For some time, we have been searching for a tangible way to bless the Nagishot church and community.  Eunice had this idea - to purchase a tractor that could be used by the community.  Local farmers and families would “rent” the tractor from the church.  Then, the proceeds would benefit the Church, the Faith Nursery School, and the City on a Hill School in Nagishot.  This week, many prayers were answered, and FEFC Austin was able to make this a reality.  With the help of Jonathan Ramirez, a missionary with Africa Inland Mission, we purchased a 16-horsepower, diesel “walking tractor” in Nairobi.  It will be transported into Nagishot, and hopefully go into use right away.  Please pray with us that this gift will have a positive impact on development in the Didinga Hills, and further the kingdom of God among this people group. 

BJ and Kirk were blessed and overjoyed by the opportunity to share scripture based truths on the Personal Spiritual Life. Module 6 was the 5^th of 8 courses FEFC is teaching to the young Sudanese pastors in training. Nine pastors, including two women who will become school teachers in local schools attended five 6-hour days of reading scripture and exploring God’s calling on their lives as shepherds and leaders. God used time in the community to help us understand and address cultural challenges specific to the Didinga people group including evangelism in their marketplace and outreach to traditional enemies such as the Dinka tribe. The fruit of this was evident when some of the trainees reached out to a local alcoholic who was fed, prayed to receive Christ, and attended Church on the Sunday prior our departure.

Asking Didinga women to leave their homes for several hours each morning is no small sacrifice. Each woman is responsible for cooking, cleaning, watching the children and sometimes working. But every day, we were humbled by 40+ smiling faces. (Five of these women came from the neighboring village of Napep!) Over the course of these days, we added to their picture Bibles.  The theme was teaching stories with Jesus’ power and authority. Each day we also took the opportunity to pray over these women. In addition to teaching lessons, we enjoyed activities of embroidery, beading and dancing. As with all Didingas, the women were such a delight in every way.

by Kirk Taylor & Katherine Hill

Whether or not the trip was a success depends on how you look at it. On the one hand, we were not able to complete a working well with hand pump. But on the other hand, we found that the drilling technique was successful to a point. And we learned a lot about the geology of the Didinga Hills that was previously unknown to us or anyone else. The water table there lies in a thick gravel layer that we were not able to penetrate very much. At least not enough to get a casing and pump in.  But, now armed with this new information, we hope to continue to refine the method so that the Didinga can drill their own wells for themselves.  (See left - that’s Hector and Dario running the drilling.  Both are strong Christian believers who want to see the physical and spiritual health of Nagishot improve).

One of the benefits of returning to an area multiple times is the trust that is established. We were able to tell our Sudanese friends that though we didn’t completely succeed, we intend to continue working on it. We promised to return soon, and since FEFC has been going there for years, they know we will. In some ways, this trip seemed like we were trying to do the impossible. Drill a well in a place that has no wells and no geologic data for where to even begin. We intend to persevere in our task though. There are over 100,000 people in this area who are still in need of clean water. Several hundred wells will be needed. And I believe we are one step closer to that now. We are praying for others at FEFC who would want to join in this endeavor with us.

To see a slideshow of photos from our trip, click here.

Enter “appropriate technology”. This term refers to methods of doing things that are appropriate to the resources and skill level of a particular community. Percussion well-drilling is one of these “appropriate tech” methods. Using it, a well can be drilled with very simple tools at a cost of only a few hundred dollars. In areas where percussion drilling is being used, the community itself is drilling their own wells, without waiting for someone to come do it for them!

Another glaring need in South Sudan is the education system.  Many of the schools are simply thatched roofs, and some simply meet under a tree.  If the community is fortunate enough to have a school building, it may be lacking in desks, chairs, books, and school supplies.  As far as teachers, they are likely to be unpaid volunteers who have little training at all.  Last year, we were able to take some teachers from our church to train the Sudanese teachers.  We want to partner with them in teaching the Sudanese children, not do it for them.

So, next week, a group of 7 of us are going to Nagishot to teach percussion drilling and continue training teachers.  We are excited about the opportunities to partner with our Sudanese brothers and sisters.  We hope to go as learners, not just doers, as we learn what works best in their culture.  Please pray for a fruitful trip and that God would be glorified as we serve alongside these precious people.

Read an abbreviated recap from one of the team participants:

“Our time in Nagishot began each morning with a rooster crow at 4:15.  We got up at 6:00, got ready, had a team Bible study at 7:00, breakfast at 8:00, and then we began our lessons at 9:00.  We trained four men from the village: Dario, Simon, John, and Martin.  Our training consisted of one spiritual lesson and several practical lessons.  The men practiced teaching lessons (ex: diarrhea and malaria prevention) at the end of the week and were evaluated by the group.  The trainers were fabulous and really took to the lessons and understood them.  We broke for lunch at 1:00 and then began children’s ministry.  We taught a bible lesson and then played games with the kids who attended the village primary school (ages 3-12).

After children’s ministry, we spent time hiking throughout the village, visiting the homes of the trainers and their friends, and learning about the culture.  In the evening, we usually gathered around the campfire before dinner and after dinner for stories and songs.  The whole experience was such a blessing, and we were truly sad to have to leave on Monday.”

Praise God for another fruitful trip to Sudan!  The trainers will now begin launching the Community Health Evangelism program throughout Nagishot.  Colleen, our own FEFC missionary, will continue to work with them as they train local health workers.  These workers will begin going into Didinga homes sharing the Gospel as well as practical truths for daily living.  Please pray for this program to transform lives spiritually and physically.

After worshipping together on Sunday, we built a mud stove with some of our team and some of the Didinga men. Eunice was able to cook on it a few days later and their was much interest sparked among the women regarding this new technology. Our hope is that the people will begin to reproduce the stove with their locally available materials, and vastly cut down the indoor air pollution and burns that result from using open fires.

About 30 men and women attended the CHE seminar where we continued training a community development team that is completely owned and run by locals. At the end of the week, we “graduated” everyone and selected the 5 men who will make up the “Training Team.” From here, they will elect a local committee and begin surveying the community to figure out which health needs to address first.

Our team of teachers worked with the Faith Nursery School teachers. Faith is a private school that is part of the church. The Didinga teachers received the training well and were even writing lesson plans and putting their new knowledge into practice! They also observed our teachers and then applied what they learned as they taught the children. The school is a meager three rooms with no desks as yet. But we were encouraged by the way the church is taking initiative in educating the Didinga children.

Many women from the Didinga Hills came to participate in the women’s ministry. They made potholders, bracelets, and heard Bible stories that illustrated God’s love for women. For many of the women, this is the first time they have heard that they are valued and loved. They celebrated a birthday and a wedding American style and then Didinga style. The American women were very blessed to have the opportunity to minister to them!

Thank you for your prayers while we were gone. If you would like to see more photos from the trip, click here!

1. Training of volunteer teachers. The only school in Nagishot is a church-sponsored primary school which FEFC helped build last year. The only teachers at this school are a handful of volunteers with little formal education themselves. Our team includes teachers and professors from here, who will do some basic training in education principles and working with curriculum. This kind of training is difficult to come by in war-ravaged South Sudan. Please pray that language barriers will be bridged, that the volunteer teachers will be encouraged, and that education in Nagishot will benefit. Pray that the school will be an effective tool for sharing the Gospel with Didinga children.

2. Women’s ministry. Women are often neglected in Sudanese culture. Most of the hard labor is done by them, and they are not usually shown love or respect. Our team of women will be sharing stories from the Bible that illustrate God’s love for women. Pray that these Didinga women, hardened by suffering and war, will embrace the God of the Bible who loves them so. Pray that the women will be able to have time away from their labor to come and hear the teaching. Pray that some Christian women in the church will carry on the ministry when we leave.

3. Community Health Evangelism. The CHE program is progressing wonderfully in Nagishot. There are local trainers now, and the next step will be to choose the Committee. This a group of 7-10 local leaders who will champion and oversee the program. Pray that many continue to catch the vision for a locally-owned development program. Pray that God will guide the selection of the committee. We will be teaching the Didinga how to construct a mud stove - a device made from local materials that improves quality of life in many ways. We will also be taking Moringa seeds which grow a highly nutritious plant food and solar lanterns to assist them with lighting needs. Pray that the Didinga will find these innovations useful and reproduce them in their community.

We appreciate your prayers. Check back here in mid-July for a report on the trip and photos!

The second exciting piece of news from the banquet involved the fundraiser. One of the needs in Sudan is training church planters and pastors. They are not able to go away for years at a time to attend seminary. Pastor Daniel Grell had put together a program whereby our church pastors will travel to Sudan 2-3 times per year and train these ministers of the Gospel in their local setting. The program uses materials from the Bible Training Centre for Pastors. It was estimated that the program will cost $35,000. We are thrilled to announce that by God’s grace ALL of the funds were supplied through the generous donations of the attendees of this year’s banquet!

Lastly, the ACTS program was rolled out with an overwhelming positive response from our church congregation. You can read more about program (Austin Connecting to Sudan) on this website. It is our desire that through ACTS, many in our church will become personally connected to our Sudanese friends by prayers and correspondence.