6 Months in Sudan (almost)

“I hope this thirst will not last long and will soon drown in a song not sung in vain.” ~ Rich Mullins

Today we were supposed to fly out to Kenya for our r&r and Christmas break. This all changed when we received news that the plane needed some maintenance work and wouldn’t be coming until Saturday. We were all quite disappointed by the news, but having worked so hard to be ready for today, we don’t have much to do for the next two days…so I thought I’d write a little about some lessons I’ve learned in my first 6 months here.

Here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned:

1) Driving in the mud is fun until you get stuck for the first time – after that its only fun if you don’t get stuck and the only way to insure that is to make sure you get the new Landcruizer pickup with the tractor tyres.
2) I’ll never get used to kids collecting water from roadside mud puddles.
3) Convincing people who have lived on handouts in refugee camps that working hard is important isn’t the easiest task.
4) When the rats start making noise in the thatch at night its easier to just roll over and go back to bed – getting up to kill them is way too frustrating.
5) Worm medicine and antibiotics….maybe I’ll leave that part out
6) When the rain stops – it really stops.
7) When the rain stops – the fires start
8) The wind blows at night – it blows enough to make me think my roof is coming off and I wake up covered in nice thin layer of dust.
9) When I’m most tired – that’s when four trucks full of medicine to offload will show up.
10) Beans and rice is only exciting for about a week.

On a more serious note though, I’ve learned how important fellowship is in our lives. Often, the work here can be lonely and frustrating and it is in those times that I realize how much I miss the fellowship I’ve had with my brothers and sisters in the places I’ve come from. If I didn’t have my coworkers here, I would certainly find the work here nearly impossible.
I’ve also learned a bit about how wonderful our Father is. The other day I was washing my hands and I looked down to see a Praying Mantis at my feet. One of the drops of water landed right near to it and I watched as it slowly knelt down to drink from the drop that had fallen. It struck me that it could have drank from the drop of water without kneeling down and it seemed as if the little bug was kneeling down in a prayer of thanks. This little analogy may sound really cheesy but it hit me how ungrateful I am for the many blessings I receive each day. I have a Father who is so good to me and yet I go through my day frustrated and downtrodden, not willing to open my eyes to the gifts that have been given to me. Each day is a blessing itself – I hope that I can learn to live more like that each day.