Missionary Corner

From Elder Paul Israelsen,
Chibok? (how are you in the Dinka language) Greetings from the very lush and mild-temperatured city of Kampala! You don't know what you got 'til its gone. And now without any further delay, I am sure you are anxious to hear about Sudan.

We left to fly to Juba, which is the capital city of Southern Sudan- just north of the border with Uganda. The city is just waking up from a long gridlock of war. Southern Sudan had been at war for 45 consecutive years with Arab Northern Sudan until just 2005 when they signed a Peace Agreement. Since then, the city and the country has developed slowly, but the people seem to have hope that things will improve. About half of the buildings there look like they are going to crumble to bits and many had from bombings and battles of the past. We found lots of shelled out tank remains driving around, and many other interesting things. Be grateful for gas prices in US- in Juba its 20$ a gallon!

We stayed at a place called the Juba Grand Hotel, which was pretty nice considering the surroundings, and on Sunday we had the first official sacrament meeting held in Southern Sudan that we know of. It was only us and one other Priesthood holder that lives in the area. Our group consisted of Elder Dube and me, Pres. and Sis. Christensen, the humanitarian couple E. and S. Glenn, and the passport/visa/public relations guy from the mission office named Fred Kitimbo.

We left on Monday morning for a town in the Northwest of S. Sudan called Aweil in a tiny local flight plane and arrived on a big dirt runway in the middle of a desert. Aweil is a small town with no big buildings and one hotel, which we stayed in. All of the people stay in round mud houses with thatched straw roofs and dirt floors- much less developed than here in Uganda. We stayed there Monday night, then hired a couple Land Rovers to go out to a village called Nyamlel.

Ok so heres the story, a couple years ago a Sudanese man named Akol, who had been living in Salt Lake, was converted, and then traveled back to his home village of Nyamlel and told the people there that this church should be their religion and explained a bit. The people took it on faith and began worshiping under the name of the church. Soon it spread to surrrounding villages and now there are 7 "branches" there with about 4500 people calling themselves members of the church, all of whom would be baptized in a heartbeat.

When we drove up to the village in the middle of a barren scorching wasteland with a couple scattered trees and no water in sight, we saw a sign they had made with the name of the church painted on it. And then as soon as we parked, we saw tons and tons of Sudanese children running over to greet us. Apparently there are about 1000 orphaned children that were just recently brought to that area from N. Sudan after the Peace Agreement was signed.

The village organized a primary school for them and they all meet under huge trees that they said will lose their leaves very soon. They all lined up in front of us and sang us songs to welcome us. The words I remember are "How are you visitors? We are together, we are happy to see you!" As I looked into their dust-covered faces and beautiful white smiles I was so touched that I almost burst into tears. I felt God's love and concern for them.

The rest of the day, Elder Dube and I taught the "leaders" of the branches that could speak English while everyone else drove around to other areas looking for where they could drill wells for water. There are no baptized members or priesthood holders there yet because there are no facilities and no missionaries yet. We were completely exhausted by the end of the day from so much teaching in such an environment, but were grateful for the opportunity. The people are so humble and so eager to learn.

The next day, we taught only for a short time, then drove around to the other branches to visit them. Those people literally have nothing but the environment around them. I felt like I was walking around a National Geographic shoot. All the houses are made from sand, mud, sticks, and grass, and people sleep on dirt with only a cowhide to divide them from the earth beneath them. The children and some of the adults don't have any shoes, and most look like they wear the same pair of torn, dirty clothes every single day. The people in each branch were so incredibly happy to see us, and some shouted and others cried. Each branch had constructed their own small church to worship in; they are so devoted to their God and sacrifice so much just to be able to worship Him. I was just in awe the whole time.

Some of the places we visited were so remote that the people had to walk upwards of 2 hours just to get any water to survive. They were so happy to hear that drills were coming for wells that they clapped and cheered every time. It was something I will never ever forget. People cut off from the rest of the world, but still worshiping the same God in the same way that we do. And I know that He loves each and every one of them as much as he loves me and you. I was so grateful to be a part of bringing the gospel to those wonderful people and I hope I get the chance to return.

There is so much more to tell, but we are running out of time cause we have to run some more errands. I will try to send some pictures from Sudan soon. Uganda seems so much more advanced than Sudan- funny how so often we don't recognize how many blessings we have until they aren't there anymore. I don't think I can ever complain about my circumstances again after that experience. I love all of you and I pray that you will have a super awesome week!Love,Elder Paul Israelsen