Rough and Rocky Journey

I do this every time, start out with good intentions but then fizzle out. We have been back from Sudan for a couple of weeks now but no blog. Normally this would depress me enough that I wouldn't write but here I am. Actually I got pretty beat up on the trip and I think I am suffering because of it.

As I said in the last blog that we bought a motor bike for the work in Sudan. I insisted on delivering it myself, at least to the border. Of course my wife was against the idea because she felt a 61 year old man with an artificial hip shouldn't be doing such things. I told her the doctor just said "No skydiving!" She turned out to be right. The bike was a Honda Baja 250 and sat too high for me. I could touch the ground with my toes so I thought it was okay. You have to experience the road, I can't describe it in any way that you would get a true understanding of what it is like. Needless to say I fell many times and for some reason it was always on my artificial hip. With God's help we got the bike to Sudan. I promised not to ride it again, I guess an old guy has to give up sometime.

Our time in Magwi was very profitable. This first year is a time of getting settled and trying to figure out where we want to be involved. Like everything else in Southern Sudan it is a slow process. We've spent time with people at all levels of government and some local communities also. Everyone needs help but we are not able to help them all so we are looking for those places and groups where we will have the greatest impact given our time, personnel, and finances.

At present we identified four sectors we want to get started in; women's development, community health, church development, and education. Our focus will be on people development which tries to bring knowledge, skills, and some capital investment. Our philosopy of development is derived from two schools of thought; Participatory Development and Asset Based Development.

One of the first place we are going to take action is with a community library/reading room. There are no books for students or teachers so we will begin to bring them from Uganda and the U.S. It is also our idea to use the room for discipleship and small group meetings. If we get the people we could use the room for tutoring and ESL training. One other benefit is that it will give us a great presence in the community.

We had plenty of time to talk about other needs, such as how do we spend more time on the ground in Sudan. This will mean having better facilities at our Resource Center. Now we have two huts and an outhouse/shower combination. The ladies have to cook wherever they can find room and that usually means outside. Not good in the rainy season which is nine months of the year. Our goal is to have two permenant buildings built by the end of March 2009. This will allow us to house about eight people.

Our trip back to Adjumani was uneventful but tiring. I will try to post some pictures of the trip this next week.

Jeff

Magwi Journey

The roosters are just starting to crow, the night sky is lightening and I have a mug of Stump Town coffee. It is a good way to start your day. The community sets off to Sudan for about a week's stay. I guess I'm a little anxious though because there are a lot of unknowns right now.

The reports coming to us are that the road is bad and very muddy. Last we heard is that very few vehicles are traveling in and out of Magwi. When we left Magwi there was a long stretch of muddy quagmire that was almost impassible. Trucks were sunk deep in the and it didn't they were getting out soon. The only way we made it was by going off road through peoples yards. We had their blessings but it is not something I like to do. This time we are packing boards to help keep from sinking so deep in the mud.

The other thing that is troubling is that we haven't heard from our people in Magwi. Our only means of communication is via sat phone and it only works if they have it turn on.

The journey takes about 8 to 10 hours depending on the road. This time we are using the Prado which hasn't made the trip before so we are not sure how it will handle the deep mud. It should do well but you never know until you try it.

Five of us are going, two have not been before so everyone is excited. You can check out their blogs from this site. It will be fun to see what they write when we get back in a week. We will stop to see Ross Kelly, writes in Deep South Sudan, coming and going. Always a good visit.

I should be packing so I will end this here. Hopefully when I come I will add something about our journey as a missional community.

The Story of Missional Journey

I don't see myself as much of a writer or really for that matter much of a story teller either. But there is a great story to tell, I hope I can do it justice. Articulate it so that it is understandable to you.

The story is not about myself only but includes many others as they move in and out of the journey. People in the U.S. and people here in Africa. Some have been part of the journey for sometime others for a shorter time but all were and are important. The journey is much more than the shaping of me as a person but it has become the shaping of a community in mission.

This is a story that moves away from traditional, conventional thought to explore what mission might become or at least an alternative for those who might not be as comfortable with traditional mission as be might be. In no way do I mean to imply that we have the answers to doing mission right. In fact I think we have more questions than answers. I must say that this is still morphing, I don't have any idea of what the end looks like but it is exciting getting there. Life is more exciting when done in community.

Some of you may want the story to unravel much faster, I sorry that it won't it has been a long time in forming so it will be long in telling. Interspersed with episodes of the community story will be many other thoughts and glimpses of life and work as a community.

Feel free to join in with your questions, thoughts and options. You might become part of the shaping.