July 1, 2020
Only God could do what has been done in South Sudan during the past month. No human being could have pulled it all together.
At least five WEI Internet teachers have been teaching students in Aweil, South Sudan this year. Four of their students have been waiting four months for someone to come and baptize them, and it turned out that three WBS students in Aweil were waiting to be baptized as well. Marcella Bailey and Lola Crouch practally turned the world upside down trying to find someone willing and able to go. For one thing, Aweil is located 500 miles northwest of Juba near the border of Islamic North Sudan. Moreover, most people are afraid to travel in South Sudan due to hostilities that still rage in the wake of the recent civil war.
Finally, however, God removed every barrier. By the grace of God, Lee Allen called his friend Daniel Nordstrom of Mt. Juliett, Tennessee. Daniel called Dennis Kady of Wichita Falls, Texas who called two of his staff members (John Gai and John Paschol) at Jonglei Christian Vocational School in Bor, 130 miles north of Juba, the capital city. The Mt. Juliett church offered to pay their travel expenses, and the two Johns made plans to drive to Juba and fly to Aweil with Bibles and Bible study materials.
Before they left, Daniel called Barry Smith, the Director of Sudan Project, to let him know what
was happening. Barry replied, “I started making arrangements three weeks ago with our two South Sudanese brothers in Uganda [Elias Odongpiny and John Jock Reath] to make a journey to Juba to work with, teach, and encourage the churches there. I then told them that I had names from WEI and WBS of people in Aweil State who had requested baptism. I offered to send additional funds and fly them to that state to follow up on all of these prospects. They agreed to go and were excited about it. They already have received the funds for their trip as well as sufficient funding for some dialect Bibles in Juba to carry with them for distribution.
“Additionally, they will be investigating the potential for starting a gospel radio broadcast in Juba and one in Aweil State in the Arabic language. We hope to start these within 60 days. Collaboration with WEI and/or WBS would be welcomed on these broadcasts.“
This is a perfect example of God using WEI, WBS, and Sudan Project to work together with a common goal to send four well-qualified men to Aweil to teach, encourage, and baptize thirteen precious people into Christ. If these thirteen babes in Christ are able to meet for worship and Bible study, along with former WEI students Jacob Mou Deng Mou and his wife who baptized each other, God will have planted a new church in South Sudan. Furthermore, the good news about Christ will soon be brodcast in Arabic near the border of Islamic North Sudan.
“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity“ (Psalm 133:1).