Yei, South Sudan. Hot, hot, HOT.  Dry and dusty.  Beautiful people;  some characteristically tall, thin and leggy, others not so different from the Babwisi. DARK skin.  SPLA soldiers in the large barracks.  UN peacekeepers standing guard from their compound towers.  A largish town composed primarily of soldiers and foreign aid.  No tarmac anywhere.  Savannah brush landscape; ugly at first glance but slowly more beautiful.

The ministry we visited.  Simply functional. Refreshingly non-dependent on the missionaries.  Orphan care in a new context; radical dependence on Jesus.  Organic church planting and a nation-wide church network. Pastoral training and care.  Education and a vision for skills-training.  Motherless baby feeding in the name of Jesus.  A vision for an entire nation.  Three steps for daily ministry: Get alone with Jesus, ask Him what He’s doing, Go and join.

We enjoyed a simpler life in the “I” ministry we visited in Yei.  Our tents were set up in the middle of the orphan village compound so eighty-nine children worked and played around us during our two days.  We ate local food three times a day including the familiar posho together with a new green which we enjoyed as well as beans and meat.  The resident kids are well-fed and joyful, you should have seen them run for their three-times-a-week vitamins!  We were surprised by their happy demeanors and by their good behavior.  The olders help the youngers and they really do live like family.   They seem eager both to play circle songs, football and construct play mud houses as well as to worship Jesus, recite their memory verses and listen to Bible stories.  Each day they meet for worship in the evenings; a spontaneous time of song and prayer led by the children themselves.  And daily they can be seen working on their verses together.  They join in cleaning the compound and themselves; though often imperfectly!

Jennie, a sweet former MK, now missionary, hosted us in Yei and was a wonderful guide and friend during our time there.  Reaching Kampala again on Thursday evening we had an opportunity to meet with the director of the Sudan project and hear her heart and vision for their work in this large and troubled country.   The vision is BIG, BEAUTIFUL, and authentically reflects the heart of Jesus.

For the year ahead we will join this team in the best way we know how: PRAYER.  As all of Sudan waits for 2011 with it’s history-making decisions and reactions we join Sudanese, “I” ministries and God’s people around the world in forming an ark of prayer that will provide rescue and salvation in the face of whatever may come.