Waaaaaaaaay later…
Today we took THE roughest trip I have ever made. This is how it went down: The Dinkas decided the trip to Raja would be too rough on the large van, so they brought a pickup truck instead. A one CAAAAAAAB pickup truck. Since Jason was still really sick and Karen has extreme car-sickness, they rode in the cab. The remaining 22 of us PLUS all of the luggage were left to wriggle our way into whatever space was available in the truck bed. Dave and Chad pulled me up to sit on the roof of the truck over the passenger’s side. I had only a bar beneath my legs to hold onto with my right hand, and nothing to hold onto with my left hand. Very bump in the road (ummm, in other words, every two seconds) was a treacherous opportunity for me to bounce clear off of the truck, so I held onto Dave’s arm with my right hand and the bar with my left hand. It was mercifully cloudy for the first 40 minutes of the ride, but the sun showed its face full force for the rest of the way. We had originally been told that the trip would last three hours. As we piled onto the truck they told us it would take four. We stopped to let one whole person off at one point and then stopped again after about two hours. I was so weak from the jostling, the scorching sun, dodging thorny branches (more than three of which whacked me in the head and back), general fatigue, and by now possessing the same sickness Jason had (the night before I had a few sessions of outhouse emergencies and vomiting in between checking in on Jason to make sure he was still alive and hydrated). The situation was not good. But the worst part about it was that there was NOTHING I could do about it…but grin and bear, that is. At one point when we stopped for a short break, I traded spaces with Santino, who was sitting on some luggage with his legs dangling over the edge. Though not a comfortable spot, at least I wasn’t required to hold on for dear life. The one responsibility with this spot was that I had to steer my legs clear of the thorn bushes we passed every ten seconds. I eventually just held my legs up against me for as long as I could, all the while Santino sang the SAME song over and over at the top of his lungs as I watched my “sun blocked” skin turn redder and redder. Definitely THE worst trip.
One aspect of the trip that I will more than mention is that I prayed the whole time asking the Lord to give me peace, strength, endurance and joy. The joy part took a little while but we finally made it to Raja in one, slightly cracked piece. Praise God! We made it and he watched over us.
Oh, and the trip lasted 5 ½ hours…smirk. = /
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Raja, Sudan May 5, 2008
Today is little Roma’s 1st birthday. I wish I were there to love on you sweetie! I am SO looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks. = )
It is also Chad’s birthday today, and as it is the famous cinco de Mayo, we out my big floppy straw hat on him and sang “Feliz Cumpleaños.”
Jorboic, Sudan May 4, 2008
Poor Jason is sick. I kind of am too, but I’m not as bad off as he is.. He has a fever, nausea, and body ache, along with cold symptoms. I think I am fighting the same germs because my throat is very sore and my body is weak. After the church meeting today I took a long nap on one of the stretchy beds they have. It was the best thing I could have done. Sometimes the best medicine is rest.
The church meeting:
We crammed into a truck this morning and literally drove through the bush to get to the church. We stopped at the edge of a dry sandy riverbed and walked the rest of the way. We were again greeted by a group of singing women, only that this time everyone on the team had been ushered into a little shade hut, and as I was still standing outside, the women continued singing for me. Every even t is treated very formally and so I was expected to make a formal greeting after they finished singing, which I did. I even said a few words in Dinka, which they really liked and got them all riled up. The church service began very ceremoniously. I think the follow Anglican or Episcopalian traditions. The pastors and mothers union were decked out in full robed uniform. I am talking about layer after layer of stuff in an already stifling environment. I asked Santino if he was hot. He said, “Yes. But it must be so.” Ha! Whatever dude. The pastor and director of the community was smarter. When asked why HE was not decked out he simply said, “I left my robes at home. It is too hot.” Smart, smart man.
Of the 781 people that were in attendance, about 25 or 30 of them were leaders of some sort, were ALL formally introduced, and ALL had something to say. Should I leave to your imagination how long the meeting was? Yep. It was long. Oh, it was such a blessing though! These people are filled with such deep insights of the Lord and His Word. God has done a mighty work here simply through his Word and Spirit without much foreign influence.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Funny things about the trip…
- We have dubbed Steve Shell as “Shellvis” because he caused a girl to swoon.
- Dave tends to release gas loudly in his sleep, so we have diagnosed him with “Somulent Flatulence” and have prescribed him some “Flatulex PM.”
- Shellvis has been deemed as “leader of funny” by Santino, and Jason is “deputy of funny.”
- Right before we gathered for one of the story teachings, we blew up a whoopi cushion and slid it into Dave’s seat right as he was sitting down. I have never seen that look on his face! Ha ha.
- We told Santino that a Black Mamba or “Pien” had slithered into his tent and hid under his mat. It was dark outside and as he tremulously began lifting the mat I went over and shook the tent while screaming/roaring loudly. He about died of fear! = )
- We taught the Dinkas to go around saying “whoop whoop!”
- One night I thought a man was trying to tell me that he wanted to be “close to me” , when all he really wanted was “clothes from me” for his wife.
Dave being cool
Jason demonstrating how to use a squatty potty
The leader of funny
Jorboich, Sudan May 2, 2008
What we did this week in Marial Bai was teach the pastors, evangelists, and mother’s union seven of ten stories from the Bible, all of which are connected in some way to the redemption of Christ. They learn the short stories and the one by one they record them and play them on hand-cranked cassette players. Although this has been a very blessed ministry, we have questioned our wisdom in the timing in which we gave them the tape players. I’ll have you know that they crank those tape players all day, and most definitely at any point during the night. And at the highest of volumes. Do you think we have been sleeping much? Enough said.
The idea of teaching these stories is for them to turn right around and teach them to others, particularly to the Arabs in the northern part of Sudan who persecuted these very people. And that is what we did today, but I will have to write about that later because in a few minutes I will be teaching the group the next story about the baptism of Jesus.
Later…
I have a constant accumulation of boogers. I’m not really concerned about it because they are not black and public nose picking doesn’t seem to be an issue here. I like this place. Pick, roll, flick.
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