Compound Abuzz

School is back in session. Laughter and games fill the compound during recess and the sound of group recitation and song during class periods. Teachers walk with long strides across the yard, their faces set with purpose no matter which direction they turn. In the clinic, Nurse Noeline sees patients from both town and village, coming from the Dinka, Didinga, Lotukul, Toposa, and Turkana tribes. Greg (senior missionary) is found on the job site, supervising and working alongside his crew as they construct a new missionary house. Jeremy (missionary intern) prepares for another class – one of the seven he teaches each week (plus a Sunday sermon). The compound is abuzz with activity. A busy midweek after a busy beginning.

Stopping to fix a puncture on the way to Narus
(Greg McClerkin, Senior Missionary and Yakobo Lonya, Choir Member)

This past Sunday, Greg took the Boys Choir to sing at a small church in Narus, S. Sudan. Our greatest dilemma in the trip was choosing which members could go, as the vehicle couldn’t hold all fourteen. But everyone remained in good spirits as we loaded them up and wished them a good two-hour journey. Pastor John from Riwoto accompanied the group as a guest speaker, and Mark Olayo (Kenyan missionary) went to lead the choir. Meanwhile, Jeremy and I, along with a core group, stayed behind to lead the compound service. What an incredible blessing it was to have boys remaining who could pick right up where the others left off. In the absence of so many helpers, we were not left helpless. Rather, it was a wonderful opportunity for the quieter boys to step up to the plate and exercise their gifts in the church – Musa and Isaya heading up worship, Lokine taking up offering, and Lopero leading in prayer.

Choir Singing in Narus, South Sudan

Weekday evenings have now been split into Story Testing sessions and classes on Biblical Manhood. It’s been a joy to have Jeremy Logan and Mark Olayo heading up a Story-based teaching on what it means to choose the path of a “Christian Warrior” (to be a “real man” for Christ). The young men with us have been responding very positively to the teaching, with “Christian Warrior” becoming a new key term among their ranks. We’re so grateful for the two young men (Jeremy and Mark) who have both taught and exemplified the Scriptural principles being drawn from the Stories.

On “my” nights, we gather to hear a new Story recorded by fellow Believers in the village of Peringa. After listening, we have a good time of questions and answers. The boys treat this as a fun sort of examination and listen very intently to the Stories in order to have both answers and questions of their own. Beginning with fact questions, such as “Who was the father of Joseph? And of Jacob?”, we build up their confidence for inference/testing questions (i.e. “Why do you think Jacob greeted Rachel and his uncle with a kiss? What would your family think if you greeted them with a kiss? How do you feel about Jacob after hearing of this greeting?”) and then to more challenging thoughts, such as “If you had been Esau in this Story, how would you have responded to Jacob’s deceit? To the deceit of your mother? How should we, as Believers in Jesus, respond when people deceive us?” The answers being given speak volumes to us both in regard to the boys’ growing maturity in the faith and to the people’s cultural processing of the Stories.

Language Study

We’ve been so blessed to see marked growth in several of the young men as a result of the Spirit doing His work through the Scripture. Small steps and large, we rejoice to see fruit – young men working harder than usual on Work Days, a boy volunteering to help slash grass with no thought of recompense for his labor, another boy showing an unusual degree of honesty by returning a small amount of change after making a purchase for us, one showing a strange act of kindness towards a mentally-handicapped kid on the compound, an older kid eagerly asking to share his testimony in the church, a group sitting around in the morning discussing Bible Stories and asking questions. On and on the list goes. How we rejoice at the sight of God’s graces!

“Now, O Lord, YOU are our Father.

We are the clay, YOU are our Potter.

We are all the work of Your hand.”

(Isaiah 64:8)

Please continue praying for the young men here, as well as one young lady in particular (Nakurio). May the Lord continue His work of molding in their lives, as He continues it also in ours.