Sudan Journal

9/11 Tuesday

Today marks the beginning of my time alone in this 'far away' place on the earth. I'm here in Rumbek, southern Sudan for nearly 10 weeks to teach a verse by verse study through the book of Matthew and Acts at an even more remote Bible School some distance from the town. I've actually been here for over 3 weeks now. What makes the difference is that Daisy, who has been sharing this experience with me and teaching an English class, has left my side today to fly to Nairobi, Kenya and then on to Ohio and our home tomorrow night.

We've been apart frequently over the past 24 years of our marriage to be involved on one kind of mission project or another. But today I have never felt more cut off from her as I do right now. I'm kind of in a daze.

We said our "good-bye's" and then she was gone. We got back to the compound after the usual numerous diversions that took us to the market, gas station, and bank. Daisy's flight left after about a one and a half hour delay. Since the Rumbek airport does not have any waiting area except a shade tree next to the dirt runway, we hike cross the road the hotel and sat at a bar under a tree and each had a glass of mango juice. Only US$4.00 per cup! You would think that a place as poor and dirty as Rumbek you would find prices cheap. But the opposite is true here.

The costs and risks of just getting the few things to Rumbek that can be found here are very high. It can take up to 10 days for a truck to make the few hundred miles here from Kenya. The roads are just that bad and dangerous. There are dangers from armed bandits and flooded rivers, frequently washed out bridges, remote breakdowns and roads that basically consist of making your own path through the fields may add days or weeks to the short distance.

Earlier today, just after much teaching ended at 10:30am, a United Nations land mine extraction team showed up to 'finally' get rid of the bomb that had been discovered just outside the front gate of the compound. They had been coming around about once a week over the past month that we've been here to take photos of the bomb, photos of each other, and photos of each other and the bomb.

Neighboring kids had actually used the bomb for a football and had a one time actually planted the bomb nose first in the ground! Lucky for them it didn't detonate. We found out from the UN that the bomb was actually armed and the fuse was still good.

We were actually late getting to the airport because the UN team had already wired the bomb but couldn't set it off before we needed to leave. So we we're all here just waiting around for Daisy's big 'blast off'. Kids had to be cleared away from the area and finally we had the countdown as we hunkered down behind our house. Then at last - a big blast! The dogs, chickens, cows, and birds all freaked out! As we pulled out for the airport in the schools well-worn Land Rover, we stopped to inspect the big hole left in the ground.

And with that - Daisy was off. And now, like the bomb, all that is left for me is a big hole in my heart. I know that I seldom show it, there really is no point in that, because I don't want others to bury me in their sympathy and thus cloud my real purpose for being here. I'll just let it take care of its self - as time will do if you let it - and remind myself of how God must have felt when the day finally came for him to say good-bye to His Son (and on top of that He knew that where His Son was going ultimately meant a terrible death). So - thank God Daisy is going to a better place then what she is leaving here; home. Just thinking about that makes me feel better already.

So, having written that speech, I think I'll head for the dinning area and face the Ugolli and Scumma-wikki (name of collared greens meaning 'for pushing the weak) - once again.

Ugolli with liver sauce! My favorite! : ( The heat is up tonight and the mosquitoes are savage. I showered before dark and I'm in bed by 8:00.

I-en had done a big washing today. Before dark I brought in many things to hang on the bamboo pole. My one white t-shirt is destroyed - covered with gray spots. I think it actually began to mold while it was sweat soaked and in the bucket waiting for the wash day.

September 12

BATS! All night! Just as Daisy experienced, one landed on my foot which was against the mosquito net. They were everywhere banging around and squeaking. Today after Bible class I launched an all out war against them. I killed 3 so far and have a few more to go.

I'm using a long pole to knock them out of the rafters. They just fall to the floor in a daze and I kill them with a quick whack.

Four frogs showed up at the door last night as well. HMMMMM.... I need to get out the card board box again.

This afternoon - it's hot!!! Its good Daisy is out of here. I'm sitting here in my shorts and desperate for a breeze. Writing is making me sweat.

It's 2:40pm and I'm ready for a nice toasty nap.

----7:55pm

Toasty nap?! No way! ....just toast! The afternoon heat was the most intense so far. I put a clean sheet on my bed - folded once and on top of the fitted sheet. That way my sweat went into the top sheet that I can easily remove and hang out to dry.

"Boring" is the word to describe this day. The whole afternoon was spent just laying motionless and praying for just a tiny breath of fresh air to blow across my bed where I lay roasting under the metal roof in my sweat soaked clothes.

Clouds finally built up around 4:30 - 5:00 so I put on my jeans and work boots and took the mower out near the water pump to finish cutting the tall grass I had not completed a few days ago.

First of all, a drunk man came up and insisted on taking over the mowing job. Fortunately Iketch (the water, cow caretaker man) was there and helped me stay in control of the situation. No sooner was that resolved then the rain drops began to fall and I knew that I needed to run to get back to our house and gather up the laundry that was almost dry which had been hanging out since yesterday. Success in just the nick of time!

With thunder and lightning all around I still went for a fast and much needed shower and shave. I feel so much better now!

The clouds have been building all evening again and just as Samson, Andrew and I finished our most exciting meal of shell pasta and tomato/beef stew. We've eaten basically the same thing now for the past month with the only variation being rice and stew, Ugolli (absolutely tasteless white maize mush sort of goo) and stew, or chapatti (fried dough like an under-baked pizza crust - but with nothing on it) and stew. Only five more weeks of this wonderful diet! I wonder how much I weight now. My pants are sagging seriously unless I use a belt and when I do, which I must, they scrunch up at all the weird places. Anyway, the pasta and stew are my favorite though I'm awfully tired of them all.

The sky has opened up and let loose of its heavy load of rain. The rain is hammering the hot air right into the ground and now a cool, but damp breeze is lifting my spirit. I need that because I'm feeling pretty rotten knowing that right at this moment Daisy is on her way from Thika to the airport in Nairobi.

Now that Daisy is gone, Andrew and Samson have mostly stopped using English and while they chatted and laughed through dinner, I was left to my imagination. It reminds me of the family gatherings we had in Hong Kong : ) Anyway, I did glean from their body language and snippets of English that Beatrice will be returning tomorrow and will be bring along the anxiously awaited new 'inverter'. So, God willing, ---maybe--- by tomorrow evening I will actually be able to see what I am writing. Because right now I am mostly writing by "faith and not by sight".
Enough! We'll see what tomorrow actually brings.

9/13 Thursday 2:55pm

Last night.....crazy! It rained cats and dogs! 72mm by 3:30am! Actually there were no cats but we did have plenty of dogs. About 7 I think was my last count. Six males and one female. Throughout the night and the heavy rain there were some very serious dog fights. I was awakened frequently to savage growls and snarling, yelps and howling. In the morning the yard was covered with the dog paw prints. Then just outside the front gate two sets of hyena paw prints were found. Fortunately they couldn't figure out how to get into the compound. That could have made things very interesting - especially I would have needed to make a night trip to the outhouse. Anyway, at least there were no bats!

Beatrice still hasn't arrived. Also there is still no sign of the inverter yet. But this day is not yet over....so we'll see what we will see.

We've finished up our study of Matthew 20 this morning. The Word is gradually working its way into these men. I can see it happening. At the end of the chapter Jesus asks two blind men, "What do you want me to do for you?" It was obvious that the two men wanted to receive their sight. So the students wanted to know why Jesus still asked them when he clearly knew what they wanted / needed.

I ended the class by having the students answer that same question as if Jesus was actually in the same room with them at that moment. ..."What do you want me to do for you?" It made them think and they gave some good and thoughtful answers.

After all the rain last night the air has really cooled down. But now we are back to the normal 'roast'. I took advantage of the cooler air and finished mowing up by the big tree near the water well. I started at 1:00pm and by 2:00pm I was out of gas in both the mower and in myself. Cooled down as best I could then had a chilly shower and fresh shave. Now I'm in the room and sweating up a storm as I write. What a waste!

I guess Daisy is somewhere between here and the deep blue sea. The room and my heart are so empty now. The older I get - the harder it is to be apart from her. I know that she doesn't even realize how hard it is for me because I try hard to not show it. It's hard to explain. It's not a physical thing or even so much an emotional thing. I can deal with that. I think it is more of a spiritual feeling of separation. Oh well, it's all part of this 'cross' and it is my choice, so I won't complain or run from it......

Time for a nap.

7:50pm

No nap - too hot.

Beatrice arrived at about 4:00pm. Andrew is very happy. Samson is depressed. His wife, Joyce, has been in Nairobi for over a month with his daughter, Blessing, while his wife had a baby, Precious, and is now recovering from surgery. They probably won't come to Rumbek until early December.

Joyce did email Samson and mentioned that she did meet with Daisy when she passed through Thika. So - now I know that at least Daisy made it to Nairobi and someone was there to meet her at the airport and take her to Thika.

The dog pack has grown to 10 now. There have been some serious dog fights among them throughout the day resulting in some significant injuries. Spin has so far stayed out of the action though he is always right there close at hand (or should I say 'close at paw') to at least look like one of the tough guys.

Word is that the hyenas killed the neighbor’s goat last night. Apparently they only come around when there is a long period of rain which means that few people and dogs are around to threaten them.

I've moved Daisy's mosquito net and hung it over the chair in the room. This way I can read and write with the kerosene lantern nearby outside the net and not draw mosquitoes into the net that is over my bed. Writing as I am right now is a very sweaty business and not working out very well, but reading in here will be a great improvement.

Tomorrow is an important teaching from Matthew 21. So I'll stop here so that I can be well prepared. I've already spent about 2 hours getting ready for it early in the day.

---Oh yeah--- the inverter for the solar electrical system did not come. Surprised? There was no room on the airplane. The word is that it will arrive here on Saturday.

9/14 Friday 3:20pm

OK - now where do I begin? Last night was a cooker! After a short time under the mosquito net which is covering the chair, I found it too hot and awkward for writing. Any part of my body that touched the mosquito net was an instant target and meal for the mosquitoes buzzing all around the room. The kerosene lantern which was outside the net drew mosquitoes into the room through the open windows (they cannot be closed) and it threw off so much heat that I finally had to evacuate, put out all the light and dive under the net that covered my bed for a fresh start.

I took my regular daily malaria pill and vitamin C as well as a sleeping pill just before hitting the sack. Just as I thought I would finally doze off to sleep, the pack of dogs arrived.... and set up their fighting ring just outside the window that is next to my bed. Such a howling and commotion that I've ever heard! That started around 8:30pm and from there it just went from bad to worse! They fought in serious - life or death - non stop. NO sleep!

Ten dogs can make quite a ruckus! Such growling and crying from giving and receiving nasty bites - on and on and on. Then to add to the chaos, at around 1:30am the tree outside the other bedroom window began to shake violently. Sure enough, Marble the bull, had broken the stake that he was tied to and had gotten free to roam. He was feasting on the leaves of the tree and his towering horns were tangled in the branches. He was desperately struggling to get himself free. All this while 10 dogs were rioting.

Andrew and I both got up at the same time and managed to get Marble re-tied - in the pitch dark and amid swarms of biting insects. Amazingly, at the same time all the dogs decided to chase each other, taking their commotion down the road to some far away place where their fighting could only be faintly heard. They didn't show up here again until the sun was up.

For me, the night was over. I tried to sleep, but even with the effects of the sleeping pill I guess there was just too much tension from all the commotion. I lay awake the entire night until my alarm went off at 6:30am. To say the least, today has been rather miserable.

Despite being bleary-eyed, class went well. Chadarak came back after disappearing for four days. Apparently his mother-in-law died and he had business to take care of. Anyway, he brought back with him a nice case of pink-eye (after last night I probably look like I have pink-eye today as well)! Pray that it doesn't spread.

John claims that he has malaria. But his symptoms don't match up. So Andrew is treating him with aspirin for the headache he is complaining about. I think he probably just needs glasses.

After a light lunch I tried to rest, but all I could do was sweat. Andrew poked his head at the window and asked if I wanted to go with him into Rumbek while he went to the bank. Why not? I was bored and ready to go. So we did and then bounced (literally) right back to the compound and I (went right back to bed. still no sleep and lots of sweat!

Beatrice went over to 'Save the Children' where she is employed and from an email that she received there from Thika I learned that Daisy was able to depart from Nairobi successfully. That's good news for me - so by now Daisy should be back home and enjoying her first mosquito free, sweat free, ugolli free morning. Just knowing that is making this day go a bit better ...though I'm very tired now and I just found out that Samson wants me to go to an all night prayer meeting!!! I don't think that is going to happen! Beatrice also brought news that the long awaited 'inverter' that was supposed to come last Saturday - then last Thursday - then yesterday - then expected tomorrow - will actually now be arriving on Wednesday of next week. HA! I'll believe it when I see it.

The longer I am here, the more I'm learning about the local culture. The bottom line is that there is a darkness here that far surpasses anything I have every known or imagined. The mentality of right and wrong is almost the opposite of that in the West.

For example, if you would leave your home for a period of maybe a few weeks, for any reason, most likely when you return you would find your house occupied - even if you had locked it and paid a local person to guard it.

Not only will you lose your house (and the court would rule against you if you took the case there) but the guard will likely demand full payment from you for the job he didn't do and you would be threatened with death of you refused. Sounds crazy but it has happened on numerous occasions under different circumstances. Even persons claiming to be Christians may be expected to behave like this. (of course everyone here claims to be a Christian and attends one church or another)

One of the NGO's (non government organizations) came to build a new school. They needed a building to store new building supplies that they were bringing in such as concrete, steel beams, roofing etc. A government official offered them a building that he owned for them to rent for storage. The NGO hired guards who were posted and everything was though to be very secure. But within a short time, the official came and sold everything in the building and pocketed all the money. The people from the NGO who had come to put up the building took the official to court. The official was found innocent and the NGO was fined and had to back pay the salary of the guards who had done such a good job of guarding the supplies and who had watched the materials being sold under their very noses. Of course you can be pretty certain that the guards and everyone else in this story came away with some of the money in their pockets from the sale of the materials.

If you are driving in a vehicle and hit a goat (they are all over the roads, often sleeping in herds in the middle of the road) you must go immediately to the police station and have them put you in jail. Why? There is a good chance that the owner of the goat you hit will come after you with one of the many assault rifles we see being carried around here, and shoot you. At least in jail you are under police protection and you will get a trial, though for sure you will be charged and severely fined.

You cannot fire an employee without risk to your own life - even if the employee refuses to show up for work - even over a period of weeks or months. The law will demand that you pay him - regardless. Fire him and there is a good chance that he will come to kill you.

Andrew has told me how even some of the Bible school students have gone after him. Two former students begged Andrew to let them stay at the mission compound after the school graduation. An arrangement was agreed upon in which they would do some work around the compound in exchange for food and housing. Everything was agreed on and everyone was happy.

After a few months the young men left only to return a few days later with a big bill for Andrew for all their labors. They demanded payment immediately! Andrew tried to reason with them, but obviously failed. The young men went away and then returned a short time later with clubs and the serious intent to harm him. Andrew had to pay - fast! He had to use ministry money allocated for the next school term (the one I am teaching).

How can a society survive with this kind of mentality? Obviously, that is about all they can do here...just barely survive! Everything is southern Sudan seems to be cursed! The minds and rational of the people. The weather. The economy. The health of the people. Corruption is above and beyond anything imaginable. This place is plagued with insects, termites, flies, heat, stupidity, selfishness, great pride and violence. Thank God for Kidron (I never thought I would say that)! I'll dare anyone who has this stupid attitude that America is such a bad place to come and live here without a return airplane ticket! I dare you! This place is indeed cursed! Amazingly though, I have found young men in Rumbek who are genuinely loving and serving the Lord. These are real disciples who are really full of joy and life from God. They absolutely shine! I'm so privileged to be able to get to know them and see their sincerity and passion for reaching their country and the people around them. These are real Christians if I've ever seen one!

On one hand, I hate this place. On the other hand I am so glad to be here. I know that this is the place where God wants me for now. I'm here for a real reason and I must make the best of it while I'm here. It is in a place like this that the light of the gospel can shine with nearly blinding brilliance. I'm honored that the Lord would choose me to be the one to open his Word before these few worthy men that he has brought together from this place. And by Gods grace - when I leave here, I will have planted something in this soil that will indeed produce a real and spiritually nourishing harvest - by Gods' power and grace.

OK - enough for now. 4:15pm

9/15 Saturday 2:25pm

After writing yesterday afternoon I fired up the lawn mower and attached the remaining tall grass and stuff under the big tree at the compound entrance. I also took down the weeds in from of Iketch’s pathetic little hut. In the process I stirred up a fairly large snake which slithered off before I could see for sure if it was a black cobra or not. Whatever I was, I jump like it was a cobra! I-Ketch came out and stomped around in the tall grass (in his bare feet) but couldn't find anything.

As soon as you build something here, it begins to fall down. Termites eat through anything wood so fast. Wooden fence posts may last a year - two years if they have a bad taste. One day a fence may look strong and the next day it will be on the ground, the buried part totally eaten away.

I didn't go to the all-night prayer meeting last night. Instead, I went to bed early right after dinner (noodles and watery beef / tomato stew) and a wonderful cold shower. Beatrice brought mango juice from Nairobi and that was a real treat since there is very little fruit to be seen around here.

Fortunately the night started off quiet and I got in some much needed sleep. About 2:00 the wind began to blow strongly and it cooled down so much that I had to get up and find a blanket. It was wonderful! Then the dogs began their nonsense and with it came the thunder and then heavy rain. But this time I slept in spite of all the noise.

I got up at 8:30 this morning! Two hours of extra sleep! I-En boiled some sweet corn for breakfast. Still a bit on the tough side but better then the field corn we had in the past.

Andrew and Beatrice dropped me off at the Internet Cafe while they went on into Rumbek to ...whatever. I finally saw an email from Daisy. She is really home! Now - I can relax. Maybe I was more apprehensive about her traveling alone than usual because of the ‘Word’ given me just before we left to "get your house in order".

I haven't heard anything from Lee or Jonnie and only a few sentences from Ellie - mostly about office stuff. I was hoping to get enough email time to write personal letters to a lot of people but one and a half hours went by so fast and that already cost me $12.00!

Andrew wants to go out to eat again tonight. I know Beatrice was disappointed that she missed our night out when Daisy was here. I insisted that this time I would buy.

I'm sitting here on the bamboo bench under the trees. I'm using the folding chair as a desk. Right now it is actually pleasant. There is a steady breeze blowing, just hard enough to keep most of the mosquitoes and flies away ...but not quite all of them.

I recharged the PDA at the Internet Cafe so - - I'm going to treat myself to a game or two of Solitary. I can't do too much or the charge will be gone before I can get to town to recharge it next Saturday.

Well, we had our dinner out. It was pretty good considering the limited varieties of food here in Rumbek. Andrew, Beatrice, Samson and myself. The cost was US$15.00 per person. The food was actually better than the last time we ate there. Mosquitoes were hungry too. I guess they heard that Western food was on the menu.

We returned home after a down pour and it took awhile to find a way through the lake of water covering the compound to get from the land rover to the door of the guest house I'm staying in. But I did manage to get to my room.

Now, if those dogs will just keep their mouths shut.......

9/16 Sunday

We didn't go to the Tree Church today. I guess Andrew didn't want the pastor there to think the students were trying to take over. So we left early for the Episcopal Church in Rumbek. We packed 7 of the students along with Andrew, Beatrice, and myself into the land rover for the bumpy ride. I think some of those students had never been in a vehicle before.

The church had a few Westerners there who barely glanced at me. I felt as though I was an unwelcome invader. Weird! Hard as the cement benched we sat on in perfectly straight rows. Actually we didn't just sit! They had us up and down and up and down over and over again. There was an hour of that liturgy, prayers (read from a book) some hymns sung etc., and then announcements ----and more up and down and up and down - at least ten times.

There was a good message though on forgiveness. The entire service was in English (more or less) so there were about 5 women out of exactly 97 in attendance. Guess who gets the education around here!

Back here at the compound we had a long, lazy afternoon and then topped it off with some of Andrew' 'magic' mushroom soup (instant from a package). I finally finished the last book I had with me, "A Time of Departing" and then lay under the radiating heat of the metal roof. Then I got an idea! I put an extra bed sheet over the mosquito net. It acts as an insulator against the heat from the roof and though I am still hot - at least I'm not lying under a roasting oven. ...and that is a good thing!

Samson just informed me that he would like me to preach at the International Fellowship tonight. So - I'd better cut it off here and begin preparing.

The meeting went well. Mostly Kenyans, a few Ugandans, a Tanzanian lady and a few locals. These people were much freer spiritually and enthusiastic (They wouldn't have been there if this were not the case since it was not a 'required' meeting) About 35 in all. The room was air conditioned - sort of. The meeting was in an office at the hotel next to the airport.

I spoke on following Jesus like Elisha followed Elijah. Elisha didn't settle for second best, a nice Bible school or church. he kept his eyes glued on Elisha until he met the conditions required to get what he was after - a double portion of the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was on Elijah. A young Kenyan man who is working as a construction worker here in Rumbek was especially 'moved' and said that he wants to visit me tomorrow evening for personal counseling. We prayed for a number of others after the meeting, but in general things about the Holy Spirit are pretty new or downplayed around here. Actually, I hope I can get another chance to go back and share more with these people. I think they are very hungry for something more.

Word is now coming that the inverter will be here tomorrow - that is, two days ahead of the last schedule. ---oh - whatever!

9/17 Monday 11:45am

I had a very nice sleep last night. It was very hot - but the sleeping pill that I took worked quickly. I found that that is the best was to beat the hot, sweaty nights here. By the time woke up at about 5:30, the air was cool and very enjoyable. Funny how a little thing that you take for granted can leave you feeling so happy here. A nice cool morning!

Got up a bit earlier to prepare for today’s class since my study time was used up preparing for the evening message last evening. The students are doing much better on their homework though most are still only copying the verses word for word. Still, if that is the best that they can do considering their limited education, I'm sure that they are learning something useful from their homework study of John.

Samson talked to me a long time last night (while Andrew and Beatrice were over at 'Save the Children'). He shared many personal things about his journey with Jesus and the miracles etc. when he worked freely - independent from any organization.'' Now he is working under (for) a Missions organization and is feeling very constrained. He went on to tell how he has been used without any concern from HQ for the needs of his wife and two small children, their finances, or any concern for God's direction in the work he is doing here. He was very humble, accepting, and forgiving in regard to his difficult situation here and those it encircles, but he is also very much aware that he may be missing God's real calling on his life. Interesting! I can consider this in regard to any larger picture that may emerge. Of course, this is only one side of a much larger story and I'm sure that that story is many sided.

Guess what?! The inverter has just arrived!!! Dare I believe that it will work this time when installed? As soon as Andrew's class is over, we'll find out.

Actually, I'm very content now without electricity. It took some adjusting, but now I can manage my life OK without it and feel good doing it. The only reason I'm interested in it is so that I can use my Palm 'thingy' (not a Palm pilot - maybe a PDA - whatever that is) for updating my note edits on Matthew, for listening to music (which I've not had any since being here except for the Sudanese students hammering their drums next door) and - - for playing Solitary. (I think that really would help some of these long periods of solitude pass by better).

3:15pm

Amazingly enough, we have very limited electricity! Today seems to be hotter than usual. I don't know where to go with myself. Outside under the trees is less hot, but then the bugs there are just crazy. Inside the room, it's sweltering.

I've been reminiscing in my day dreams about our wonderful trip to Florida earlier this summer. I'm so glad we could do it, especially because our whole family could be together. I lay in bed just remembering little details about the trip - feeling the sand and our walks on Turtle Beach in the evenings with the beautiful storm clouds and the setting sun. Watching Lee skim-boarding. The kids doing flips at the pool and Jonnie with his face mask. The nice air-conditioned house. Man - we've been so blessed!

This morning I had such a strange sensation. For two and a half hours we are caught away in our study of the Bible. I often feel like I am really there with Jesus, like I've been caught away to another place and time. I'm very much aware of the Holy Spirit during this time and - it's wonderful! During that time I completely forgot that I was in Sudan and that the student’s faces were jet-black and covered with tribal scarring.

Then class ended and when I stepped out of the classroom door, I actually had to stop and do a double check as the reality of where I was in this remote place suddenly hit home. ....Funny!
I did a few laundry items awhile ago. That's all I have to say about that!
The little baby chick is still alive. The other 4 died of some sickness.

One frog stopped by my room for a visit last night. Another one had actually climbed clear up to the top of the door. So when I opened the door first thing in the morning, it nearly landed on top of my sleepy head! Good grief!

September 18 Tuesday

The last two days have been almost unbearably hot and humid - even for the locals. I've tried to take it in stride without commenting too much about.

Now just as I started to write this, it seems like the build up in the atmosphere is just about to explode. The wind has begun blowing like I've not seen here before. ......yeah, the nice tree that has shaded this room has just crashed down bringing branches against the window which is about two feet from my head right now. .....OK, now here comes a hard driving rain and it is blasting in through the windows in the entryway. I'm staying dry in the room because the tree is up against the window and holding the rain out. .....now it's coming down even harder, but the nice thing is, it's really cooling off. So - let it come!

Yesterday Andrew and another man from 'Save the Children' hooked up the inverter and now we have electricity. Amazing! And now we also have bugs! Lots of them. We had to run for our lives during dinner because so many bugs were going in our hair. I didn't even turn on the light when I got back to the room. Just dove under the mosquito net and scratched! What a crazy life this is here.

Well, I'm going to cut it off here for now. The rain is getting heavier and now the thunder is getting louder. Fortunately, my laundry which I-en washed early this morning, was dry and I got it in just moments before the storm hit.

8:05pm

The storm is over and the night has fallen. The air has cooled off a lot and I'm looking forward to a good sleep. Earlier some of the student came by and cleaned up the fallen tree. Now just a few scraggly branches remain sticking up from the splintered trunk. Andrew says that in just a few weeks the tree will be back in full. Apparently this kind of tree grows more like a vegetable. Anyway, like I'm learning about everything else around here, I'll believe it when I see it.

Right now I'm set up here under the net over the chair. I'm using another chair from the office as a desk for my PDA and wireless keyboard - which is working our surprisingly well. I've got music coming through the headphones and I've hooked up the little battery operated fan that Daisy left for me hanging by a wire from the back of my 'desk’ chair. It is the most comfortable that I've been in days. But I hear that we haven't even begun to experience the real heat yet. God willing I will be out of here before the real heat hits.

They are saying that it will hit 50 Celsius on some days. I can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like. All work ends by 10:00am and people can only try to find a bit of shade and hold out until night comes. It sounds terrible to me, but then on hot days like we're having now, I often see people wearing winter coats. I guess it's all relative - but it makes me miserable just looking at them all bundled up as I'm sweating away in my shorts and t-shirt.

I'm usually the first person up around here since I have the first morning class which starts at 8:00. I'm usually rummaging around in the kitchen for some coffee at about the time I-en arrives for work at 7:00. This morning she arrived with the other lady who cooks for the students and her daughter. The girl, who is probably in her mid-teens, needed medical attention for a stab wound in her upper thigh. There was a fair amount of blood on her ...whatever it is they wear that looks like a bed sheet. From what I learned, sometime in the night a strange man had sneaked into their living area - probably to steal something. Like all the locals do on hot summer nights, she was sleeping outside under her mosquito net. Apparently this strange man just lifted her net and proceeded to stab her. He then went of down the trail to the next group of houses and tried to steal some shoes from I-Ketch's father. He woke up and he too was promptly stabbed in the leg. From there he went on to another group of houses and this time he was caught and from what I hear, he is in police custody.

Anyway, the people who were stabbed should be OK. But as it was, the day sure got off to a rip roaring start.

One more thing before I get out of here. (mosquitoes have found their way inside the net and are biting my feet - a lot), This afternoon, after the storm, Andrew, Beatrice, Samson, and I went to visit some other missionaries at their compound on the other side of Rumbek. They are from Norway, have been here for one year and will be here for one more year. It was nice to meet some other missionaries though this couple were not really outgoing though very hospitable.

Oh yeah! The other thing I must mention is - we had a big watermelon today. We ate half of it at noon and the rest of it tonight. Uhhh...guess where I'll be going off and on throughout the night? At least the out house has a light now and going in there at night now is just about as good as going in the day!!

OK - enough scratching and smacking mosquitoes inside this net. I'm out of here and it's lights out for the night...

9/19 Wednesday 1:20pm

Here we go again - the heat is on and the sweat is just dripping and I'm not even moving. Only one month of this left and I feel so guilty because the Andrew and Samson who have already been here for over a year are also suffering - but with no options to get out before the real heat builds up.

We are studying Matthew 24 about the return of Jesus. I've had to do some serious studying on the subject and I have found it very interesting. It is going to take us 3 day to cover just that one chapter, but I think it is well worth the while. I'm enjoying it completely and I hope the rest of the students are getting something as well.

I've been growing a moustache and beard! First time in my life to try a beard. Man - it sure is annoying and itchy. I may need to shave it off before long.

I-En has disappeared for the day. I went in to the dinning room for my normal late breakfast after teaching, but there was no food. I went back at 1:15 to see if there was any lunch. Again - nothing. So, I have finally broken into the small stash of food that we saved from our flight from the States. I had a small pack of cheese and some of the crackers that Daisy brought from home. Not too bad!

I seems that I-En took her daughter to the hospital this morning because of a bad headache and thought she would be back by noon. Well, that hasn't happened and no one knows what's up. Anyway, I'm fine but Andrew is not too happy about it.

I've started using Daisy's little fan since I can use rechargeable batteries now that the electricity is working. As you can see, I really don't have too much to write about today. I think that the only thing noteworthy is that in one week Dennis Adams will be arriving. I can imagine that he is going to go through a very big adjustment / culture shock and I had better prepare myself. Actually, I'm really looking forward to his company. Most of the conversations now that Daisy is gone, is in Swahili between Andrew, Samson and Beatrice. Incidentally, Beatrice has left once again today for her work with 'Save the Children'. She is supposed to be coming back from Nairobi on Saturday. ....right, seeing is believing.

9:30pm

The day is nearly over. I'm back under the net that covers the chair and I've been studying for tomorrow’s class for the past hour and a half. Matthew 25 ...powerful stuff and especially challenging considering that as I am in one of the poorest place one this miserable earth here in the bush outside Rumbek, Sudan, Jesus teaching is about seeing those around us who are hungry, unclothed, thirsty, suffering etc. and the consequences on how we react by getting involved or ignoring their needs directly exposes our love or callousness to Jesus. One brother was really lusting after my work shoes today. Do I just give them to him? In doing that, am I accommodating and partaking in his greediness? I'll sleep on that one....: )

We (the students) finished removing the remaining branches of the tree outside my window that blew down yesterday. Sad to say, the other tree was going down as well, leaning over severely. It was decided to cut that one down as well. Wow! That sure changes the looks of things around here. No ducking the branches when I go out the door. But at least - hopefully - things will dry out around the house now and the mosquito population may thin out a bit. But for sure, I will miss the shade.

Several young men stopped by on bicycles just as we finished our dinner this evening. (Yes, I-En got back in time to fix our supper, my first real meal of the day - my all time favorite, Ugolli, beef stew and scumma.... : { ) Our visitors were Edwin again (he came by two evenings ago) a young fellow named Peter and another named Barnabas. I recognized Peter as the young man who help lead worship at the Pentecostal church in Rumbek. He has good English and shared how he would like to go to the Bible school here, but he needs to care for his parents. Somehow we got to talking about how the students have to listen me talking on and on for two and a half hours each morning. I jokingly mentioned about how Bulis often puts his head down between his legs and how he plays the drum by laying it on the floor then standing straight legged and folded at the waist to play the drum on the floor. I asked them if the knew who Bambi was - which the all did. So I told them that Daisy nicknamed Bulis - Bambi - because of his long skinny legs and arms and how he folds up. Everyone thought that was just hilarious and after a good hard laugh Peter told me that Bulis is his twin brother! Then we really laughed. Peter is everything Bulis is - only more so. He is full of life and skinnier and taller then Bulis. His love for the Lord seems very genuine, as is Edwin and a few others that I'm getting acquainted with. Actually Edwin has been the catalyst for encouraging a number of the young people in another church to step out and be real disciples. I'm encouraged by the richness and quality of their Christian character which is often hard to find over here. Some for these young men really do shine!

Why did they stop by? I'm not sure, but I think they just wanted to peek at me. Plus Edwin was really excited by my message on Elijah and Elisha and he begged me to teach him more! Normally they only have a sermon of 15 minutes at his church. Edwin wants to arrange for me to speak there again and this time he said he will make sure that I get a full hour. .....Yep, I know. I'll believe it when I see it.

Two weeks ago I preached there and was told I could have 45 minutes. Then half way through my message about Saul searching for his lost donkeys, I was given a note informing that they had told me wrong and that I needed to end 15 minutes earlier. Edwin apologized for the miss communication and wants to give me the time needed to give it everything I've got. That's fine with me! ...I'll believe it when I see it...

Enough! Tomorrow is coming on and I had better get some shut eye. I wonder how the family is doing 'over there'? It is 10:15pm here and 4:15pm there. ....better not think too much about them or I won't sleep...

9/20 Thursday 8:05pm

Up at 6:30 and had another good class. John is the student that I thought would be the hardest to connect with. Actually he seems now to be the one who is understanding the most and is the most responsive. The last few days he just sits there and smiles throughout my two and a half hour monologue. When I ask for them to share what the Holy Spirit has shown them, John is the who has something. It's so rewarding to see them all coming to life. It's actually visible - like a seed that has been planted and now is beginning to sprout. I'm anxious to finish up with the book of Matthew so that we can focus more on the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. Tomorrow we begin studying about Jesus crucifixion - Matt. 26 - I think.

My house has changed so much since Daisy left. I have electricity now and the two trees are totally gone. Now breezes come through much more easily and the front of the house which had always been in the shade is finally drying out and thus reducing the mosquito population - somewhat. It's still pretty bad once the sun sets but now I have my retreat under the net over the two chairs where I can work and read and where the fan that Daisy left keeps things a bit more tolerable.

Before every class starts, the students stand and sing a song along with a lot of drum hammering etc. I noticed that they seem to sing a different song every day and for each different class. I asked Andrew about it and he informed me that since the Dinka tribe does not have much of the Old Testament in their own language, the main OT Bible stories and truths are passed on through songs. Easy to remember and easy to pass on. It has been a highlight for me here to hear the drums begin pounding and then a sort of chanted singing rise up throughout the day and then a few times throughout the evening and early night hours. I realized thought that the students really want to know more about the OT and so when we read Jesus discourse on the 'End of the Age' where he referred to Daniel and Jesus said "Let the reader understand", I emphasized that the point Jesus was making was the he expected that those who actually read Gods Word will come to an understanding about the things he was referring to. So in addition to the students written homework which is now in the book of Galatians I've assigned them to read one chapter a day from the book of Daniel. I truly believe that the best thing that I can do for these guys is to get them in a situation where they are reading the Bible for themselves - not just listening to some guys personal opinions about what he thinks the Bible is saying. I keep hammering into them the difference between being a person who masters the art of looking like they love Jesus and a person who truly loves him. Much of what Jesus talked about was the abomination of hypocrisy that caused the Holy Spirit to leave the temple (heart) desolate. These final chapters in Matthew are full of Jesus sharp confrontation with those who let hypocrisy rule in place of God's Word and in surrender to His lordship out of gratitude and love for Him. This is a message that has been swept under the beautiful carpets in our air conditioned Western church buildings. There is definitely going to be a huge price to be paid for this negligence and deliberate omission of what was such an important part of Jesus ministry.

OK. Now for the big news for the day. I did it! I shaved off my beard and moustache. It had to happen. The heat kept things in a continual sweat and itchier then all of Daisy's mosquito bites ever imagined and it really feels sooooo much better!

Some of the students saw me this evening and I had a great time telling them that their teacher 'Wendell' had to rush back to the states to be with his wife and that I was his twin brother who had come to replace him. I think I actually had some of them believing it for a short time. It all ended with a lot of laughing.

Since there is a good supply of medicine here at the compound, many people show up here every day with one thing or another, almost always described as malaria. A headache is malaria. A cough is malaria. A stomach-ache is malaria. A sore finger is malaria. And amazingly, they all know what the medicine is that they need. If the medicine does not taste bad - then it probably is not any good. They especially think that if they get a shot, then everything will be OK. I guess it's a common practice among the regular doctors to just give a placebo shot for many of the problems and it works like magic. One student came to the house during our evening meal and to inform us that he had ‘diarrhea of the nose’! Of course none of us could keep a straight face and eventually we laughed ourselves to tears.

Our wonderful evening meal consisted of chapatti and watery tomato / beef stew. Daisy said that if you don't have anything good to say about something, then don't say it at all. So with that advice, I won't say anything more about our food here.

I took a sleeping pill before I started writing here and I can really feel its effect on me now. So while it has my attention I'm going to end here and let the sleep settle in. It is now 9:06pm.

9/21 Friday 8:25pm

Another day has slipped on by. It sure took it's good old time at it. Once my teaching time is finished at 10:30am I'm basically left to occupy myself with whatever I can find to do. I've cleared just about all the land that they needed cleared. That had been mostly done with the lawn mower that they bought but didn't know how to use. I think they've gotten their moneys worth out of it already. There is a bit more to do which I attempted to do two days ago when the afternoon sky was cloudy But alas, no gas! Andrew said he would get more yesterday as well as the wood needed to build a new large gate at the very entrance to the school property. I've wanted to work on that for over a week but can't get 'someone' motivated to pick up the necessary supplies. Well, we didn't get any gas yesterday either - nor today for that matter. It would have been a great day for mowing, but instead I sat in the room sweating and playing about 100 games of solitary. 'Bored' is the word that I'm coming up with all too often around here with these long, slow, hot afternoons. When I don't do anything useful then when the opportunity does come - I'm too lazy for action. Finally around 5:00 I left the room (the sun was less intense) and I went out to see what the students were doing for their daily chores. Usually they are out working in the garden. Recently they have been digging a lot of peanuts which they dry and then have made into peanut butter and then sell. Some how I got to discussing scorpions with Andrew who mentioned that someone nearby got stung last night and had come to the compound looking for their special medicine that they make.

Of course I asked how they make the medicine which I learned is done by catching live scorpions and them slowly heating them up in oil. As the oil gets hotter, they begin to striking their stinger at the oil, injecting it with venom. The oil is then used as an anti-venom and rubbed on the sting area. The neighbors claim it works very well.

Before you know it, we were off on a scorpion hunt. I guess the season for them is a bit early yet since we only found four after about an hour of flipping over this and that and a big pile of rotting fence posts. We also found some in the layers of overlapping dead branches of the palm nut trees around here. In addition to the scorpions, we stirred up a very small but totally deadly snake. Probably a brother or sister to the one we killed a few feet away from his hideout a few weeks ago. This one died as well.

Andrew then told me about all the black cobras that had infested the compound last year, Five large cobras had made their home in the toilet hole over at the students quarters without anyone knowing it for some time. Then one of the students, who was having his ‘quiet time’ in the outhouse, claimed something was moving around down there. Investigation told the story and the matter was doused with about 7 gallons of kerosene and ignited. They fished out 4 dead 8 foot cobras and one live one (who was hacked to death in short order)!

Anyway, about half the students got in on the scorpion hunt and we had quite a party as we slow cooked the critters and made a new batch of scorpion anti-venom. I hope I don't need it while I'm here. The people around here have been warning me repeatedly to be extremely careful when I get out of bed and put on any clothing or shoes. Not only scorpions but also the centipedes which can kill you if you're bitten by a large one. ...and we did have a large one in the room next to our bedroom in this same building - which Andrew accidentally unknowingly stepped on a few days ago in his bare feet. How do people survive here? - I sure don't know.

We now have some mosquito smoke coils which burn like incense and certainly help make life in this room more tolerable. In fact, I'm sitting here under the net which is over the two chairs (one being used for a little desk) and under the chair I'm sitting I have placed the smoking coil. I may just survive this place after all.

I've made it a daily routine to completely sweep out the room and the entry way. I'm also regularly removing any of the termite castings which look like some kind of rapidly growing sandy fungus which creeps out from the woodwork overnight. I also go through a pointless process of making the bed to hospital perfection. Actually there is a point to it which is to ...use up my time and of course it is good to have a clean floor. Actually, I'm amazed at how much dirt one person can bring in here in just one day though I discovered that much of the mess comes from the lizards and bats etc. which are running around over the rafters all day and night and which knock loose the termite ...stuff which falls ... wherever.

Well, the good news is that so far this evening I haven't heard any dogs carrying-on as on the other past nights this week. It's been remarkably quiet! I can even hear the mosquitoes buzzing around outside this net and I'm sure they would really like to taste some Western food right now!

Tonight we had pasta shells and watery tomato / beef stew. We also have another bottle of Ribena (concentrated fruit mix) which is really refreshing since we have so little in the line of fruit (though we did have a watermelon that we plowed through the past two days until the remainder got too rotten to eat). Also, ....I'm out of my coffee! Samson has really been getting into it while I'm off teaching each morning. I trust that I can make something out of the instant coffee that they have here....

OK - that's all for this day. I'm off to the other mosquito net over the bed.

9/22 Saturday 8:25 pm

Another day - come and gone. The highlight - getting email for home. Daisy had several letters and Ellie and Jonnie even wrote. Even though the kids wrote only short things - it was great. It was like hearing their voices again. Daisy sounded upbeat. That sure is good. I want to be back home very much right now... But on the other hand, others back home would do anything for the privilege of being here doing what I'm doing. I guess that they don't know that to ‘go' you must also 'leave'. That is why most people never do 'go'. They are too attached to whatever it is that they must leave. The stuff at home means very little to me. That is easy to detach from. What is hard is leaving the kids and missing out on just seeing them passing through the house and knowing that they are OK.

We didn't go to the Internet Cafe this time. 'Save the Children' has been struggling for over a week to get set up with internet. They have added a new satellite dish and after a power overload that crashed their generator and set the kitchen on fire, they brought in a professional man from Kenya who has just gotten it running properly as of yesterday. So this morning Andrew, Beatrice and I ventured over to their compound which is just down the road (actually it's not a road since the land rover is often half under water with the gigantic holes full of water between here and there). Since the new internet is set up for wireless, I was able to get online with my little Palm pilot though I had forgotten to take along the wireless keyboard. So I ended up using someone else’s laptop. Anyway, it sure is strange to be out here in about as a remote a place as you will ever find on the earth and have the world suddenly at your fingertips. If all goes well, maybe I can even send Daisy this entire journal by email.

Andrew has had some training in medical things and so he has quite a large stash of medicines and first aid supplies on hand. Every day there are people who show up wanting medicine for fevers, aches and pains, wounds etc. Today was no different. First off a man came hobbling in this morning with a really nasty looking festering open wound on his shin. Flies were crawling all over it and it was very swollen, obviously infected. He had been cutting a tree or something with an axe and had hit himself in the leg. It look like he aimed at it pretty well. He also had large areas on his forehead and nose where skin had been torn up. He explained that soldiers had done that to him.

Andrew did what he could. He disinfected it, wrapped it up good, and then tried to get the man to go to the hospital for much needed stitches and a tetanus shot. I doubt that he will do it though. Later we learned that the man had actually been very drunk when he chopped himself and the soldiers were most likely in the form of a tree.

Later I saw a woman with three children here. Samson was spooning out something into each of the kids. It seems that there is lots of sickness - which doesn't surprise me at all considering what unsanitary conditions these local people live in. Add to it the many mosquito bites they are getting, many which carry very weird and gross parasites. In fact a young man came in this evening after having been living out in the cattle camps for some time, and he was complaining of a very sore large lump that mysteriously appeared under his arm. He was in a lot of pain, as was the man with the chop wound to his leg. Andrew did not know how to treat the young man but gave him a series of antibiotic pills, some pain killers and strongly urged him to get into the hospital. Andrew is suspicious that this is a parasite which comes from an infected mosquito. What happens is that a large worm develops within the muscle tissue. Eventually it digs its way to the surface of the skin and begins emerging. You can't pull it out. Instead you begin wrapping it around a small stick and each day you can crank out a little more. It may take months before you get the whole thing out. Nasty!! This may be what this young man will be dealing with, though I'm sure that there are lots of other things that could be the cause. I wish I knew about his case before I went to the internet. I could have researched it a bit there.

I-En knew that she owed us for missing two meals the other day. So today I guess she tried to make up for it. She had cooked pumpkin and mandazi (deep fried biscuits) and some how she came up with a jar of strawberry jam and then some home made peanut butter. She insisted that I try to smear the peanut butter on the boiled pumpkin. That definitely was not what I had in mind! Instead I had what possibly could be called a 'peanut butter and jam' sandwich. It sounds good, but the end result was pretty pathetic. Tough, oily and ....do you realize how much ants like strawberry jam?

Things have cooled down here a bit the past day. It is such a relief and I'm enjoying the room through the afternoons where I can work at typing on this little Palm gismo whatever it is that you're supposed to call it. The students were able to sit outside last evening and relax together. They must have been having quite a time. I wish I could understand them. Such laughing and whooping and then from time to time someone would start beating a drum and they would all start singing on and on through the night. What a contrast to the howling dogs we had to contend with the past week or so.

Before sleeping a wonderful breeze began to blow through the room and I could hear thunder in the far distance. Then I guess it was around 3:00 the storm hit here and after about 5 minutes it began raining in through the window by my bed. So I had to drag myself out doors to untie the plastic sheets that are rolled up above each of the three windows on the north side of the building. But I had waited too long! The water was already ankle deep all around the building and I ended up wading out and getting drenched despite my little umbrella which does little to break the force of this kind of driving rain, all the while trying to keep an eye out by the light of my little flash light for any swimming critters that might find my bare legs to be some sort of rescue vehicle. All went as well as can be expected for taking an unwanted shower in the middle of the night. But when I got back to the room I saw a little centipede scooting under the bed. I ran to grab my sandal so I could whack it, but it disappeared. So with the knowledge that there could be a poisonous centipede prowling around the room tonight, I'm going to sign off here and make a quick dash for the (hopefully) safety of my bed.

PS. The little battery operated fan Daisy bought from MCC and left here for me is a life saver! I made a wire hook so that I can hang it above me in the bed inside the mosquito net. Since we now have electricity here, I just let it run until the batteries die at some time while I'm asleep and then recharge them in the morning. It doesn't put out a lot of air, but enough to make a huge difference on hot sweaty nights.

9/23 Sunday 3:40pm

I'm attempting to write outside today. I'm sitting on the bamboo bed and using the folding chair for a desk. The ants living in the bamboo are very unhappy with me right now and I will probably have to give in to their protest march which is currently taking place on my back side...: )

This has been a good day so far. Up at 6:30 for a shave and cup of 'native' coffee. Then we packed everyone here, including all the students except one, into the land rover and off we went bouncing and sloshing though monster water filled holes to a visit a new church. This one is at the UN base and I had expected a cool environment like we had last week at the church we had attended - but this turned out to be just the opposite. Going onto the UN base reminded me very much of entering into the Vietnamese Refugee Camps in Hong Kong. There were several inspection points and razor wire etc. that you would expect at a high security area. But we were basically just waved through when the security officials saw that we were going there to attend the church.

This was the most 'on fire' group of people I've encountered yet. Many of them had also attended the International Fellowship where I preached last week. The service was mostly in English though many of the songs were Swahili since the majority in attendance were Kenyan. One of the soldiers preached. He was from Kenya as well and spoke excellent English. Isaac was called on to translate into Dinka since there were quite a few Dinka visitors. Everyone was amazed at Isaac's professional translation ability. He never missed a beat even when the preacher was caught up in the message and going full blast.

This was the most outstanding message that I've heard in a very long time! It was very simple though - the story about David and Goliath. I won't try to give all the highlights of the message here because it wouldn't have the impact that it did when preached with the Anointing as it was. I'll just say that as he gave his message, was also getting other things from the same verses that I had never seen before. It was a real feast and this is one Sunday that I can really say that I was glad I went to church!

After the service all the visitors were invited to another tent for 'tea'. We had English tea, and then some cold sausages (which were actually very good - probably imported) and plates full of ...dry Cornflakes, of all things! I sat with some of the students and for the first time, getting more acquainted with them. It has been a good morning.

We've mostly just been hanging around since we got back. Samson hired several of the neighbor kids to collect the piles of ground nuts (peanuts) which had already been pulled up by the students and left to dry in the field. The problem is that herds of goats have found them and are rapidly eating them up. So they had to be brought into the compound for safe keeping and now they are negotiating a price for some one to separate the peanuts from the vines. It looks like a pretty big job.

I hear that we are going to be going to the International Fellowship again this evening. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not the one to preach tonight - but if it turns out that they need someone, I would be glad to pick up where I left off last week with the story of Elijah and Elisha and how that points to what it really means to 'follow Jesus' and getting hold of the power of God. There are some very good things happening around here as far as the work of God is concerned. There are very clear battle lines and it is very obvious which side is which. That is good when compared to the very unclear lines that we contend with in the USA.

9:02pm.

I'm just guessing but I'm thinking that Dennis should be arriving in Nairobi about now. He'll be there until Wednesday getting his Sudan visa - then show up here about noon time.

It has been another very hot afternoon. I tried to ignore it by preparing for tomorrows Bible class. But...

Samson didn't ask for my help getting in the peanuts. Instead he hired some neighbor kids who were eager to earn a bit and did a very good job of hauling the mountain onto the compound grounds from the field. I-Ketch and another young man then went to work pulling the peanuts off of the tangle of roots. It looks like a huge job.

While those two were collecting the peanuts I went over to hang out with them. Neither spoke much English but as soon as I arrived and greeted them, they young man asked me for the shirt I was wearing and so I-Ketch immediately claimed my pants. I didn't say anything but immediately began taking off my pants. The two guys panicked and then we had a very big laugh and we ended up chatting for a long time. Before long Daniel and another young man (I-En's brother) joined and began asking lots of questions that gave me a chance to talk about Jesus - especially in relationship to the things we are currently studying in the class. Daniel begged me to stay here until next June for their graduation. I challenged him to learn how to hear from the Holy Spirit when he reads his Bible. He said he really wanted to be able to teach like I do because apparently he pastors a large church wherever he comes from. (I think I use the word 'apparently' rather often and there is a good reason for it. A lot of our conversations are left to my imagination). I'm eager to get into the first chapters of Acts and see what will happen. Some of these guys are getting really ripe and ready!

I had planned to go the International Fellowship this evening. Samson went early and I told him I would see him when I came with Andrew and Beatrice. I showered and was ready at 4:30 as planned. Andrew suddenly showed up and said "I changed my mind. We're not going" And so I didn't. Instead I stayed here and chatted with different guys from the school and neighborhood for a good part of the evening. And for that reason, I'm glad we did end up not going.

We finally wrapped up our chat and I went in for dinner. Andrew and Beatrice had already finished. Beatrice had cooked some Kenya rice and curry sauce that was so delicious compared to what we have been eating here since we arrive in August. I ended up eating three plates of it! Beatrice promised to teach me how to cook it sometime maybe I can fix it when I get back home. If I can make it turn out the same, I know Lee will totally love it too...as well as the rest of the family.

I just took another shower and Daisy's little fan is just doing it thing. So I'm feeling fine and I should jump in bed and get to sleep before anything changes.

9/24 Monday 4:20pm

Ah yes..... the temperature is well over 100 right now according to Andrew who somehow knows ...things. I certainly don't doubt it though. And this is nothing compared to when summer hits around February and March from what I hear. The temperature is reported to hold a steady 110 ...and up. I will be sure to be out of here by then - God willing. Only a few plants can live in that kind of heat. Trees shed their leaves so shade is scarce. They say everything is dry and dust blows over and into everything.

I've been focusing a good part of the day on getting ready to test the students over Matthew. I brought with me tests already printed out, but now I can see that some of the words on the test and the questions themselves will be over the heads of the students. Many of them have only a very basic education. So I'm going to give the test as an 'open Bible' and today I've created a separate 'cheat sheet' where I'm giving the verse where the answer is found as well as word definitions etc. that I'm sure they will need help with. It took quite a while to put that all together for a 100 question test. Beatrice will make copies of the 'cheat sheet' tonight.

Actually, outside under the tree the air is rather pleasant. So I took a break and decided to attack some laundry. My favorite white shirt has suffered a variety of stains etc. some that simply showered down on it as it hung in the room. I worked on it for a long time and I think Daisy would be proud of how white it is looking right now. I may just have salvaged it from the donation box.

Dennis should be arriving day after tomorrow, so I need to get a few things prepared for his arrival like making some shelf space and an area to hang some of his clothes. The bed will also need to be made up and I'll need to be ready to give up some of the tent poles that I'm using for 'this and that' for his mosquito net frame.

Things are quite active around here today. The peanut harvest is going strong and right now there are about 6 - 8 people working out under the trees near the water barrel we use for hand washing. There are extra kids bouncing around and helping with pulling the peanuts off of the stringy roots. The mountain of dried peanut plants is gradually getting lower and there is a wheelbarrow and buckets and gunny sacks full of peanuts. Samson says this is just the beginning and eventually they will need about 20 people working to remove the peanuts from the roots. I had no idea what a process it is to harvest these!

I've decided that when Dennis gets here I will put him in charge of the video equipment. It's not as simple as just popping a DVD in the player here. We need to set up the generator (because the solar system cannot supply the power needed for any length of time) and then we will use a digital video projector. I want to show some movies that the school has here - a chapter by chapter movie of Matthew and Acts are here. The "Passion of Christ", “The Life of Paul" and others. I want to review them first to make sure they aren’t weird or wimpy. I know that these guys will just love to see them. Some of them have only rarely ever seen a TV or movie. I understand that there is a movie theater in town where you can pay to watch DVD's on a TV. Otherwise, the only way to see TV here is if you have a satellite connection and I think that only one or two hotels here have access to that....for a very high price!

I-En had boiled pumpkin again this morning. I ate like a pig after I got done teaching. Just sprinkle a little cane sugar on it and it's like a Thanksgiving feast. Andrew hates it! He said he was forced to eat lots of it when he was a little kid. I told him he needs to put sugar on it - and then it will change his whole life. He won't!

I found out today that the young man who came here with a large swelling under his arm is her son. Tomorrow she is taking the day off so she can take him to the hospital. I've seen some nasty physical things here so far, but I think this boy's problem may be something to be concerned about. Maybe it's nothing - but I have this feeling.... We did gather around and lay hands on him ...we did our religious duty. The problem is Jesus said 'heal the sick', not, pray for the sick, except the one time where James says 'the prayer of faith will heal the sick'.

It's 5:00pm and the temperature is still very hot and sticky, but not as hot as at 2:00.

Andrew has this idea that on the same day that Dennis arrives, we'll come back to the school compound for lunch and get Dennis settled in, and then around 4:00 we'll head out for a nearby cattle camp. I guess we may just as well through Dennis in on the deep end. Everything else he experiences here will seem good if he gets Sudan’s worst right off at the start of things. I think it would be better to hold off until the weekend for this, but Andrew often has his reasons for doing / not doing things. I'll see how the flow is going and then just go with the flow.

8:03pm

Well, here I am again. Night has fallen and once again the air is hot, humid and heavy. About 4:30 the wind started blowing and the temperature drop to a very nice level. It was great while it lasted. I hurried into the shower - after working up a real sweat pumping the water tank full (it was almost empty so I pumped a full drum of water up into the shower tank.

Dinner is over and I'm back in the room under the net which is over my working area. Not much to comment about except Andrew and Beatrice told me that last night one of the workers at 'Save the Children' went into his small house in the dark and nearly stepped on a large black cobra just inside the door. Great! God help me to get out of this place alive. I came back from the dinning room and very carefully checked the room over and then everywhere in my bed! The bad thing is - I need to make a trip to the out house in a little bit. That's just great : /

OK - I'm back and greatly relieved. Can you believe this, I get myself all situated and then I remembered, the outhouse now has an electric light! The problem is the light and the switch are on the outside though there are so many gaps in the wall and door that the outside light make it look like day inside... if you remember to turn the light on! Anyway - mission accomplished and I escaped unscathed!

Yes, Daisy would be proud of the way my white shirt turned out. I think it's 99% spot free. I probably work 30 minutes on it. With that satisfaction, I'm heading for bed.

9/25 Tuesday 3:35pm

Today is, without question, the hottest day yet. Andrew reported at 1:30 that it was over 40 degrees Celsius. I'm not sure, but I think that tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I ran for the shade of my room after lunch, but all I can do is sweat and drink lots of water. Lots! The sky has been cloudless all day until just a few minutes ago. A cloud passed by and when it does, the metal roof just cracks, creaks, and bangs around as it cools and contracts. Then just as soon as the sun hits it again, it goes through the whole racket all over again. Maybe with this heat things will build up for a storm this evening. I could go for that!

So Dennis arrives tomorrow. I spent a lot of time cleaning the room, removing all my bed stuff including the net, so that I could knock down the termite nest that is over my bed and suitcase. Recently I have needed to regularly brush off the rubble of their nest that has been raining down. This has been happening several times a day and I knew I would need to do something eventually. Today was the day and it turned out to be a big project. After the dirt shower, I soaked the nest area with my mosquito repellant. Hopefully the termites will move on to some other area where they will cause less of a mess.

I talked to Andrew about his plan to initiate Dennis tomorrow by going to the cattle camp. Of course, I've been waiting this whole time to go to the camps. That is what I've been told is the high light of this area. But I wonder if the stress of his travels and shock of this heat might be too much for his first day here. I suggested my concerns to Andrew and urged him to consider a later time, but tomorrow is the day he will go. I believe that there is another ministry that is going to be out at the camp which is probably the reason he wants us to go at that time. So - I'll take it as it comes and advise Dennis to 'take care of himself'.

I'm using this little fan Daisy left day and night. Thank God that we have electricity now and I have a battery charger. Every night I recharge a fresh set of batteries so I can afford to keep the fan going much of the time. Every time I turn the fan off or on, I remember Daisy.

Tomorrow we will finish the book of Matthew. I have taken longer than I wanted with these final chapters, but how can I rush? There is so much to feast on. I don't want to do a half baked job for these guys. ...or for myself for that matter. Anyway, we'll get done tomorrow, and then the next day I'll be giving them the test. Bulis stayed up last night and re-read the book of Matthew. He is so nervous, as are most of the guys about the test. I hadn't told them that it would be an open Bible test and that I would be giving them the 'cheat sheet'. Poor Bulis! At 10:30 when class is supposed to end, we were having a good discussion and going overtime. Finally Bulis begged me to let him go to his room. I had all the students pray for him - then let him go. Then I asked the students 'how many of them were worried about the test'? Most of them obviously are very worried - especially because I had told them I would be giving them the same test that I give students in the USA. Then I told them those who were worried had already failed - because Jesus said "Do not worry about tomorrow". They all had a good laugh about that. Then I caved in and told them that - really, they didn't need to worry. I told them everything about the test. I don't want to see them getting sick over it. Instead I want the test to actually be a learning tool and by taking it, they will be going over many of the things we talked about in Matthew. So - I hope no one else comes complaining that they malaria because of the test I am giving.

Great! Puffy white clouds are materializing all over the place. The roof doesn't know if it is coming or going. Things should start ...I don't think I can say 'cooling down', so I'll say 'things should start getting less hot' before too long.

8:09pm

The rain did come and now there is some real relief from the heat.
Andrew invited me to go with him and Beatrice to 'STC' (Save the Children) to check email. I found 3 letters and had enough time to respond to each. I was especially blessed by Daisy’s note where she told how the ABF at church prayed for each of the students by name as she put their photos that I had sent with her up on the TV. I think that these students have no idea how many people are actually praying for them, both here, in Thika, at Living Water and I know Wes Smith is along with some of his friends. I'm deeply grateful for these people who do more than just say they will pray - they actually do it.

I was hungry when we got back to the school and I-En had made chapatti which is a large flat glob of fried dough. It's very heavy food and in my lack of self control, I ate an entire chapatti and - yes, you guessed it, watery tomato / beef stew. Now I'm paying for it. I feel like I just ate a big glob of dough! Oh yeah, I guess if did, didn't I. I also been drinking huge amounts of water today, probably because of the heat.

Tomorrow is a big day; teaching, meeting Dennis at the airport, and going to the cattle camp. I found out that actually Andrew wants to go mainly to check out the situation to see how suitable it will be to go there later and show the 'Jesus Film'. Now that is something I would really like to see happen and to be involved with.

9/26 Wednesday (written on Thursday)

After so many totally boring afternoons, today the hours have gotten away from me. It started off normal enough with class as usual though it was highlighted by the fact that this was the final day to study Matthew. Now the students are nervous about the test on Matthew that they will be taking tomorrow. I'm nervous about it too because I have a feeling that it will be too difficult for some of the students who are less skilled in English etc. Anyway - we won't know until we try.

After class I hurried back to finish cleaning up the room and getting it ready for Dennis' arrival at 11:30. Then a quick shower and shave and Andrew and I were off to the airport. Dennis was already there in the customs area, which is the same area as immigration and the waiting room / arrival hall. He was having difficulty with one suitcase which had been sent with him from Thika for Samson. The problem - no key to the little padlock. Customs was giving him a bit of trouble, so he seemed quite relieved to see us coming to his rescue. Eventual, since no key could be produced, Andrew was allowed to just take the suitcase, uninspected. Imagine that happening un US customs!

Dennis seemed a bit disoriented, which doesn't surprise me at all. This is his first time out of the US I think and to an area that is about as culturally different as anywhere. Also the heat here is a dramatic change to what he's just come from. Then, just to add to his disorientation, Andrew decided to drive out to try and locate a cattle camp this afternoon. So after just enough time to grab a bite to eat (rice and beans), investigate the outhouse, and rig his mosquito net, we (Andrew, Beatrice, Samson, Dennis, and I) piled into the land rover and set out. We traveled on roads that really tested the poor land rover, as well as the occupants, on a journey of about 1 hour distance. Don't ask me how many miles we traveled because the pace was very slow and the potholes innumerable with depths unfathomable.

Eventually we arrived at the area where the huge herds are brought in for the night only to find a few old men and boys around. They informed us that the cattle would not be brought in until around 7:00pm which was still two hours away. We decided not to wait and after a short visit we set off again, bouncing and jerking our way back to Rumbek and the school.

Dinner was waiting and quickly eaten before Dennis and I, being well exhausted - each for our own reasons, settled in for the night.

I was so surprised to see that Daisy actually was able to get my electric shaver to Dennis before he left the states. I emailed her requesting that he bring it, but I actually never thought she would be able to pull it off since she had only a few hours notice before Dennis was to begin his journey. Dennis told me that Daisy showed up during the Saturday morning Men's Bible study in Kidron with the shaver and ...so here it is! Now I can forget about sawing my face with this very dull razor that I ruined when I shaved my beard off.

Alas, I woke up at 2:30 this morning, pretty much finished with the nights sleep. (I'll switch here to the next day...)

9/27 Thursday 3:30pm

Yes....I wake up at 2:30pm - ready for the day to begin! Dennis was sawing logs (thankfully only very little logs) so I was wondering who had the jet-lag around here. I began praying for each student by name. Then family members etc. etc. It was a pretty sweet time - especially as there was a thunderstorm gradually moving in. The storm hit around 3:30 or 4:00 and after a short feeble effort to make something of itself, it settled down to a nice steady rain that cooled the temperature to the point that it had to get out my little blanket. I'm glad I was awake to enjoy the heat relief. Finally though, I quietly got up and brought my Palm 'thingy' into bed and listened to worship music with the headphones and lay there until dawn and for my 6:30 alarm to go off. I'm kind of sleepy right now, but consider the spiritual and physical benefits of my early morning well worth the cost.

Bulis came by the compound two days ago looking very much like a poor pathetic 'Bambi' (Daisy's nickname for him). He claimed he had malaria. (Why should we believe him when everyone claims malaria for a runny nose to a stubbed toe). Yesterday he complained of a headache and malaria. Today He said the same thing at the beginning of class. I checked his forehead and it seems a little warm but not enough to be sure that is actually was a high temperature. He told me he had taken some aspirin or something so I figured I would let him try and stay for the test, which he did. Later, at the beginning of Samson’s 11:30 class he checked Bulis again and found he had a very high fever. Andrew immediately drove him to the hospital where it was confirmed that he did indeed have malaria. Poor kid. He is really feeling miserable. But all credit to him, he stayed for the test and did better than most of his seniors.

I told Andrew yesterday that I would pay whatever it cost to have a steady supply of mango juice around. "No problem" he said. "We have money for it". I finally realized that the money Daisy and I had for our living expenses here probably didn't arrive here until yesterday when Dennis delivered it to the director (at least that is what it sure looked like since Dennis handed an envelope marked 'for Wendell and Daisy' that clearly looked like it contained cash). And then on top of that, within about 3 hours there were TWO cases of mango juice and a bottle of Ribena juice concentrate. AHHHH the good life!

I imagine it will take a few days until Dennis gets comfortable on his own around here. Till then he is a friend that is sticking closer then a brother and it's good to have him around.

Today Dennis went with me to the Bible class and after an introduction etc. he along with the rest of the class began the Great Dreaded Test on Matthew. I gave them two and a half hours and thought that surely that would be enough time to answer the 100 questions - considering that it was a 'open Bible' test and that I also gave them a 'cheat sheet' with all the related Bible references for each answer. But nobody was able to complete the questions by the end of class. So I told them to take the test and do it for homework - on top of the regular homework. James just stopped by here and said that he totally messed up his test paper and wanted a fresh one. He also mentioned that most of the guys have now completed the test / homework / or whatever it is at this point. That is good news! I wasn’t sure what to do if they were unable to do it. I know for some of the guys, especially those with a lower education level, this was about like David taking on Goliath! Now the next question is, how will I ever give a grade for this? I guess I'll just have to figure something out somehow. After all, I'm the teacher! : )

I'm putting Dennis in charge of videos. We have several DVD's here, one on the book of Matthew, and one on the book of Acts! What a coincidence! But before I announce to the students that we have them, I want to review them to see if they will be a benefit or if they will water down the pictures that are in our minds after reading the stories directly form the Bible. I'm considering that this to be a very important question to determine and which could make or break everything that we have received from the Holy Spirit so far. We will try to review the movie tonight here at our room - if the weather, which is looking very 'iffy', holds out OK.

9/28 Friday 2:55pm

Whew! Man! Today is another cooker. But regardless of the discomfort, I'm very happy about how this day has gone so far. I was still wondering about how to deal with the 100 question test that most of the students were 'crashing and burning' on.

Yesterday, in somewhat of a frustration I gave the students permission to complete the test as a home work assignment - or else they would have their two and a half hours during class time to finish it. Yet I really wanted to teach them today a few things as a preview and to set the stage for the book of Acts. As it turned out, everyone had completed the test by this morning except Bulis who had spent yesterday at the hospital getting treatment for real malaria and he was only two questions from being finished. As normal, I started the class with prayer and by the time I said 'amen' Bulis handed his test in...sneaky kid! I haven't even looked at their tests yet so I don't know if they did well or not. I'll check them this evening probably. Oh, well...

Andrew said that he would like to try again to go to the cattle camp this evening leaving here around 6:30. Samson says we should wait until morning. I say - "whatever"!

Dennis is doing what he can to adjust to the life here. Of course this will take some time and I think he is adapting very well so far though this is really just his second day here. So time will tell the truth.

I told Samson that I was frustrated with not having anything to do around here during the rest of the day when I'm not teaching. I asked him to give me some work to do, since we still do not have any fuel for the lawn mower or building materials to construct the large gate that he asked me to build over 2 weeks ago. So Samson mentioned that he really hoped to get the weeds pulled out of his field of Scumma. Great! So I went right away and got to work - which was at about 11:00. I stayed at it for about 1 hour and then the heat got to be ...enough. Dennis had also gone out to the field with me but after about 10 minutes he was looking - done in and I told him to quit and go sit under the banana tree - which he did. I feel pretty good about finally accomplishing a little some that I can see at the end and know it is finished. Actually there is a lot more in that field that needs to be weeded and when the weather is suitable, I can go do it.

I have assigned Dennis the responsibility of managing the video equipment (I think I’ve mentioned that before a few times). That includes a larger generator, power converter, DVD player, and digital video projector. So last night we finally dug the generator out of the shed and brought is over near our room in a wheel barrow. We fired everything up and did a preview of a verse by verve video on the book of Matthew. I had been concerned about presenting the students with concepts that would actually dilute the lessons and stories we had already gone over. But after a preview, I am very impressed with this presentation which is done very well in a 'down to earth' and a 'non-religious' way. In fact, it was the most effective and powerful Bible presentation I think I've ever seen - here in southern Sudan - of all places!

The funny thing is, yesterday John came over by the dinning room and I asked him how he was doing. He said, 'About 65% good". I asked him, "What about the other 35%"? He said, "If you were to show us a video, then I would be about 90% good"! I just had to laugh. He had no idea that Denis and I would be previewing the video within the next hour. So today it was a lot of fun to tell the class that on Sunday evening, weather permitting, at 7:30 we would be seeing a video.

We arranged for the video on Sunday night and Monday night. It is actually four and a half hours long! Since this weekend is a weekend off for the students to go home, the video, hopefully, will be an incentive to get them back here by Sunday evening. I think we are going to have a lot of fun with it.

There is thunder rumbling off in the distance somewhere. It's been going on for over the past hour. But here - blazing sunshine.

I've had enough. I'm heading for the bed, a snooze - if will come, or just a change of place and location of where I'm being hot at.

8:26pm

Here I am again. No we did not go to the cattle camp this evening. It was re-thought and we all decided that it would be better to go there early tomorrow morning when the camp is just waking up and the boys are milking the cows. So we need to be ready to hit the road at 6:00am tomorrow morning. So, time to this boy to go to sleep so I can get up and be ready for the early morning.

9/29 Saturday 8:23pm

Up at 5:30 and bouncing down the road at the crack of dawn. It was beautiful to see the sun rise over the mist covered bush and palm trees. It really looked ...African. I was up and ready and enjoyed an early cup of coffee before everyone else rushed out.
The cattle camp is totally another world. How can I describe it? It is by far the most primitive place I have ever been though perhaps not as primitive as the headhunters in the northern Philippines where I first began my missionary adventure. I shot as many photos as I could during our short visit. I'm anxious to get back home so I can bring them up on the computer.

Because we arrive in the early morning, the sun hit the area just right for some (hopefully) really good shots. It's very hard to photograph a black persons facial features. If you don't have a strong light source to highlight their faces, their face will appear as just a dark shadow. Even in bright daylight I try to use the flash when photographing a person, though usually it is not possible or suitable.

We really didn't stay very long in the cattle camp. We had to rush back so that Beatrice would have enough time to pack and get to the airport by 10:30. So the trip was quick, but I believe this is just the preliminary for a night there when we will show the "Jesus Story".

I decided to take care of some laundry this morning since I didn't know what else to do. Then Dennis tried his hand at laundry, which apparently is the one thing in life he told his wife he would not do. So I took photos of him washing his clothes!

The sun came out blazing this afternoon. I was quite miserable and adding to the situation, our solar power got used up last night. So today I had no Palm 'thingy' to mess around with, no solitary to pass the time away, no music, and no way to journal - unless I resorted to handwriting, which I didn't want to do.

Then finally around 4:00 storm clouds blew in and the temperature must have dropped by 20 degrees. It became quite peasant, so I( decided to go out to the scumma patch and continue with my weeding project. That I did, and Dennis joined me for a while until he started getting dizzy and finally went to the shade. I stayed at it until around 6:15 and was able to reach the goal that I had targeted. By the time I called it quite's, I felt and must have looked a lot like one of those cattle camp boys that I had photographed in the morning. Thank God I had a real shower here that I could clean up in, rather then the kind of shower the cattle camp boys take under a cow as it urinates. While I'm on the subject, one of the main sources of food in the camp comes directly from the cow; milk with cow urine! Oh, yummy!

Having said that, I'll continue by saying that Samson came home at noon from his normal rounds of selling scumma or tomatoes with a fresh watermelon. By this evening, the four bachelors here had gobbled it right up. I was too well spent from weeding to find interest in any of the chapatti that I-En had prepared but did fill up on the melon.

It was dark as we 4 guys finished up our tea etc. and chit-chat and I was just ready to head for our room when we heard three gun shots from very close by, probably just beyond I-Ketchs' hut. Andrew ran out in the dark to get the front gate closed while at about the same time a vehicle arrived, apparently unrelated to whatever was happening to let out several people who headed off down the trail, And that's about where things stand right now - I'm in the dark wondering about what the gunshots were about and I'm in the dark, literally, here in the room as I am sitting under my mosquito netted working, updating this journal by the feeble light of my Palm 'thingy' which has drawn so many insects to join me in the net, that if I don't bail out of here immediately, I might get malaria! (now add to this most uncomfortable situating - I just stepped on my burning mosquito coil which I had placed directly under my chair) Save me please - I'm out of here...............

9/30 Sunday
(written on 1/10 because this Palm 'thingy' needed recharging and due to lack of sunshine on Saturday, the solar system here was also 'dead')

So where are we? Back to Sunday....

Things are very quite around here because all of the students have this weekend off and all have gone to their different homes. The big agenda for the day is the movie that was to be shown in the evening. More about that later...

The four bachelors on the compound set off at 7:45am for English church service at the Pentecostal Church downtown Rumbek. It was pretty much the same as before. A lot of singing and much effort to stir up the people. It's fun to be a part of it - though frustrating because of my lack of rhythm. So rather than embarrass myself by trying to join in the hip-hopping, I just stood there and looked very 'white'.

All said and done, not bad. A good message about the rich young man and what it costs to follow Jesus.

From there we made a side trip to the market area and bought wood which, I'm assuming, is for the new gate that I mentioned a long time ago. So, that means that we should have a few days of projects around here which will definitely help to pass these long boring afternoons and evenings. Also, miraculously, about 5 gallons of gas are now here to fuel the lawn mower. So I'm excited about having some projects that I can put myself into.

Dennis and I strolled around the street a bit while Andrew and Samson were busy buying the wood. I was looking for some kind of souvenir to take back for the kids. But, man, there just isn't anything there that is worth buying. Really! Maybe that will need to be the souvenir. Just a weird plastic comb or something like that.

The afternoon was absolutely and seriously - hot! This was more than miserably hot. It was suffering hot! I lay my blue jeans out on the bed before I lay down in a desperate attempt to just sleep through the worst part of the afternoon heat. But sleep didn't happen for me, though Dennis was out for a good while. I just lay there as motionless as I could because to move even a finger seemed to cause a fresh flow of sweat. Two hours! I check the thermometer that Dennis had brought along. It was in the sun coming in through the window and it was registering 108. In the shade it was 95. That does not take into the factor that we are in a room that has a corrugated metal roof which just radiates and intensifies the heat downward. Oh well, I'm really not here to focus on my own difficulties. Just take a look around! At least I have a roof here - and a bed! But - when I finally pealed myself off of the bed, the blue jeans had to be hung out to dry (they looked like they had been ironed with a perfect crease down the front and the back. Not bad!)!

The pastor of the Pentecostal church has asked Dennis to preach next Sunday at the Dinka service, which is the later second service. That will be a fun meeting, though I wish I could be the one to preach, but I'm the one who encouraged Andrew to have Dennis preach because I know that it will do him a lot of good and when it is over, he'll be grateful for the experience. I know right now he is not real excited about it though. It reminds me very much of myself and how I was forced others to force myself to face my 'giants'.

After the heat of the day passed (not really, just the hottest part of the heat), students began to wander in - returning from various places, some from quite far. They were eager to be here for the promised movie! So, we had to produce! And we did!

This was not really an easy thing to pull off. We had to haul the generator from the compound over to the school plus the DVD player, transformer, DVD projector, speakers, wires for this and that - doing it in the dark. Obviously, there is no electricity at the school so it was pitch dark by 7:15pm and we had to set everything up with just 2 flashlights. Anyway, we did it and the first half of a 4 and a half hour reading / acting of Matthew went off pretty good. The only real problem was that the DVD player remote controller wouldn't work, so I was unable to get the bible verse subtitles to show.

Was it hot in the school room, you ask? Whew - man! Yes! The shower I had just before going to show the movie was wasted within seconds! A lot of body heat and mosquitoes! And then, in the cover of the darkness as the movie was progressing, I realized that it was getting warmer and the smell of body odor was getting stronger. Then I realized that people from the neighborhood were sneaking in. Suddenly half naked kids were squeezing in on the bench beside me. I didn't have the heart to chase them out, though I know if Andrew or Samson had been there, they would have bounced them right out. But they weren't there and I didn't speak the language - so they stayed.

Thus another day has gone down into history. I kept looking at my watch and thinking about my family back home, tracking their day as they went to church, eating lunch at Ming Hing’s Chinese restaurant, Sunday afternoon napping, (I supposed) etc. I was surprised to realize that I will have only two more Sunday services to attend here in Sudan. That means that there are less that three weeks to go. I really hope to get through the book of Acts before the plane leaves with me on it.

10/1 Monday 12:45pm

It had cooled off wonderfully! In the early morning hours, maybe around 4:00, I woke up to thunder and lightning and a breeze that forced me to locate my bed sheet. What a relief! Going to sleep last night was difficult - even with the sleeping pill. It was just so hot! Up at 6:30 sharp and with it finally can a soft and steady rain that barely dampened the ground. But it was rain anyway and that helped all the way though to 10:30 just as we finished the Bible class.

Now the sun is really trying to find its way through and I suspect that by this afternoon, the sauna will be up and running again.

Anyway - this is Africa.

Two students didn't make it back to the school yet. James and John, the Sons of Thunder! Then Emmanuel also was missing today though he did make it back last night. During the night he was coughing up blood, so Andrew hauled him off to the hospital first thing this morning. We thought it might be Tuberculosis, but the diagnosis doesn’t point to that. Perhaps it is some sort of hybrid parasite which this unique part of the world is famous for. Anyway, first thing when he arrived here last night Is that he went to Andrew because he said he was very dizzy. Whatever it is, he is on antibiotics right now and it's just a wait and see sort of thing.

Andrew just came over with the English material that Daisy had been using during her class here. He has successfully pawned it off to Dennis, who obviously about as uncomfortable with the challenge as I would be. Of course he also is with being delegated as the preacher for next Sunday. Perhaps this is his chance to discover a new level of faith. But being pushed into it is a process that he nor I are ever comfortable with.

The sun is desperately trying to break through right now. I sure wish it could hold off for awhile so that I could fire up the lawn mower.

10:04pm

This is at the tail end of another day. Strange how these days seem to go by so fast, yet each day seems to last for so long. Anyway, we just finished up on the last half of the 5 hour long movie on Matthew. This is no small project to haul all the equipment and hook everything up with the half working, patch and makeshift way things are around here. But we got through it and the students were very thrilled to see the story that we have been studying over these past 6 weeks.

Like last night, as the movie progressed I began to see lots of kids and a few mothers sneaking their way in. Before long we were getting crowded and later I found that more were standing around outside. I guess that they knew where the holes in the fence are that surrounds the compound. Anyway, it sure made things interesting.

While the day stayed remarkably cooler (notice that I didn't say that it was cool - just cooler) I didn't get the chance to push the mower. Instead I decided to begin working on the new front gate that will be going up at across the driveway out by the big tree and in front of the borehole. Most of the afternoon ended up on a crazy search for the one and only hammer. This ultimately ended in failure and a big waste of time and energy since I had already brought out all the other tools that I would need. I did finally make several trips out to the entry and check out the posts that are already in the ground to see how much we would need to shim the jams. I also ran a line level across to the opposite post and mark the posts with nails hammered in with one of the 3 hammer handles we have here (missing hammer heads).

While I was doing this Dennis was busy teaching his first English lesson. Yes - he agreed to take up where Daisy left off, though I know this has pushed him a bit out of his comfort zone. This will become his daily mission and I think will give him much in these lessons of learning to move forward by faith which we all must learn when we allow God to put us in a place like this. I offered to go to his first class so that I could help introduce him and get him started, but he really wanted to try this on his own. I'm quite proud of him.

So, talking about being out of your comfort zone - there must be several mosquitoes that have found their way into the net covering my working area here. I've got to evacuate the place.....again.

10/2 Tuesday 7:42

Today was a good day! I've been anticipating this day for a long time because today we began studying the book of Acts. It was a great personal study getting ready for chapter 1 and teaching it was also very rewarding just to watch the students faces as they begin seeing things that they had never seen before. I can hardly wait for tomorrow when we study Acts 2.

I don't want to forget to mention that last night was the most amazing night for sleeping that we've had since coming here. Actually the day itself had been quite pleasant, then we had the last half of the movie that Dennis and I had with the students etc., but I had the feeling that it was going to cool off a lot last night so I put on my PJ pants and a t-shirt before going to sleep. By about 2:00 things really cooled down and I had to cover with the sheet and the wool blanket and would have been happy for even more. I was hard to get up because the morning reminded me of a being back home on an autumn morning. But - of course, it didn't last.

By the time I finished my morning class the old familiar Sudan was back in full swing and the temperatures were climbing - but not as much as on Sunday - thank God

We found the hammer! So soon after class I began dragging out tools, the long pieces of wood and any other bits and scraps of this and that out under the large tree between out house and the front gate. I started out by cutting off the boards for the dimensions of the gate and then I intended to make lap joints for each corner. I had brought out the large generator and skill saw for this and thought that I could make the joints by making repeated three quarter inch deep cuts over the area to be removed and then easily chiseling out the remaining thin wood strips. But as I began cutting on the second of 8 lap joints. the saw suddenly gave a loud bang and immediately stopped. On the ground beneath it were many shreds of copper wire from inside the motor. It was finished, history, dead, ker-put and no more.

There were really only two alternatives; abandon the project of cut the joints by hand. I chose the latter and with a lot of sweat etc. did succeed. But late afternoon, with Dennis' help after he finished with his English class, we had the gate frame together and the hinges on. We still need to attach a sheet of aluminum roofing on the lower half of the gate and wire mesh on the upper half...and there is a lot more stuff we'll need to do but it's not worth mentioning now.

So, the skill saw is shot, Samson's motorcycle is making terrible noises in the engine, the land rover is in the repair shop, the remote for the DVD player won't work, the sound system is not working, and only with much difficulty have we finally gotten the electricity working here again. It still doesn't work at the school where the students are living. It's very hard for anything here to go forward when so many of the basic tools are inoperable. Why would anyone not want to have the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives? What an illustration this is here of a church or person trying to do Gods work without the right tools or enough power.

Anyway, that's about enough for tonight. I'm really pooped! I-en has done our laundry again today so there are nice clean sheets waiting for me and I've had my shower - so the only logical thing left to do is get in NOW! : )

10/3 Wednesday....already! 8:27

Here I am again as another day slips over the edge of the world. 'Hot' is the word to sum it up. But because there other things happening to distract me from the heat, except for a few hours this afternoon while all the bachelors here attempted to take naps, we were able to get through the day with relative ease.

Acts 2 finally got the chance to get out of my heart! Wow! The message is so clear to me about the Holy Spirit and I really want to bring it back home, but I know that it will take a miracle.

Anyway, I had from 8:00 to 10:30 this morning to wring out my sponge - and I did. Now I'm ready for more! Because I had the time, I felt that I could almost give everything I needed to give on the chapter, but in retrospect now, I can see that there is much more that I skipped over. Hopefully that will be covered in later chapters.

We finally went into town to check our email etc. I rang up a bill of $12.00 for less then 2 hours on the internet. But it was well worth every cent. I had mail from Daisy, Ellie, and Lee (I was so happy to hear from him I had tears running down my face - good grief). And again my heart is set at peace to know that everyone is doing OK at home.

Dennis and I worked on the gate again after we got back from doing email. It was near dusk so the air had cooled down and we could work for a short time. It won't be long before we need to go out to the front entrance to mount the face plated on the crooked posts (it will need lots of shims and shaving) and then we can complete our job.

I'm quite tired tonight so I'll end it here for this day.

10/4 Thursday 5:04pm

Since my Palm 'thing' is holding its charge today I can start my journaling early. Since it had quite working properly about two weeks ago, I had to wait until night came and Andrew turned on the main electricity. Then I could charge it up and do my writing. But then it was always after dark and the mosquitoes get pretty annoying. So then I have to get under the net that's over the chair.... well, these are too many details. What I'm saying is, I'm glad for the chance to write while it's still daytime.

We finished Acts 2 and 3 today. I'm learning so much. I sure hope that the students can understand what I am trying to express. It's a lot, and now I'm thinking that after I get back home, I will start writing our Acts verse by verse like I did with the book of Matthew.

Today began hot again. I rally wanted to continue working on the gate, but Dennis wanted to take a nap. OK - so he went to take his nap and I went out to brave the heat and see what sort of mischief I could stir up. Actually, I got quite a lot of work done before Dennis and Andrew showed up after Dennis' English class to see the final nails being driven and to help bend over all the long nail that were sticking out through the wood on the other side.

Of course, since we had to drill holes before nails an be driven, the last battery for the drill died. I had only about 9 holes left to drill. Rats! So I had to drag out the generator in the wheelbarrow and try to figure out how to charge 3 batteries out of only 2 outlets. Eventually that did get accomplished and as of now, the gate is finished ...except....Now I see that one of the corner lap joints has split, so there is still more to do. Next, we will take the gate out to the front entrance and we'll have to figure out how to mount is onto the fence post that is well anchored in the ground.

Just as we were finishing up this project for today, clouds came rolling in and the temperature dropped instantly as a huge gust of wind blew through. Everyone scrambled to get tools put away and as the winds continued blasting clouds of dust from dust ghosts into small drift, I grabbed my soap and towel and had the most wonderful shower here to date. Of course it was especially good since I was especially sweaty and dirty today.

I hear that the groundnuts (peanuts) have all been harvested now. There have been mountains of peanut plants with roots and all here and herds of kids every day busily pulling the nuts from the roots. It's been so much fun to watch these kids who seem to having the time of their lives. They are earning a dollar for every bucketful of peanuts. Evey time I walk past them, they wave and call out my Dinka name, Marial, which means, Brown Cow. Dennis has been named, Medin, which means Big Bull. Daisy also had a Dinka name when she was here. Her name was Yarr, which means, White Cow. Everyone laughs when they hear or say out Dinka our names.

Well, I wonder if it is going to rain tonight. As suddenly as the wind came, it has just completely died. I can already feel the temperature going back up. But for the relief we just had, I am very grateful for it.

Now, before it gets completely dark, I'm going to shake the sand dunes out of my bed! Yes, in case you are wondering, the windows do not close at all. There is just a wire mesh over the opening to keep out the biggest of the insects that regularly come to investigate the foreigners living here. So - the sand entered the room unhindered and now we will need to take some time to do a complete shake down.

10/5 Friday 2:40pm

So - the week is almost over already. The Bible class is finished for this week and I am very satisfied with the progress we've made so far in the book of Acts. Today we studied chapters 5 and 6. Again, I have come away from the class and feel more that I am a student rather than the teacher. I'm learning so much, and much of that happens right as I am teaching. It seems that as I open my Bible, something happens to me that I can't explain. I feel like I have jumped right into the Bible and have become a part of it. And in doing that, I can clearly see how it links directly to our world, churches, and lives today. It almost seems like an altered state of reality! The hard part is to be able to express what I am seeing and understanding in a way that others can see and understand it too.

As we were leaving the class, I noticed a large snake skin that had recently been shed near some rubble near the front of the school. I brought it to the attention of several students who had also seen it and thought that the snake live in a hole in the rubble. It would certainly be a black cobra. So , the next time I have to walk over to the school - especially at night - I will be keeping my eyes very wide open. Andrew plans to set a rat trap that is tied down near the hole so that we can catch and kill it. I don't know if he is just joking or serious about that.

Last night was to refreshing with a light cool breeze (freezing for the locals here) and a light rain coming down. I went to bed early and listened to music on the Palm 'thing', waiting for sleep to come knocking. But it didn't. I finally realized that I had not taken a sleeping pill and so did that around 10:30. ....Oh yeah, Heh! I had told Dennis at dinner that I couldn't wait to get to the room and to jump into bed - that this would be the best sleeping night we've had so far in Sudan.

So guess what! When we got to the room I found that my mosquito net had collapsed into my bed. Termites had eaten through the twine that I had used to hold up the net frame. It was a tangled mess and I used the rest of my wire I had brought from home to rebuild it and then challenged the termites to chew on that! I'm just glad it didn't come down on me in the middle of the night!

After class today Dennis and I took on the task of fixing the splintered lap-joint on the gate. That meant searching for and dragging tools out of the shed. Usually much more work seems to go into searching for makeshift tools etc. then the actual time the project takes. Anyway, the joint is now repaired and the gate is ready to hang. Now that will be another major project since we are hanging it on knobby fence posts that are not standing straight. The gate itself is over 10 feet long, so anything that is not perfectly straight and square at the hinges will be multiplied the further out it goes. I anticipate a very difficult and annoying time of it whenever we get up the courage to tackle this next step. ...but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. I hope so.

Dennis is teaching the English class right now and I am wishing that it would be cool enough so that I could be out mowing the grass, but it's not and so I'm here out under the big tree near the room sitting on the long bench with my Palm 'thing' on the folding chair and I'm trying to type and swat flies and mosquitoes while really, really wishing I could jump into the pool at Gary and Diann's house in Florida. Boy...that sure seems like a long way off!

5:05pm

Just a little bit more before I go out to do some mowing. I've been taking it easy this afternoon. After writing earlier, I just lay around on the wooden bench and listened to music with the earphones. I hadn’t been able to do that for a long time since I could not get the Palm T to keep a charge in it through the whole day. But now I seem to have found a way to help it out be resetting after I use it.

Samson came in on his motorbike and saw that I was listening to music and came over for a look / see. We chatted a bit and then I-Ketch came running with a big stick and began whacking away at the big pile of groundnut plants where there are usually several people, mostly kids, working. Fortunately no one was there at the time because a large (3 foot) green snake had been inside the pile. That created quite a stir and after a lot of jumping around beating the pile of plants the snake came out to meet its doom. It is deadly poisonous and there is no anti-venom for this one.

I had just been sitting on the bench that the workers were using that is in the middle of the pile of stuff. .....not further comment from me except that I'm glad to be here to say that.

10/6 Saturday 1:47pm

Dennis and I have just fled from the room. It is just way too hot.

The day started off very nice and I really hope that it would not be so good. I lay in bed this morning for an extra hour going over and over in my mind how we would anchor the face board to that crooked fence post where we plan to hang the gate. What a headache! I just didn't want to get up, but finally did and we loaded up a wheelbarrow full on scrapes of boards and every tool that we could imagine that we might need and headed down the lane.

We prayed before we started because we knew this was a hit or miss kind of thing. The wood we're working with is so hard and we're using huge nails. We have to drill before we can nail anything. I think the prayer helped because we have been able to complete this part of the project and I believe we have a face board that is perfectly straight up and down on all sides and it is nailed to that fence post with about 30 spikes and it will never, never come down until the new heaven and new earth arrive.

By noon it was very hot and both Dennis and I were having a difficult time keeping our heads clear. Every time we bent down and then stood up we had to take a moment to let the world come back into focus. Actually Dennis didn't last very long at all and after helping to get the face board perfectly vertical and hammering a few nails, he had to stop working. I guess I'm adjusting to the heat here somewhat after all these weeks so I stayed with the project until we could reach our goal for the day.

I've had a light lunch and thought I'd lay down for a nap, but the sun had broken through the light cloud cover and the metal roof began banging fiercely and the air in the room almost became unbreathable. Now I'm outside under the tree and straddling the bench with my keyboard and Palm 'thing' in front of me. It's much better but the ants and mosquitoes are after my feet right now.

Beatrice has returned to the school today so Andrew is as happy as a puppy. He just told me that tonight will be party night and we'll be going out for our dinner. Sounds good, though right now I'd really just like to have some water since our big jug ran out this morning and I haven't had any cool water since coming in from working on the gate post. I'm waiting for Andrew to put chlorine tablets in the water jug and then we'll be good to go.

10/7 Sunday 3:45pm

Well, they sure named this day right! We are having an overdose of sun here today! Beatrice surprised us after church by whipping out a loaf of bread, fresh butter and jam! She also boiled up some eggs - all of it having been brought with her on her flight from Nairobi yesterday. It was a good change but by 1:30 the heat had built up so much in the dinning room, I had to run for some sort of cover. I threw a clean sheet down on the dirty floor of our room and tried to absorb some of the stored coolness from the cement. It helped a bit, at least for my back side, but the other side still got well roasted from the metal roof as it let of loud bangs and creaks whenever a little cloud dared to venture by. I stayed there for 2 hours not moving at all except for an occasional sip of water from my filter bottle. Finally my tailbone, which had been protesting the whole time, won the battle and now I've bailed out of the room and am fighting bugs, flies, ants, and mosquitoes on the bench under the tree. It is cooler, but much itchier.

We did get our night out last evening at the hotel across from the airstrip. The buffet was rather pathetic compared to the last time we had eaten there. But at least it was a change from the monotonously regular evening meal we normally get here of watery tomato and beef stew on rice, chapatti, noodles, or ugoli.

We got back late - around 8:30 and I was ready to hit the sack. But the room was still quite hot and even though I took sleeping pills, I lay awake until at least 1:30 the whole time flip-flopping of sticky, sweaty bed sheets.

Today we packed 15 people into the land rover and with the springs nearly collapsed, we bounced our way through the bush to the Pentecostal Church. We had been there last week for the English service, but this time we were going for the Dinka service. Dennis was the guest speaker and after a lot of enthusiastic singing in the high pitched African lead and response style with lots of jumping that raised the temperature under the thatched roof and drown the nauseating smell of local African cologne with an even more nauseous smell of sweat and African cologne, Dennis gave his message with a translator. As prearranged, as soon as Dennis was done, I jumped up and went on with the message for about 20 minutes. Then as I was about to wind down, I motioned for Andrew to come and he followed up with a summery and an alter call. Of course, everyone got saved - - again. But - Praise God - there was a good spirit in the meeting of perhaps 200 people packed like sardines in the mud and thatch building.

How did the early missionaries tolerate this place? There is no way to escape this heat! Today I am really eager to get out of here. While I love to teach these young men and love even more to receive new truth and teaching through my study, I hate to say it, I'm ready to get out of here. It's just too hot and only going to get much hotter! Only 12 days to go! And then I have to ask, how was Paul able to say that he was content in whatever situation God put him? Part of me is content, part of me is not. I guess that means that I'm simply not content where ever God puts me. Hmmmmmm......

10/8 Monday 1:06pm

It's really hard to believe that the end of this time in Sudan is beckoning me from the horizon. But there it is and I have to deal with very mixed feelings about leaving this place. This is a love / hate experience if I've ever had one! These young men are so eager to learn and open to the Word of God compared to any others that I've taught - even the Vietnamese, though there are a lot of similarities between the two groups. I love getting into the Word. But the heat is just about all I can take and only getting hotter.

Yesterday was difficult - to say the least. We suffered! Then suddenly in the evening the temperature dropped to the mid-80's and we felt chilled! We were so relieved for the break until I got into bed and found that I could still work up a good sweat. I did get a very good sleep in and was ready to go when the sky began to lighten in the early morning.

It's very pleasant at dawn. The air is cool and fresh and it's good to take advantage of it if possible. So I got up and headed for the outhouse in the semi-darkness, admiring the colors of the sky as the day was being created. That blissful moment can to an abrupt stop when in mid-step I saw a snake slithering across the path near the outhouse. Had I not seen it, my foot would have come down about 3-6inches from it's head. Fortunately, I did see it and was able at the last second to hop / jump over it. It was the same kind of snake, a variety of cobra, that we had killed on two different occasions near our room. It's bite is deadly!

So there you have it. The perfect morning in more ways then one. Perfect that what could have been - wasn't to be. And for that I truly thank God.

I had set a goal of covering 3 chapters in Acts today and was able to do it without overlooking any of the important things I wanted the students to learn. So chapters 6,7, & 8 are finished and tomorrow we start in on Saul's conversion. I can hardly wait to get on it but first we have a long and very warm afternoon to plow through.

By the way, the goat with the leg that the dog tore up was doing very poorly yesterday. It could only manage to walk for no more than 3 steps before collapsing to the ground. Andrew and I-ketch have been working on it since Daisy and I first came here and we had thought it would recover. But this morning the old goat had died....it's about time!

I brought the (arm) chair from our room outside today under the tree to prepare for the class tomorrow. The chickens were roaming around nearby and I eventually forgot about them. Suddenly, that crazy old ugly rooster flew up onto the back of the chair just behind my hed where I was sitting and completely scared the daylights out of me! Stupid bird!

6:41pm

...and now for the rest of the days stories......

I sat it out - the hot afternoon sun which topped out well over 100 degrees. Bored! Sitting under the tree waiting for something to happen. Finally it did. Just after Dennis returned from his English class and joined my amazingly uneventful afternoon on endurance, a strange young man came strolling into the compound. He was wearing a suit and tie!!! Along with him was a little girl with nothing but a string beads around her waist and an older girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old. He came straight to Dennis and me as we sat roasting in the shade. Immediately he began pulling on my old brown t-shirt and motioning that he wanted it. Good grief! ...I said a firm, "NO". He continued babbling in Dinka and spattering's of English but we couldn't make out anything that he was trying to communicate. He just kept poking and pulling on our shirts and saying "Jesus is Lord"..... Finally he launched into a long prayer and making the sign of the cross over and over again....

Meanwhile, the older of the two girls was belligerently sticking out her tongue at us and threatening to hit, kick, slap us or spit on us. She gave me the creeps with her violent and aggressive nature. I said to Dennis that I thought she had a demon and before I thought this through, I turned to her and said, "In the name of Jesus, come out of her. Immediately, she came up to my face within just a few inches then to my ear and with a freaky face hissed right in my ear. I knew right away that I had stirred up something, but since I couldn't speak the language, I decided to not press the 'thing' any further.

Dennis and I were under this bizarre attack for probably 20 minutes, neither of us quite sure how to 'make it go away', though I really wasn't worried about it. I recognized is as an attack for what it was worth and knew we would be OK.

Shortly after these characters got bored with us, I suited up, fired up the lawn mower and attacked the 'bush' that I hadn't completed. There was quite a gang of people out around the borehole and so I was the center of attention with herds of naked and semi-naked kids walking back and forth with me as I mowed. Realizing that possibly there was debris scattered around from the bomb blast the day Daisy left here, I tried everything to get the kids to back off, but - that was not possible. So I had to be very cautious and make sure I didn't hit anything that could go flying. At one point I stopped the mower for a break and there within a foot of the front of the mower was a large piece of wire that certainly would have gone flying had I hit it. Thank you Jesus....!

What was crazy was that as I mowed huge swarms of dragon flies came down around me - perhaps hundreds of them. It made a very interesting sight and during the entire hour and a half of mowing not one dragon fly hit me.

Andrew told me after I finished mowing that he saw another green snake at the same place where we kill the other one the other day. Great! I'm starting to get paranoid around here.

It's time to go eat, I wonder what we might be having tonight. Any chance it will be watery beef / tomato stew on something?

10/9 Tuesday 2:03pm

Here we go again. Another day almost exactly like yesterday - at least temperature-wise. The class went well again today and as always, it is the highlight of the day.

I'm not wearing my watch today because I was looking at it so often and the time just didn't seem to move at all sometimes. But periodically Dennis and I are taking turns to guess at the time and the pull our watches from out pockets to see who guesses the closest. My first guess was at 1:05pm and at that exact moment the second hand crossed the number 12 at exactly 1:05. I was kind of freaked out!

Of this day, there is very little to mention. The word is that Andrew will take Dennis and myself to the 'Save the Children' compound to do email a 4:00. I basically have two hours to kill between now and then. As always, checking the email from home is the high point of my week and I always hope for mail that assures me all is well at home. I'm still enjoying the letters from Daisy and Ellie, and especially from Lee that I received last week. Too bad I had time to only speed read through them and respond as quickly. Perhaps today we will be more relaxed since there won't be a fee for the time we're on line.

I guess I'll do some studying for the class tomorrow....

10/10 Wednesday 3:24pm

Today is another repeat of the past few days. The only real thing to make this day special is that the President of Southern Sudan flew into Rumbek for a few days of mass meetings etc. The road that he will take to the hotel has been smoothed and things have been cleaned up, so I've heard. I can't imagine that anything could be done to improve or give face lift to what doesn't exist. Anyway, we decided to not go into Rumbek to the meeting in Freedom Square because of the mess of people there and the extreme heat at this time of the day. Instead, we'll stay here and when things cool down a bit this evening, we're going to set up the video DVD projector at the school and show another video of the Book of Acts. This will probably take about 3 hours to view. Part of the purpose is to prepare the students for the Borehole outreach that we will have tomorrow by the big tree at the compound entrance. The video a continuous reading through the book of Acts, in English. So what the students will need to practice doing is to read from their Dinka Bibles the appropriate verse translation with the video. This will also solve the problem of how I was going to find the time to show the movie to my students over the few remaining days and tight teaching schedule I have here.

Andrew cannot find wood screws in Rumbek! So as a last resort, we will have to drill and spike the gate hinges to the post. If we get it wrong, it will have to stay that way forever! The nails are huge and the wood is like iron. The nails cannot be pulled. Since tonight is the movie and tomorrow evening is the outreach, Dennis probably will not be here to share the blame when we hang the gate. He leaves Sudan day after tomorrow.

9:29pm

....I have just returned from showering under a crystal clear starry sky. The shower here comes from a water barrel on a high platform that we have to fill with a foot pump from another water filled barrel that sits on the ground each time we shower. These night showers are so refreshing though we only use the smallest amount of water possible. I enjoy just standing there and looking up into the sky where the Milky Way seems ready to pour itself out on the world.

Tonight we showed the first half of the book of Acts video to the students. Tomorrow we will show it again at the Tree, but then the students will take turned to translate the scriptures into Dinka as the movie progresses. Tonight was actually a lot of fun since we saw scenes from Acts that we had just studied today. The students where so excited because knew what scenes were coming next and would cheer when the crippled man in the temple was healed by Peter or when Stephen stood up boldly before his accusers. This time Andrew, Beatrice, and Samson as well as the usual gang of half naked kids plus a few odd mothers showed up. Everything actually worked pretty well - it was a much more relaxed experience then the last two times when just Dennis and myself were groping around in the dark trying to set up a system we were unfamiliar with etc.

It’s another hot night and as I come to end of my time of writing and swatting mosquitoes, I feel the sweat returning and the shower I just enjoyed is pretty much used up already. And that's how another day has gone by...

10/11 Thursday (already) 12:15pm

As slowly as these days seem to go by, the weeks seem like they are flying past. Tomorrow Dennis heads back for the USA and one week later I will follow. I-ketch and I-en are both delivering long and very animated messages to us about how much they will miss us here.....and how much they would like to come with us to the states. I will certainly miss them too, but bringing them to the states would be the greatest circus ever! I can just imagine.....!

I'm pushing the guys like crazy. We've been covering 3 chapters a day for the most part and so far it is going very well. Maybe it's even better to go a bit faster because it holds their attention - which seems to be getting more difficult as the room is getting hotter and hotter earlier in the morning with each passing day.

Today seems to be gearing up to be a real scorcher. I think though, that as the time has been going by, gradually I've been getting better acclimated to this environment. But it hasn't been easy!

10:08pm

....I lay on the bed the whole afternoon and I don't think I moved much more than my eyelids. Anything beyond that resulted in gushes of sweat. By late afternoon I checked the thermometer and it read 108. Inside the room it was close to 95. I ran Daisy's little fan until the batteries ran out. By then I was drifting in and out of sleep while listening to music through the headphones.

Dennis is beginning to pack up for his flight out of here tomorrow.

Later in the early evening we rallied the students together and hauled all the video / sound equipment, generator and benches etc. to the Big Tree. A couple of guys shinnied up two trees and stretched a large white tarp between them. As night fell, a music video was played and before long a large crowd from the neighboring family communities gathered in high expectation. There were swarms of naked or near naked kids and many adults though it was really too dark to see who or what was actually there. I introduced the video, the story of Acts. Then the students sang several songs which are really quite amazing and well done in their totally tribal style and language. Several students translated the English audio into Dinka, Dennis gave a short testimony and Andrew share an evangelistic message with a large response from the crowd.

I was totally hot and sticky before these activities began and by the time we had torn everything down and put things away I had reached new and unheard of levels of 'hot and sticky' with the added element of 'dirt' as I had to sit on the dusty ground through the whole evening. But now that it is over, it will go down as one of the highlights of this trip to Sudan. The only problem is, we will be going through the same thing again next week as we show the second half of the story of Acts. And Andrew claims that I will be in full charge of everything. Well, we'll see about that! If God agrees with Andrew, then great!

Now - I'm 'bushed in the bush' and ready to hit the sack...Now!

10/12 Friday 7:30pm

This has been a loaded day. The highlight perhaps, was waking up early and just laying in bed enjoying the coolness - just enough to give a slight chill laying without a sheet. I really didn't want to get up. So tonight I will try to sleep earlier so I can wake up earlier and enjoy the morning before the sun drives the life out of me.

Dennis made it to the Bible class today even though he had to leave for the airport by 11:00. I gave him time to share final thoughts etc. with the students which he did in a powerful, direct and simple way. He told the students that he had received the gift of the Holy Spirit during his time here. I'm not sure what that is about, but he was very passionate about it and strongly encouraged the students to continue in the discipline of Bible study as we have had them doing each day.

After Dennis shared, I called the students to gather around him to lay hands on him and send him out to the mission filed of the USA. Dennis has been a very good asset to the work here and has strongly reinforced my teaching to both the students and myself. I hate to see him go.

We left when it was about as hot as I could stand. It stayed this was the whole day with temperatures in the sun well over the 100 degree mark and inside temperatures just under 100. My cloths have been completely soaking all day. Anyway, we got Dennis off in good order and I know he was torn between the relationships he had developed with some of the students and the anticipation of finally finding relief from this unbearable place. Whoever says that Hell will be ok as long as their friends are there needs to spend 3 months in southern Sudan! If I had to anticipate an eternity here.......

After seeing Dennis off and running a few errands in the market we got back to the compound around 1:30 for a late lunch under metal roof in the very hot dinning room. I finally bailed out from there and came over to my room to do a thorough house cleaning and restore some sort of order after Dennis. I putted around and swept out piles of frog do-do, termite debris that has been continually falling down on my bed and suitcase from the rafters, sand dunes that have blown in with the few wind gusts that we have been blessed with and wisps of mold or fungus that grow up over night and look like dust bunnies. Weird!

Now tonight the floor finally feels half way clean and I can settle down with a fresh start on this final week here.

Tonight there is an all night prayer meeting taking place in town. I am not going and will be here alone on the compound since I have to get up to teach Samson’s class tomorrow morning.

Normally Saturday is a day off for me but I want to teach tomorrow so that I can be sure to get through the book of Acts by the time I have to leave next week. I also have a test that I want to give the students. So teaching tomorrow will give me just the edge that I need.

To be honest, I'm really missing Dennis too much right not. Maybe I'm jealous because very soon he will be back with his family. That is what I really want and think about all the time. It's good to see these days slipping by, yet I know it will be very hard to walk away for these young men who have sat so patiently and received so freely from Gods word day after day.

Right now, the regular evening hammering of drums and singing has started over at the school - winding down from their days activities and a final time of prayer etc. It is totally dark at the school since there is no electricity for them. I will definitely miss this nightly serenade of tribal music and rhythms’.

10/13 Saturday 3:56pm

Though today is a Saturday, I took over Samson's time and was able to take the students through several more chapters in Acts. This gets me into the right course to meet the target of completing the book by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, allowing for the time I want to give the students a test before I leave.

Right after class I scooted back to my room intending to address some serious laundry issues with soap and water. But before I got started Andrew announced that if I wanted to check email, they were leaving immediately and I had to put the laundry on hold. We went over to the 'Save the Children' compound and I had a few letters from Daisy, Mom, Janis, Ken and Wes.

There was enough email to respond to that ate up a number of hours and we didn't get back and eat lunch until about 2:30. That's when Andrew announced that we would be going out again tonight for the buffet dinner - hopefully with the full bar-b-que this time. When we went there last Saturday with Dennis for his grand send off dinner, the cooks were on strike and so the meal was rather pathetic since there were only two cooks brought in from somewhere who were trying to feed a platoon of Sudanese soldiers who decided to eat there that night as well. So, now I'm trying to get my stomach convinced that it is hungrier than it thinks it is.

Last night I was on the compound by myself since, as I mentioned yesterday, everyone else went to the all-night prayer meeting. So soon after everyone left, I got up from bed because I was sweating so much and decided to take a quick shower. I got quite a surprise when I removed the board I use to block the crack at the bottom of the door that I've been using to attempt keeping frogs out of the room. Just at the end where I always carefully pick the board up and no more that an inch from my fingers - was a large scorpion. I didn't even notice it until I had removed the board, then I jumped! I used my sandal which was nearby to smack it and then threw it out the door. This morning the chickens found it lying out there and fought over it until they had eaten it completely. I've been anticipating that there would be more activity from the scorpions because of the increase in heat each day. Now I really have to watch my step!

I also took time to catch several fat frogs which I chased into my frog box and then threw them over the fence. Catching frogs is a source of entertainment that I take great pleasure in around here. There really isn't much to occupy my time when I'm not teaching and every little bit of the out-of-the-ordinary helps to break up the boredom - even chasing frogs (or whatever it is that finds its way in) from my bedroom!

8:53pm

...we're back from gorging ourselves at the buffet dinner at the hotel across from the airport. Big mistake!! I feel so completely stuffed and I really didn't eat that much. But the regular food that I've been eating over the past two months has not been very appetizing - plus the weather has been so hot, so I haven't been eating too much and have lost a bit of weight.

Tomorrow we are leaving fairly early for a different church. That's OK with me. It means that I probably won't have to preach - and this week I have already taught the Bible for about 15 hours and helped conduct an evangelism crusade etc.

So - I'm just going to put my bulging stomach to bed, crank up Daisy's little fan and let the sleeping pill I just took do its thing....

10/14 5:01pm Sunday

For me personally, this had to have been by far the most pointless church service I've attended in many years! We hauled most to the students with us again down the crater filled road (?) through the bush and into Rumbek for the 8:00 English service at the church in the center of town. Since we arrived late, we had to sit in the back (which was just fine by me) but the noise from the road and the outside activities (there are no windows in the large arched openings, just a split bamboo fence to keep the children and riffraff from getting into their precious building). After a few stand-up's and sit-down's, two different people went up front to read several Bible verses. I must commend them for that, but the announcements followed immediately and went on and on and on - talking about how much money they were collecting for this and that and urging further giving so that a large table and several 'thrones' could be bought for the bishops (whenever they happened to visit) and added to the platform furnishings and a plastic 'something' could be bought and installed on the floor before Christmas. Then, Praises for ..."this beautiful cross on which our Jesus died" was heaped on a man who had constructed a new large wooden cross that stood behind the pulpit. So much time was spent on boasting and begging about their finances that they used up the time for the guest speaker (who didn't have anything to say anyway). The Dinka service began under a nearby tree just outside the church building with a lot of banging drums etc. and no one could hear what the guest speaker wasn't communicating - and so we just sat there and tried to act like we were interested - which I sure wasn't. Finally after more up's and down's we were released with a final totally unenthusiastic congregational song. Of course, it would have to be "Kumbiya" - this is Africa!

Soon after we got back from church I began working up a new test for the book of Acts. I am throwing out the test that I had prepared from home. The new on leads the students to ultimately answer the same question Paul asked some diciples in Acts 19, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit after you became a believer?" I want them to give a 'yes', 'no', or 'I don't know' answer. Then we'll take it from there and see what happens.

Soon after I finished working out the questions, Andrew brought his laptop computer over and I was able to get the whole thing typed out and saved within seconds of the computer batteries running out and the thing going into hibernation. They will print out what I need tomorrow.

So that has been my whole day until now. And as I'm typing, the sun is settling lower and the air is finally beginning to cool off a bit (if dropping into the 90's can be called cooling off). Whatever! It's better then it was 2 hours ago, that's for sure.

I think tonight I will break down and eat a few of the snacks Daisy left with me that she had saved from our airplane flight here. I really haven't had the appetite for them, but being that this is the beginning of my last week here, I should celebrate. So the chocolate brownie will be first on the hit list!

9:26pm

Here it is, much later then I had intended this evening to get. Andrew recharged his laptop and I've had it here in my room, going over the test on Acts and making a few important adjustments. I still haven't eaten the brownie and probably won't go for it tonight any more.

It's dark, sultry, hot and itchy night and though I've had a shower not long ago, you would never know it. I guess the best thing now is to do the same thing I did last night. Turn on the fan, take a sleeping pill and let the rest take care of itself.

10/15 Monday 2:58pm

We're sailing through Acts now. Another 3 chapters and only four more days to go. I am learning so much!! Even though I have taught through this book so many times, I can hardly believe that there is so much yet to be discovered. I will really miss teaching.

I've sort of shifted into a 'shutdown' mode today as I begin to face packing etc. for Friday’s departure. Earlier this afternoon I went over all my accounts to tidy them up and make sure everything was in order. That looks pretty good. Samson went into town earlier and will be sending Emma an email with instructions to re-confirm my flight out of Nairobi on Saturday.

Samson and I had a long discussion today about how the Mission organizations can sometimes use people and projects for promoting themselves etc. This was not news to me because I've been observing a lot of things over my years in 'missions'. I won't even write them down because I know that it will not help. But there are a lot of political things that take place and the real servants of God who have the real call and burden to be in missions are often being seriously neglected and used when it is advantageous for the well-being of the main office. I know that Samson has a real call from God to be here but he feels that the carpet is rapidly being pulled out from under him. That is OK with him - he knows who his real Boss is. After that conversation, I decided to fast forward what I had already intended to do a long time ago. I gave him the gift that I had set aside, which he has now just taken to the bank so that it can be exchanged into Kenyan shillings and then during my layover in Thika I will pass it on to his wife (whom he worries about continually) who is still stuck there in Kenya with their two daughters.

Later this afternoon I plan, with the help of the students, to carry the big gate Dennis and I built out to the front entrance and hang it up. I am looking forward to this with a lot of apprehension because I know the high potential for it to not hang level. It is over 10 feet long and if everything isn't perfectly square, the far end may hit the ground. It has to be perfect when the gate is closed as well as when it is open - and we are working with rough cut crooked lumber that has uneven thicknesses and crooked knotty fence posts. I look forward to any help that God is willing to offer on this.....

8:00pm

....Our traditional supper is finished and I've had a shower (though I plan to take another one before going to sleep) and...AND...the gate is up! About 5:00 I called some of the students to help carry it out to the front entry by the big tree. I prayed the whole way out there too! I think God really did help me. He must have moved the posts around because when we set the gate up, everything lined up perfect on the first try! I had an audience of probably 30 local men and boys including most of the students.

Since Andrew was unable to find any screws in Rumbek, I had to drive spikes to hold the hinges. This is very hard wood, so I had to drill holes first with a bit that wasn't nearly long enough or thick enough. I put soap on the nails and just beat the day-lights out of them. Even though half the nails were old bent ones that I had to try to straighten out, all of them went in except one which I had to bend over. There was a lot of sorrow over that one bent nail because every time I successfully drove one in, my audience would let out a cheer (they knew how difficult driving nails in this wood are).

So, now I'm really satisfied that the job is finished and I can finally stop calculating and resolving all the worse-case scenarios that have been churning through my head.

I wonder how Daisy is doing and the kids. Right now it is 8:15 Monday afternoon on Ohio. By this time next week - I'll be HOME!!! ...God willing. I still keep thinking about the prophetic message I received the day before we left to come here; "Get you house in order." Well, there's not much I can do now about it though it still 'hangs over my head'. So ...whatever.

The sky tonight is so spectacular with a quarter moon and crystal stars surrounded by wispy clouds. I think I'll go stand in the shower and bask in it (shower consists of about 10 seconds wet down and another 10 seconds for rinsing under an open sky)

10/16 Tuesday 4:23pm

The way the day seemed to start out I thought today would offer a break from the heat. The morning was windy and cloudy, but warm. There were enough clouds though that as soon as class was over and I had eaten a bit, I took the lawn mower out front and cut a few areas that I had never gotten to before and trimmed up a few other places. Actually, the grass (weeds) are so dry now, they just mat down when I push the mower over them. It took several passes until the grass actually was cut. Now I'm satisfied.

I have only 2 more chapters in Acts that I will do tomorrow and then followed by the test. The guys are already getting nervous about it even though I told them that there are only 10 multiple choice or true / false questions. I re-created the test and my main objective is to get the guys to think about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in a personal way and to understand that knowledge about the Holy Spirit in not enough.

I've been sweating away over here in my room just about all afternoon. I wrote a semi-personal note to each of the 10 students, giving them the meaning of their English Bible name on a paper that I had preprinted with Proverbs 4:20-27 and then a hand written 'blessing' and challenge at the bottom. I'm giving these with the personal photo of each student I took earlier and had developed in Nairobi along with a group photo of myself with the class and another one of Daisy and the class. This will be my going-away gift. That took a lot more time than I though it would, but now it's done and I can get ready for the class tomorrow as well as make plans to show the last half of the movie on the book of Acts.

I'm not very happy about how the Thursday night outreach has been pushed on me. Last week with Dennis it was pretty good, but very hot, dirty and exhausting as we had to sit on the ground with who know what creatures crawling around and over us, for several hours in the near total darkness.

Thursday night is my last night here and the night I need for packing etc. Anyway, let's see what happens and who knows, maybe this is what God has planned for me a last thing to do here. Man! I sure am glad the gate is hanging nice and straight out there!

10:09pm

...At 6:00 this evening I learned that I would be showing the last half of the movie on the book of Acts so I had some students come over to get the generator. I carried all the other equipment by myself to the school, set everything up in the dark and when I had difficulty starting the generator I asked 'someone' to show me how (he showed up after I had done all the work). He pulled the cord 4 times, then left - never to return. I've watched the pattern of his life here now for 8 weeks and find that... as Daisy says, "If you don't have anything good to say - don't say it", so I think I'd better shut up. Anyway, I was just so hot, tired and frustrated trying to get this movie up and running...

On to another subject. After I got back to the room with all the video equipment, Samson and I saw a mouse run into my bedroom. With a lot of crashing around, shoving our few pieces of wobbly furniture around etc. the mouse took a great whack on the head with our broom (clump of straw) and ...died!

I also took out a frog and a few spiders in the process, so my frustration has been vented somewhat.

Another dawn is heading this way and I had better be ready for it.

10/17 Wednesday 1:35pm

I woke up early, around 4:30, and felt such an urgency to pray for the students. I did and then just lay in bed enjoying the cool air, night sounds and the crazy rooster whose alarm still needs to be reset. I was up before the alarm went off and in time to watch the dawn moving in. It was a crystal clear sky except for a few distant light clouds that fired up rosy red against a deep blue sky. It was spectacular, but also brought the promise of another very hot day. And that promise is one that was quickly fulfilled!

By the time I had finished up with my bible class, I was soaked with sweat. The bats that inhabit the void areas between the rafters and the metal roof were chattering and scrambling around to find a less toasty place for their little feet. Of coarse this happened every day when the temperature reaches a certain point and then as the bats stir around, little poop pellets come raining down as well. Often times I’ll feel the poop hitting my head or I'll look down at my open Bible and find bat poop. That has really made it hard for the students who find it very offensive when it rains down poop over where they are sitting.

Anyway, by noon the heat was greater then normal. Hot dry wind just added to the oppression. But way off in the distance tall thunderheads were building and after I watched them for a long while, it seemed that there might be a 50% chance that they would build up and cover this area too. Gradually, from the tiniest rumble, our hopes there might even be a few raindrop for us here grew.

Before this though, we had our final study in the book of Acts. My main focus was on the storm that caught the ship Paul was traveling to Rome on. I compared the ship to a Christian church or organization and then followed the analogy as the sailors tried to hold the thing together and what the final ultimate cost was. The storm being Satan’s attach against people or ministries that are moving in the purposes of God and how we can survived these brutal attacks though we may have to let the organization we're trusting in, sink. Our spiritual survival is by far the more important thing.

I immediately followed the study of the last chapter with the test and amazingly everyone was able to complete it by the time class ended at 10:30. (no one got a perfect score but everyone did pretty good considering their limited English comprehension).

After class I was here in the room grading the tests and trying to survive the burning heat. Quite suddenly the sun clouded over and I became aware of a loud blast of wind approaching through the far off dry palm branches perhaps a mile away or more. Within about one minute - it hit! Hard, fast and bringing with it a large cloud of dust. I was having my lunch of beans and chapatti at the moment it hit and immediately my food was filled with grit (I still ate it).

It was a lot of wild commotion and thundering, but seemed to offer none of the desperately needed rain. The last real rain, apart from a good sprinkle one time, happened before Dennis ever arrived here. For the past two weeks the peanuts that were being harvested have stayed cemented into the hard dry ground, waiting for a good soaking so that the rest of the crop can be harvested.

Anyway, after a lot of dust blasting its way into our houses and throats, the rain was finally released. It came as hard and wild as the dust had come. I ran through it from the dinning room to my bedroom and found it pouring in through the window facing the other house. I quickly pulled one of the garbage bags from my suitcase that I had brought for just such and emergency and jerry-rigged a cover for the window from the inside of the room. It pretty much worked and that brings me up to date as of now - though since beginning this journal today, the rain has slacked off. But considering the volume of the thunder, we may be in for more.

I really find this significant that from the time we began our study in Acts, we have had no rain. But then today just after we closed our study of Acts with special focus on the huge storm, immediately following the study, the wildest storm I've seen here hits!

The wonderful thing is that right now at this moment, though the rain has completely stopped, the temperature is actually pleasant and it is in the middle of the day. Perhaps I won't be completely melted before I get out of here after all!

8:55pm

...I'm over at the 'Save the Children' compound where Andrew, Beatrice and myself came around 7:00. I was able to use a computer and get a few emails out and now I'm ready to get out of here but the other two are watching TV - a National Geographic program that they're pulling in off the newly installed satellite dish. I'm being eaten by mosquitoes here though and can hardly type because I need to chase and scratch.

Obviously, the movie scheduled for tonight out by the big tree was cancelled, partly because the contents in the last half Acts is not very good for evangelism and probably the students would not be able to translate sufficiently. The other reason is because the ground is wet. So, all said and done, I'll probably not have to bear the burden of setting the equipment up after all and I'm really happy about that.

I'm going to stop here and watch TV - and scratch.... (this is the first TV that I've seen except here for the one at the Hotel restaurant that is set for whatever football (soccer) game is on.

10/18 Thursday 6:23pm

This day, which I had anticipate would be the slowest day in my life, has come and gone very quickly. It is my last full day in Sudan.

I had prepared to go to class at 8:00 as I normally do but Samson requested that I exchange my class with his 11:00 class. The reason - now with the good rain we had yesterday and then all night for it to soak into the ground, Samson wanted the students to get out into the field to try and pull up the remaining peanut plants that had become cemented into the ground after this long dry period we've had.

The students did a good job this morning and were able to get most of the roots up and this evening have now finished the job.

We met as a class at 11:00 and first of all went over the test on Acts which they had taken yesterday. That set the stage to answer the question I had on the test - "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you beleived?" Without making a big thing about it, I just said that it was time to stop 'talking' and time to begin 'doing'.

Though most of them had indicated that they had already received the Holy Spirit, I knew that they really still didn't understand and opened the invitation for those who weren't sure. Eight students immediately came to the front of the class and knelt down on the filthy, bat poop covered cement floor. This was no act! They were so ready! I didn't tell them anything about what to expect except that the Holy Spirit is a gift given to those who 'repent', believe Jesus is God, and when you receive the gift it is power for you to use as you represent Jesus in the world as his witness.

I actually don't know what happened. I had my eyes closed most of the time. I told them to begin by thanking Jesus for the gift and then when I lay hands on each one, he was to say, "Jesus, please give me the gift of your Holy Spirit". Of course that was too hard for them, so when I lay hands on the first one - he said nothing. So I said, "repeat after me....." then everyone obeyed saying the same thing out loud at the same time.

I figured that was certainly OK and proceeded on that track as I walked among the guys. At some point I change my prayer to, "Jesus, I thank you for my brothers...etc., etc." and sure enough, they all repeated each thing I was praying so faithfully!! Well, I thought it was kind of funny, but I had to think how beautifully simple these guys are and I just let them go on with repeating my prayer. Then I noticed that they had their hands in the air and were worshipping and praising the Lord on their own, so I just let them go ...and then, that was it! I talked to them for a while, gave them my final words of encouragement and warnings about Satan's tactics, passed out their photos that I had been preparing, had a final prayer in which I acknowledged that they belonged to Jesus and commited them into his care and purposes, and left the room as they were happily looking at each others photos. It was smooth! …and I am totally satisfied with how this trip has unfolded and especially because I can say that I have completed everything that the Lord gave me to do here.

So that's it! My job here is done! "Kolass" (Arabic for 'finished'). My bags are packed and I'm ready to get out of here!

8:35pm

... Against my own wishes, all the students have my phone number for the GFM office. Not that it matters. There are very few phones for public use here in Sudan plus most of the students have never talked on a phone in their life. Then later this evening Edwin made a special trip here just to get the number. How can I deny him? So I can expect to be getting calls now from both Sudan and Uganda( where Edwin is from)in broken English which I most likely will not be able to understand or worse , will misunderstand. He already stated that he will be inviting me to come to preach in his village sometime.... OK - if that is what the Lord wants!

I forgot to mention something that happened as I was giving my grand farewell speech to the class this noon. Isaac requested that I tell him my age. He was quite serious though I had thought he was just having fun with me. When I told him I was 54 he just shook his head and then said, "You know, any man in Rumbek who is 54 is considered very old. We have seen a great miracle from God because our teacher can stand every day for 2 and a half hours every day of the week." Then he told how an average man my age in Rumbek would only be able to stand for perhaps 5 or 10 minutes and would need a cane to lean on. The average lifespan here is 56 years.

At first that made me feel really old! Then I realized that this was not intended for a joke in any way and they really considered my physical condition to be a true miracle. Hmmmmmm........

This is all for now. I'm signing off here in Rumbek, Sudan for my last night here. Tomorrow I'm heading for the airport at 11:00 to catch a 12:30 flight to Nairobi, Kenya where I'll spend the night (somewhere), and then fly out of Nairobi Saturday night for home...

...Yeah, that sounds like a great plan to me!

10/19 Friday 10:15pm

The rooster got me off to an early start this morning at 3:30. What in the world was he thinking? I was hoping to sleep in until 7:30 but that was not to be.

I lay awake a long time last night thinking about the past 10 weeks and what I had learned about the Holy Spirit, as well as the 10 young men that had just prayed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speculating on how they will carry on with the little bit of input I've had on their lives.

All the while I lay awake, not too far off apparently a cattle camp had set up in the area because there was a continuous hammering on a drum throughout the night. My understanding is that whoever is on guard duty - they must keep pounding the drum. That way if he stops, it alerts others that he has gone to sleep or something else has happened, plus the drumbeat (I was told) helps soothe the cows and keep them calm at night.

Well maybe it helps the cows, but it doesn't really help someone whose mind is racing 100 miles an hour and who is trying to go back to sleep!

So, that was my night. I didn't even think about the fact that I was leaving Rumbek today until about an hour after I woke up. Leaving really didn't feel like anything. When it came right down to it, it was a little bit hard - knowing that these guys can probably only dream of living the kind of life I live. Yet, even that thought argues against faith and the huge possibilities’ that can be realized through faith.

I finally rolled out of bed at my normal 6:30 time and spent a good part of the morning just messing around with my suitcase and trying to decide how much to take home with me and how much to leave. I ended up leaving quite a lot, especially my clothes because none of my pants fit any more. I think I've lost 3 inches....

Anyway, from time to time one of the students would come by my room to pass me a letter or just to look at me with eyes that communicated what their limited words could not. It was pretty sad. Then Bulis, the youngest student, the one who I recognized right away that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, came by with his note. I had a few moments alone with him so I tried to say some encouraging words about how I had observed his faithfulness and the Holy Spirit in his life. He then went into a story that was hard for me to understand about how he had given his life to go around the town and share the gospel. He told how he had prayed and fasted and it seemed like nothing happened. Then he prayed and fasted again and this time God had opened many doors. As he shared how God had worked, he started to choke up until he could barely talk. ....he's a good kid and very ready to serve the Lord.

Since a big open air crusade lead by a Korean Pastor from Kenya is finally happening today in Freedom Square, Rumbek, all classes have been cancelled and the students all piled into the land-rover along with Andrew, Beatrice, myself, the generator and my suitcase. The crusade starts at 3:00 but before that, there is a conference at the Episcopal church. So away we all went (Samson had one student with him on his motorcycle) to first drop off the students at the conference, then on to the airport.

Long story short, the plane was an hour late arriving. On it was the Korean speaker for the crusade so there was a lot of activity with all the local church 'big cheeses' hanging around the airport instead of at the conference to meet the speaker. Anyway, I finally was able to get my luggage weighted by the roaming check-in lady with the scales which she had hung from a branch of a tree growing out by the runway. Since my suitcase was a bit larger then most, we had to find a higher branch - and eventually discovered that I was 19bs. over weight. The check-in lady very politely wrote down on my luggage tag that the weight was only lb. over and there was no extra charge (which is $3.75 per pound!).

Eventually we did get out of Rumbek. There was no door to the cockpit and since I was sitting near the front I could easily see the pilots. Obviously the co-pilot was still in training. He did the entire take-off, but very frequently the pilot would place his hand over the hand of the co-pilot to make sure every detail was exact. ...rather reassuring and a sight that will make a good spiritual illustration sometime.

We had a 45 minute flight then a short stop-over in Juba. Then 2 hours and 20 minutes more to Nairobi. John and Francis were there to meet me and according to my prayers, they announced that I would be staying at the Blue Post Hotel. But not only that! John, with many apologies, said that tomorrow he was very busy and so he could not run around with me. Ha! I prayed about that too - that I could just rest at the hotel and that nobody would come to wear me out on Saturday!

As things stand now, tomorrow Henry will come to visit with me at 10:00. Then I check out at noon and spend time going around with Francis to do shopping, visit, drop off a letter to Samson’s wife and children and take some photos of them to email back to Samson, then on to the HQ to square up any financial balance remaining. Then at 6:00pm, God willing, we're off for the airport in Nairobi - then - off into the wild blue yonder.

So, here I am, not in the blue yonder, but at the Blue Post hotel. I was really hungry by the time we got here around 8:00pm. But I rushed over to the Business Center so that I could check for email and send a note to Daisy. Then I found that there was a buffet dinner going on and I went for it - but didn't eat very much because my stomach has gotten lazy on all the bland and starchy food I've eaten these past 10 weeks. I found I just wasn't interested in much of what was being served and so I ate a bunch of rice with thick (not watery) beef sauce and cooked spinach. I almost felt like I was back in Rumbek!

It's after 11:00 now and I have a big day ahead - this is and has been my Sudan story.

10/21/07 Sunday 4:33pm

Detroit MI Airport

I have a lot to write about from yesterday to today. Yesterday was a bit hectic and I never had a chance to write, but there are things that I don’t want to forget. I have about 2 hours to kill here before my final flight to Cleveland.

…forget it. The battery is quickly dying...