The chief of the Palatas arrived earlier than expected yesterday to take
us to visit his encampment.  He told us it was just a little way from
Dajo, so I didn't change into long pants or boots, just kept my Tevas
and capris on.  Bubba had just returned from a 30km bike ride to visit
churches, so he already had a full day when we all set out for this camp
that was supposedly "just a little way" from Dajo.

Off we went with Ahmed, the chief, and Ibrahim, his friend, and Simon
and William, two CMA staff.  We took along one of the Saber players and
the Good News flipchart.  Everyone talks about how fast the Sudanese
walk, but we practically had to run to keep up with these Palatas!  And
our little walk turned out to be 45 minutes at breakneck speed.  

Finally we made it to their camp and we saw thousands of cows, goats,
sheep and quite a lot of camels.  Little children ran from us in horror
while others laughed when they saw us.  Ahmed took me to his family to
take photos of his many children (see attached).  They were so
beautiful!  

We were escorted to a place to sit while men brought out beds for us to
sit on.  
Then came out the beverages.  We knew the water came from the river for
we could see the dirt on the bottom of the container.  Ahmed poured
powdered orange juice into this water and mixed it up with a stick.  All
we could do was pray and drink as we did not want to be rude and refuse
their hospitality.  Then came out the yogurt.  Again, we prayed and
drank.  And it was delicious.  We drank so much of it we thought our
bellies would pop!

By this time other men had come to sit with us and we shared a bit of
the Good News, but there was a lot of distraction.  Our visit mainly
turned out to be a time of building friendships, which we knew would be
something that Jesus would do as well.

The sun was just about down when they escorted us home.  Ibrahim stopped
at the river to do his prayers and all I could do was pray that one day
he would know and pray to the One True God.  When we reached our
compound it was dark.  They had brought along a jug of fresh milk for us
as a gift.  Then Ahmed said that we are welcome back any time and that
we could spend several days with them if we wanted.  We gave them gifts
of some socks, pens, and paper, and then said our goodbyes.  

Nearly 100% of these people are Muslims.  The Lord has brought them here
to Dajo and we don't want to miss any opportunity to show them the love
of Jesus and to tell them the Truth.  Please pray their eyes would be
open to see Him, their ears would be open to hear His voice and that
their hearts would be circumcised so they would have a hunger to know
the Truth.

Bless you!

Cathy and Bubba

Dear all,

We kindly ask you to pray for Bubba.  He has malaria and is quite ill today.
Please pray the Lord will heal him and protect him.  We have cerebral
malaria
can be quite dangerous for foreigners to get.

Bless you!

Cathy

Thanks again for your prayers for Bubba.  He rested most of the day and
went between hot sweats and the shivers.  When the ibuprofen wears off
his head starts to heat up and hurt, but for the most part he is doing
well.  We had to use an old sock as a cool compress for him today.(see
photo)  We're hoping by tomorrow he'll wake up fully recovered and full
of energy.

We were touched to have a few members of the Dajo SIC church come and
check up on him after church was over.  Truly makes us feel loved and
cared for by our Dajo friends.

Have a blessed Lord's day!

Cathy and Bubba

 

Greetings from Dajo!

It feels so good to be back home.We were warmly welcomed at the airstrip by many smiling faces. It is great to see our friends and "children" again.

We had the usual cleaning and reassembling of stuff to do and then we went roaming around town. Lo and behold our clinic was full of people with huge turbans on their heads and they were all wearing the usual garb of Arabs. We found out they are nomads called Palotis (sp?). They are from near Khartoum but they travel all over East Africa. They are meeting with the chiefs and leaders in this area to see if they can move here to graze their cattle. They want to live in Wilitka (there is a small CMA clinic and a big church there!). These nomads are Muslim so the Lord must have on His heart to see them hear the Good News too!

We also saw more Komas here. Some of them even know a bit of English. The story is that some Komas who went to school in Ethiopia returned to Yangu and were teaching English to their community. They are now coming here to trade in the market and to go to school.

Early in the evening we took a trip to the market. The shops are nice. All of our friends were there but Ibrahim Adem, who is in Mathiang bringing back more goods. He left his son Yusuf (Joseph) in his place. We drank tea, said "Merhaba" (hello) to all of our friends and had a great time.

Ayul, the chief of Pashemi 1, was also at the market. He gave us a big hug and admitted he did start a church. So we hope to meet with him tomorrow to find out where he is at and give him a Saber player and the Look, Listen, and Live material to take back with him. We hope to make a trip out to his area soon.

So, as you can tell from this long email, we are VERY EXCITED about coming back home and seeing all that God continues to do here. We just have to sit back in amazement and thank God He sent us here.

What a mighty God we serve!

Thank you for standing the the gap.

Bubba and Cathy

Greetings all,

We have updated our website. Please take a look at the new entries under About Sudan, About Us, Newsletters, and the Current Projects under the Get Involved tab. We would appreciate your input on the new content and any ideas for things you would like to see added to the website in the future.

Thanks for your involvement in the work in Dajo. We are expecting great and mighty things in 2010 as we travel to more of the "regions beyond"

His kids,

Cathy and Bubba