Sudan - The Final Countdown

Friends,

As you know, I will be leaving for Sudan on November 14th and returning the day after Thanksgiving on the 24th. It is fast approaching and I am feeling a bit out of my league (as my friend Mark Whitehead says). There is so much to do in the way of packing and gathering materials to take. On top of that, I am studying five lessons that I will be responsible for teaching to some students in the city of Juba.

Although we are several hundred miles from the Darfur region (Google Darfur if you are unfamiliar with it), there is still much unrest between the Muslim north and the Christian south where we will be staying. In the past twenty years the attempts of the Islamic government in the north to eliminate a viable Christian presence have been extreme and have included bombing of Sunday church services, destruction of hospitals, schools, churches and Christian villages, massacres, killing of pastors and leaders and a 'food-for-conversion' policy for refugees banished to desert areas around the capital, Khartoum. Slavery has been re-instated with slave raiding and trading.

As we go, I want to ask you to pray for the believers in Sudan who will risk their lives to take the Gospel into the north and other hostile countries around them....Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea. Pray that they may bear good witness to their persecutors in their sufferings and become spiritually strong as a result. Pray also that the sufferings of Christians might be used to advance the Gospel to those living in Sudan who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.

Please keep these things in your prayers as we go to strengthen the church and equip them to make disciples of all nations. The question I would like to ask is, "If they can do it, why can't we?" The desire they possess to impact the world with their one life is inspiring.....but to them they are simply obeying our Master's mandate, The Great Commission.

May the peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be with you in abundance,

spencer

10 Things I Wish I Knew How To Do (But don't really want to learn)

1. Wash dishes (that's for you Ally!)

2. Plumb - what a racket

3. Fly a plane

4. Sing - some folks have it and some don't....I don't have it and I'm "never gonna get it" (En Vogue - 1992)

5. Speak Spanish - this is something I should really do.....but.....

6. Change my own oil - I would be happy never to hear "Your air filter needs changin" or "you seen your brake pads lately?" ever again

7. Finish a book - I have at least three staring me in the face right now.....but I've got to start this new Piper book NOW

8. Carpentry work - I am 'fix it' deficient

9. Spell - When my kids finally get a hold of my spell-checkless journals, they are going to be appalled wondering how I ever made it out of grammer school

10. Survive without coffee - I have a caffeine stronghold in my life. But then again, everyone should start their day with the Word, prayer and a jolt of java