The House Party

This house party did not have kegs or include juvenile behavior, but we did have many attenders and lots of dancing. Yesterday many gathered to welcome the Arch Bishop of Sudan and to celebrate the completion of the Bishop's house. Our compound has never been so full of people and energy. Here is an overview of the day

The morning started off with stacks of chairs being brought by a large truck; the chairs then being strategically placed in shady areas. Furniture was moved from place to place for the honored guests and large sufrias (pots) were being filled with water in preparation for lots of cooking. Below is a picture of the bean cleaning process. No one wants to bite down on a hard rock thinking it's a bean :o).

In honor or the Arch Bishop and the importance of the completion of the Bishop's house, a bull was purchased and donated by a retired reverend and his family. This was a very generous act of kindness. Below some of my teammates are checking out the scene of the now slaughtered bull.

The childrens' choir led the procession as the Arch Bishop was welcomed by all the attenders. Below you will see Bishop Bismark (Mundri's Bishop) dressed in purple and the Arch Bishop at the tail end holding his tall wooden staff.

The Arch Bishop was led directly to the Bishop's new house where he performed a ribbon cutting ceremony and entered inside to pray a blessing over the house. He then continued on to our team house where he performed another ribbon cutting and prayed for our home. Below you will see many at our windows peeking in at the Arch Bishop as the prayer was said.

After moving from house to house people sat for the Sunday service and speeches of thanksgiving.

While the service was going on, others were preparing large amounts of food for the afternoon meal . Below is the largest vat of linya I have ever seen.

After many encouraging words of thanks were spoken people flocked together and the dancing began. The people of Mundri sure know how to party!

Teacher Training Wrap Up

It has been a week now since the last day of our training, but I just wanted to share a few more pictures from our last couple o On Thursday Bethany shared the story of the woman at the well. She shared how Jesus loved this woman even though jews thought samaritans to be unclean and even though this woman had made many unwise choices in her life. She encouraged the teachers to love their students no matter what kind of family or tribe they come from and no matter how many mistakes they may make. On Friday I shared a devotion on humility and how as teachers we are going to face oppostition daily. As these teachers move out into their schools and demonstrate love they may face people that ridicule them and tell them they are weak. This is because they are not using their position of power to demand respect. We talked about how love is costly. To love like Jesus may mean we risk our reputations and even relationships. I encouraged these teachers to demonstrate humility and find strength in Christ.

Throughout the week we had the teachers do a bucket project. Each day they decorated their plastic bucket with a verse from that day's teaching. At the end of the week we filled their bucket with different items for them to take back to their schools such as gluesticks, water colors, pencils, etc. These items were given both as a tool and as a reminder of what they learned during their week of training.

Below is a picture of our happy group. Please continue to pray for these teachers. Pray that they would demonstrate Christ's love in their classrooms. Pray they would be a beacon of light in their schools.

Dependence on God drives us to prayer...Day 3

Today was day 3 of the teacher training. Our topic was dependence. Bethany shared a devotion from 1 John 4 to start us off that reminded us that we can only love others because God first loved us. Together we also brainstormed a list of ways we have to depend on the Lord. Some of the things shared were: in order to forgive others, to provide for us, to guide us, to change or transform us, ect. We talked about how through our dependence we are drawn in to relationship with our Father and therefore and led to pray. We asked the teachers to get in pairs and take some time to share their hearts and pray for one another.

We also talked about how we can work together and depend on one another. We played a game where people competed to see who could be the fastest to move heavy items from one side of the room to the other. At the end of the game we discussed how working together to move the items would be the fastest method. The knot game was the next introduction. A difficult acdtivity but when we all worked together and took our time we did untangle ourselves. Lots of fun, truth, and laughter today!

Teacher Training Day 1

Today was the first day of our teacher training. Bethany led the teachers in a discussion on the question, how do we know when someone loves us? Some of the common responses were: When someone visits you, by receiving greetings from others, when someone forgives you, and when someone advises you, among many other things.

We also played a game where we had a group of items covered with a cloth and would uncover for a specific amount of time and then the teachers had to remember everything they could. Each round we gave them either more time or let them get closer to the items until finally we allowed them also to have time to touch and use more of their sense to figure out what some of the items were. We used this lesson to demonstrate how when we really want to get to know someone (specifically our students) and see who they are we have to really look, take time, move towards them and connect, and be in community with them.
We hope after this first day these teachers feel encouraged to move towards their students in love and to also allow their students to move towards them in new ways as well. We are excited for day 2!

Love is Risky

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to be sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable….The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” C.S. Lewis

Next week Bethany and I will be sharing stories from Jesus’ life with 14 primary school teachers. We will be sharing how Jesus is compassionate, honest, he looks at the heart, he sees us for who we really are, he is humble, and dependent on his Father. We will look at how Christ loved others even when it was difficult, uncomfortable, or caused pain. As I prepare to teach and share next week, my own heart is being challenged. I have run into the above quote from C.S. Lewis in two different books I have been reading. At different times during our training we will be discussing love and how it can be difficult to love or even costly to love. As I examine my own heart I can see areas where I hold back or give up because I am fearful of where love may lead me.

C.S. Lewis says, “To love at all is to be vulnerable.” It is hard to be vulnerable and love family and friends when they are miles and miles away. It is hard to be vulnerable and to love through cultural and language barriers. It is hard to be vulnerable and love knowing that hellos and goodbyes never seem to end. It is hard to be vulnerable knowing it could mean showing all of who I am. And it is hard to love knowing chances are it may not always feel good. When I think about the difficulties and pains of love, I am tempted to just lock my heart up, but then I remember that even though love is not a ‘safe investment,’ Christ has invested in me. He suffered for me and loved me first and now asks me to love others. He knows love is not an easy thing for us and so offers his love and strength to live through us. Therefore, I choose to love.

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Welcome to our Dukul

Welcome to the Dukul of Bethany and Kim! We are very exciting to have a small place to call our own and have enjoyed adding personal flare to make it feel even more homey.

Our dukul is divided into 3 sections, two of which you will see below. There are two small bedrooms and a larger front/sitting room.

This is our sitting room with our cozy bowl chairs puchased from Uganda. Bethany and I have already gotten great use out of this room as we sit and plan for our next teacher training or watch an episode of Heros on one of our computers.

Welcome to my bedroom! After a year in Mundri I now have a space that is just for me :o). It is a true gift to have a place to go to when I just want to read quiety, journal or just rest.

I love this unique little home. It provides personal space, yet still offers community with the open ceiling and shared common room. Our whole team compound continues to be an inviting peaceful haven.

Youth Day

This last Saturday both young and old gathered near the Mundri Cathedral to enjoy the sounds of vibrant voices singing to the Lord. They call this gathering Youth Day because youth choirs come from various churches around Mundri to share a few songs.

It is unheard of to have any kind of gathering without sharing in food or drink. So while songs were being shared, plastics cups were passed, tea was poured, and bread was given. It was one big tea party...

...with lots and lots of dancing!