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James

Years ago, a missionary from New Zealand came and lived in Southern Sudan. His name was David Gladstone. That name kinda sounds like a missionary doesn’t it? There’s a connotation in our ears with David Livingston perhaps? Anyway, Gladstone lived amongst the Toposa. He adopted a young Toposa orphan named James. He took care of James, led him to faith in Jesus Christ, paid for James to go to school, fed him. He took care of him. When James was older and went to live in the refugee camps in Kenya, Gladstone made sure to come see him. Often Gladstone braved swollen rivers to make sure James had money and food. He discipled James.

Joe Keil, James, Emily Harrison

About ten days before our team arrived in Kapoeta, Gladstone died. He hadn’t lived in Sudan for a long while. He taught in a seminary in Uganda. The war had pushed him out. We were fortunate enough to meet his disciple, James. Did Gladstone’s investment pay dividends? 

Emily’s Story

Below is a story written by Emily Harrison. Emily came on this most recent trip to Kapoeta, Sudan. In her own words ...

The entire trip is a story of how God answers prayer and how His presence is inescapable. One particular instance is when we came to the home of a girl named Napuke.

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Part II Samuel

First, some quick background to the story. Last September, a Hyde Park Baptist Church team came out to Kapoeta (Kuh-poy-tah) and Kor Machi (Core-Mah-chee). Kor Machi is a village outside of Kapoeta. Both are primarily made up of the Toposa tribe. The idea was to work out of the African Inland Church (AIC), a.k.a. the mother church. The Hyde Parkers were to strengthen the mother church in Kapoeta, and start a work in Kor Machi.

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Orochu

Ever wonder about those tribesmen who never “hear” the story of Jesus? We ask ourselves, “Will they go to heaven?”

Very theoretical right? Not so much. We met one and had he answered that question. His name is Orochu. We met him in a village called Kor Machi, just outside of Kapoeta town. He is Toposa, the tribe Hyde Park is seeking to expose to the Gospel. There are only a handful of Toposa believers. Robert Gunn, a teammate and e3 board member met Orochu. Orochu exhibited virtually all of the characteristics of a man of peace (luke 10). He welcomed our team into his home compound. He gathered his family together and admonished them to listen to the Gospel. He was kind to his wife (not usual in this group). He then took the e3 team to other compounds and organized them to listen to the Gospel--and anything else we felt led to share. An amazing, and rare thing occured through Orochu: he gathered he elder males. He was gray-haired, stately and distinguished. He managed to round up his peer group. In this area, this was unprecedented for the e3 team in this area. Typically, we find women and children.

Kaya’s Child

Here’s a photo of David Kaya’s newest child.

Jim West’s Sudan Experience

Jim West just returned from Sudan. Here’s the thank you letter he wrote his prayer partners.

Jim grinding rice.

Thanks very much for praying for our trip with e3 Partners to minister in South Sudan! As you know, Suzy went with me this time (I was there 10 months ago) and it was a blessing to have her with me. She met many of the people I worked with in 2007!

It was wonderful to see what God has done in the past 10 months! Churches have grown, people that accepted Christ have grown and stayed plugged in while some have fallen away. Three of the men that accepted Christ last year entered Bible school and now are instrumental in starting the new church we helped plant this time in Kiri. A church leader in the village I worked in last year – Pamoju – who accepted Christ when we were there and is blind, donated land to build the Liberty Baptist Church of Pamoju on!

God answered your prayers and I witnessed His hand in so many areas.  You have many new brothers and sisters in Christ in the South Sudan today. One new church was planted and should begin with an excellent base of new believers. Five other churches were strengthened and encouraged.

670 people made professions of faith.  The nationals that we worked with completed follow up forms on each person so that they can get them into a discipleship program.  Part of the forms for each person in the village I was assigned to be a leader in — Pamoju — were given to me to bring home.  If you would like me to mail you a few so you can pray for them specifically, please let me know.  Please reply and give me your mailing address and I’ll send them to you. Pray that their profession of faith was real, that they join the church, are discipled and grow.

I spent the first two days with Moses Taban, my good friend and interpreter from last year, working in the village I was in last year – Pamoju. Moses’ picture is attached. Please pray for him as he is a committed evangelist and God will use him in great ways throughout the Sudan. Pray that God opens the doors so that he can be married to Agnes. Suzy worked in the medical clinic the first day, but worked with Moses and I the second day in Pamoju. All three of us worked the last two days in Kiri. We got to give a Gospel presentation at a school for 150 students.

Numbers mean very little as God knows our hearts and he is the only one who knows the true results. The results of the campaign we are aware of:

Number of people the Gospel was presented to = 2340
Number of people that made professions of faith = 670
Number of people that received discipleship/follow up = 505
Number of nationals that worked with us = 35
medical patients = 760
Eye glasses patients who received eyeglasses = 280
New churches started = 1, in Kiri
Recent planted churches strengthened = 5

I know many of you have asked me specific questions and hopefully these will answer some things all of you would like to know.

1) e3Partners is going back in February 2009 and I would encourage you to join us. It will be a trip you will never forget!
2) It is not an easy trip traveling there – about 50 plus hours including lay overs, a night in Uganda, etc.
3) The weather in February was beautiful – cool mornings, warm days and NO mosquitoes!
4) We slept at a compound in the Sudan this year. It was comfortable and the food was good.
5) The roads are rough. Many of these people had just moved back to their homes in the past 1-3 years.  The Muslims chased them out to Uganda in the war that lasted ten years.
6) The people are very nice and gracious. They are wonderful.

e3 took care of everything from training the nationals before we arrived, to training the team and putting all the logistical details together.  As a result, we were able to hit the ground running to maximize our time.

The really cool thing is the team was used as a tool in the hands of national brothers and sisters to start a church planting movement.  Our team was like kerosene on the nationals’ fire to reach Sudan for Christ.

It was like walking through the Book of Acts…

Thank you again for praying. It was so apparent to me that I was covered in prayer. I can’t even put that into words – but I knew you were praying! Please let me know if you would like me to mail you some of the people’s names so you can pray specifically for them! That would be a blessing to them. Make sure to give me your mailing address! Also, if you would like to see some more pictures, let me know.

In Christ,

Jim

The Indigenous Missionaries

Our Missionaries

This past November, David hosted a pastor’s conference in Kajo Keji. God moved. We didn’t ask nor pray for this, but God moved in the hearts of five of the men attending to become missionaries. And they are truly missionaries. It’s easy to think all Sudanese are the same, but these five men, and their families, are going to different tribes who speak different languages, and follow different customs.

We’re super excited about these guys. We’re praying God will use them powerfully. It also is terribly cost-effective to send these guys versus someone like me. You can click on the “Give” tab if you want to see how you can support them.

Without further ado:

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Welcome to the New Site

Welcome to the new and improved e3 Partners Ministry website for Sudan. We’ve wanted to get this out for some time. Hope you enjoy the new look and feel, please let me know if we can improve this in any way.

2007 Wrap Up

I’ve been wrestling with what exactly to say to all of you to wrap up 2007 for e3 in Sudan. You’ve probably picked up on my presupposition that we are all so overwhelmed with information, that for me to get you to read anything about Sudan, David Kaya, or e3, I have to be quick to the point. Photos seem to help too. So here’s a super fast end of year note. Photos? Hmmm. Hang in there for a sec.