Thoughts before entering Sudan

Surprise! I have internet access in Arua Uganda, and time to write out a post before my 10 day sojourn in Southern Sudan. By way of keeping up with things, I've had a great first week in Uganda. The Lord was really at work and present in the pastor's training this past week. I learned a lot, and got almost 5 hours of tape as well. The two days of bus rides up here were mostly smooth. You can see pictures at my facebook page if you're interested. There was one 2 kilometer section of the road where there were speed humps every ten meters. We're talking around 200 humps in a row. It was so bizarre al you could really do was laugh. Imagine a bus full of people who all have a serious case of the hiccups and they're in sync with each other.

Tomorrow morning I will fly with the Mango Ministries (aka WGM South Sudan) team from Arua Uganda to Akot South Sudan. I'm not sure I can put into words the reasons why I am excited about this trip. Everything I've ever heard indicates that Sudan is not really an ideal vacation destination. There's no big tourist industry, food and water are often scarce, and there are signs posted to keep you out of fields by saying "Danger Land Mines!"

So what on earth would posses me to want to visit such a place? One, I would say that I have had friends who have spent time working in Sudan and it has changed their lives. Bearing witness to the struggles present in such a country has made them challenge their lives and priorities.

Two, I think there's something in me that wants to experience an East Africa that is more similar to the one my Great-grandparents found when the Adkins family first came to Kenya in the 1930s. I'm probably way off base with it, but i've got this idea in my head that in many ways Southern Sudan has reverted back to the state it would have been in back when the white man first came to East Africa. I've always wanted to see what the region was like back in those days, though I don't think I could survive it too long.

Three, I've been hearing about so many exciting ministries happening in Sudan over the past years that I'll be really happy and privileged to be involved in some small way.

Four, I feel like God's planted a desire in my heart to see what's happening in Southern Sudan. I don't know how else to describe it. The best example I can give is from a couple months ago when I was at Tenwek and got to hear the Mango Ministries team speaking to the medical staff at the hospital. There was a stirring and excitement in my heart that I could find no words for other than a desire to see Southern Sudan.

I'm so thankful to God for blessing me with this privilege and opportunity, and I can't wait to see what happens. I will appreciate your prayers during our ten day trip. I'm sure I'll have many things to say when I return to Uganda. Until then...

God Bless,

Jonny

For lack of a better blog...

I promised a post this weekend and here it is at the last minute. I've been trying so hard to think of something really interesting to write, but nothing's come to mind. So basically here's just a little wassup on my life.

About a week and a half ago I was asked if I could go to Northern Uganda to film a video for Billy and Joanna Coppedge while they conduct a training seminar with several pastors from the area. From the seminar we are all planned to go to Sudan where Billy and some others will lead another seminar while I will go around and shoot a video for Mango Ministries, the name of WGM's growing work in Sudan.

There are a couple reasons this should be interesting to you, my readers.

First, some of you may know Billy and Joanna who were at Asbury while I was there and are generally all around awesome people.

Second, this will quite probably mean a drastic reduction in the number of posts I'll be making on the blog as I will probably not have a free of access to this World Wide Web.

Third, while I'm very excited about both these video projects, I have to confess that I am a bit nervous as well. I've never shot 2 projects at the same time on my own before. While I'm trying to prepare as well as I can it still is a daunting task from this end. I will greatly appreciate your prayers as I travel around and try to shoot these projects.

I'll be leaving Kericho on Sunday the 11th of October. Sorry this doesn't have a lot of insight or anything, but I did write more in depth on the subject in my prayer letter which I plan to have going out before I leave Kericho. Look for it...

apologies

I'm sorry for no post this weekend, I got busy with other things. I will have something to put up this coming weekend so look for it.

Also, in leu of a blog post I have written a new prayer letter and I hope to be sending that out soon. If you're interested in receiving it, and are not on my mailing list already, feel free to post a reply here or send me an email with your email or physical address. (Please only physical addresses in the USA.) You can email me at adkins01@gmail.com

See you this weekend.

Jonny