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| Adhanom Hidug (behind) |
In the spirit of thanksgiving as well in anticipation of Advent, we wanted to share some encouragement God has provided us in the last month. We heard from our colleague and friend, Adhanom who lives in South Sudan working with WGM's Mango Ministries.
Adhanom wrote recently and shared in an email how God has been "growing the circle" of people influenced by His Word. As I (Billy) have been buried in academic theory, Adhanom's email was refreshment for my soul. Not only is God still at work, even while we are in Scotland studying, but He is doing more than we could ask or imagine.
I have attached a portion of the email below because you all have been a part of carrying the burden for families in South Sudan to encounter Jesus through His Word. We cannot thank you enough for continuing to carry our family but also Adhanom (and his wife Helen) as well as the strategic Sudanese leaders like Pastor Peter and Canon Joseph. Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!
Some terms and context might be helpful: STS = Simply the Story (our Biblical storytelling method) and ERC = East Rumbek County which is where Adhanom lives in South Sudan. Akot Diocese is the diocese within the Episcopal Church of South Sudan with whom we have been partnering. Adhanom refers to a time when a team of Sudanese pastors came to our house in Arua for training and one of the girls made a comment about a circle of us sitting together.
Adhanom writes:
Canon Joseph once told me that one of your daughters saw you, Scott & CT, the team from South Sudan and others from Arua sitting in a circle for STS and she said to you that that was the biggest circle she has ever seen. It should be either Elsie or Lucy. In ERC the circles are growing bigger and multiplying in number. Besides, the pastors in Tonj are also working on running one-day trainings...
Peter and Joseph are doing great job. They have become faithful in conducting the monthly one-day bible storying trainings. Every month we have at least 20 pastors and other church people attending the one-day trainings. Several of the pastors are doing great... In the near future we will train seven pastors who had demonstrated better understanding and commitment... Peter and Canon will do the training. I will just be there for coaching role.
Apart from the opportunities in the Diocese of Akot I have now invitations from two different dioceses to train their pastors in STS. They got exposed to it through the pastors who had been attending the one-day trainings. I will train the pastors from one of these dioceses in December and the ones from the other hopefully in late January. The circle is growing and multiplying! I am sharing these to let you know that the seed you have planted is growing and multiplying. Praise God!
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| Picture taken while Adhanom and I were training together last year. |
Photos are courtesy of Joy Phillip's blog: journeywithjoy.blogspot.co.uk, a great resource for knowing how to pray for South Sudan.
