Thirteen individuals from Shenango Presbytery traveled to the Sudan to help construct a church from January 6 - 20, 2006. Below are some of their emails sent from Sudan. To read their complete journal and view pictures, click on this link.
We are here! In case there are some of you reading these i just wanted to let you know
that we made it to Khartoum with no problems. it is Monday morning and we
are headed out to the work site to see what we can accomplish to day. Last
night we went to church services in two groups. On group went out to the
churdh where are going to be building. It was a nice service. Five of us
sang a song for the congrgation. All went well. Barney
Hi Jere and Everyone,
Jere, thanks for the encouraging note. Today, Monday, was our first workday at the site in Salama. The village is a cluster of brick and rude block buildings in the desert on the northern end of Khartoum....no grass or vegetation. Lots of families with many children. When we arrived we found the building footer in place, piles of dirt outside and stacks of brick for the building. When we left today most of the dirt had been moved inside the proposed building to bring the floor level up and three walls were up about 14 courses of brick, approximately one third of the total height. There is a contractor with day laborers, strong young men from the church, strong Sudanese ladies, willing children, and strong Americans. We moved all the dirt in buckets, probably about 10 tons. The brick
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First wall is up! |
were moved into position mostly by "chain brigades", one brick at a time because small children were part of the
chain. Lunch was prepared by the church ladies and consisted of pasta/meat, something like a small gourd stuffed with something else and French fries. The meal was very good. Served with either mango juice or water. Lunch arrived about 2 p.m. and we did no more work after that. It was served at the site and we returned the cookware to the home where the meal was prepared. A party resulted with dancing by the women including a few Americans who did the chicken dance and something else.
This was a very happy day. The site was ready for construction and there was a lot of singing, dancing and chatting during the workday. Barry and Betsy Almy, our PCUSA representatives, were with us all day as was Yousif Matar, General Secretary of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the evangelist of the congregation of the church we are building.
This evening is free with nothing scheduled.
My thanks to all of you who I know are praying for us.
None of the negative things we thought might happen have occurred. Praise the Lord.
God Bless You,
Love,
Dave Lower
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Installing a window |
Hello Again,
We have finished for the day and you can see where the windows are going now. We have moved those bricks again and again and again. :) Just like army guys! Barney and Dave and Glen and Tom ( our fearless leaders) are to meet with the Moderator of SPEC and the executive committee tonight. Then dinner and then, maybe, a longer night of sleep!
Love and blessings,
Cookie
Dear Family and Friends,
This is my last message to you from Khartoum. We will be leaving for the airport today at 5:30 p.m. [Thursday morning US time] I have enjoyed writing to you; it helps me keep focused upon what has been important on this mission trip.
Yesterday was spent in catching up on some miscellaneous activities until the farewell service at Salama last evening.
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Celebration! |
At 6 p.m. we met for celebration and worship inside the new church building. The service lasted 2 and 1/2 hours and as darkness set in we felt we were truly in God's house under his very high roof. In addition to prayer and messages there was a sketch put on by the young people. I did not recognize all aspects of the sketches because they were in Arabic, but one consisted of a young man struggling in coughing and gagging and asking the pastor to pray for him to quit smoking. Later as the elder present I was interviewed by one of the young ladies. She asked me about 15 questions to which I had to respond for the congregation. In addition to personal questions there were some like this: "Can a politician be a servant?", "What words of encouragement can you give this congregation?". One of the statements that stuck with me from this service was, "We can't give you anything but our smiles and our happiness." The congregation pulled out all the stops; they brought us water and smack foods.
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Finally - four walls! |
On this trip we ended up with four beautiful walls for a church. This was the fruit of the Sudanese congregation, our labor and the people from Shenango Presbytery who made it financially possible for the materials. The building is secondary, however, to the solidarity that I think we have achieved with our Christian brothers and sisters and with the church leaders. They have to realize that the Americans are more than simply money and prayer.....that we are ready to serve. This relationship of shared work will add another dimension to our partnership.
In the last few days I have felt this country growing on me. I don't know exactly why....but then my policy is to never ask God why. I think it has to do with "smiles and happiness". Everyone jovially ahakes your hand. Traffic may seem terrible and mean spirited but it is not. People insist on the right of way up to a point then give in to the other fellow. This is actually very courteous. Horns are used to let others know you are coming, not out of anger. As I think about leaving here, I want to head for home yet I feel like I am leaving something valuable behind. There is a feeling of peace and optimisim in this land in spite of the ravages of war in the south and the west and a government that seems oppressive to us.
Thank you for taking the time to read these little reports. I hope I have not bored you too much. I thank you also for your prayers and look forward to sharing more of Sudan with you.
From Kharoumn......May God Bless You.........Always, Love, David Lower
