We just got word that we are heading back to Nairobi tomorrow afternoon. It has been a fast paced and hectic 6 days here. So many goodbyes, tears and hugs.
Then there was also all the packing, giving away 3-1/2 years of household goodies, and cleaning up. Yesterday Bubba found a black mamba that made a home behind our boxes. Glad I'm married to a snake killer! I accidentally stepped on a 2" scorpion as I was packing and cleaning today. So glad I didn't know it was in the room with me before then!

This morning I got to show the God's story DVD to Adem and Adem and a few other of their Fulani friends. We got the this DVD in a Fulani language they could understand and they loved the movie! It was great to close the movie by praying for them. They all bowed their heads and said "Amin" and "Shukran" ("thank you"
in Arabic) when I finished. Pray for them please. We long for God to raise up prophets from among their own people to share with their nomadic friends.

Also showed the Hope DVD in Arabic to some of the traders in the evening. They liked that movie a lot but had to stop before we got too far into the story of Jesus as it was prayer time. We continue to pray the Lord will open their eyes to the truth and that a seed of faith will be planted and grow 100 fold in their lives.

Well, this chapter of our lives officially comes to an end tomorrow. It is just too much to comprehend at this point. We count it a privilege to have been able to serve our King here and pray He will send more servants of His to Dajo to continue the amazing work He started.

Have a blessed day!

Cathy and Bubba

April 28th, 2010

Greetings all,

Tonight I guess the reality of leaving our friends and "family" in Dajo really
hit me hard. When I realized that we wouldn't be seeing Simon, Suleyman,
Chamring, Ibrahim, Abraham and countless others I just wept like a baby. It
really hurt to think that my little "son", Chamring, would not be cared for much
anymore. Every day that we were in the field I bathed and fed and cared for
that little guy. I sure am going to miss him. To think I practically carried
him around for the first year as he came to us so malnourished back in 2007.
Now he is healthy and quite alive! I also think of all the "sons" and
"daughters" who are now alive in Christ. Although we might not see them again
in this life, what a joy it will be to see them in heaven.

Please pray for me as I digest all of this. I can't help but think about Paul
at the shore of the Aegean Sea as his Ephesians friends wept when he was leaving.
He poured his life into them and then had to leave. It must have hurt to see
their spiritual father leave them not knowing whether they would ever see him
again.

We have had to say goodbye to so many of our friends and acquaintances in the 4
years in Sudan due to their untimely or even violent deaths. We think of John,
Leta, Simon, Nyanhial and too many others to name. Life is short in Sudan and
death lurks around the doors of many. Pray that the Lord of life will bring
spiritual life to those who are still without Christ.

Trusting Jesus with all,

Cathy

We praise the Lord for all He has done thru our ministry in Sudan. We have seen lives changed as well as growth and change in our own lives.

With a heavy heart we write this email knowing that huge changes are before us and our ministry. We recently had a meeting to discuss some issues that needed resolution in our relationship and work with CMA. During this meeting it became clear that it would no longer be possible for us to follow God's vision for our lives and at the same time fit within the structures of CMA.

It will not be possible for us to continue in a joint effort with CMA in Sudan. We pray that our separate paths will be used by our Lord Jesus to bring even more to Himself. We so appreciate all of you that have been on this journey with us. As you know,the Lord has begun a good work there and we entrust Him to complete this. We are so thankful that He allowed us to see Him bring so many to Himself as well as bless their physical lives.

We would appreciate your prayers as we seek His will for our future. God has opened up a door for us to serve Him in Davao, Philippines again this summer so we will be in Asia from the end of May until end of August. We are not sure what the Lord has after that, however, we trust God to show us His next field of service, or as we have seen while following Him, the next adventure in sharing His gospel with the lost.

Hanging onto Him, Bubba and Cath

The chief of the Palatas arrived earlier than expected yesterday to take
us to visit his encampment.  He told us it was just a little way from
Dajo, so I didn't change into long pants or boots, just kept my Tevas
and capris on.  Bubba had just returned from a 30km bike ride to visit
churches, so he already had a full day when we all set out for this camp
that was supposedly "just a little way" from Dajo.

Off we went with Ahmed, the chief, and Ibrahim, his friend, and Simon
and William, two CMA staff.  We took along one of the Saber players and
the Good News flipchart.  Everyone talks about how fast the Sudanese
walk, but we practically had to run to keep up with these Palatas!  And
our little walk turned out to be 45 minutes at breakneck speed.  

Finally we made it to their camp and we saw thousands of cows, goats,
sheep and quite a lot of camels.  Little children ran from us in horror
while others laughed when they saw us.  Ahmed took me to his family to
take photos of his many children (see attached).  They were so
beautiful!  

We were escorted to a place to sit while men brought out beds for us to
sit on.  
Then came out the beverages.  We knew the water came from the river for
we could see the dirt on the bottom of the container.  Ahmed poured
powdered orange juice into this water and mixed it up with a stick.  All
we could do was pray and drink as we did not want to be rude and refuse
their hospitality.  Then came out the yogurt.  Again, we prayed and
drank.  And it was delicious.  We drank so much of it we thought our
bellies would pop!

By this time other men had come to sit with us and we shared a bit of
the Good News, but there was a lot of distraction.  Our visit mainly
turned out to be a time of building friendships, which we knew would be
something that Jesus would do as well.

The sun was just about down when they escorted us home.  Ibrahim stopped
at the river to do his prayers and all I could do was pray that one day
he would know and pray to the One True God.  When we reached our
compound it was dark.  They had brought along a jug of fresh milk for us
as a gift.  Then Ahmed said that we are welcome back any time and that
we could spend several days with them if we wanted.  We gave them gifts
of some socks, pens, and paper, and then said our goodbyes.  

Nearly 100% of these people are Muslims.  The Lord has brought them here
to Dajo and we don't want to miss any opportunity to show them the love
of Jesus and to tell them the Truth.  Please pray their eyes would be
open to see Him, their ears would be open to hear His voice and that
their hearts would be circumcised so they would have a hunger to know
the Truth.

Bless you!

Cathy and Bubba

Dear all,

We kindly ask you to pray for Bubba.  He has malaria and is quite ill today.
Please pray the Lord will heal him and protect him.  We have cerebral
malaria
can be quite dangerous for foreigners to get.

Bless you!

Cathy

Thanks again for your prayers for Bubba.  He rested most of the day and
went between hot sweats and the shivers.  When the ibuprofen wears off
his head starts to heat up and hurt, but for the most part he is doing
well.  We had to use an old sock as a cool compress for him today.(see
photo)  We're hoping by tomorrow he'll wake up fully recovered and full
of energy.

We were touched to have a few members of the Dajo SIC church come and
check up on him after church was over.  Truly makes us feel loved and
cared for by our Dajo friends.

Have a blessed Lord's day!

Cathy and Bubba