What is it they say about children?

If children are the future of our world, I'd like you to meet some of the rising stars of New Sudan.
Everywhere I go the children clamor to greet me, to shake my hand, to say, "How are you?" That's the phrase that EVERYONE here knows. They may not know what you are saying when you answer that question and they may not know how to respond if you ask them, but people have heard westerners greet them with this phrase for so long it's simply what you say when you see a "khwaja" (white person) on the street.

Anyway, please keep my friends from Sudan in your prayers. The political situation is calm now but there is possibly another civil war on the way. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government of Sudan, in the north, and the governing force of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), in the south, is set to expire in 2010.













Also, please remember the women of the country who raise these gems. They themselves are shaping the future of their nation.

From Sudan With Love

So i've made it one week in Sudan. Having been to Africa before, I knew somewhat what to expect. And that helped me adjust quicker I think. People are substancially poorer here than in Uganda, if anyone who's visited Africa before can believe that.

The drive to our base in Yei from Juba, in South Sudan, where I flew in to from Nairobi, was only 100 kilometers. However, since there are only about 15 kilometers of paved roads in all of South Sudan, the entire trip was on a dirt road. The road was full of pot holes, rainwater runoff trenches and INCREDIBLY dilapidated bridges. So that 100 km drive took every second of 4 and a half hours. That was a sign of things to come for sure. There is not one single stretch of paved road anywhere in the area I travel on a regular basis, between all the churches we are constructing. And some of the roads still have yet to be cleared of all the land mines left over from the civil war against northern Sudan.
This is a photo of a "Mine Wolf" vehicle we passed on the trip from the airport. It's one of the pieces of equipment the mine-removing crews use. Hopefully the fact that we passed it going the opposite direction doesn't mean we had just driven through a mined area. :) Just kidding. I was assured he was just on the way to another mined road which was not cleared and opened yet.

So, in an intentional transition to a related subject...this is the truck i drive. :o) We use Toyota LandCruisers, both hard-top (SUV) and pickup truck styles. They're extraordinarily tough!! And it's so much fun driving on dirt roads in the countryside, across rivers and through mud bogs, hopping pot holes and puddles!

So when we got back to the compound where the staff lives I was pleasantly surprised. They've taken great care to make sure we are comfortable here. I was fully expecting to live in tent camps and to have no reliable electricity and that type of thing. But fortunatley I was sent to what is held as the most comfortable Samaritan's Purse base in South Sudan. This is what the area of the compound where our living quarters are located looks like. Yeah I think I can handle it here. :)

We have electricity but only that which we generate from our diesel generator. The generator runs during the day and charges batteries which we use for power at night. We actually have hot water in our homemade shower. The photo on the left shows the business end of the shower. The one on the right shows the fireplace where a fire is kept going to heat the water overhead. Pretty groovy setup, huh?

This is of one of our banana trees and some of our pineapple plants. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you'll see both are bearing fruit right now.

They have these huge tectonic semi-mountains here that bulge out of a mostly flat landscape. It's an amazingly beautiful country. The problem is that the government will not allow people to climb up these massive hills. I've heard that the government thinks there are valuable natural resources such as mercury in them and they think people who climb them are trying to steal those resources. But there really hasn't been a suitable explanation given as to why nobody's allowed to climb. It's a pitty because they really look like a lot of fun. In fact, they're so enticing that a couple months ago some of our staff tried to climb one and were arrested and had to stay in a local jail overnite. Maybe one day when the government mellows out and the economy/infrastructure develops, tourists will be able to come and climb.

As evidenced by some of these photos, the weather is pretty violent right now, during their rainy season. Yes, that is an overturned, fully loaded gasoline truck we had to pass one day during a storm. It probably rains five days a week on average during this season, but the climate now is very nice. It's usually no hotter than 85 and always very low humidity, execpt when it's raining, of course. However, I hear the dry season is scorching. We'll see. :o)

Well that's all for this post. I'll have another going up soon with pictures of our local construction workers and of churches under construction, as well as some general photos of the people of Sudan.

Unbelievable Fortune

I simply cannot believe how good God is.

Everyone has an idea of what their dream job would be. I know I do. The ideal situation for me would be a job where I live in an adventurous place, a wild, rare, exciting place. I would travel around an amazing landscape in an off-road vehicle, camp out, hike, backpack, learn a new language and live with people of another culture. I would live without the constant pressure to make money and seek efficiency at all costs. I would be able to develop relationships with astounding people, learn their lives, teach them skills, share ideas, invest in people who can, in turn, invest in other people in the same way. I would need to be able to make only enough money to sustain myself and, one day, a family. It would be nice to make enough to venture out and see even more of the world from time to time.

I'll admit, some of those ideas are a little specific to be coming up with in a general sense. But that's because I have actually found the job that would suit me perfectly! The crazy part is that I applied and actually got it!

I am moving to Africa, to help a faith-based humanitarian organization make a difference in people's lives in a real way. Samaritan's Purse is an international relief organization run by the evangelist Billy Graham's son, Franklin Graham, also a well-known evangelist. The project I am joining is their church reconstruction project in southern Sudan, a very poor country in east central Africa. Decades of civil unrest in the largest and poorest country in Africa have destroyed hundreds of Christian churches in the mostly-Christian southern part of Sudan. The northern part of the country is run by a somewhat hostile Islamic government. And now, as the conflicts have fizzled out, Samaritan's Purse has entered the country to help rebuild those beacon's of light in the otherwise dismal lives of the native people.

My job will be traveling around to the various construction sites to encourage and motivate the local church body to take ownership in the rebuilding of their church. I will have some responsibility to ensure that materials, tools and equipment are in place when needed at the various stages of construction, a kind of logistical function. I will be expected to invest in the lives of brothers and sisters in Christ by teaching them new skills and developing relationships that will certainly be eternal. I will live in a remote location under harsh conditions (90+ degrees in the rainy season, 120+ degrees in the dry season) which will require camping at church sites and eating local food. I will maintain open communication between Samaritan's Purse and the various construction projects. I fancy my position as a "greaser", making things go smoothly so that the most effective use is made of funds entrusted to the organization by its donors for the purpose of advancing God's kingdom here on earth. I'll need to learn the official language of the country, and the most widely spoken, Arabic. How awesome is that!

For a while I have been thinking about devoting my life to doing something more constructive, something mission-based, just something real. I decided that if God is leading me in this direction, and He certainly has been, I will surrender my physical needs to him. It is a scary thing but I decided that whatever it takes to follow His calling for my life I am willing to do. I resolved that if it would be required of me, I would simply let go and trust Him for my financial security, the very thing that culture tells us is of paramount importance over all else in our lives. And I meant it completely. The incredible thing is that my God knew I was willing to take that leap, and he rewarded me. My new job in the mission field actually pays. And it pays good! I trusted Him and he came through!

It's one thing to see the beauty that God made for us in the world. It's one thing to hear people talk about how good God has been to them. It's one thing to hear and know the story of how His son came and sacrificed his life for me. But it's another thing completely to see Him take over the reigns and actually provide in a real, physical way. For Him to answer actual specific requests I'm made of Him in prayer.

I found the job with Samaritan's Purse, applied and began praying that I would somehow get it. I didn't really expect to get the job. I mean, what experience do I have in construction. What qualifies me to be a missionary. Why would Samaritan's Purse find it worthwhile to pay me money to live in Africa. But despite my faithless doubt in what God is capable of, I leave for the field on June 18.

Stay tuned for updates from Yei, in southern Sudan!

Deutschland uber ales!

So here is how the first night of my vacation to Germany looked. Yes, that is the airport in Charlotte, NC. Severe weather up the eastern seaboard caused extensive flight delays leaving hundreds of people stranded. I was one of those hundreds...number 216 I think. The Red Cross came and gave out cots for people to sleep on as there were no vacancies in local hotels. I wasn't going to get a hotel anyway, so it was nice to sleep on a cot instead of curled up on the floor or slumped over the armrests of a row of airport seats like an earthworm. It was the biggest slumber party I've ever been to, and the loudest chorus of squeaking cots you can imagine. So the next morning was nice. I was still in the US but it was a beautiful day outside so I propped my feet up and enjoyed the view of the Charlotte skyline. I happened to purchase a book the day before in the Raleigh airport thinking I might get a little of it read on the trip between activities. It's a spirit- lifting story of a Himalayan-mountain climber turned humanitarian who built schools for impoverished villages in the most remote regions of Pakistan and Afganistan near the world's largest mountain range. Anyway, when I got to Charlotte and learned that the delay in my first flight caused me to miss my connector to Frankfurt, I started reading. 28 hours later I boarded the next flight with any vacancies to Germany and had read 2/3 of the book. I finished it on Monday at my brother's house in Baumholder, before I had been in-country for 28 hours yet. What I was greeted by in Germany was snow; constant, relentless suffocating snow every day I was there except the day I left. Nice. Nevertheless, the wintry weather did provide some scenic photograph opportunities. We spent most of the time I was there hitting historical and scenic points throughout the country. It was good to be back to the place where I'd spent well over half of my childhood before we left the second time when I was 11. And it was certainly good to spend time again with the guy who I'd spent my whole childhood with, and with my new sister. It was just as I remembered...except I did not remember how hilarious the sign for "exit" off a highway or out of a parking deck was. The picture tells that story. This little linguistic oddity proved fodder for comedic interludes throughout the trip. Anyone who knows me does not find that hard to believe at all. :0)


Ok, following will be a bunch of pictures from the trip. I don't really see the need to bore everyone with lengthy discourse about what the photos meant or what was going on when I took them. (That's code talk for "man, I really don't want to write that much about every one of these things!")

The best thing about Germany!










A Roman gate still standing in the southern city of Trier.

Above and below ground ruins of a Roman baths in Trier.

This gal was playing Mozart on those glasses!

Wolfe the one-man-band.

Acordian Sal.

Not Tom Ford. :)

Looks like Germany to me.

Pretty place, huh?

What to eat?

Sometimes when I look into the fridge and can't decide what to eat I get overwhelmed. It doesn't have anything to do with what I'll actually eat. What overwhelms me is the fact that if I can't even decide what to snack on, how am I ever going to be able to make sense of these conflicts bouncing around in my head right now. As a lot of people know, I have been actively seeking a volunteer assignment with the Peace Corps for about the past year. I'm about three months and 10 cholesterol points from reaching that goal right now.

But I've recently been ambushed by some incredibly strong desires that have set up camp in direct conflict with plans I've made for myself...I mean really ambushed. I've always been aware of that tiny hole tucked away somewhere in my life that's meant be filled with the companion God has planned for me. I just never put that much thought into it. Well, apparently it's put some thought into me lately, and that tiny hole feels like a gaping chasm right now. I've started to ache for that woman in my life, that complementary piece, the soulmate that my mother has prayed God would send me every night since the day I was born. And I wonder if i can stand this constant nagging of loneliness for the next 2 years. I have this intense desire to venture into the world outside our American bubble and share some of the incredible bounty my god has blessed me with. I mean, I'm a twentysomething, white, college educated, American male with advantages that 99% of the world's population can only dream of. I want an experience of reckless enthusiasm, to be filled with righteous confidence in my mission. I want a story that I can look back on some day and wonder, "was I ever that bold", and at the same time ask, "how did I ever consider not doing that?" I want to shatter the diecast product my life has become. I want to go somewhere where people can't believe what just moved in next door. Simply put, I want, no I need an adventure. But I have this tragic loneliness, this unsolicited yearning for my wife. I don't want to sleep alone anymore, as a friend put it. I know these feelings can only be from the one in control of it all because I didn't ask for them, not right now. And I have faith that He will take me where He wants me. I just wish I had the ticket in my hand with a departure date and time, destination and number of companions with names printed on it.

Here are a few of the questions I've been wrestling with lately. I guess they represent the options I feel like I have. They're probably not mutually exclusive or collectively exhaustive but this is what I'm thinking about right now.

Should I go to Morocco for 27 months?
Should I go to Dubai with my buddy and live there for a year, just to get away for a while?
Should I cash out my 401K, take the tax penalty, pay off my student loan and jump into a life of full time service to God with no debts but no certainty about my financial future?

I just wish all I had to figure out was what to pull out of the refrigerator. I'm not even hungry anymore.