Below, is an excerpt from an email that we received this morning from Colleen.  Colleen has been living with William and Eunice Laku as a short term missionary since January.  She will be there when we arrive in October and is currently staying in the home we will make into ours when she leaves in December.

This email will provide some guided points for how to pray for the Didinga immediately and to give a good idea of the spiritual climate of certain areas of Didinga territory.

*If you are confused about what TIMO means in the email, it is a strategic team of new missionaries with Africa Inland Mission that goes in to difficult places that are unreached with the Gospel and essentially plants the first church amongst the people.  It can be a very stressful and difficult project for the participants in the 2 year endeavor (that is the completion of a TIMO team’s term).  Please pray for the Didinga in Napep area and for those participating in and leading the TIMO team.

We are one body with many many parts,

Jonathan

Hello prayer team!  I have some urgent prayer requests.  Last week the TIMO
team in Napep was evacuated after some hostile conversations with some
people in the community.  We have not had any rain since mid May and people
are starting to really worry.  Being animistic the Didinga are looking for
someone to blame for offending some rain god which has caused the lack of
rain.  It’s a especially more challenging in Napep as there is no
established church like in Nagishot.  So without hearing the gospel the
people there are left to their cultural ways.  Unfortunately a few of the
team members went for a hike with some of their didinga friends to a nearby
mountain.  They were not aware that the people of this mountain considered
their land sacred and it was very bad for the team to walk there without
permission.  Couple that with no rain for several weeks and the people there
assume that the TIMO team had taken something from the mountain on their
hike and is now the reason for no rain.  They accused them of stealing their
rain, putting it on a plane and sending it to America.  The Didinga then
held a trial to determine if the TIMO leader was guilty, and of course they
said he was, and as his punishment he was to bring 2 bulls for sacrifice the
next day.  They also required the didinga friends that led them on the walk
to each bring a goat for sacrifice to some god of theirs for rain.  They
seemed quite angry and upset although the meeting did not last all that
long.

Very late that evening around 2am (after most didinga had gone to bed) the
TIMO packed all that they could carry on their backs and hiked the 10 miles
through the mountains to Nagishot with their 3 dogs and 2 cats.  They made
late night calls to MAF (missions in aviation fellowship) to pick them up
from our airstrip early the next morning.  They are spending some time in
Tanzania at the AIM (Africa inland missions) headquarters to debrief and
pray about what their next step should be.  William and some elders from the
church in Nagishot hiked to Napep on Saturday to meet with the sub-chiefs of
Napep (the chief of Napep is currently in Kenya).  They had a very
successful meeting and were able to check on most of the team’s houses (one
house has already been broken into).  They plan to return again on Thursday
to meet with the elders who instigated this whole ordeal.  There has been
much hostility towards the TIMO team since their arrival last October and in
fact they were evacuated last November because the didinga were breaking
into their homes.  My heart is deeply sad for the team and their sudden
removal from their friends.  My heart is even more sad for the didinga there
and the constant darkness that they live in.

Being in Nagishot and living with William and Eunice, I can clearly see how
the gospel is improving lives.  Not only are the people healthier, they are
nicer, happier, joyful, caring and compassionate towards others (even
foreigners like me).  In the past few days I’ve had several people just come
and bring me avocadoes without expecting payment or anything else from me.
They come and ask me how I’ve slept the night before because they know that
is one of the few phrases in didinga that I’ve learned.  And even though I
confuse them daily with my walks to the airstrip for no other purpose than
exercise, they still get excited when they see me walking and ask if a plane
is coming so they can help me carry the supplies.  Even though Napep is only
10 miles away it feels worlds away when it comes to people.

two didinga boys passing the time with some target practice

posted by: lauren

“So, when are you guys leaving?”

Probably the most common question we are getting these days, and rightfully so as everyone seems to know we are gearing up to leave soon. The answer to that question is “the last week in September”*. The asterik is because that timeline depends on everything falling into place over the next three months. We  have two weeks left at our jobs here in Austin and then we will be leaving to go to a training program in Colorado for 5 weeks. We will be attending the Missionary Training Institute in order to get some practical help in the area of language learning and some emotional help in the area of counseling. Apparently, moving cross-culturally is off the charts on stress tests so we are eager to get as much help as possible before we go! Then, we will be back in Austin for the month of August as we continue to raise support (still have a little ways to go) and wrap up life here. September will be spent with friends and family, packing and saying goodbye. Then we head up to New York to check out with AIM and board a plane for Africa on October 1st. Whew – it is hard for me not to get overwhelmed thinking about it all!

“How are you feeling about leaving?”

Probably the second most frequent question I hear. The answer to this one is not as easy as the first… it depends on the day, the hour, the moment. Jonathan was accurate in our last blog post saying that I have been going through the grieving process for a while now. The idea of moving to another continent is sad and frightening at times, but I have recently been entering into a place of peace and excitement as the time draws nearer. I have realized that my fear and sorrow come from a lack of trust in the Nature of God as He has been reavealing truth to me in a familiar passage of scripture.

“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

God’s plans are GOOD because He is GOOD. His plans for me are not to punish me or harm me – even though many people wonder what could possibly be good about moving to Sudan… God is my loving Father and He has good things in store for me and for Jonathan and for the Didinga people and this move is part of His plan. My heart is encouraged by these words and I can look back on my life and see that He has been GOOD to me in every circumstance, even the difficult ones. It is contrary to the very nature of who God is to do anything that is not good. I love that! And I love resting in His Nature because it is so much better than my nature.