’t really communicate I have no idea if I did at all what she wanted of me as far as chopping away at this fallen log, but I chopped good. So good in fact I got blisters. Needless to say, you can take the boy out of Canada but you cannot take the Canada out of the boy. Oh ya, Go Canucks!!

You all rock,

Thomas

**A couple updates, thank you for your prayers for the mass evangelism that was happening this weekend. It is much appreciated. Please continue to pray that God’s word that has been planted will be watered and grown.

Also, if you look on the right side of this page there are links to pictures. If you clink on the link that says ACEM land, you will see just that, pictures of the land that ACEM is in the process of obtaining. We are now just paying some land fees to the government and then we will have the ownership papers in our hands. This being said, we need your help through prayer and financial support in order to do the things with this land that we feel God is leading us to. We are hoping to build on this land to start an office for ACEM and also a primary school. Please keep us in your prayers as we move towards these goals, and if you are interested in donating money please email me.

When The Saints Go Marching In

Well greetings once again from the beautiful country of South Sudan. It has been an entertaining couple of days here in Mundri. Mainly I have been entertained by various traditions of Mundri culture. Yesterday while pretending to help a friend fix his truck I heard a bunch of noise coming from the football field. This time it was not a football game though. This time as I wandered out to see what was happening I saw a bunch of children dressed up in uniform, and when the music started (a very basic piano rhythm of classic Christian songs they started to march). It turns out this was an outreach event put on by the Seventh Day Adventist Churches version of Boys and Girls Club. Needless to say it gaveme a good chuckle to watch these children march to the beat. It still blows me away that no matter what the event people from the community will come out to watch. Many people came out to see what was going on and heard the message of the cross shared. Turns out it was a wonderful event for all.

What really made it special in my mind though was a single little child. While the uniformed children were in the middle of their marching routines a single child started to march out on his own from the side. He got his knees up high and had a special flavour to his stride. Once he got to the middle of the opening where the marching was happening he began to spin. The entire crowd burst out laughing at this child as he had the time of his life almost oblivious to the fact that people were marching around him. I guess some people just want to be the center of attention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tgARLKtuM8

Then today, after attending English service at the cathedral right next to my house, I headed up to a thatch roof church: Mini Kilanga. As a white person at this service you get marched right to the front and say on the stage along with the priests and other clergymen. Today there was a big group of white people, as a team from World Harvest Mission is visiting and were also in attendance. As a result of this big crowd of visitors, the Sunday School students came up at the end of the service and sang us a welcome song and some other hymns. It was wonderful, loud, high pitched, and beautiful. The hospitality of the people here in Mundri is unbelievable. I wish I had a camera today to film what happened, but next week I am going back at their request to film some stuff because they are trying to raise money to build a new church building rather than constantly having to fix the grass roof. So I am very excited to see the entire congregation of people come together and worship and pray next week. It should be a big celebration and I get to be right in the middle of it all. Afterwards I got to have lunch with the Commissioner of Mundri and went to his house for tea. He is the real zol kabbir (big man) of Mundri, so it was a real honour.

This brings me around to my prayer requests. Yesterday a large collection of believers and preachers gathered together to receive some training and also to begin praying for a day of mass evangelism that is happening next Saturday. In teams people are going out next week (I get to tag along with Esther my cook) to share the good news with people in areas all around Mundri. This is a very important thing to be happening, so can I ask you all to please join us through your thoughts and prayers. Secondly as I go into this week, I am hoping to take some important steps towards implementing some of the projects that I have been working on. Please also pray that I can communicate my ideas clearly, and that any steps we take towards implementation would go smoothly and effectively.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. They are very much appreciated and felt. May the peace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be with you all.

Thomas

Only one thing I know can make a man dance like that...

Well here I am, two weeks into my time in Mundri and it feels like it has flown by, but at the same time it feels as if I have been here a while and am starting to find a rhythm. After a short hiatus from internet due to some funky network issues, I have it again and I figure it is a good time to update everyone once again upon what is going on in the life of their favourite South Sudanese adventurer. So far it seems that after my bike incident there haven't been too many wild adventures, but I will do my best to share some stories and pictures if they work (speaking of pictures, guess who forgot their camera charger and chord...)

James TaTa

As I described in my last rant, life here in Mundri is not even remotely fast paced in comparison to what we are well accustomed to in the Western world, so it seems as if everyday if I accomplish one task then that day has been successful. Most of these tasks up to this point have been meeting with various people from various organizations: the director of this, and coordinator of that, surveyor of land, and researcher for so and so, and what what (I believe that this is what people say instead of etcetera... makes me giggle a bit every time and I look forward to opportunities to say it as well). In and among these meetings Paul and I are getting very near to finally having full possession of the land that we aim to build our office and school on in the near future. This brings me to a prayer request. First and foremost that this transfer would finally go through as it has been months in the works, and secondly the fee the government is asking of us is quite substantial. Substantial enough that it blew me away, so please pray that God will provide the funds that are required of us so that we can not only get this land but also continue forward with building.

Francis Wajo

Everywhere I go there is one phrase that sticks out the most to me "You are most welcome". No matter where my legs take me for the day everyone always greets me, offers me a chair, and begins to talk to me. It is absolutely wonderful as I have made many friends in many of the stalls at the market. Some good looking chaps like this.

Sometimes we will sit for hours discussing life, politics, school, really almost anything. I have drawn many maps in the dirt describing my journey here.



Now in case the dog has bitten or the bee has stung, I feel as if I should share some of my favourite things about Mundri.

First off, most mornings and evenings you will hear loud sounds of cheering from just outside of my compound. That is because there is a football (soccer for you weird Canadians) field just outside of my compound beside the church. For the last week and a bit there has been a tournament between all of the primary schools in Mundri West area. The final game happened just on Monday, and what a great game it was. The final score was 1-0 on a penalty kick, so intense. The fields would be surrounded during these games not just by school children but many people from the community. It was wonderful to see everyone get together and enjoy a sporting event. Anytime a goal was scored or something good would happen there was a section of the crowd that would erupt with ululation. This love for sport is wonderful beyond this tournament. Even when there haven't been scheduled matches people will come out and play soccer and volleyball every night. It has been a great way to get to know people in the community and show off my mad skills (ok... I stunk it up during volleyball and I think some people were heckling me as the soft white man during soccer).

A second thing I love about Mundri is of course the adorable children. I know we are not supposed to choose favourites, but I have one for now. His name is Conda. He is just the cutest little monkey of a boy. When I first met him he wasn't really scared like the other children, I told him to come sit and he did. This was later proceeded by me getting him to do backflips by walking up my legs (bad idea with sweaty palms, and also because he never wanted to stop). When I finally did get him to stop and sat down, he jumped on my shoulders and pretended I was a motorcycle. This was great for learning because I found out a brand name of motorcycle and how to say I am one. Finally he stole my glasses, but again God allowed this to be a teaching opportunity, and I learned how to say give me my glasses. Overall, this kid is the cutest and I run into him many times on the football field, and I usually have to give him at least 10 backflips.

A final thing I love about Mundri is the rain. When it gets super hot here, I can do nothing but count down for the rain to come. And usually when it comes, boy does it come down hard. Thunder, lightning, wind, it is just epic. Not only that, but it brings sweet sweet relief from the heat. There is nothing better than going to sleep with an African rain pouring down outside all around you.

So this brings us to the end for now. I never really mentioned why I labelled this blog the way I did. Well bear with me as I share some prayer requests then I will tell you why I called it this.

Prayer Requests:
-land transfer
-language learning
-smaller projects(peer tutoring and supplementary teaching)
-communication

Ok here you go. I know that we have all seen our fair share of dancing, whether it is our own in front of a mirror or on tv or wherever it is. But, this last Sunday I got to go to a church called Mili Kilanga and this was what I assume would be a traditional Moru service would be like. There were drums and loud (seemingly repetitive) singing. But these people were free and praising the Lord. As we were worshiping I looked over during the worship time, and there was this somewhat frail old man doing this shuffle dance that my words will fail to describe. He had his arms bent and his hands in fists, but his knees were bouncing and his hips were moving. He was dancing for joy, and the beautiful thing is that there is only one thing that I know that can make a man dance like that, and that is the freedom that comes from knowing the lover of your soul, Jesus Christ.

God Bless,
Thomas

Internet Finally??

Hello Everyone, I have internet finally here in Mundri, South Sudan, but it is incredibly slow (hopefully I can work on that tomorrow). It is now late at night on my birthday so I am ready for sleep but I thought I would say a few things before trying to write a much more detailed entry tomorrow.

Number 1: I made it safe and sound all the way from Vancouver to Mundri, even if it took almost a full week of travels to get here.

Number 2: Spending time in Uganda was wonderful and I met many wonderful people and rode my first boda and had many fun adventures (as much as you can in 2 days).

Number 3: Mundri is fantastic the people here are incredibly friendly and I have made many friends. It is amazing how many people will be your friend when you just come and sit with them and talk.

Number 4: I am trying to learn both a form of Arabic and Moru (I need many prayers for this language learning task [Salaam Alaykum: Peace be with you/ Hello])

Number 5: Last number for tonight. This is a short little story of my birthday dinner. So tonight for dinner a team of Americans here with World Harvest invited me over for burritos, chocolate cake, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. How could someone say no to that!!!! So sure enough I headed out there at ten to six. It is only a 10-15 minute bike ride to get there; however, I did not know exactly where it was (I knew it was a big compound on the left). So I took off on the bike that the organization had in the hot African sun. It did not take long before I realized there were many problems with the bike. One, the seat is too low and does not go any higher. Secondly the handlebars were loose and wobbled almost the entire way there, and made steering incredibly difficult. It also meant that as I was riding I had to hold the handlebars in place as the ride made them only looser. Did I mention the roads are wonderfully smooth by the way???? By the end of the ride I also had a flat tire. So these are the problems with the bike, to add to this as I was riding I worked up quite the sweat in the heat. (I can only imagine the sight I was to many people walking on the road: the white man sweating profusely on a bike that is swerving all over the road as the handlebars are wobbling back and forth) Apparently the struggle distracted me enough that it got to be about 6:15 when I received a call from Scott asking where I was. I described my location saying I was not sure if I had passed it or not and we decided I should keep going further. Another 5-10 minutes passed of me riding my decrepit bike before I heard the sound of a motorcycle coming up behind me. Sure enough it was Scott. In the end I had gone about as far past the compound as the distance from my home to the compound was originally. All in all I sure worked for that cake and ice cream, which I piled back!!

Ok, so much for a short entry. But thank you everyone for your prayers, they have been felt. The work with ACEM is beginning to take form as many meetings have occurred between me and my colleagues here. The work that will be happening in my time here will be very exciting. The land that we hope to build a primary school on will soon be in our possession, and we are busy dreaming up other ideas for working within the education system here. Future projects will include health care and agriculture development. Please pray for wisdom on our behalf as we dream and plan, also if you desire to help out in any way let me know.

Love you all, and I hope to hear from many of you soon.

Thomas

Prayer Requests:

- Some of my colleagues and friends are attending a funeral in Maridi this week, please pray for safe travels and their families

- Pray that I would be diligent in my language studies and that I would understand lots.

- Pray that I would continue to build relationships with my neighbours and those around me and that those relationships would develop depth.

On the last leg!

Well, although I technically left home on Wednesday I am just now starting the final leg of my journey. I am currently sitting in the Amsterdam airport waiting for a flight to Entebbe, Uganda via Nairobi, Kenya. Once there I have 2 days courtesy of Adam's uncle's brother (confusing I know) to figure out last minute visa and MAF flight details. Then upon the rising of most of you Thursday I will reach my final destination, over 1 week after leaving.

I guess a quick recap on what has happened over the last few days. Well, for starters I visited Matthew(my brother) in Hamilton/Toronto. He was kind enough to pick me up from the airport only for us to bus back to Hamilton in rush hour traffic. A bad combination when you didn't go to the bathroom before leaving the airport. This was followed by a few days of hanging out and successfully watching all three Lord of the Rings movies(not extended version). Then on my final night in the area we went into Toronto search out Nuit Blanche(essentially a city wide art festival). All we found was John Mcelroy playing a never ending tied tennis match in the middle of the city, a man giving away all of his possessions, and a super noisy town square filled with smoke and bright lights. Pretty rad, but not at all what was expected.

Ok time restraints of 5 minutes means I will super quickly tell you about Amsterdam. Leaving Toronto just last night, I flew into Amsterdam and had a 8 hour layover. Obviously I was not going to stay in the airport so I went into town. Some of the things I saw (a pigeon on the head of Rembrandt, a square full of people wearing random costumes for you to take pictures with, a man riding a bike in a speedo (not once, not twice, three times), canals, really confusing twisty streets, bikes (a lot of bikes), mopeds, more confusing streets, and my time is out.

Love you all, and talk to you soon (whenever I get internet).

Thomas

Holy Moly, Me Oh My! I will go into the sky.

Well, it is absolutely hard to believe that within 8 hours I will be on a plane just about to take off heading for Toronto. This is the last look at the Vancouver night skyline that I will get in 6 months. I better take a few moments to take it in. It sure is beautiful, not many places in the world are this beautiful. I will miss thee Vancouver, you and your wonderful people and hockey (not sure which I will miss more).

It is at this point that I also have to stop and praise God for how faithful he has been in providing for this trip, and not only that but in providing me with amazing family, friends, and community all around me. I really hope I was able to thank each and every person who has spent time praying for this trip and supporting me through so many different ways. Your friendships and care for me has blown me away over the past month. I actually was brought to a few manly tears of shear awe at how incredible everyone who is around me is. I cannot thank each and everyone of you enough. I cherish your prayers and your friendships, and each one of you will be sorely missed. I can't promise to count down the days until my return because this is going to be an amazing trip where incredible things will happen all around me and in me. God is so faithful, and as so many people told me, if I draw near and close to Him this trip, it will be unreal (a bit of a paraphrase)!!! Anyways, time for some zzz's before tomorrow, and then it is off to Toronto to see my brother. Goodbye Vancouver and all of those whom I love within in its boundaries. I look forward to our reunion.

Love and blessings to you all,

Thomas

Things to pray for:

-safe travel

-peace

-awesomeness

Sure hope there won't be any snakes on my planes!

Well today has not been stressful, but certainly interesting when it comes to picking flights. First off there is a new little venture to Hamilton to visit my brother before I leave, and this surprisingly makes choosing flights that much trickier. Then there is also the tricky part on the other end of the flight, getting an MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) flight from Uganda to Mundri [they only fly on Tuesdays and Thursdays]. But the good thing is I know that God is good and after a few emails I am well on my way to having these flights booked, and barring any unforeseen circumstances the date of my departure from home will be the 28th of September, leading me to arrive in Mundri, South Sudan on the 6th of October!!! (Can I get a woot woot)

I would appreciate prayer that these final little pieces would come together smoothly, and also that any apprehension I am feeling would be replaced with a sense of peace. Also, the hit on my finances is slightly more than I was expecting, but the Lord provides!

Stay Strong, Love God, Drink Milk
Thomas

Fundraiser

So big exciting news. There is a fantastic fundraiser going on in 10 days time. There is a bocce tournament and county fair in Douglas Park. Here is a little info about it. (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109352515832252)

Time	Saturday, September 17 · 11:00am - 4:00pm
Location	Douglas Park 20517 Douglas Cresent

I would love to see some of your bright shining faces out there.

Much love,
Thomas

Plans to Leave

Well, after a handful of meetings, it looks like I am taking the final few steps before I take off on an adventure into the world's newest country, South Sudan.

I am going to be moving to the Mundri county of West Equatoria in South Sudan in late Septermber/early October, to begin working with Afro-Canadian Evangelical Mission (ACEM). While there I am going to be doing a variety of things. It is big on my heart to serve the people of South Sudan in anyway I can possibly think of. My work with the organization will involve taking various steps toward improving access to education in the area. Beyond that I will be teaching at a local school. Outside of these education and service goals I am going to be living in the area and getting involved with some local churches in whatever way necessary, with a hope of doing youth ministry.

In order to help me get ready to go, the most important thing I need is prayer; however, there is also the financial reality of living and volunteering on the other side of the world. As such I would love for you guys to partner with me both in prayer and financially either by sponsoring my personal expenses of living in South Sudan, or becoming a donor to one of the projects that I will be undertaking.

If you so desire to help out financially here is how. Write a cheque out to Padang Lutheran Christian Relief (http://www.plcr.org/) and put ACEM in the memo line (for personal support put in ACEM - Thomas Gaster).

Thank you everyone for your prayers and I love you all and I know I cannot begin this journey without your support. You guys rock and I look forward to hearing and seeing you before I go.

To contact me email t_gaster@hotmail.com or call 604-866-2462.

Much Love,
Thomas