Entering the newest country in the World, South Sudan, has been amazing. After watching the movie "Machine Gun Preacher" I was praying that God would allow me to visit his orphanage while we were in Uganda. Instead God blessed me with being able to enter this country. When the squad leaders announced that "manistry" would be in South Sudan I was super pumped. I couldn't believe that my prayers were answered, my mind was blown. Again. After evacuating Uganda because of the Ebola outbreak, we waited in Kenya for an extra week before we could head up to South Sudan.
Our drive to this country was pretty much miserable. It started out with us arriving at the bus station at 7:30pm for them to tell us the bus would arrive until 10pm, then 12am, then 3am, then 5am and finally 7am. Once it arrived wasn't enough space for our bags under the bus so we had to put them inside, but the inside was already full so we had to clear our seats out by putting all the extra bags into the walk way. We ended up with bags all the way up the middle of the bus. To exit the bus we had to walk on the arm rests of the chairs. There were also three people sitting in the isle and one sitting in the front next to the driver, on the engine cover. Two chairs actually broke on the trip up, so two people were without back rests for about twelve hours. There were about two or three times when I was pretty sure the bus was going to flip on it's side because the driver was passing people on the dirt/grass shoulder, if you can call it that.
Who rode the school bus in elementary school? Do you remember sitting at the back of the bus so you could get air when the bus driver hit bumps? It was the coolest thing, ever. It's not as cool when you are on a bus for 36 hours or when you are older than 10. I say this laughing, but at the time it really sucked. Dan, Wes and I were in the very back seat with Mark and Chase sitting one and two rows ahead. All five of us would get airborne about every five to ten minutes. The roads were miserable. We finally got to the Uganda/South Sudan border were we spent the night in the bus until the border opened up at 6:30am.
After it all we finally arrived in Juba, the capital of South Sudan after 43 hours of travel. We got a Toyota Land Cruiser to make the final journey to Yei, South Sudan. It was a five hour drive on bumpy dirt roads. We originally thought it would only be us six in the Cruiser and we spread ourselves out, only to be told we would have to make space for six more guys to pile in with us. We were also told the drive would only take one hour. Africans literally have no knowledge of distance/time… Anything they say you can always multiply by at least three, if not more.
Being here in Yei has been amazing for my soul. Between the way God is speaking to me and being with all these legit guys, it has made the month super sweet. The first night of feedback really set the tone for the entire month here. Just a bunch of guys pulling each other to higher places. There have been tons of jokes, pranks and dares… of course. But this month has been a time of refinement. God has been speaking to me more clearly than I have ever heard in my entire life.
The guys that are around me here are an amazing group of powerful men. Having D-squad men combined with E-squad men has been the most gnarly time. The E-squad men arrived at our YWAM base about five days after we had setup shop, they had been staying with a local church the following week. They bring a huge presence of worship with them and are just some solid guys seeking Jesus with their whole heart.
Being here has been kind of slow. We have dug a couple trash holes, six foot circle and four feet deep, with small tools. We picked up trash around the compound and preached at a couple of Bible Studies. Most of the people here are already Christians, they actually kicked out the Arabs/Muslims after they received their Independence. There has just been tons of time to talk with the Americans on the compound, play with the kids at the school, workout and dig into the lives of the guys around us.
Kony hasn't been a threat here, even though we are 25 miles from the Congo border. I met a guy yesterday who was captured by Kony and spent three years serving in his army before he was able to escape. He says he is a Christian, like the rest of the country. I am hoping to talk with him more before we leave. There is also a refugee camp that a little ole lady from South Carolina was telling me about yesterday as well. I am hoping to visit these two places before we leave on Wednesday. I got set back a couple of days after I went to the doctor to be told I have Typhoid Fever, Malaria, one Hookworm and a strand of E.Coli. I am getting better, the meds are pretty hard on my system but I am still alive. That makes my 2nd case of Malaria and 9th stomach parasite on the Race so far.
Just wanted to give everyone a little update on what's been happening here at the YWAM base in Yei, South Sudan. Hopefully there will be another blog in the coming days before D-squad flies over to Thailand for month 8 of the Race.
