Final Stretch

Down to two weeks here in Mundri. Just a little loco. That being said I really don't want to sit long and write much so here are just prayer requests. Sorry... I am lazy. First one is please continue to pray for the football evangelism. It is starting to get legs and I am praying that once I am gone it will take off and run. To see some pics please check the ACEM Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Afro-Canadian-Evangelical-Mission/247336101947501). Secondly, we are trying to figure out some things for teaching literacy in Moru. Basically this just needs finances and people to teach so please pray for guidance in this. There is also the construction of our office we want to start (again problem mainly being money)... please pray for God's provision. Then finally there is just the fact that I really want to push hard into relationships and invest people with the little time I have left here. One of the ways I want to do this is by going hunting this weekend. I am trying to get my friend Tata to take me to his village to go hunting this weekend. Pray that it happens and also for safety if it happens. All in all please pray for God's provision and safety.

Beyond that I really just want to thank everyone for their never-ending support through prayer and everything else. You are all amazing people and most of you I think I will be seeing in just over 3 weeks. I love you all and wish blessings on everyone.

Oh and here is a funny picture of Kamonde in a box costume I made him.

Can it be there is only one month left.

It is incredible to think about the fact that it is now nearing the end of February and well that means I have essentially only one month left here in Mundri. So the question is what to say and what to save until I get home and can tell you in person. There have been various lessons that I have learned over the last few weeks. One that I have been learning all along is how desperately I need God... in every way possible. For anyone who has talked to me at all over the last week or so they would have gotten a sense of my desperateness and borderline hopelessness... now I will argue for good reason, but I am much better now, mainly because we have one amazing, living God. When Jesus told the parable of a man finding a treasure in the field and selling everything to buy that field, I think maybe I am starting to get even the faintest idea of what he was talking about. The treasure that is God... hmmm. Anyways, that being said I still need your prayers for lots of things. First thing is that I don't go into countdown mode because I don't want to sell myself or the people of South Sudan short by already sending my brain home before my body. Secondly, just with work and computers and other various things please pray that God would continue to be present and make it clear if something is not meant to be a certain way, which way and which path I should walk down. Also, continue to pray for relationships as I have only one month left I want God to help me really push deeper into brotherhood with these young men all around from the young children I am teaching to sword fight to the older ones I am playing football with and evangelising too. I pray that while I am unaware of what it may be that my presence here will leave an impact that glorifies God. Those are the big ones... now for some stories.

Well, I made it to Yei to visit Ms. Kaethler and the YWAM team who are doing their outreach in South Sudan. This was an answer to prayer in many ways. I went originally to spend just one day and then head back. Instead I stayed for 3 days. Those people are amazing and dear to my heart. They have a great love for people and praying and reaching out with God's love. It was cool to see their faith put into action by going out into the streets and praying. They were also super welcoming to the stranger who more or less randomly wandered onto their compound there. I was loved to the utmost extreme and God clearly was working through them. It is kind of incredible to think how God orchestrates all of these things. Not only is he using this amazing group of passionate, God loving people to impact and create transformation in the community of Yei, but he is also doing work in their lives teaching them many things, but on top of that He had it ordained a long time ago that they would be there to be a light to be in a tangible way or welcoming me and loving me. On top of that I fit right in with the guys, both in relationship and looks. 2 of them were rocking some pretty awesome facial hair. Apparently the one guy Luke gets called Jesus everywhere he goes in town. I got to experience that slightly too. So I want to really just share my appreciation for the whole team from the leadership of George and Santos to the team leaders Lindsay and Esther, and to the whole team themselves (the task of not forgetting anyones name): Josh, Josh, Lucas, Philip (I don't think he was technically on the team), James (again not technically on the team), Victoria (of course my good ol NLCC sister), Tara, Liz, Melodie... Good golly I hope I didn't forget anyone. I also learned part of the challenge of bartering for a bride price. Apparently the ladies are worth a lot, something of 1000 cows plus land (don't worry Tara I wouldn't actually have sold you off). No wonder everyone always complains about the bride price here.

Now if anyone feels as if the last bit came off at all sexist let me try to redeem myself by saying this... Mundri would die without its amazing women. The other day I say discussing this with Paul, but this is after I tried to do some of the work that is traditionally left for the women to do. Now I have a BA in sociology, so clearly I am qualified but I will not write a long paper on gender roles and whatnot here. So women in Moruland essentially are put to work, from a young young age you will see maybe 4 year old girls carrying around their baby siblings on their back or on their hip. They also cook, clean, work the garden, basically I am not sure what the men do around here but occasionally hunt and dig... (ok a lot work hard too). That being said it has been 5 months here and I have never washed my own clothes (very grateful for that now). So I decided I was going to go to the river with one of my little brothers and wash my clothes. What terrible work. It took maybe 1 and half hours just to wash 15 pieces of clothing, I think I now have carpel tunnel syndrome and I got a sunburn. Never doing that again... and the ladies here seriously went up a notch in my books. Later that same day I had to fetch water from the nearby clinic for my bath. It is something of maybe 250 meters away from home, no big deal. But 20L of water is 20Kg if I remember my science correctly, and that gets heavy after a while. Sure enough here is a little 10 year old girl carrying the same size jerry can on her head and not breaking a sweat. I got seriously outmanned there. Most of the time people even have to go further than this for water. This women totally rock, and I don't know how people here would survive without them. That all being said, not always super crazy about the fact that women do all this work without the men ever really helping. This is why I take a stand and clean my own house... look at me go.

Ok... I am done for now.

Love you all tons, miss you all too, but don't fear before you know it I will be back with you wanting to return to South Sudan.

Have I told you lately... that it is stinking hot!

What is the first thing that you think of when you think of heat and warmth and everything hot. Some might think Mexico or warm tropical beaches. I however think fire, as one of my friends here James Tata says "I am hot like fire". Speaking of fire for a reason, the other day I got to take part in a fire fighting escapade of sorts. A common occurrence during the dry season in Mundri is the widespread burning of dry grass and fields for the purpose of clearing. I really do not think thought is always put into this burning, as I have heard of many stories of lost crops and trees as a result of someones fire being picked up by the wind and taken the wrong direction. Most recently, I was working up at the ECS Diocese Building checking emails when out I come to see a massive cloud of smoke. I head over closer to see the entire bush that was there the hour before I tucked into the office reduced to burnt ash. Pretty mind blowing, especially since I was not far away and didn't notice it. As I continued to explore, I discovered the fire was heading towards the Bishop's goat's Tukuls and to prevent this the World Harvest team spread the fire the other direction. Apparently missing out on most of the fun, I jumped right in trying to break up one big pile of burning that was still close and potentially threatening to spread the fire further. Man it was hot. I have even more respect now for firefighters, especially those who fight forest fires which as far as I can tell after this experience are super unpredictable and crazy. Mad respect to all of those who put their life at risk to protect others from fire! Although I didn't do much I think I might throw part time firefighter on my resume now.

Continuing the theme of heat, I have now come to Juba for a short period of time: to do some work and whatnot. It is even hotter here than in Mundri I think. I am super glad the power in the house I am staying has held out and provided me with a fan every night. My journey here this time, was on my own with the director of SEM and most of the time here I have been wandering the streets a lone wolf. Pretty fun actually, and I feel somewhat productive, at least adventurous. Once again though I am blown away by the hospitality of people here. The first day I was heading into Juba town I took a long walk to find a bus (I walked the same route as the buses they were just all full). When I finally got on one, a super nice gentlemen struck up conversation with me. His name was Simon, and before the end of the ride he paid for my bus trip, in his words to welcome me to South Sudan. Ok, it was only 1 SSP, but I was really moved by this gesture. I mean, when has it ever crossed my mind to pay for the ride of a stranger on the bus that I just met (I could blame it on the fact we pay before we sit down, but you get my point).

I hope I was able to slightly return the favour today as when I was out and about I sat down with three young brothers (Monday 10, Sebit 8, and Wahid 6) and drank sodas with them. Not much again, but maybe through that little act of love to them God can do something cool. It apparently made an impact on someone else as I think I caught one man taking a picture of us with his phone.

Finally, here is an update on the work. We are slowly moving towards raising the office. We now have our red stone and sand. We also have our engineer/contractor, also good news. In no time we will have one beautiful office to call home. Also, for those who have supported the football league in prayer and financially. I have purchase 10 footballs, which will help push things forward. The next step is uniforms, which might be a bit trickier with price, but I think we can make do. There is a package that for some reason has still not come through that will help with this project. Please pray that it would come through!!

I always say finally, then add one more thing... this time 2. First off, chocolate is a great idea for a gift and I definitely wish I could receive some. But do you remember how I said it is hot here. The chocolate I most recently received was a pool. Still loved trying to lap it up though. Now finally, I am off to Yei tomorrow to visit Victoria Kaethler who is here with YWAM (I know who knew they had a base here). I look forward to seeing a familiar face. Please pray for safe travels.

Love you all, and I will be seeing most of you sooner rather than later.

Ps. Happy Birthday tomorrow sister of mine!

The Pride of Sugar Cane

Man, this blog title sounds like a great sequel to Lord of the Flies or something. Unfortunately I am not quite in the mood for writing a book about anarchy and the true nature of humans. That being said I have never read Lord of the Flies, so not entirely sure what it is all about (I have seen parts of the movie). No in fact, the title is the extent of my creativity.

Recently, there has been a very common phenomenon which cannot be good for my teeth. Since these days it is getting ridiculously hot drinking tea together seems to less and less the norm. I Still drink far more than my fair share of cups a day though. The newest community bonding experience that I have had the privilege of experiencing is the sugar cane. For 1 pound you buy a stalk and split into pieces. Then you start gnawing on it as if humans have teeth like beavers. Everyone around here seems a pro and rip off the outer shell to reveal the inner juicy, fibery goodness. Me on the other hand am still trying to get the hard shell off when everyone else is finishing of the entire treat. Mostly people mock my lack of ability and give me a knife. Now some of you know a history of me and sharp objects, but generally we don’t make a good match. As a result my hands show some my attempts to eat sugar cane. In fact my body as a whole these days seems to be a walking scab collector. All over my legs and arms and hands are small little nicks and scrapes. Not a problem, minus the ease of infection around here. Good thing I got my Life Brand disinfectant. It seems a common comment that my body is becoming African. Not sure if my body is becoming African or if my body is just being spread about the African bush bit by bit.

One nice thing to know about life though is that I can make a fool of myself on a regular basis no matter where I am. Next week 3 of the remaining 4 grades still in school start their final exams, so I have been going around helping Primary 8 students with their science review. For the unit on uses of water, I had the brilliant idea of doing charades/Pictionary with the students to help them have fun while reviewing. Unfortunately I really underestimate these students lack of willingness to volunteer. These students are definitely the most passive learners I have ever seen (not surprising when you see some of their results). Anyways, since no one wanted to participate I ended up acting out the entire list, starting with a cow drinking water. After acting like a fish, washing my clothes, bathing (all with my clothes still on), water skiing (major failed attempt), and a bunch of others the kids at least participated by guessing at my stupidity. Oh well, what fun is life without laughing at yourself.

Which brings me to the pride aspect of this update. I have discovered I am ridiculously proud, and not really in the usual way. I have fallen into the trap as written by a few authors of religious pride. I do not have a very long attention span and when things are not super engaging for me I often get frustrated at them thinking I can do better. Well, apparently this is my struggle with church here. Whether English or Moru service, by the end I am usually tired and frustrated and I fall into the trap of thinking why do it this way, and why is this here, and etc. All stemming from a thought that I got it all figured out. First off, boy oh boy I do not. Secondly, Jesus has been incredibly gracious to invite me into relationship with Himself; therefore, anything I think I know is gift from Him and is worked out in the process of relationship with Him and others. I feel as if that is not at all articulate, and I don’t really feel like figuring out another way of saying it. However, the lesson and process I am going through right now is just a situation of humility where I have to lay down my preconceived notions of being right, or of knowing better. There is nothing of my relationship with Jesus that makes me any better than anyone else, and everyone just needs to hear the words from their Saviour that they are loved and worthwhile, and can only come to know this through restored relationship with Him made possible through His sacrifice.

OK, preaching done.

Love you all. In 2 months I will be home!

Please pray for the football evangelism league I am trying to start (pray for supplies to come through).

Also pray for other projects (building of office, refurnishing classrooms at a school).

Pray for the bible study here that it would gain some momentum that it would continue after I leave.

Pray against pride for me.

Pray that I can trust and rest in God.

Pray for adventure!!

** I have lost my camera... please pray it either grows legs and comes back to me, or that I get another one cheaply.

The Day They Sent Me to Prison

Paul and one of the oranges from his orange trees

I wasn’t arrested, don’t worry mom. It has been some time since I have updated a blog, so thought I would at least start it with some hearts beating. That being said, I did actually go to prison today. Not for doing anything bad, but rather I had the opportunity to preach there this morning. At rather short notice, as in last night at about 7pm, Paul asked me if I would come with him to the prison and preach. Clarifying, I asked if he meant that he wanted me to just come and visit. Sure enough, he said what he meant to. He wanted me to preach at the prison. This had me a bit nervous for three reasons. First off, preaching is always a bit of a nerve racking but exciting thing. I mean I have the awesome privilege of sharing God’s word with people that He loves passionately; however, I also have the huge responsibility of sharing the word of God. Definitely don’t want to screw it up and misrepresent scripture and the amazing God it speaks of (Cue the intense prayer). Thankfully, God provided me with some words to speak as well as a translator in Paul so that the words I spoke (hopefully the Spirit speaking through me) could be understood by those hearing it. So that was this morning. I got to share how God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through the final plague of the death of every first born son and how God passed over the Israelites because they had the blood of a sacrificed goat or lamb smeared on their doorposts. This then lead to me discussing Romans 6 and how we are slaves to sin, but God saves us from this slavery in a similar fashion to his saving of the Israelites from the Egyptians: through the blood of a firstborn which causes the punishment of our sons to be passed over to Jesus. Finally, I mentioned the beauty of the fact that God led the Israelites from slavery into new life, and he also leads us from slavery from sin which leads to death into a new life of righteous living now and forever. Thank God for His wonderful word!

Second adventure of today: roof top acrobatics. Not quite that extreme, but recently I bought a solar panel to provide me with some lighting inside my tukul and well a solar panel doesn’t do much good sitting inside your house, so today was the day to get it onto the roof. A slightly more difficult task than anticipated. After buying some scrap wood from some carpenters and a saw and some nails I proceeded in making a mounting for the panel. First attempt was a fail. Final result was a piece of wood with nails in it. Brilliant design if you ask me. First failed attempt took about 1 hour to construct, the piece of wood all of 1 minute to cut the wood. Next came the joy of getting it onto the roof. Let me first describe the roof. It is tin roofing sheets, which I really do not think is designed to hold the weight of your average Canadian kawaja. Not to worry about, at least right away. First I had to get up there. Jump onto a barely and try to scramble up... didn’t seem feasible, at least that is what everyone else said. So, we took a bamboo bed thing and turned it on its side to form a ladder. Brilliant I thought, and it wasn’t even my idea. Tried to get up, but between almost every “rung” breaking under my weight and once reaching the top having no way to pull my body up onto the roof without slicing my hands on the roofing we went in search of another solution. Monday returned with a wonderful 4 rung ladder that actually reached the roof. Each rung was at a different distance interval. My final step up was a gap of about 3.5 feet. Finally I was up on the roof, hammer, nails, wonderfully designed wooden mount and solar panel. Unfortunately trying to nail through wood on a really unstable and bouncy tin roof does not work so well, so back down we go following a few nails and the wood itself. I however did not slide down the opposite side of the roof and fall to the ground. Once back on the ground we put through some nails and then repeated the previous exercise. So now I am proud to say I have a solar panel on my roof. Hopefully when the rain returns we don’t regret this undertaking.

I suppose I should also mention what is going on with work. Ulterior motive alert!! I am currently attempting at organizing a Mundri Under 15 football league. So many kids here love football, but don’t get the chance to play in any sort of organized game until they reach the age of 16+. So, since I love football, I thought maybe I could help. I also love Jesus (more than football... don’t worry), so I thought as many have done in the past why don’t we combine the two into a football evangelism type of dealio. Currently I have a bunch of young men who are going to help me with coaching and organizing the league. Praise the Lord for this provision. This project has already gone through some revamping based on my seeming inability to get things right on the first try, but hey that is how we learn. Plus God sure teaches stuff about how to release work to Him because He has got it all under control. Besides, he is the one that brought me here, so why would I question what He has brought me here to do. It usually seems to be quite different than my first plan. Ok back on track! So anyways, the big problems facing us at this point is the provision of balls, jerseys, and other practice materials such as whistles, cones, and first aid kids. We also want to organize a tournament in March sometime before I leave and this will require a small budget for things like awards and other various things. Here comes the ulterior motive part... please give! If you at all feel inclined to donate to helping with this project, or the building of our office (which we are also currently in the process of undertaking), or any other such ACEM undertakings, please email Adam Knowlson aknowlson@gmail.com. If you don’t mind not getting a tax receipt, it will help us get money here faster and that would be real nifty.

Anyways, I suppose that is it for now. Time to read some of 1984 with my fancy little lights!

Much Love,

Thomas Gaster

·        *I will try to write more regularly, but internet has gone down so I only get it maybe once a week when I go up to visit ECS Office.

Holidays in Review... Mundri Style

 Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, and everything else in between. As of today I have made it through the bulk of holiday celebrations. Although there is still tons of dancing happening outside as I write this as quickly as possible (so I can dance more, and pack for Juba). Luckily there is apparently another big celebration January 9 for the remembrance of peace or John Garang, not 100% sure.

Crying Contest on St. Stephen's Day

So it all sort of started Christmas Eve (and at this point I got lazy of writing and went to pack for Juba. Of which 5 days here and I finally sit down to write it again). The festivities started at around 4:00PM when I headed up to the ECS Diocese Compound where I was going to celebrate a Norwegian White Christmas with the World Harvest Mission Team. So I donned all white, which in Mundri never stays white long during dry season, plus on my white t-shirt there is apparently some form of orange stain... real classy Thomas. The other part of the meal was that all the food was white, or off white...ish. So we had homemade perogies, yummy chicken, sauerkraut, and etc. Fantastic food once again provided by the WHM team, and with little contribution from me other than my amazing dish washing skills. So after eating we had some rice pudding and exchanged presents, which I know Christmas gift giving isn't a competition but I got my butt handed to me. Due to my lack of funds and creativity all I came up with was colouring a picture in a Peanut's Christmas Colouring Book for each member of the team. Kinda cool I thought, until I started seeing their gifts for me too. I got a tarp for my ceiling, and a shirt, and a cross necklace, and candy, and man so many cool cool things. Then they were all exchanging these amazingly creative crafty things. Caleb the other young man whose story of ending up in Mundri is similar to mine carved these incredible plaques for 2 of the girls on the team, and then carved out the entire Masso family (Michael Masso is the team leader). I was left in the dust when it came to gift giving. Then we also took part in some caroling. We went around to a bunch of the neighbours and sang Christmas Carols for them. Lit the candles and sang some songs. Great fun, we even had a chance to sing for some guys whose car was broken down on the road at night. What a simple but really fun way to be a blessing to people. After doing more dishes, we finally headed out to Midnight Christmas Eve Holy Communion service out at Miri Kalanga. This was a fun little adventure as we sang Noel in Moru, not quite the same effect as English, but maybe more fun. Downside however was that I was super bagged so kind of slept through most of the service, was awake for communion though. Thank Jesus for coming!

Bring on Christmas Day! Well it did not start super early, but when it did start it involved jumping on the bike and heading into the bush. About an hour of biking through thick grass overgrown paths and going literally into the middle of nowhere (at least it seemed), we came across a church. Not really any different than any other church, in fact not at all in the fact that Paul and I sat down and guess what happened. They offered me food. Then we went in for service, with two preachers (Paul being one). While I did not understand Paul's message I certainly needed his attitude of celebration. Just as I was praying about a heart to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Paul starts getting everyone up to dance and sing. Then he led everyone out of the church and around, dancing and singing and just celebrating. Our God humbled himself and entered our world. Let us dance and shout and celebrate. After service there was once again more food. Overall between the Christmas holidays, and for that matter my entire time here in Africa it seems people never want to stop feeding me. I might be gaining some weight here. After eating I decided I wanted to teach some of the kids at the church some songs, so we sang Pharaoh Pharaoh, and many other camp/ Sunday school songs (anyone from camp this last summer would be proud as I busted out Stand Up and Shout It). After church we rode our bikes back home. While I know some of you may never have the chance to, riding your bike through the African wilderness is one of the most freeing and life giving experiences. The beauty and magnificence of your situation blows your mind. Upon coming home I went to watch a football match (my team didn't make the final). Tons of people were out, most people were home visiting for the holidays so I did not know many people. After the game I visited some families before heading home for sleep.

Boxing Day/St. Stephen's Day now. Well the big surprise is that for one more day I was attending church. This time to celebrate St. Stephen's Day which is a day to remember the persecuted church... I think. This time round I attended prayers at Mundri Parish. Which I am most thankful for. At this church there was a sense of joy. First off the preacher was the most ridiculous man I have ever seen. He was so into his message dancing around, yelling, making people laugh (even me just because it was so ridiculous). The other thing was randomly throughout his preaching people would start singing songs, which even resulted in Paul getting up and hoisting a chair over his head (I wish I asked him why). After service there was more food followed by some games. Different races and relays and other sorts of competitions. I took part in one game where you had to remember a bunch of items, I won 2 pounds for second place. Apparently I am losing steam here, so moving on to the rest of the holidays.

In between Christmas and New Years, I was determined to do some work, these efforts were thwarted by the WHM team again, who convinced me to take some time off and come down to the river with them and swim and kayak. So after making some candle holders our of baby lotion containers and nails I headed down to the river. My goodness that was fantastic. To go swimming, and just immerse yourself in cold water. After cooling down a bit, Caleb and I started trying to fish. We sucked terribly and caught no fish, while some little boy walked away with 4 or 5. Anyways, the fishing thing has caught my fancy as now I have been fishing again and I think I might make it a habit. It is a great way to cool down, and also spend time with friends.

Finally we come to New Years Eve. First off I want to say New Years Eve is not a big deal at all in Mundri like it is back home. I think I was asleep by 10pm, at least in bed by then. After fishing I went with Tata to the house of Boya where once again I was given food. While here there was a wave of screaming that passed through town. Starting at one end to the other, ululation and shouting and jumping and cheering was heard. I joined in because hey it is New Years Eve. Apparently there was a celebration of sorts happening at the church somewhere, but I missed the memo. New Years Day, Sunday involved a variety of churches once again. I attended Miri Kalanga for prayers this time, and it was actually a really good experience. For the first time I heard some songs sung in Dinka and it struck me as something really fascinating. Earlier in the week I listened to a sermon by Tim Keller about culture and about how every culture will have something to bring in worship and in honour of our King, and while I heard this other tribe sing and watched the Moru people joining in with their worship it struck me. We will all one day be in front of our Lord singing our praises, not in one tongue, but in many tongues as we worship together. Praising him who has come to redeem the world to Himself. Not to make everyone the same, but to bring everyone to Himself and together. Once again there was a football match to be watched. Following the football match however began the dancing. Which is where I started this blog a whole week ago. There were three different drum circles that formed after the match. Each circle involved a different sort of dancing. Baywa, Paul's son and his friends helped me by teaching the three types of dances. One was a shuffle, essentially you just move your feet quickly as you move around the circle. The second was a bit like a leg kicking exercise. Just bounce and kick your legs, pretty simple. The third was a tamed down version of the twist. I don't know if I really mastered these dances at all since people were just laughing at me, but either way it was good times. Also, at one point during the day my friend Michael took me to a random house who were also dancing and made me join in with them. To me it is simply proof that you have to let go of any fears of looking like a fool because no matter what you do, you will look like a fool anyways. Plus for me, when I am the most foolish I seem to have the most fun.

Finally, let me briefly tell you about Juba. We came to get money and distribute projects around to donors and NGO's and etc. These ventures had some successes and more frustrations, but that is beside the point. Let me tell you about two things I saw that I did not expect: The Nile River!!!, and a man with 12 fingers and 12 toes (good guy). Tonight is my last night in the "big" city, and I am ready to return home to Mundri. It feels a little strange to call Juba a big city, since it is really just a big town (with paved streets, air conditioning, and soft serve ice cream), and also be calling Mundri home, but it is. Ok, clearly my sentences are turning into run-ons and I really do not care now. Hopefully you have made it this far in the blog. There are some new pictures up on facebook just check the link.

Love you all,
Thomas

Prayer Requests:
- For me to trust God in everything He is doing through me, in me, and around me
- Peace in the nation, and in me