8 days and counting . . . .

It's almost here!  

The 2nd Annual Mango Ministries Cataract Clinic.

Months of planning are coming together.  

248kg of equipment, meds and supplies were flown up to Tonj today.

Tenwek Eye Department staff have received their yellow fever vaccinations.

Paperwork for South Sudan travel passes has been accumulated and sent for processing. 

The doctor and clinical officer at Tonj have scheduled over 100 blind patients to come.  

Radio announcements are on the air.

The missionary team at In Deed and Truth is ready to receive our team of 9.

Chartered flights are booked to get the team to and from Tonj - it's a little bit in the middle of nowhere.

The Tenwek team leaves Tenwek on Friday, September 2.  After spending the night in Nairobi we fly to Tonj on Saturday, September 3 and will begin operating that very afternoon.  The team will leave Tonj on Friday, September 9th and return to Tenwek the following day.  

None of these details will matter if God is not in it.  The Eye staff at Tenwek are mobilizing their colleagues at Tenwek Hospital to pray for this outreach that will offer both physical and spiritual sight.  This is the sign-up sheet where over 150 staff have committed to pray for this outreach.  

Will you join the staff from Tenwek in praying for God to work miracles in the eyes and hearts of the many Sudanese who will come looking for help?  Join our virtual prayer4eyes2see team by leaving your name in the comment section at the bottom of this blog entry.

Mr. Geoffrey Langat, the CEO of Tenwek Hospital, one day said to me, "it's payback time," when talking about Tenwek Hospital sending volunteers to help in South Sudan.  If you've been blessed with sight and want to bless a Sudanese with 20/20 vision and the opportunity to hear the Gospel message click here.  A gift of $150 will bless one Sudanese.  

Rev. Emmy Mugisha accompanied the eye supplies that flew up to Tonj today.  Mugisha is a pastor with the Africa Gospel Church in Uganda.  This is his second trip to Tonj this year.  He will be working with a group of pastors who are in training.  They are learning how to use stories from the Bible to teach and apply Biblical truths to our lives.  They might be working on how to tell Mark 10:46-52 this week.  

I love what the disciples tell blind Bartimaeus.  "Cheer up!  On your feet!  He's calling you."  Whatever burden we are calling out to Jesus with today let's cheer up, throw aside our wrap, and run to Jesus.  Jesus wants to hear from us!

Thank you for taking our concerns and praises to Jesus!  A prayer praise is the addition to the Mango Ministry team of Adhanom Hidug. Pray for a good transition as Adhanom joins us next month.   I'll be sharing Adhanom's testimony and how he fits into the Mango Ministries strategy in an upcoming blog.  A few weeks ago Pastor Simon and I were warmly welcomed to the home of Adhanom and his family.

Good to Great Governance

The WGM Sudan Board took advantage of Dr. David Stevens being in Kenya this summer to lead a team from the Christian Medical and Dental Associations.  David, a former WGM missionary and colleague at Tenwek, taught us about Board Governance.  Several other WGM colleagues and the two largest Africa Gospel Church institutions in Kenya joined us.   Implementation will be the challenge for the Boards present.  Pray for us!

Tenwek Community Health and Development Directors (in order of service from L to R: David Stevens, Susan Carter, Joy, and Jonathan Bii) enjoyed a meal together at Jonathan's home.

Some of you met Jonathan when he visited the US with me in the fall of 2003.  Here is his family!  He is married to Joyce, who is a teacher, and their children are (clockwise from L rear) Amaris, Alan, Angela and Aileen.  Jonathan stays very busy leading the Tenwek Community Health and Development project.  The staff have "adopted" one of our project sites in Sudan so it's been fun to reconnect with everyone there.