Now I’m in a very well-appointed office, with a myriad of resources at my fingertips. Tests, specialist referrals, calling on incredibly knowledgeable colleagues with questions - I have every advantage. In Sudan, I struggled to make even a simple diagnosis of intestinal parasites. Here if I want I can order a battery of tests for all kinds of intestinal infections, or an ultrasound or a CT, or an MRI.

God has brought me on a great journey over the past year - stripping me of everything I thought I wanted or needed - but where I end up is the same exact place I was in Sudan: I desperately need God’s assistance every moment of every day. I still need to pray that same prayer I learned to pray in Sudan, “Father, You are the Great Physician. Be the Head of this clinic. Be the One caring for these patients. And help me join you in whatever you are doing in each patient’s life.” You see, the same desperation that I felt when I looked at a little malnourished child applies when I look at an overnourished patient whose blood sugars are out of control. Only God can make the difference in this patient’s life.

I saw a patient today who was very frustrated with the medical profession. “With all the technology and advances, with all the tests and medicines, you would think that someone could tell me what is wrong with me!” I looked at her and saw in her the same longing for wholeness that I saw in my patients in Sudan - that I see all around the world. The creation is groaning, wanting redemption to be made complete. Even the patient most resistant to God knows that something is wrong in our world today. We know what wholeness is, oftentimes because we feel the lack of it and the longing for it. Oh, that I might point the way for each patient to the Only One Who can bring that wholeness they long for!!

You see, in Sudan, I discovered some things about myself. One of the biggest things I discovered is that when I swing on the pendulum from fear to pride and back again, the mooring of that pendulum is self. Fear and pride have this in common: they exist because I think things depend on me, or because I misunderstand the goodness and greatness of God (or both!).

I believe that God brought me to the Didinga Hills of Southern Sudan because He needed to do something drastic to get my attention. It was there, and in recovering from being suddenly evacuated from life there, that God tore down my defenses so I had to hear His voice. Little by little, over days, weeks and months, God laid me bare to see that I have nothing to be proud of. In the same way, He also revealed Himself and his great love to show me that I have nothing to fear.

Whether I succeed or fail, His voice remains constant, whispering the same thing: “I love you.” I say the right thing - “I love you.” I make a ridiculous fool of myself - “I love you.” I do what’s right - “I love you.” I do what’s wrong - “I love you.” The message of the Cross to me is the measure of how much He was willing to give for my redemption. He valued my - our - redemption so much that He gave His very Son, His very Self. The sacrament of communion has become to me a way of accepting His valuation of me, of accepting His great sacrifice that forever proved the worth He placed on my restoration. What extravagant, unearned, amazing love! What peace there is in resting on His estimation of my worth, rather than working to be worthy or trying to beg for His approval!

These scattered thoughts are the best I can do right now at expressing what He has done in me this past year. You see, when I left for Sudan, I thought I was a pretty good servant of God. I thought I had something to offer. But step by broken step, I discovered that I have nothing to offer, but He loves me anyway.

I left for Sudan carrying the heavy burdens of fear and pride, and they got stripped away methodically, painfully, ruthlessly, until He replaced them with a measure of security and humility I’ve never known. I am just a beginner in this thing of humility and trust, but I am learning, and am amazed at His patience with me as an oft-faltering student!

It is my prayer that you too might learn this dual lesson: that you have nothing to offer, but that He loves you lavishly anyway. May He deal with you as graciously and ruthlessly as you can bear, and in the end, may you learn the joy of hearing the Father’s voice constantly whispering - in success or failure - “I love you.”

Deborah

A long road to travel – yes, but worth every kilometer! How else could I have gotten a glimpse into the shadows and seen the light of God’s Kingdom at work in and through the TIMO team who are there ministering God’s grace to the Ndengereko people?

Interdependent with the feet
Are the joints in neighboring junctions.
Their correction, support, and care
Allow these lower parts to function

Arms that are strong and steadfast,
Well-toned with numerous giftings.
They embrace the body, bringing it warmth;
They share wisdom that brings uplifting.

Hands that are helping, serving, reaching out;
Busy in different realms.
They’re sensitive to the body’s various needs,
Addressing the hurt that abounds

Lungs that permeate with air that sustains,
Delivering life and laughter and joy.
They seek to uphold the peace and unity
That others seek to destroy.

A heart that feeds in and flows out well,
Pouring out the love it’s received.
With the right ventricle supporting the left,
It integrates and encourages belief.

We are members one of another,
Connected to the Head up above
By the grace of God and by giving grace to each other,
We can build this body up in love.

These and many other comments reflected the feelings of attendees to our annual Team Leaders Forum held the beginning of June - where we here at En Gedi help prepare our future TIMO Team Leaders by providing instructive sessions on everything from Logistical set up of the teams and finances to Fruitful Practices in Church Planting, curriculum updates, and so many other topics as well.

One of the main points of the Forum is to offer our future …team leaders a chance to rub shoulders and learn from those currently leading teams and those who’ve gone before to find out what’s proven effective in the areas of training team members, team dynamics, and ministry. It’s a great week where we get to bless our team leaders a bit and we also get a chance to spend time with each of our leaders one on one to talk through issues specific to their circumstances.

In addition to the training, however, is the family feel that’s always been a part of TIMO. Often the Forums feel more like Family Reunions where you get to enjoy great food and fellowship and catch up with the rest of the extended TIMO family. That leads to a bit of fun, of course, and with a trip to a nearby hot spring, some pampering for the ladies, and some sports during the week, it allows us to just enjoy being together. It allows our team leaders to just relax and be taken care of for a while.

It is a lot of work, and our short-termers here at En Gedi displayed that in putting together a great program for the children. We were blessed by some great worship and devotion times as well brought to the Forum by Team Leaders, but it’s all worth the effort when comments come like those above. As for us here at En Gedi? We can’t wait ’til next year!

On May 3rd and 4th, I had the privilege of joining several AICT pastors, the unit leader and Brad Settle on a survey trip amongst the Kuria people of North Western Tanzania. The Kuria have a population of over four hundred thousand and are located in both Kenya and Tanzania. They have had a presence of church work amongst them for many years. Yet … less than two miles off the main road on our first venture out, significantly bogged in the mud, we met up with a group of men, armed with bows, arrows, spears and machetes. A goat had been stolen the night before and they were after the thief, presumably from a neighboring Kuria clan. If caught, there would be bloodshed, with a new blood feud that would affect generations to come. Sitting in a meeting with the District Commissioner the next day, we were warmly welcomed on the behalf of the government, the sad state of affairs amongst the Kuria clearly laid before us. The Kuria need transformation through the forgiveness of Jesus and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Without that, hundreds more Kuria will die regularly in the centuries old blood feuds that continue to flourish between the twelve different clans of Kuria.
Lutherans, Anglicans, Mennonites, Pentecostals of many stripes and even the Africa Inland Church have had significant work among the Kuria. Yet, the needed transformation has yet to impact them! Superstition, ancestral worship and cultural beliefs continue to hold them in bondage, forcing them to live a life of fear and revenge. After driving through several large parts of Kuria, we located an area where there is little if any evangelical witness. Though access in the rainy season will be tricky, we are trusting that God will open the door for a TIMO team to enter, led by Brad and Barb Settle. Brad and Barb are TIMO Alumni with over ten years of experience in church planting and ministry in Tanzania.

Regions around the globe as we helped them to understand some of our difficulties as well. We all came away with a greater appreciation for what it takes to bring people from initial contact to preparing them to go, to sending them, receiving them, and developing them as members within our organization. Additionally, we heard from speakers outside of our organization some excellent information regarding what is important for helping people to thrive cross-culturally, evaluate and debrief members well, and coming to grips with the “emerging church.” Really good.

Some material was new during the week and some was an encouraging reinforcement to what we are doing with the TIMO program, but it was all valuable.

Finally, what made it particularly fun once again, was getting the opportunity to attend the meetings in Bristol, England where AIM’s internatinoal headquarters are. Bristol is a very historic and picturesque city and just beautiful in the Spring. We felt like this just added icing to the cake of a week full of important and helpful meetings.

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But some of our finishes aren’t finished…relationships don’t get started and ended in two years. The impact of the Gospel on people’s lives doesn’t finish in just two years. The changes that have been made in us don’t get shed after we leave the Chalbi Desert.

And now we launch into new paths that the Lord has prepared for us, and paths we have been prepared FOR by being on a TIMO team. What will the eternal results be because of our lives? What legacy will we leave – in the Chalbi and wherever God takes us? Whose eternal destinies will be changed because we were obedient?

It has been a privilege to serve with this team of people. Yes, our time together has finished, but our friendships, our prayers for one another and for the people of the Chalbi, have not. We face new beginnings, new training, new ministries, new challenges, new hardships, for some of us new languages…We are beginning.

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For years many enthusiastic and passionate missionaries have arrived on the Africa shores laden with Bibles to share with the lost and unreached. But “how will they believe in HIM whom they have not yet heard.” (Rom 10:14 NAS) If people cannot read, how do they hear? One way is through the “oral” Bible. In recent missions history many cross cultural workers have shared God’s Word among the people they work with through the “spoken” Word as opposed to the “written” Word with great success. And this has proven highly effective among oral learners. The purpose of chronological Bible storying is to present Bible stories in the mother tongue language using culturally relevant storytelling forms.

In early March the Ndengereko TIMO Team had the awesome privilege of participating in a two-week mini-seminar, taught by Wycliffe One-Story trainers on the subject of Chronological Bible Storying. Two workers from Pioneer Bible Translators also attended the training. The goal of chronological Bible storying is to re-create Bible stories using culturally relevant storytelling forms. Wycliffe’s One-Story seeks “to develop and record worldview-sensitive, chronological Bible story sets for each specific group of oral-preference learners — typically 40 to 60 stories in a two-year period”. During the seminar much attention was given to determining the spiritual void of the host culture in order to develop a redemptive theme applicable to that need. There were exercises in developing key biblical terms, recording stories, anchoring each story line to a Bible truth, followed by checking, translating and then back-translating each story.

Each participant received lots of practical help as well as a myriad of resources to better equip them in developing chronological Bible story sets. We were thankful for the “mother-tongue” volunteers helping with the various exercises, as well as for the Wycliffe trainers whose experience and expertise in handling the Scriptures was invaluable. Please pray for the Ndengereko Team as they move into this exciting new phase of their curriculum and, ultimately, toward sharing Jesus Christ with their Ndengereko neighbors.

We headed southwest on the tarmac towards our destination. The paved tarmac ended about two hours outside of town and the four wheeling began. The road was bumpy, rocky, dusty and …..everything in between. The Chinese have been hired by the Tanzanian government to build their road so every so often we saw about 30 Tanzanians and one Chinese worker working on a section of the road. It was kind of funny! We also saw mini camps the Chinese had set up with fabricated homes for them to live in. There were mountains and flat land and farmland for miles and miles. It was amazing!

We reached the next major town on the way around 10:30am. We stopped and bought some bottled water, had some chai and chapati (like a tortilla but thicker and very good) and bought a panga (a machete) to use for cutting trees if we go stuck in the mud and needed them. After our short stop we got back on track and headed to our destination. Right now it is rainy season in Tanzania. There are major roads that take you to major cities, but there are very few alternate routes. Because of the rain, many of the routes are closed due to flooding and muddy areas; cars are unable to travel. Let me tell you, it was bad! We were going through mud up to my knees, through rushing rivers, across massive boulders, and fields where you thought the road would lead to nowhere. We took one path and ended up having to turn around and back track about an hour and half because the road was so muddy. Once we got back on track we drove for about another three hours and came to a river to cross. We put the Land Cruiser in low and rushed through the water only to get stuck on the other side. We had to get out and throw sand under the tires, eventually making it up the embankment and continuing on our way.

After about twelve and half hours of travel, we finally made it to our destination. It was getting dark and I was afraid we were going to have to sleep in the car. We were in the middle of Tanzania, far from any major city, and farmland with muddy huts and mountain ranges as far as your eyes could see. We drove up to a school in one of the villages and met with the head school master. Unbelievably, he offered us a place to stay in his home. It was a true blessing and gift of kindness.

Before settling in for the evening, we walked to the center of town to meet with a contact of Emma and John’s. The path there took us across the river where we had to take off our boots and socks, hike up our pant legs past our knees and walk across. The water came up just above my knees. Once across, we walked another twenty minutes to the center of town. When we arrived, we walked into a house where many people had gathered. They all greeted us and a man walked from the back room. When he opened the door, I was so surprised to see they were watching soccer. It was Nigeria vs. Egypt. Apparently he has a satellite dish on the roof of his home. John and Emma talked to him briefly and he wanted us to watch the game and have a meal. It was a blessing because we hadn’t eaten in a long while. We had some chai, some maandazi (like a doughnut) and then some ugali (a substance like sticky grits that you eat with your fingers while using a dipping sauce). It had no taste, but it is very filling.

After the game and meal, we headed back in the pitch dark to the school master’s home. Even though I was so tired, I did not sleep at all that night given the accommodations were a little less comfortable than I’m used to. But I kept thinking too of how gracious it was that GOD had provided us a place to stay for the night and for the hospitality of the couple. This was different than what you would likely ever experience in America. Remember we had never met this couple, and they opened their home to us without a second thought. God surely provided for us that night and it was such a blessing to know we have a God who provides and WANTS to provide.

The next day we walked back to the center of town and across the river again. John and Emma wanted to see the village in the daylight and survey the whole area. They also wanted to see if we could hire a couple of men that have pikipikis (motorcycles in Swahili). We walked around for about two hours and saw a lot of the land. The village is spread out and there is so much farming going on. Later we met with their friend, and he had two pikipikis ready to go. We wanted to ride to see another village in the area of the same tribe. We hopped on the pikis and headed out. John and Emma were on one, and I rode on the back of their friend’s piki. I had to close my eyes most of the time because I thought we were going to crash. We actually did on one occasion, and we both fell off. We both were okay though. No serious injury just a couple of mud stains on the seat of our pants. We had to drive over two mountains to get to the village, but it was worth the rough ride. If we had taken the road, it would have surely taken all day due to the conditions, but what made it worthwhile were the absolutely amazing landscapes. From the tops of the mountains, it was the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen. It was like I was in heaven. I could totally see myself building a home and living there forever. When we arrived at the second village, John and Emma met with the village chief and explained what they wanted to do and whatnot and he was gracious and said they were more than welcome to come to his village.

After the meeting, we trekked back, taking a shortcut that was rocky and full of boulders. It was ridiculous. Most of the time John and I walked and pushed the pikis up the hill. Once we made it to the top of the small mountain we were fine. On the way back, we stopped at a mud hut and ate some leftover ugali and chicken at a relative’s home of their friend. They were so delighted to see us. These people have nothing, and they offered us food to eat. Later we left and headed back. About thirty minutes from our destination, a piece on Emma’s piki broke, so only he could ride on it. Imagine if you can the other three of us riding on one piki. I was sandwiched between two grown men. If we were to wreck, I would have been helpless.

We finally made it back to the village and paid the driver some money and got in our car and headed to a major town in the district around 5:00 p.m. with hopes of arriving before night fall. We were making good timing until we had to take a detour through a field because of an impassable road. During this detour, we hit a sink hole and our left rear tire just sank up to the axle. We were stuck. We had a big task on our hands. Luckily, we had picked up two Tanzanian men who were going the same way and were giving them a lift, they were a big help getting out of there. We hit six more obstacles on the way where the mud was terrible especially where the water had washed the road away. Due to John’s skillful driving, we made it through them all safely - even two areas where we had to battle the rushing river. At around 9:00 p.m. we finally made it to the major town and checked in to a guesti (hotel, but not like ones in America), had dinner, took a shower from a five gallon bucket and went to bed. We all had our own room with our own bed this time!

The next day we woke up, had breakfast, and went to meet with the District Commissioner who lived/worked in that town. Tanzania is divided in districts and they have commissioners elected that are head of them. The village we wanted to enter was part of his district, and we had to get permission from him to enter the village. After a little wait, we all went in and had a long conversation with him. It was all in Swahili, so I didn’t understand it. But it was evident that he was very gracious and approval was given for entry into the village. He told us to come back tomorrow with an official letter stating what we wanted to do, and he would sign it and tell us what else needed to be done.

Later that day John & Emma wrote up an official letter stating what they were going there to do, who they were and who was going with them and for how long. After we printed it, we walked around town and collected prices for building material that would be needed. We ate lunch where I experienced chips mayai (eggs with french fries mixed in kind of like a french fry omelet). It was delicious! After we all went back and took a nice long nap, then had dinner and went to bed.

The next day we met Samson, (a pastor, doctor, and head school master at a nearby village/town). He is a pastor for the African Inland Church, a partner of TIMO, and he brought a stamp that made the document official so that we could take it back to the District Commissioner. They made copies of the letter and approved them to enter the village. We then had to take a copy to the Commander of the Police Force, the Safety Commissioner, and to three other commissioners in nearby towns. It was a complicated process.

After that lengthy process, we headed back to our home base. We first had to make a stop at Samson’s village to drop him off. When we dropped him off, Samson showed us around his compound that he was running. He has a clinic that he runs himself, an all girls school that he also runs. and a very nice church in which he is the pastor of. It was an amazing! He has many containers full of supplies people have given him as well as a lot of construction going on there to expand the compound. He even showed me his dental room that he uses to do dental work. The outreach work there started with a TIMO team about 12 years ago. After leaving him, we headed back to the main road for our final trek home. We dropped off Emma at a local pastor’s home where he would stay the night. At about 8:30pm we arrived back at En Gedi. When we returned, Nancy had dinner ready for us and I met the new short termer named Grant. He will be here for six weeks. I was so exhausted, and after dinner I took a nice long hot shower and went to bed.

What an unbelievable adventure! It was one amazing ride and I could be doing it all again in a few weeks when we go back to help Emma set up a home for him to work out of before the team comes. I really can’t believe I just experienced what I did. I kept pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. It was awesome and it is something I will never forget. God was so gracious and merciful the whole trip. It was a blessing to say the least. GOD really does provide!!

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djm