Preparations

Last night our Sudan team had another great evening of getting together to prepare for our trip. It's exciting to see so many things coming together! We turned in our passport photos for our official documents for access into Sudan, along with the money we've raised so far from our generous sponsors. We got our official pack lists of what we'll need to be planning to take with us. Things to remember: Take little to no denim (takes too long to air dry and weighs too much in your backpack.) Weather will be like Colorado: warm in the day, cool at night.. so gonna need some long sleeves and cargo pants to go with the shorts and tees. There won't be any electricity, so forget charging my cell phone or digital camera once we get into "the bush." Talking about all the details is making it all feel much more real. Glad I still have two months to get everything ready to go!

It was really encouraging to be able to pray for each other and for our fellow team members who weren't able to make the meeting. Even though I only know a few of the other folks going (and even them I've only known for a few months now), everyone seems like such kindred spirits - and already we're starting to feel a lot of unity among all the team.

After our discussion and prayer time, we all watched the film "God Grew Tired of Us". I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning more about the Lost Boys of Sudan (watch the trailer here. ) I think one of the things that is going to be challenging about this trip is wrapping my mind around the reality of what the Sudanese have faced during the civil wars. I've read tons of BBC reports and intellectually know the history... but it's one thing to read texts about horrors and tragedies. It's a completely other thing to experience it. I know already my heart is going to totally break while I'm there, but I'm hoping that the empathy won't just paralyze me with sadness or cynicism. I'm hopeful that as we all struggle to grasp the magnitude of the challenges facing the Didinga, that we'll be able to take part in doing as much as we can to join with the Sudanese in taking steps towards peace and restoration.