Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...

I thank everyone for their prayers and support. We returned 2 weeks ago from Pajok, South Sudan. As usual, the time with the people was priceless. People always ask "How was your trip?". There never are words to describe such an experience. Our human languages don't have the ability to express deep spiritual and emotional feelings.....they fall short.

Whenever we are able to proclaim the eternal word of the only true living God, pointing people to the Author and Finisher of our Faith, Jesus Christ, there is great joy that words can't describe! As we taught through the book of Colossians for 2 full days and worshiped the Lord, I looked around at the unfinished church building and rejoiced!!! The walls and floor are unfinished and not painted but the joy of the Lord was there. The praise and worship of God's children sounded forth as a city on a hill that cannot be hidden!

Below are a handful of pictures and 2 videos. A small window into the time we spent in South Sudan.

I will be sharing at Long Green Baptist Church on November 23rd @ 6:00pm. If you can make it, you will see a much fuller presentation of our time in Pajok!

The Ladies Worship time under the tree

Auntie Angela during Worship time - David's Aunt

Lunch!

Corn, beans, & beef......My favorite!

Russ teaching Colossians & David interpreting

Pastor George & David teaching/interpreting Colossians

Me teaching Colossians & Pastor King George interpreting

Lucy teaching the ladies Colossians

"Little" George teaching some of the school children

"Little" George teaching the orphanage children

Each year we take coloring books from Day One Publishing which cover different books of the Bible or even surveys of the Old and New Testaments. This year we chose Hebrews. It specifically taught through chapter 11, which talks about many people in the Old Testament who had great faith. On the left page is the scripture and on the right page is a picture to color that go along with the scripture. The kids love it!!! We took 40 coloring books and 40 packs of crayons. We ran out quickly this year! We could have used 50+ coloring books. Praise the Lord!

Peter coloring his Hebrews - Men of Faith coloring book

Therese, Helen, & Lucy taught the children about Colossians and how Paul was in prison when he wrote it. As a craft, for ~130 children, each child made a chain with 3 paper links. Then they connected all of them together. The chain was long enough to go around the entire circle! They then hung sections of the chain up in their classrooms.

The GTM school is in the background. 3 grass roof classrooms on the right for the Nursery School and 1 grass roof classroom on the left for grade 1 of Primary School.

GTM School children eating porridge

Helen teaching GTM Nursery School

Judith teaching GTM Nursery School

Clay teaching GTM Primary School - Grade 1

Our GTM School Teachers

[Left to Right: Beatrace, Lilly, Clay, Judith, Helen, and Marie who helped teach, manage, and organize]

Yes, those are Marshmallows!!!

Yum! The guy on the right is trying to figure out how to get it off of his hands!

Fun w/ Pipe Cleaners! Therese, Grace, Lucy, and the children

Marie & the children

1 of 3 Swings that Russ setup for the kids!!!

Before we leave....a picture with the children that hadn't left for school

Our Amazing Team! (Marie taking the picture)

[Left to Right: Jeff, David, "Little" George, Francis, Pastor George, Russ, Ryan, Grace w/ little Rachel, Lucy, Helen, Therese, & Auntie Angela]

Ryan and Marie lived with David and Grace for the past year. They are leaving tomorrow and will be sorely missed! Ryan spent the year being engaged in the community and working on his research paper. Marie was also engaged with the community and made herself available to help with the children, the GTM School, and many other things. Please pray for them. Our prayers are with them.

Ryan & Marie

Upcoming Trip to Pajok, South Sudan

Russ Crane and I are travelling to visit the GTM ministry in Pajok, South Sudan on 12 October. We are very excited and rushed to finish the preparations! This year we plan to teach, Lord willing, the book of Colossians. Therese, George 2x, Lucy, and maybe Helen are coming up from Uganda to help teach. The theme will be truly knowing and following Jesus Christ. There are many who claim Jesus but do not have works befitting of repentance. Their lives are worldly with a veneer of Christianity loosely applied. This is true here in America and abroad. Our desire is to call people to the truth of Christ's call.

Mark 8:34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 "Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

There are also many Born Again Christians who need to be strengthened and washed in the water of the Word of God.

The topics that are covered in Colossians:

Their Faith in Christ

Preeminence of Christ

Reconciled in Christ

Sacrificial Service for Christ

Not Philosophy but Christ

Not Legalism but Christ

Not Carnality but Christ

The Christian Home

Christian Graces

If we can obtain enough "Hebrews - Men of Faith" coloring books, we will teach the children about faith and how it defined the lives of the faithful in Hebrews chapter 11.

We ask you to pray with us for this trip to be inline with the Lord's will, that His word would be rightly divided, people would have ears to hear, hearts prepared to receive, and the Lord providing the increase. The dates of the trip are: 12-26 October 2014.

Thank you! Grace & Peace is found in Jesus Christ alone.

Judith - Poisoned

Judith is our lead teacher for God's Tender Mercy. She runs the nursery and primary school along with teaching. About 2 weeks ago she was poisoned. She is doing much better now, but is probably going to move back to where she used to live which is about an hour north of Pajok. She has a baby a couple months old to care for also. There is a possibility she may stay in Pajok to care for the crops she has planted on her land. If she does, then she will continue teaching for GTM. If she goes back home, we will need to find a replacement to run the school and teach. Judith has been a wonderful leader and teacher. We want the best for her and her children. It will be a great loss for the GTM school to lose her.

Please pray for her to fully recover and for the person who has done this to be convicted by the Lord of this evil. Pray they would come to repentance and be saved by Jesus Christ. The practice of poisoning is not new in South Sudan, however it is rare in Pajok. I pray it does not become more prevalent. Please pray with us.

Please continue to pray...

I want to thank everyone for praying for the ministry. Now is not the time to stop. Fighting continues in South Sudan. They are no closer to a ceasefire and peace agreement than they were months ago. Thousands of people have been slaughtered since December 15, 2013. This includes many civilian men, women, and children.


The good news, is that we are not experiencing any issues in Pajok. Actually, things are going very well! The Lord has provided rain this whole growing season. We will be harvesting our corn in 2 weeks, and peanuts soon as well. Planting 16 acres of sesame will take place in the next week.


David has been discipling a young man named Paul for months now. Paul is one of our builders who is part of the crew building our church building. Please keep David & Paul in your prayers. Paul is very excited about learning God's word!


David is pressing the builders to complete the church roof by the end of this month. All the supplies have been purchased and are ready to go. After the roof is in place we need to purchase cement, paint, doors, windows, and plastic chairs. Then we can parge & paint the walls, finish the floor, and install the doors & windows. Please pray that God's word can be taught in Spirit and Truth and the worship of the saints will go up as sweet incense to the Lord!


Also, please pray for Benson. He is the oldest orphan with us. He is 17 years old. He has begun hanging out with friends instead of going to school. He is a great student with a lot of potential but he is choosing to not take the educational opportunity being handed to him.


The GTM nursery school and primary school are doing well. We have 20 children in Primary 1 (1st grade) and a total of 130 children in Nursery 1, 2, & 3 (4, 5, & 6 year olds). Last year's nursery school graduation was amazing! David purchased graduation gowns for the children moving up to primary school. They had a graduation ceremony with about 80 parents attending. After David and 2 of our teachers spoke, they walked in a processional from the school to the center of town. It is about a 20 minute walk. Old men were praising God, young women were weeping, and some were even giving the children money! The older people were saying they had never seen anything like this, even before the war started in 1983. A great testimony to the community that we are different because we are Christians. Currently, we are the only school in the area teaching the children God's word. I pray other schools follow our example so the children of Pajok can be filled with the eternal word of the God and Creator of the universe....the lover of their souls.....the end result being salvation and a passion to worship, know, and follow Jesus Christ.


Thank you for your support. We praise our Lord Jesus Christ for His faithfulness. He is worthy!


Sorry no pictures....I uploaded them but they would not attach to the Blog!

Uncertainty in South Sudan

One month ago there were 2,000 people in Pajok fleeing from the violence in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Three weeks ago the number jumped to 3,350 people. Since then, those who work for the government have been called back to their posts. Some have moved down to a refugee camp in Northern Uganda. Others have traveled down to the refugee camp in Northern Uganda to register and then returned to Pajok, so that they have a "reservation" just in case they need to run in the future. The people who are still in Pajok are with family or extended family. We wanted to reach out to the displaced people with food and temporary shelters but we are really not setup to be a relief organization for thousands of people. So, we tried to tie in with some Christian relief organizations but it didn’t work out. They were either not able or very far away from our area. At this point, I am not sure how many of the displaced people remain in Pajok. From the information I have, they are coping with the influx of extra people.


The fighting has slowed but not stopped. There have been many reports of violations of the ceasefire from both sides of the conflict. Thankfully, there is no violence in Pajok. This week the second round of peace talks have started in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They have been rocky from what I have read. Seven of the eleven government personnel have been released from prison and are taking part in the second round of peace talks. They are still calling for the other four to be released. The rebels are also calling for the president to step down and be replaced until the 2015 elections. This is doubtful. However, it indicates they may continue fighting until President Salva Kiir steps down.


Pray for the violence to stop. Thousands of civilians have been murdered. Men, women, and children in this conflict have been sent into eternity. From the map of religions in South Sudan, most of the fighting is taking place in non-Christian areas. Those meeting their maker will not experience His rest, but rather His wrath, unless they were submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.


Pray for the furtherance of the Gospel in these areas even in the midst of destruction.


Ro 10:12-15 & 17
 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"
 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.


Thank you!


Some current articles:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/02/15/south-sudan-cease-fire-civil-war/5457685/


http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2014/0213/South-Sudan-peace-talks-resume-amid-pressure-to-compromise-quickly-video


http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/13/south-sudan-political-detainees-form-3rd-group-at-talks-speak-for-first-time/


http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cease-fire-south-sudan-violence-persists-22476883


in Sprit & Truth,
Jeff Huber

Refugees

I spoke with David 2 days ago and he said there are over 2,000 refugees in his village of Pajok. There are more people arriving every day. A threat was circulated in Juba (Capital of South Sudan) that the rebel forces are going to attack January 15th. So, many people are fleeing to safety. Pajok is a safe haven right now. Pajok is home to part of the Acholi tribe and not part of the conflict.


The current estimates are that 10,000 people have died in only 1 month. Many articles say in excess of 1,000 people but they have been saying that for three weeks. Some news agencies are reporting 10,000, which is probably more accurate. The truth is, nobody knows for sure. Tomorrow (January 15th) will mark 1 month for this conflict. The conflict is between the Dinka tribe and the Nuer tribe. Civilians are being murdered along these tribal lines.


Pray for us to be able to help the refugees in Pajok with food & shelter and also to minister to them the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have contacted some Christian relief organizations to see if they are in the state of East Equatoria and if they can help us. Currently there is no one helping in or near Pajok. David is ready to lead or help with a relief effort no matter how big or small.


Pray for political and social peace.


Pray for true peace that the world can't give; the peace of Jesus Christ as LORD & SAVIOR for the people of South Sudan.


http://www.voanews.com/content/fight-blocks-aid-to-thousands-of-displaced-in-south-sudan/1830195.html


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25725266