SIM Football Team - the new hype around town

For the past few weeks Eli and a bunch of our students and workers
have been playing football (soccer) out on the secondary school's
new field for fun every evening. But this last Saturday we were
invited to play against the Yabus town team on the field in town.

We didn't realize it was such a big deal until we arrived and they
started handing out uniforms. The game drew a good size crowd,
and our SIM team did very well despite the 0-1 loss to town.

After the game, players from both teams circled around while
several people gave speeches - a government official, church
leader, and a few others that had something to say.

We're excited about this new avenue for outreach. When I
(Bethany) walked through town the next day, many people
commented on the great football match and asked when the next
game is. I know Eli had hoped that all his years of playing and
practice would come in handy someday, and they sure have. 

Sudanese Women hungry to study the Bible

I've wanted to start a women's Bible study in Yabus since I moved
here a year ago and today that dream came into fruition. Around 2
p.m. Katie (my teammate), Lucy (a Sudanese friend and our translator)
and I hiked down a path carrying our own stools until we came to a
nearby village where a large group of Uduk families live. Most of the
husbands of these women are students in the adult education program
on our base.

We gathered under a shade tree and I started the story of creation
using large colorful pictures put out by Global Recordings. The
women were all ears as Lucy translated for them. After covering the
first three chapters of Genesis, we went through the pictures again
and asked them to retell the stories for us. When the lesson was
over, all the women thanked us profusely and told us they've never
had teaching like this before and are eager to learn more. Katie and
I expressed that this is exactly why we've come to Sudan - to teach
what we've learned about God so they in turn can teach others,
including their children and friends.

Today I experienced the joy of doing what I know God called me to
Sudan to do. 

Home Again

This time it took two days to get back to Yabus since we flew
to Lokichoggio (on the border of Sudan in Kenya) and spent the
night there and flew the rest of the way yesterday. The Lord
answered our prayers and kept the weather dry both days we
were traveling.

As we landed in Yabus, we could see it's a whole new world
after having a few weeks of rain. It's GREEN. When we left
everything was still brown and looked like a desert. Now
there's grass growing everywhere and leaves on the trees.
With the rain came all the assortment of bugs that we didn't
have during the dry season. We've discovered that Evan is our
little bug magnet and they all bite him, so I'm spraying him
with repellent before he goes out.

Only hours after we arrived back home in Yabus, Eli had
changed into his work clothes, put on his old hat and
sunglasses, and looked at me with eagerness and excitement to
get back to work. He's got quite a list of projects he'd like
to tackle and finish before we leave to have the baby.  Our
SIM doctor, Dr. Rob Congdon, advised that we come to Nairobi
earlier than we'd planned so we might be leaving Yabus as
early as June 4th which is only a month away. Please pray for
us to have wisdom in this decision since we want to be safe.

Isaac and Evan are thrilled to be back. Isaac immediately
stripped most of his clothes off as soon as we got here and
has been running around outside happily. One of the first
things we did was run down the path to greet all our friends
who live near us. It was hard to drag Isaac and Evan back
home for dinner. :)

It's still very hot and I've been reminded of how much more
difficult it is to live in the bush and be pregnant. Please
pray for daily strength for me. I'm trying to take time to
rest in the middle of the day which boosts my energy for the
rest of the afternoon.

We're glad to be home and look forward to sharing more fun
stories and experiences with you over the next few months.