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