Seeing Sudan

Seeing a child leading adults who can't navigate on their own due to blindness just breaks my heart.  

But that was countered by a vist to one of our cataract patients after his surgery.  How exciting to see him take out his Bible after getting home!  And a special bonus was that his Bible came from the Bible distribution I was involved with in 2008.

Girls will be girls and I will have to say that I always enjoy a little shopping, whether it's in a modern mall in Nairobi or in rural South Sudan.  Unfortunately, I didn't see anything that caught my eye and I came home with all my Sudanese pounds unspent.  

My friend, Heather, who is working at Tenwek was able to join me and experience a little of South Sudan, including teaching under a mango tree.  David (to her right) is a pastor and is helping her with translation.  He and 6 others are on their way to northern Uganda, even now, to attend a training facilitated by WGM Uganda on Community Health Evangelism.

Judah, another pastor from Tonj (assisting a cataract surgery patient below) is attending the training as well.  Please pray for our new staff, Adhanom, and 3 men from Tonj, including David and Judah, and 3 from Lui who will be introduced to many new ideas this next week.  Pray that they will return home transormed and that the new and exciting ideas they are exposed to will spill over into the lives of others within their circles of influence.

Here's an exciting testimony from the cataract clinic. The man below was a soldier during the war.  He had an accident when his gun exploded and he lost his right eye.  That accident also left him with a traumatic cataract in his left eye.  There was a chance that surgery could leave him with less sight than he had and the doctor originally refused to operate.  This man was persistent and pleaded with the doctor to do the surgery.  He had never clearly seen his child.  The doctor did the surgery which was successful and this man could now see out of his one eye.  During this process he was very open in discussing the animistic beliefs he held and eventually prayed to give his life to the Lord.  Not only that but he asked the doctor who did the surgery to cut off the charm that was around his child's neck.  

This young woman (below) had cataracts at an early age and had never seen her young baby.  The Tenwek staff were so anxious for her to be able to see again, as they could imagine what it was like to have young children and not "see" them.  Everyone was happy the day this woman's bandages came off.  She was not an emotional woman but you can see the relief in her smile as she easily passed the visual acuity test!

To see how some of our patients expressed their excitement after being given their sight watch here!

How is God working in your life?  Do you sense a call to South Sudan and Mango Ministries?  Maybe God is calling you to join a team involved in transformational development?  Or to volunteer for a short term medical assignment at a mission hospital.  There is an pressing need for short term medical doctors and surgeons at Memorial Christian Hospital.  Interested?  Let me know. . .  I'd love to chat.

Shalom,

joy