It was hot. I mean hot. A couple of days on our trip it was overcast and therefore not unbearable, but the last several days were HOT! We were graduating our Bible School students that afternoon…at 3:00. The hottest part of the day. We would be sitting on benches just outside of the Bible school. In the sun. At 3:00. There are no trees to speak of on the compound. Did I mention that it was hot?
Buay had helped tremendously in the preparations for the graduation ceremony and subsequent celebration. He negotiated for and purchased our young bull (aka Lunch), he arranged for helpers to set everything up, and he worked all day to slaughter the bull, set everything up, and translate what we needed translated. We joked with Buay that after lunch we needed him to run into the market and pick up the air-conditioned tent for the ceremony. It was hot, and darn it, we didn’t want our students and guests sitting in the hot sun…we needed that A/C tent!
Unfortunately there’s a shortage of tents in Nasir. And air conditioning. Oh, and electricity!
However, God is amazing, miraculous, and surprising. At roughly 1:00, clouds rolled in, along with a cool breeze, and it looked like it was going to rain. Bummer. Did I mention we were holding the ceremony outside? And there’s a shortage of tents in Nasir? So, we went from worrying about it being ridiculously hot to our whole ceremony being rained out! We prayed, of course, and ultimately it was God’s decision. We could hardly complain about rain since Nasir is in a drought, but our students had worked SO hard over the last 3 years to learn 118 Bible stories. Did you get that? ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN stories…that’s the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation!! We didn’t want rain to ruin their celebration!
At 2:00, 2:30, and finally 3:00 it was still cloudy and still looked like it would rain, but we decided to carry on. We started the ceremony with the knowledge that if it rained, we could cram inside the Bible school. Our pilot even called on the satellite phone to ask how the weather was, as from his vantage point in the sky it looked bad, and he couldn’t land on a soaked airstrip. “Nope, no rain yet,” was the report.
After some time, we realized that though we had joked and teased Buay about getting us an air-conditioned tent, God had actually provided one! It was cloudy and the temps were down in the low 80s…at least a 20 degree drop in temperature from that morning! There we sat in God’s hand-made A/C tent!! Praise to the Lord!
It never did rain a drop, and we, along with our guests, sat in absolute comfort as we carried out the graduation ceremony and celebration. Kuoth gua e long e long!
Snapshot of Wednesday:
-I got up and took pictures of the guys slaughter our young bull (CAUTION: I included those pictures below…skip past the first three if you don’t want to see it!)
-Held final exams after breakfast
-Planned our graduation ceremony, sorted Bibles and certificates, and doled out roles for each of us during the ceremony
-Helped set up and prepare for the graduation
-Praised God when our A/C tent arrived
-Held the graduation ceremony
-Feasted on beef and kisra bread
-Socialized and prayed with our brothers and sisters
CAUTION, this next photograph is VERY graphic!!
Okay, on to cleaner images…
Each student received a certificate of graduation and a brand new Bible with their names inscribed on them. They were overjoyed…
Then we passed out hand-held radios to each of the guests to kick off the radio program. The students each got a box of 82 radios to hand out to families in their communities. It’s very exciting to think of them all crowded around their radios, listening to the Bible stories!
Our air-conditioned tent…
Intestines…yes, I did try them, and no, they weren’t great!
God even smiled on us with a rainbow…
Nyaret and Nyapal…
This picture is not very good compositionally, but I LOVE it because it’s Martha and LaJore! They are both spitfires, and before I snapped this shot, Martha grabbed LaJore’s head and turned it to face me. I also love the radio hanging around her neck!
This is the fattest baby I’ve ever seen in Sudan!
Blaise and Kim had to go to the airstrip during our ceremony to pick up our MAF pilot, Bryan, and when Blaise came back he informed me that he had a new brother!
I actually met Kim last year on the trip, and it was VERY good to see him again, to know that he is well, and to play a LOT of yit with him!
This woman is one of John Chol’s wives…
I was admittedly a little disappointed when I found out that in the last year, John had taken a second wife. I KNOW that it is just their culture, but I was bummed that he felt that it was necessary. Here’s John with both of his wives (who are both incredibly sweet women)…
And here’s a little sunflare action for you on our compound…
Please keep these students in your prayers, as they now have the responsibility to share the Good News with their communities and to bring people to Christ. That’s a BIG task!
Daniel Dak Geng, Daniel Gatluak Dienbeach, James Luke Wakoa, James Thok Duoth, James Tuach Kuon, John Chuol Dothual, John Koang Tiem, Mary Nyalam Tut, Peter Chan Ngunar, Peter Pal Tayaw, and William Deng Pal.
