March 12, 2007

Dear Friends,

Growing up in a little village in southern Wisconsin I have fond memories of “snow days.” We would listen attentively to the radio, waiting for our school’s name to be called and when it did we’d greet the news with a whoop of delight and head outside for a day of making snow forts and having snowball fights. I was always in the thick of it. Great fun! As an adult, the whoop of delight for a snow day was for different reasons, often because it was a needed break in a very busy schedule. I couldn’t make it to the office, to the meeting, to the airport and I didn’t have to feel guilty about it! It was beyond my control and I was given a precious gift—the gift of time.

Today feels kind of like a snow day, but if you saw where I am sitting you would be surprised. I am on the Sudanese border of Kenya at Lokichogio, waiting to go into Sudan. I believe its about 110 degrees in this desert-like place. But like a snow day, my busy schedule has stopped. I have been given the gift of time. I believe God knew I needed it, let me explain why.

My week started on the “wild side.” While Daniel was at a Model UN meeting in Nairobi I had spent a wonderful week with Del and the final group of 24 RCA volunteers who had graciously come to help RECONCILE construct its training center over a period of six weeks. While they were out building I had meetings and it was hard to make any headway on my “task of the week,” which was to put together a training manual for an intensive-trauma healing course. In the late afternoons and evenings we had some wonderful times for fellowship, visited local homes, heard the testimonies of God’s faithfulness through the war from Sudanese friends, and visited an orphanage where the children were well-fed and happy but rats were seen running across the rafters. When I was ready to head home we ran into a problem with the SPLA at the airstrip and I was not allowed to board the plane with Del. A couple of UN peacekeepers intervened and secured our release but by then I had missed the plane. So I jumped in the RECONCILE truck and our driver Joel rushed me to the border in three hours. I walked across and hopped on a bus to Arua. I made it home to Kampala by noon the following day determined to make the most of a family weekend together—we took Daniel and two of his friends bowling and out for pizza.

Last week was just one of those weeks. Del came home from the building project really tired and thin (my lean husband lost almost 15 pounds!). The heat was intense, up to 105F in the shade, there were some serious logistical challenges, and it’s just hard trying to be in charge of such a big project and keep everyone busy. But mostly, he was feeling a lot of pressure to come up with funds to finish the project. At the same time I was burning it at both ends working on the training manual, which was finally completed on Friday.

So when we came into Loki yesterday afternoon (March 11) and found out we were not flying today, my first reaction was disappointment. I was excited to go to South Bor, and I love to do training in the field. Probably many of the participants had walked a long distance to get there and would be waiting for us. But after a few minutes I thought “snow day”! It has been a gift from God to have this day to spend time with my colleague, the Rev. Christopher Banja, and do some preparation for the workshop we’ll do together, to write a nice long letter to my family, to pray and fellowship with the Presbyterian Church of Sudan leaders down the road as they are gong through a difficultly, to sleep in until 8:00 this morning! God is good.

As I write this I hear that the flight is on for tomorrow. The “snow day” is over and it has been a good one. Please pray for Christopher and myself as we spend the next two weeks in South Bor. We will be doing an intensive “trainer of trainers” workshop with church and community leaders and probably nowhere needs it more than Bor. It was the site of the Bor Massacre of 2,000 civilians. Pray that the Holy Spirit would guide us as we help these church and community leaders to become “wounded healers” and give us stamina in the heat. Pray that the Lord would also provide Del with a “snow day” and that with the pressure of so many things to be done in the area of peace-building that God would clearly direct us as to where our focus should be and provide more staff to help carry the load.

In Christ,

Del and Debbie

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 323