A flavour of what I did as a Missionary with Iris South Sudan Feb 2011-Apr 2013
Morning hugs for each of he Mamas and some of the kids as I make my way to the kitchen for posho porridge. Each morning the Mammas teach me some more Arabic & I leave them repeating what I have learnt until something interupsts me and then I've forgotten, Never mind there will be more lessons tomorrow and a good laugh for the Mamas as I try my best.
A wander round the compound with the little ones holding my hands each in turn, which almost stops them fighting for a hold of a hand or just a finger. I can just about keep walking with two on each hand, three gets difficult. They talk away to me in Arabic and I say something back in English, but I & they have little idea of what is being said.
Three or four times a week or more some of the older boys come round for teaching. I am taking two of the young church leaders through Encounter course and at them same time teaching them how to take others through it. At the same time I am trying to Africanise it as I go along, Once or sometime more per week take some of the boys to watch a football match on TV at one of the bars in town. A bar is a shack and most people drink pop.
I'm overseeing the building of two bunk rooms ready for our Iris International School of Revival in February & March. I'm jointly heading that up with John Sebit our African pastor here. Some days I find myself taking kids or mamas to a clinic or hospital and doing some shopping in town, which always takes a long time trying to find what I need. I've taught Safari (one of the two young pastors to drive the car and he has now got his licence.
I've spent quite a bit of time travelling to Juba to teach the church leaders there. Most of my teaching comes out of non-scriptural ways of doing things that I observe. It makes discipleship relevant and exciting because they are so keen to be more like Jesus in all that they do.
Early September 2011 I did a week teaching on the Father Heart of God at YWAM DTS course in Yei and I followed this up in Nivember with a day of impartation of the Father's blessing.
Inflation is very high here and money doesn't go as far as it did at the beginning of the year. Also when I visit the Juba churches there is always needs that cannot be met from Iris budget; for example they have to buy water from a tanker and rarely have any earnings. A couple of weeks ago 2-year old Isaac got knocked down by a motorbike, so I paid the equivalent of nearly £100 to pay his medicaL bills so far. Out of that I taught the church leaders on helping one another in their need. I found out that the boys father had to borrow money to pay the medics and in their culture they pay back 50% more than they borrowed. Two parts of the money had come from church members. O how my heart ached and tears flowed from my eyes as I taught into the situation. They just didn't know any better way. On one of my first visits there I came across a boy called Stephen about 13 years old with a very sore foot. I looked at it and thought he is going to lose his foot if not his leg if this isn'y dealt with. We prayed for him and then I took him to the clinic for three days then the children's hospital. Then I left a pile of money to pay transport for the pastor to take him daily to the clinic and pay the medical expenses. His treatment is still ongoing but it is looking much much better.