Mission Team Marks 10 Years in Mvolo

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:35:20 -0600

For a decade, Aid Sudan has been working in the Mvolo area, building relationships and earning a solid reputation with the leaders and people. The Fall 2011 trip felt like a culmination of years of work, especially in regards to the depth of the pastor training. For about a week, the team met with every church leader in the Jur tribe. During that time, the team taught 60 Bible stories, but more importantly, the Bible stories opened a door for open dialogue about the direction of the church in the area, and Aid Sudan was honored to be a part of the conversation. 

 This trip partnered pastor training with community development. Along with work among the local church, the trip held health and hygiene trainings with groups of villagers around local water wells. Director of Health Kerrie Snow explained to the people how to best keep water clean and what to do so that diseases would not spread. As with any trip, team members made special connections with individuals and held many adorable Sudanese children.

The team poses in front of a traditional mud hut in Mvolo.

As the team arrived, the intended airstrip in Mvolo was overgrown and they instead landed in Akot. By the grace of God, a vehicle quickly appeared, along with a driver ready to take the team - a bit of a miracle in the bush! After loading all belongings onto the back of the pickup, the team journeyed through mud puddles many times the size of the vehicle before arriving in Mvolo four hours later.

The team arrived in Mvolo and set up camp in their tents. Team members immediately began getting to know the people and loving on them, as Julie did with children all around the Mvolo area.

The team walked several miles almost every day, traveling at first to meet Peter's friends and many of the church and community leaders. Zachariah has been a great friend to Peter and Aid Sudan teams for many years, and was quick to welcome Jason, Jared, Blake and the team to his home.

Kerrie conducted health and hygiene teaching at a couple wells in Mvolo. It was fascinating to watch how intrigued the people were! The teaching is so simple yet so profound, and able to save so many lives.

For three and a half days, the team had the amazing privilege of training many of the top church leaders for the entire tribe. The team told about 60 Bible stories, helping to build theology for the church leaders, many of whom had not heard all the stories before.

Included in the training was Samueli, a man responsible for carrying Christianity to his people in the 1960's. It was a profound honor for Peter and the team to journey alongside him in the training. God is powerfully stirring among the Jur tribe and it was overwhelming to the team to get to train the church leaders over an entire tribe.

The trip was the culmination of a decade of ministry among the Jur people, dating back to Peter and Shauna's arrival and followed by several years of Aid Sudan teams. The trip left the team changed, and we pray it results in powerful transformation among the Jur as God works there in great power for His great glory!

Lillie Loves Christmas

Thu, 8 Dec 2011 09:35:46 -0600

Lillie has had a busy fall! We started the fall with our annual trip to the Texas State Fair and were excited to have Mary Margaret's parents in town to go with us. We had a great time eating corn dogs, watching the dog show, and going through the hands-on farm exhibit. Mary Margaret is working two days a week at a local church preschool, so Lillie attends two days a week. She LOVES "school" and is learning so much. You can see she had a great time learning about Texas and cowboys on Texas Day! She really enjoys dressing up like a princess and playing with her tea set--such a little girl!! Lillie has also turned into quite the little helper. She wants to pull up a chair so she can "help" cook, decorate the Christmas tree with lights, unload the dishwasher, getting clothes out of the washer, etc. She is all about whatever Mommy is doing!!

Christmastime is so much fun this year with Lillie being 2 1/2. Everywhere we go, Lillie is pointing out the lights and decorations. We are still working on her understanding of the true meaning of Christmas. When she sees the nativity scene, she talks about baby Jesus and then sings "Old MacDonald had a farm..." Like I said, we are working on the true meaning. She does enjoy singing happy birthday to Jesus, and we think she may be expecting a party. When you ask her what she wants for Christmas, she responds "cake!" She definitely has a sweet tooth! We are so excited to see Christmas through her child-like eyes and hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

First Dallas Gala Hosts Two Hundred

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:31:56 -0600

The time is now. This was the message of Aid Sudan Executive Director Peter Swann as he spoke to a crowd of nearly 200 people at the inaugural Dallas Gala on a Thursday evening at the Westin Galleria. During his talk, he spoke of the endless opportunities opening up in South Sudan. Right now, there is a window where Aid Sudan can easily build radio towers and water wells with the cooperation of local governments. He pleaded with attendees that we need to make an impact now, before this window closes. The importance of this message echoed around the room as the pressing need in South Sudan provoked many in attendance to action.
 Before the program started, guests perused a variety of donated silent auction items that included autographed sports paraphernalia such as a Dirk Nowitzki jersey and an Emmitt Smith helmet. Dallas native and Aid Sudan supporter Virgle Fredrick served as the event host, while other speakers and performers included Dr. Akuot De-Dut, president of the healthcare improvement team for South Sudan; Nathan Bogue, director of Aid Sudan Dallas; Damon Thames, a former mission team member; and Katie Warren, a singer/songwriter.   Aid Sudan is grateful to all that attended to not only hear the needs of the South Sudanese in Dallas and abroad, but also to respond to those needs in such a powerful way.

All Ages Respond to Impact Sudan

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:32:16 -0600

Sometimes it's the small gifts that really gets your attention. Take Sophie for example. During October's Radio10 Campaign, she arrived at the Aid Sudan office with her mother and brother, holding a shoe box and a Ziploc bag. Inside the Ziploc bag was a bunch of dollars and some change, and inside the shoe box was a pair of tennis shoes. You see, Sophie had been learning about the Sudanese and seen several pictures from South Sudan. She noticed that none of the Sudanese kids were wearing shoes, and this really bothered her. Jumping into action, Sophie walked into the Aid Sudan office with a pair of children's tennis shoes and $20 for a radio. Sophie is two-years-old.

Another great example is the pre-school Mission Friends of Ridgecrest Baptist Church. This group meeting weekly to learn about missions adopted Aid Sudan for the month of October. They watched Aid Sudan online videos from www.youtube.com/aidsudan on a laptop to learn all about the needs of Sudanese children. They used a large plastic bear to collect money each week to give to Aid Sudan’s ministry. Over fifty five dollars was collected in October to help make a difference with their teacher Vicky Marcellus.  Thanks to Sophie's gift and these many others, Aid Sudan raised funds during the Radio10 Fund 1 Find1 Campaign for 3500 radios that will reach approximately 52,500 people. Churches, Sunday School classes, small groups, youth groups and Facebook users were spurred to action to give access to the gospel in every South Sudanese village, every mud hut and every individual. Using funds raised, Aid Sudan will begin production of the hand-held radios and distribute in the Aweil and Nasir areas in 2012.  Thank you to all who participated in Radio10 - your contributions will be heard across the bush of South Sudan.

Answering a Call, Being Part of Transformation

Thu, 3 Nov 2011 09:41:48 -0500

With each day God gives us, attached is a task. So when we open our eyes in the morning, we take a moment to thank the Lord Almighty for giving us another day. Some wake up giving all their worries to Christ, because in Christ will can find answers and hope, though sometimes not instantly. We must humbly allow ourselves to be led like toddlers, because for me that’s how we are in Gods eyes. Maybe there's a burden you're going to have to carry or a challenge or assignment that you have in front of you that is either frightening or exciting.

A year ago I left it all in God’s hands, when a call came to be part of one of Aid Sudan’s construction projects. I trusted the lord to dot the I’s and to cross the T’s. I could only ask for him to guide me through the path he wanted me on and my task was to follow. The thought of being part of this transformation was irresistible - an opportunity to provide a school and medical clinic for the unfortunate in itself was an honor. But this story gets even better.

The village in which these projects were to be constructed was twelve miles north of Nasir, S. Sudan and six miles south of the village in which all my family resides. To make a long story short on May 16, 2011, a school and clinic stood completed in Kierwan. After long struggles, we finally get it done alongside all the folks who continue to pray for me. There were vast challenges, the hurdles were often too tough, and the need to complete them was a must. As God would say every time he’s done creating something, “it was good” to finally see them stand there completed.

Now with Republic of South Sudan (R.O.S.S) being born these projects are critical to the revival of this newborn nation. When is it a great time to teach a child - when they’re still adolescent. Now I believe is the perfect time to pour the foundation. We can achieve this through Gospel radio towers, like the one in Nasir that I had the opportunity to be part of as well. Standing there translating during Nasir Bible School graduation day, when the radios were being presented to each student. As each student takes a hold of their box containing one hundred radios, you can see their faces brighten. Inside I smiled because I’ve seen the anticipation and enthusiasm for these radios to arrive. On the night of July 18, 2011 was the official broadcast day. We took at least six radios under the tower as the team worked on the satellite dish, and we turned all of them on. As the time past, a group of kids joined us. And by the end of night, we literally had over twenty kids wanting to a take a radio home. One can only say amen. Now they will listen at night with their family to the gospel in the very own dialect.

A similar story occurred in Kierwan, when we arrived there for the commissioning of the school, we saw the children still sitting a under a tree during class. I asked the head teacher why they are still holding classes outside. He had informed us that because a sacrifice had not been made. They still considered the school to be unclean, so by them sacrificing something would make it clean. They believe sacrifices and offerings were designed to serve God by meeting any physical need that they may have had. The sacrifices and offerings were to be the physical expression of their inward devotion. There, we had begun to share why sacrificing a livestock was not necessary. The important thing is that we can give thanks for his gracious gift. Jesus’ sacrifice was the sacrifice to end all sacrifice. Any sacrifice that comes thereafter didn’t have any significance. He was crucified so we can become like him and everything we do for his glory is automatically cleaned.

And the affirmation was indicated by the tear drops from the eyes of the teachers, as they give thanks to the lord, as they said Amen. “Yes, we’ll allow the children to utilize the facility” said the School Master. Then the teachers begun to instruct the children’s to surround the school holding hands, so we could pray for blessing on the school. As Kerry Henderson prays, I am mesmerized by the words “LET US GROW IN CHRIST” written on the wall. I am happy to be in truth, I want my brothers and sisters to join me in the happiness. I realize most of the kids will not be able to read these words, but at least one will, if not the student then a teacher will. And that one will be asked by another and so on.

These projects started out with a vision of bring transformation to Southern Sudanese. And as a body of Christ, we each can bring about the transformation that Jesus would want to see happen in South Sudan. Let be the “swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers” Isaiah 18:2.

In conclusion; I could only imagine the transformation God will bring about with radios in the hands of villagers. A school where the next generation are being educated with God’s Word. Medicine so they can no longer rely on witch doctors for healings. Extraordinary changes that will come about in the land of Cush will be everlasting. I praise the Lord Almighty for allowing me to be part of it.
(Blog by Lost Boy Buay Wiyual)

First Annual Dallas Gala Is Here

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:35:03 -0500

We are excited to host its first gala in Dallas on November 10 at the Westin Galleria. Just as we pray for the Houston gala, we pray that the night will be one of incredible worship and that South Sudan will gain a new group of prayer warriors for its people. Support for the event thus far has been terrific, and we're praying for additional sponsorships and table hosts. Please join us to deepen your love of the South Sudanese and increase your awe of our Lord’s work.

Get Your Tickets Today: www.aidsudan.org/product-dallas-gala-ticket 
Thursday, November 10th Westin Galleria Ft. Worth Ballroom (Third Floor) 13340 Dallas Parkway Dallas, TX 75240  6 p.m. - Registration & Silent Auction 7 p.m. - Dinner & Program  Cost: Individual Seats - $60 Table of 10 - $500  For more information, click here.