Many The Miles

The times they are a-changing...

2008-11-08T00:48:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday was easily one of the most inspirational nights of my life. Standing with a half dozen of my close friends, watching with hundreds of others in downtown Austin as the results of the presidential election were being announced, I couldn't believe the history that was unfolding. I'd hoped so much that Obama would win, but my years of living in the South had left me skeptical that our country had progressed enough to elect a black man president. There is still so much racial inequality in our nation, so many wounds from slavery & segregation that are still being healed... and yet on Tuesday night it was obvious that change has indeed come. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever been more proud to be an American as I was when I saw that Obama had clinched the victory, and then watched as millions of people in cities all around the country celebrated the historic moment with tears of joy and shouts of triumph. Seeing MLK's dream come true, that one day our nation would judge people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character -- it made me more hopeful than I've been in a long time about the condition of the soul of America. Obviously this is not the end, not by any means. It was just one night in a long journey towards the United States becoming a more perfect union, which in all actuality is a journey that will never come to an end. But there can be no doubt that things were different on Wednesday morning, and that the change was a good one. It actually reminded me of the way New Orleans felt the morning after the Saints first post-Katrina home game back in the Superdome. After so much tragedy, the Saints had crushed the Falcons in their "Welcome Dome" celebration, and as I'd gone to get beignets at Cafe Du Monde the next morning, there was such optimism and energy in the air that no New Orleanian could do anything but smile. That's how it felt to be an American on Wednesday, except on such a grander scale, with so much more significance.

And yet this morning as I continued contemplating this epic change, I was struck by a sobering thought. As a Christian, my hope definitely doesn't lie in Barack Obama to save our country. No president, nor any individual person for that matter, is capable of bringing real redemption and healing to our nation - only God can do that. And how does God do that? Through the Church. And it's that thought that made my heart sink. Looking at the Church, the Church in America specifically, it's hard for me to feel much inspiration. We are so divided, so perverted by greed and hate, so lacking in embodying the Love of Christ. American citizens may have voted for a black man to be President, but it's estimated that only 5% of churches in this country are racially integrated. We as the Church should be leading the way in racial reconciliation and fighting injustice and alleviating poverty, yet in so many ways we fail to do as much as non-believers towards addressing these issues. When I hear fellow Christians spewing condemnation on gays, or touting the right to accumulating individual wealth, or belittling those on welfare for their assumed laziness, it makes me feel like "What's the point of remaining a part of this sick, sick Body? This is a lost cause." And yet, the Church is my family. I have pledged my fidelity to Jesus, which also means loving the brothers and sisters that He has given me. And it means that, while we may struggle and stumble in our efforts to love God and love each other, we know that in the end we will be victorious in overcoming the darkness -- not because we create good after-school programs, or plan the right mission trips, or pass the right legislature. We'll be victorious because Christ's Love will reign in our lives. As Jesus prayed, "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:22)

And the truth is, I'm not just seeing changes for the good in America. I'm seeing changes for the good in the church too. I see Leroy & Sarah & Irvin and the other amazing leaders of Mission Year raising up a new generation of Christians who are learning how to be good neighbors. I see all the folks in St. Roch who are rebuilding New Orleans by bringing "beloved community" to the 8th Ward. I see Phil & Constance loving the people of Thailand, Jonathan & Lauren loving the Didinga in Sudan, Kelly & Mo & Annie & Travis loving the people of Cairo -- and so many more friends who understand that God's family isn't divided by borders and oceans. I see my fellow friends living in the St. John's neighborhood here in Austin - striving to share the Gospel with their lives, not just their words. When I see these lives, and the lives of so many more of you, I'm so encouraged to see so many others who are genuinely seeking the Kingdom. It may be a long, slow journey... but we are learning from those who went before us, and we are learning to trust in the only One who can make all things possible.

And so, I hope that with the dawning of this new age in America, that we as citizens will rise to the challenge of being the change we want to see (as Gandhi proclaimed.) But even more so, I hope that we as the Church will step up and become the Church that we want to see too.

Sudan: Post-Trip Summary

2008-11-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

** I just realized that I never posted my final summary from my trip to Sudan (the one that went out to my supporters and donors.) So, here it is:

“So how was Sudan?”

The one word response: good.
The three word response: challenging but joyful.
Any answer longer than that, and it starts getting exponentially harder to describe.

On August 1st, I and eleven others headed out from Austin and began making our journey to Africa. After changing flights in D.C., London, Nairobi, & Lokichoggio (Kenya), we boarded the small plane that would take us over the Kenyan border and into the hills of Southern Sudan. Our destination was Nagishot -- which is not so much a village as a county of rural residents, home to a tribe called the Didinga. Our purpose in going was to experience the Didinga culture, meet local pastor William Laku and his wife Eunice, and to see and support the boarding school that they are establishing.

Life in Nagishot is extremely primitive. There is no running water or electricity, and only one road (which is accessible by car only during the dry season). The nearest market is a 36 mile hike away. The Didinga language is only now beginning to be developed into a written form as more outsiders have tried to develop means of translation. In some ways it is beautifully simplistic. No processed food or traffic reports. Campfires every night and breathtaking scenery every morning. Views of monkeys playing in treetops instead of rising condominiums. Recreation meant dancing and playing soccer instead of merely watching ESPN or playing Wiis.

And yet it is a very difficult life too. Practically all residents are subsistence farmers, growing mostly corn, wheat, and sugarcane to survive. Women spend their entire days either in the field or over an open fire – creating food for their families to eat. (After helping plant wheat and carry jugs of water from the river, we had a whole new appreciation for each meal we ate!) Healthcare is extremely basic. Almost everyone has lost a family member to the civil wars, and many have spent almost their entire life in refugee camps. For those who aren’t Christians, the dominant belief system revolves around appeasing the local gods – making sacrifices when the rains don’t come or placing curses on others when they are wronged. It is an oppressive and hopeless faith, and many become addicted to a local alcoholic brew that is created to provide distraction through drunkenness. It was into this dichotomy of beauty and pain that we entered, joining for thirteen days into the work, celebrations, and culture of the Didinga people.

Besides being students of the local way-of-life, we primarily strived to encourage the work being done by the Laku family and the local church to build a much needed boarding school. The name of the school will be “City on a Hill”, based on the Biblical passage in Matthew 5:14-16 which states that the church is the light of the world that cannot be hidden, leading others to praise God as they see the good deeds that Christians display. In our brief time with the church in Nagishot, it was remarkable to see how fully they are already embodying those verses, and inspiring to think how much MORE they desire to be a light to their community. The hope is that the school will not only provide education for the Didinga children, but that it will house and teach children from other surrounding tribes as well. Though historically there has been tension and violence between these rivaling tribes, William and Eunice believe that if leaders of the next generation can live together as children -- playing and learning and building friendships with each other -- then the tribes can form more peaceful relationships in the years to come. It was inspiring to hear the Lakus share about their plans first hand with us and to see that despite many obstacles, they are forging ahead with building. In our time with them we prayed daily for the school, helped transport bricks, carried timber from the forest for the desks, and visited with the children and potential local teachers.

While the dream for the school came from the vision of the Lakus, and while the hope is that the school will eventually be self-sustained without foreign aid, there is a great need for outside help in order to see the school established. Fifty years of civil war have left the Sudanese with few resources and little civil structure, in a land that was greatly underdeveloped to begin with. Our American team of young adults is committed to partnering with the Didinga and assisting their dream as much as we can -- believing it is both a responsibility and a joy to share the blessings we’ve been given, and knowing also that we have much to learn from the beautiful Didinga people. Currently, the relationship between our two communities is simply that of friendship – particularly between the Lakus and our team leaders, Jonathan and Lauren Ramirez (who will be moving to Sudan this winter with a long-term commitment to ministering with the Lakus.) But as we look to being more involved financially and logistically, our team is in the process of establishing a non-profit organization or a NGO through which to funnel resources and information. We are already receiving counsel from faculty at the University of Texas and from other professionals who are providing consultation for the project. It is so exciting to be a part of these early steps, believing fully that God has begun an incredible work!!

The process for seeing this vision become reality will be a long journey, but I invite you to join with us in partnering with the church in Nagishot. If you’d like to get email updates about the progress of the project, then email me at ERLing82@gmail.com, and I’ll be sure to let you know about developments as things begin coming together over these next months. Until we establish an official organization, we will be raising funds through Austin Stone Community Church. If you would like to contribute financially to helping found the City on a Hill School, see the enclosed form for details. Many of us are also considering returning to Sudan for longer stints – becoming teachers, dorm “parents”, mentors, and project assistants alongside the local Didinga who are heading up the school. Please be praying for our team as we consider how best we as individuals can continue to advocate for and contribute to the incredible work that is underway.

Lastly, a huge THANK YOU for all of your prayers and support that made my own journey to Sudan possible. Whether I ever return to Nagishot or not, it was an incredible experience to enter into the lives of the Didinga tribe for the weeks that I did. I felt honored to share with others the rich blessings you all have given to me, and I left with many challenging questions and beautiful memories still stirring in my heart.

Blessings and grace to each of you,
With much love,
emily

Autumn Arrives

2008-10-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

Wow, ya... so it's been over a month since my last post. I don't think I'll ever get used to how quickly time goes by. Some brief highlights from the past weeks:

-- Coming back from Africa, I wasn't sure what I was going to do as far as employment goes, but for now I'm going to just keep working at Halcyon. It's enough income to take care of my bills, and I'm a manager now, and it provides me extra free time that I need, and there are some great social perks. So, despite some recent drama that had me on the edge of quitting, I'm probably going to stay there for a few more months at least. Working nights in the middle of the downtown-Warehouse-District social scene can be pretty crazy sometimes, but, there are a lot of reasons why I kinda love it too. And besides, if our economy keeps sinking into a deeper recession, I think alcohol and coffee are two staples that folks aren't likely to give up.

-- Celebrations!! Between lots of birthday parties, an awesome engagement party (congrats to Kelly and Mo!), and ACL Music Festival -- seems like almost every free night in the most month has involved lots of great music, drinking, dancing, and enjoying life with some of my favorite people. I know life isn't always going to be this enjoyable, so I'm definitely soaking it up as much as I can right now.

-- Future plans: Well, these are still in the works, but I signed up to take my GRE this month, and so my goal for October is to get that knocked out and to get my grad school applications underway. Prospects for the moment include the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT, Clinton's School for Public Service in Little Rock, and an Urban Ministry program at Eastern University in Phili. I'm just lookin to see what doors open first, then I'll figure out plans from there.

-- Current events: I finally had to make myself go an a fast from any news about the presidential campaigns. I was getting way too emotionally involved (with anger being the most prominent emotion), and reading through the election news cycle was taking up way too much time. I've known for a long time now that Obama has my vote in November, so I decided that there was no point in making myself upset over the completely outrageous and immature behavior that has characterized this whole event... What I HAVE tried to keep up with though is all the news about the developing economic crisis. My expensive liberal arts undergrad degree has done little to help me understand all the in-and-outs of the mess on Wall Street, so I keep digesting as many news articles and NPR/BBC reports as I can. I've still got a ton to learn, but I think it's safe to conclude that confusing greed for ambition is not really going so well for anyone at the moment.

That's it for now... gonna try to be better about keeping this updated. Much love!

City On A Hill

2008-09-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, apologies on the fact that the Sudan essays have been slow in coming. It's much easier to blog about the Austin music scene than it is to try and gather all my thoughts about our trip to Sudan and formulate them into a few condensed commentaries.

But, for my first one...

I was thinking that if you only read one thing about my trip, then what I want to share about the most is our introduction to the boarding school that William and Eunice Laku are going to open, called City On A Hill. After almost 50 years of civil war, Northern and Southern Sudan signed a peace treaty in 2005, and since then refugees have been returning to reestablish their homelands and villages. One of the greatest needs has been for education – schools for the thousands of Sudanese children who will be the next generation of leaders for their country. Currently there are not enough government schools to meet the population of children, and the government schools that do exist are painfully under-resourced. Although primary education is compulsory for all children, in practice Southern Sudanese children have the least access to primary school in the world. According to the Government of Southern Sudan's Minister of Education, less than 25 percent of an estimated 2.2 million school-age children are enrolled in primary school. A 2006 UNICEF report found only 2,163 primary schools existed to serve a region with a population of approximately 7.5 million. And of those schools that do exist, less than 20% are housed in permanent structures, only 31% of all learning spaces have a toilet or latrine, and only 26% have any chairs or desks. There is also a severe shortage of teachers, with an adult illiteracy rate of more than 75 percent according to 2004 estimates. We saw some of this turmoil first hand as during the time that we were in Nagishot, the government school nearby had been temporarily closed down because there was not enough food available to feed any lunches to the students. So students were waiting at home for the radio news that would announce that they could again return to classes. (We heard when we were leaving that the announcement had come, and that the school would reopen the following week.)

And so in part to provide education to the youth in Nagishot, the Lakus have a vision for building the City on a Hill school -- and despite significant obstacles, they are already pushing ahead to get the project underway. There is no road to get materials to the site (right now almost all supplies are delivered via plane) and no well to provide water (currently water has to be drawn from a creek and then carried in jerrycans up to homes and buildings.) And yet, the Didinga have already started building classrooms and a latrine and a prayer chapel – all with faith that as they start doing what they can, then the rest of the supplies and resources will come.

I said "in part to provide education" – because education alone is not the only reason the Lakus are building the school. They also hope that City On A Hill will be a transforming agent of peace, bringing unity and hope to their land. This will happen because not only will the school be established for Didinga children, it will also be open to kids from the neighboring tribes. These tribes have a history of fighting with each other, particularly when the wars displaced indigenous communities and forced various groups to relocate onto land already occupied by other tribes. In a sad struggle that pitted refugees against their fellow countrymen, violence then ensued as tribesman fought to secure land needed for farming and cattle. The Lakus want to change this aggressive history by bringing children from rivaling tribes to live together at the boarding school --- not merely learning English and math together, but also playing together, learning each others' cultures, and building friendships together. They would also hear the Gospel together – hopefully gaining an understanding that as much as Christ died to reconcile us to God, He also died to reconcile us to each other. Perhaps then the future leaders of Sudan will be united in taking on the challenges of their country as brothers, no longer divided by needless hatred and alienation.

While we were in Nagishot, our team contributed in small but tangible ways to assisting the school. We hauled bricks from the kiln to the building site (with no roads, this meant literally walking on foot via narrow, muddy paths), we carried fresh-cut lumber from the forest to be cut & shaped into desks, and we spent hours prayer walking around the campus, interceding for all the many needs. All of us who went on the short-term trip were also invited to return again to be a part of the long-term work that will be needed to see the school come to completion. Perhaps as teachers, or nurses, or dorm guardians – we've been welcomed to join with the Didinga community in this incredible work. I'm not sure yet that I'll ever be going back for a longer stint, but I do know with certainty that this project holds so much promise and that I want to be supportive of the school regardless of whether I'm in Sudan or America. As things continue to develop, there will likely be many ways that those of you reading this can be involved in the creation of City on a Hill too. Currently some of my teammates are working on establishing a non-profit or NGO to manage the state-side operations of fundraising and providing supplies. There are also plans for developing curriculum and serving in numerous capacities on the front-lines in Sudan. If you think that this effort is something you'd be interested in learning more about, then let me know and I'll keep you updated as more details develop.

Free Ben Harper Concert = Emily Loves Austin

2008-09-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Nike+ Human Race 10K – an event of superb mass-marketing that involved 25 major cities all around the world hosting races in the name of uniting humanity. Kinda wish I'd known about this earlier, 'cause I've been feeling that as an official Austinite it's now my duty to train for some sort of city-wide athletic competition, most likely some kind of long-distance running since right now the other two ever-popular triathlon events of biking and swimming don't seem appealing to me at all. And though I didn't run in it, props to the more than 14,000 people who flooded downtown to take part. That means (according to the guy with the mic last night) that Austin had more participants than either Chicago or New York, and just under Los Angeles. Plus, Austin was the 2nd fastest city in the world. I knew I picked a cool city to move to.

Even more exciting though was the post-race entertainment. I'd written earlier about how Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals were headlining the concert, and that supposedly only race participants could attend. I decided to take my chances though, figuring that as long as the show was outdoors, then surely I could find a way to get in. And indeed, the stage was set up at Congress & 11^th in front of the Capitol, and the one small sign stating "Racers Only" was doing absolutely nothing to keep outsiders from entering inside the guardrails (as if standing outside the guardrails would have been very far away anyways.) So to my complete delight, I found myself about 6 rows from the stage for a totally free Ben Harper concert – so great! Even though the show wasn't that long, Ben definitely lived up to his reputation for putting on a stellar live performance – steering away from his more mellow tunes to do mostly intense, upbeat numbers (though personally I love his mellow acoustic stuff the best.) Personal favorites were "Into the Colors", a cover of Bill Wither's "Use Me Up", and "Black Rain" (appropriate since thoughts were definitely with New Orleans.) He closed with "My Own Two Hands", which had everyone dancing with raised arms for a pretty inspiring ending.

The only thing I could possibly complain about was that the majority of the people at the concert HAD actually ran the 10K, so the amount of B.O. was pretty horrible at times, and making my way through the crowd meant touching way too many sweat-drenched t-shirts. But, I couldn't hate too much given the fact that they'd just ran for 6 miles straight while I had been sitting in the AC… plus, being Austin, most of the B.O. was hidden by an even more prevalent smell of weed. All in all, it left me feeling quite a bit of affection for Austin for making such an event possible. A conversation later in the night would again have me missing Jazzfest and brass bands and all the beautiful music of New Orleans, but, nonetheless, the ATX is definitely growing me :)

Since I'm not there to tell the story...

2008-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

I'm posting a link to someone who can.

Emily Rhodes was one of my roommates and coworkers last year as we did Katrina disaster relief work with Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans. She continued living in Nola after our volunteer program ended, and now she's giving updates on the current situation going on with Hurricane Gustav. For her perspective, check out: http://kingdomemily.blogspot.com/

Memories of a One Hurricane, Fears of Another

2008-08-30T03:06:00.000-07:00

I'm a day late on this one... but just wanted to write something to commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which happened three years ago yesterday. I haven't been to New Orleans since Mardi Gras this spring, but the city has been on my mind a lot the past few days. I've wondered about how progress is coming in rebuilding, I've reminisced on the year that I spent living there, and I've missed the friends that are still there working to restore the city. Oh, and I've longed to hear some Trombone Shorty and Irvin Mayfield. :)

Obviously when August 29th rolls around on the calender, a lot of people will be thinking about Katrina (was it just me or did Obama's two references to New Orleans receive extra loud applause during his acceptance speech at the DNC?). And while I can vouch that the residents of New Orleans never STOP thinking about Katrina, it's actually not the hurricane MOST on their mind during this commemorative day. That's because Hurricane Gustav is already a Category 3 with a possibility of strengthening into a Cat 4 after it crosses Cuba. And though it's too early to tell where exactly it will make landfall, trackers are predicting that the storm could hit New Orleans dead-on. I spoke with some of my friends who live in Nola, and they were evacuating to Baton Rouge last night. I can't really express how much I'm hoping Gustav DOESN'T hit New Orleans. The residents have been through so much in the past 3 years - I don't know how many of them could continue if all they've done to recover is destroyed by another hurricane. For anyone who would, now would be a great time to offer up some prayers for grace, hope, and strength for all the folks on the Gulf Coast.

A couple links:

Anderson Cooper did an outstanding job in his reporting of Katrina, and more importantly, of the recovery process and failures of the government throughout the whole ordeal. Check out his 360 blog:

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/category/hurricane-katrina/

From the Times-Picayune, columnist Chris Rose can always be counted on to deliver poignant commentary on the status of the city, wrapping up biting truth within humor and sarcasm. For his latest:

http://blog.nola.com/chrisrose/2008/08/everybody_please_just_relax_un.html#more

Some of my favorite men...

2008-08-27T02:13:00.000-07:00

So in a break from serious contemplation about Sudan and what-I-want-to-do-with-the-rest-of-my-life stress, I'm taking a minute to consider other highly important matters. Two of my favorite male musicians are coming to Austin and I MUST find a way to overcome some barriers and hear their voices live and in-person. What barriers you ask? Well let's consider the scenarios...

First, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals are playing THIS Sunday evening as part of the post-Nike+ Human Race entertainment. I was a little late in coming to realize how incredible Ben Harper is, but once I got on that boat last fall, I've been dying to hear him in concert (particularly since he's known for putting on stellar shows.) The problem though is that supposedly you have to be a participant in the race in order to get into the concert. Hmmm. That's a little problematic since I haven't exactly been training for a 10K run, and I also already have plans for Sunday night. Do I ditch plans, pay the $35 entry fee, and then run over 6 miles ... all just to hear Ben? I dunno. I'd be so bummed to think that he's playing in Austin and I'm NOT there, but... I think that suddenly enlisting in an athletic competition might be a bit much. Anybody know of ways to get into the show that won't involve running shoes??

The other show I just found out about tonight, and I'm SO excited for. On October 25th, the one and only Ray Lamontagne is going be playing at the Paramount here in Austin -- and seriously, I MUST be there. Three years ago I made a mix of songs by Ray Lamontagne and Amos Lee, and I've literally listened to it hundreds of times since then. The barrier for me going to this concert is far less hindering than a 10K run, but nonetheless, is cause for some slight hesitancy in buying a ticket. See, back in '06, GQ magazine put out this article (check out #8), which forever put attending a Ray concert in the same category as say riding a gondola in Venice or going to an Italian restaurant on Valentine's Day. It's something you only do if you have a special significant other to do it with, because otherwise no amount of confidence-in-your-singleness will prevent you from being depressed about being in that romance-heavy environment sans a love interest to share the moment with. Even if you ration that it'd be o.k. to attend a Ray concert without necessarily being in love with your companion for the evening, let's be honest, the minimum requirement would at least be someone you can make out with during "Trouble". Now, I've gotta admit that I've kinda enjoyed my singleness this past year, since it afforded me the freedom to go on more dates with incredibly-good-looking men in the past 6 or 7 months than I've been on in the past 6 or 7 years. But, I'm going to really need to be NOT single for that Ray Lamontagne show. Or at least be single, but with a really hot date who is gonna be ok with some required cuddling. :) Fortunately for me, I've got two months to figure this dilemma out. Training for that Nike race in 4 days, on the other hand, is lookin a little less feasible...

Return to the ATX

2008-08-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update:

My team and I arrived safely home to Austin last Monday night, super tired from days of traveling, but with wonderful memories from an incredible trip to Sudan. Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes from all of you while I was gone – it definitely meant the world to know that I had support from so many of you here at home. And of course now that I’m back, the question comes “How was Sudan?” Man, so much to tell. I guess the easy part first…. if a picture is worth a thousand words, then check out my visual report here for all my personal pictures that I’ve uploaded. You can also check this out, which is where many of my team members have posted their photo albums.

Now the hard part… trying to put all of the experience into words. My hope is take some of my favorite memories and write separate essays about them soon. There is so much to tell, and I want to do it justice as much as possible. I’d hoped to already get some posted, but I ended up spending most of this week back home in Lorena with my fam, and then this weekend was pleasantly consumed with a two-day celebration for my friends Phillip and Constance’s marriage. (Which, has totally confirmed in my mind that eloping in a foreign country and then later throwing a big party back at home DEFINITELY beats a traditional wedding.).. So, anyways, back to work at Halcyon as of this week while I start up the new job hunt… and I’ll get those essays up as soon as I can. Love y'all...

Thanks!

2008-07-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

The 24 hour countdown is about to be underway. Which is a little scary seeing how much I still have left to do, haha. But, if there is anything I've mastered over the years, it's procrastinating on packing by cramming in as much possible social time as I can, and still managing to get where I need to be on time.... or, at least shortly thereafter :) Good thing I'll have lots of time to sleep on the plane rides, 'cause I don't think I'll be getting any before then.

Before I leave though... just wanted to say a HUGE thanks to all of you for all the support and encouragement you've given. It definitely means the world to know that I have such an incredible community of folks back here who are wishing for the best for me and my team. Whether you gave money to help with my fundraising, or helped hook me up with supplies, or toasted a drink with me, or committed to praying for us, or even just asked about the trip and offered encouraging words --- I'm truly grateful for all the care and love. In whatever way we may be able to support the work of the Didinga people to see their homeland restored... it will be in large part because you all made it possible for us to go. So thanks for joining in the task at hand, and for believing in my dreams with me.

Looking forward to sharing about it all once I'm back home in a few weeks! Much love y'all...

Gates of Hell

2008-07-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

So obviously when people find out I’m going to Sudan, they are often curious about why I want to do such a thing. And usually I refrain from mentioning anything spiritual… since 1) a lot of people are leery about the idea of “missionary” work, and 2) given my own hesitations about evangelism, I’m not exactly leading the pack on “reaching the nations for Jesus” zeal. However, the truth is, a lot of my motivations are spiritually grounded – though I could spend hours writing on why that is and how my religious convictions have developed and been re-shaped over the past years. No time for that now, but I did want to share some thoughts that are relevant to answering the questions of “Why Sudan?” and “Why go some place so dangerous and broken?” The following is an excerpt from “Jesus for President” by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw – two guys who grew up in a similar religious culture as I did, and who are now bringing some valuable perspective to re-thinking some of those truths we learned as kids in the Bible Belt. (Sorry if the train of thought is kinda fractured.. but I’m gonna skip around some for the sake of brevity.)

“There’s a lot of bad theology out there. Some folks tell us we shouldn’t worry about caring for creation since it’s all going to burn soon anyway. Other folks have a fatalistic view that the world stinks, so we just need to prepare people to die. But we are convinced that Jesus came not to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live. The kingdom of God is not just something we hope for when we die but something we live ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ And we’re not willing simply to promise the world that there is life after death when the world is asking, ‘Is there life before death?’ We are thankful for heaven, but we are not willing to stand by and watch people live through hell to get there…

We remember as children hearing hellfire and damnation sermons… we all went forward to repent of all the evil things we had done over the first decade of our lives, motivated by the fear of being ‘left behind.’ The preacher literally scared the hell out of us… But have you ever noticed that Jesus didn’t spend much time on hell? Really there are only a couple of times when he spoke of weeping and gnashing of teeth, of hell and God’s judgment, and both had to do with the walls we create between ourselves and our suffering neighbors. [Commentary on the passage in Matthew 25, and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man]… God is in the business of rescuing people from the hells they experience on earth. And God is asking us to love people out of those hells. Hell is not just something that comes after death, but it is something many are living in this very moment: 1.2 billion people groan for a drop of water each day; more than thirty thousand kids starve to death each day; and thirty-eight million folks are dying of AIDS. It seems ludicrous to think of preaching to them about hell when we would do better sitting at the well asking them for a little water. We see Jesus spending far more energy loving the hell out of people, and lifting people out of the hells in which they are trapped, than trying to scare them into heaven. And one of the most beautiful things we get to see in community here in Kensington is people who have been loved out of the hells they find themselves in – domestic violence, addiction, sex trafficking, loneliness.

C.S. Lewis understood hell not as a place where God locks people out of heaven but as a dungeon that we lock ourselves into… With this new perspective, we gain new insight when we look at the parable of Lazarus or hear the brilliant words with which Jesus reassured Peter that ‘the gates of hell will not prevail against you.’ As adolescents, we understood that to mean that the demons and fiery darts of the Devil will not hit us. But lately we’ve done a little more thinking and praying, and we have a bit more insight on gates. Gates are not offensive weapons. Gates are defensive – walls and fences we build to keep people out. God is not saying the gates of hell will not prevail as they come at us. God is saying that we are in the business of storming the gates of hell, and the gates will not prevail as we crash through them with grace.

People sometimes ask if we are scared of the inner city. We say that we are more scared of the suburbs. Jesus warns that we can fear those things which can hurt our bodies or those things which can destroy our souls, but we should be far more fearful of the latter. Those are the subtle demons of suburbia. As Shane’s mother says, ‘Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others.’ We’re scared of apathy and complacency, of detaching ourselves from the suffering. Just as we are building walls to keep people out of our comfortable, insulated existence, we are trapping ourselves in a hell of isolation, loneliness, and fear… Let’s pray that God would give us the strength to storm the gates of hell and tear down the walls we have created between us and those whose suffering would disrupt our comfort.”

There’s no question that the people of Sudan have already lived through hell on earth. After 50 years of civil war, of death and fear and sorrow and hate – there is no doubt that many of the Sudanese have been trapped in a cycle of horror that would rival any nightmare we could imagine of fire and brimstone. And so if I believe that Christ calls us to love our neighbors and to pursue His Kingdom, there’s no way I can believe He merely wills us to share with the Sudanese about some promise of heaven-after-you-die. Would I hope that they would want to pursue a relationship with Jesus? Of course – because I don’t think anyone can ever truly experience Life Abundant apart from Grace. But surely loving our neighbors also means joining the fight against all the things that would steal life from them – including war, poverty, hatred and fear. And I think it’s hard, if not impossible, to fight against those things from a distance. Obviously not everyone is called to go to the front-lines of tragedies – to the war-zones or hospitals or inner-cities or nursing homes. But I DO think we are called to do our part to join in what God is doing to bring love and healing and hope and grace to those places. I think it’s a gift the Lord gives us actually – an invitation to play some small part in seeing redemption happen, in seeing restoration take place. And in fact I think it’s impossible for us to ever experience grace and healing in our own lives if we refuse to find commonality in the suffering of others.

And so am I going to Sudan to “share God with people”? Yes. But that’s because I think God isn’t just in the business of “life after death” – I’m pretty convinced He’s in the business of bringing life before death too. And Sudan could definitely use more folks striving to see more life there. More peace there. More joy there. To me, it’d be totally worth risking a little danger, if in the end we get to conquer some of death’s grip on a weary land and replace it with life and hope.

Final Preparations

2008-07-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Only a few more days till departure! We had our last team meeting yesterday, and all the final details are falling in place. We’ve all got our malaria pills that we’ll start taking this week. I got the rest of my vaccines last week (besides shots for Hepatitis A & B and Yellow Fever, I ended up going with ones for Meningitis and Typhoid Fever -- so, hopefully I’m good to go for protection from the most risky ones.) I drove home and got final hugs from my grandma and dad – who are both a little worried about their baby girl going to a war-torn African country, but who are thankfully still supportive of me following my dreams. There are still lots of last-minute things to do in the coming days – securing travelers’ insurance, buying a new sleeping bag, getting extra camera batteries, etc. But, all in all, I’m feeling ready to go, and ready to get this long-awaited adventure underway.

Counting Down...

2008-07-23T03:08:00.000-07:00

So in just over a week, it's going to finally be time to take off for Sudan. Still lots to do before we get on the plane -- but I'm ready for the wait to be over and to actually be on our way!

Today I had the great joy of welcoming home one of my dearest friends who has spent the past two years living in Egypt. As I chilled with him and two of my other favorite "brothers", Kelly shared about his experiences working with Sudanese refugees whom he got to teach in Cairo. (First off, I freakin love the fact that I have friends who can sit and discuss African politics with me. I'm continuously amazed at how God has woven our hearts together with such similar interests and parallel journeys.) Hearing about the lives of the Lost Boys who have resettled there in Cairo, it made me even more excited to go to Sudan and engage some in this incredible event of tragedy and restoration. And when I say "excited", I mean that in a "what the hell am I getting myself into?" kinda way that stirs both joyful hope and sober contemplation. I know this trip will be life-changing, but I can't predict in what ways. It won't be a "Omigosh, I can't believe people live in this kind of poverty!" moment -- that was Haiti in 2003. I have a feeling that visiting Sudan is going to break my heart and yet inspire my soul. But who knows how those two situations will come about.

For a sneak peak though of some of what we'll be involved in, I'm passing along this message that was sent to our team from our leader. Check out the school project that we're going to helping out with!

"This video was taken by tom thomas from FEFC. We have been communicating with one another about the school concept and he has been kind enough to take this video for us while he was there just last week doing some teacher training.
You will see the site of the City on a Hill school and it's starter rooms being constructed.
William Laku (the pastor) is the man guiding the tour of the compound. Exciting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THvp3VpQ0Jg

You will have to copy/paste that into your web browser as embedding has been disabled by tom."

Basketball and Faith

2008-07-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

The other day I was re-reading through some of my old journals – an activity I take up sometimes because it’s good to reflect back on the journey of life, and to recall lessons from the past that helped make me who I am today. The journal I picked up most recently was from September 2004 – during my first few weeks of Mission Year in Atlanta. It’s so funny to read about my arrival there – completely unaware at the time of how amazing that year would turn out to be. I happened across some thoughts I wrote down after one of Leroy Barber’s inspiring talks, and wanted to share what I wrote back then…

“At training we got to hear from Leroy – great speaker. He gave an awesome analogy that really stirred my heart. He was talking about how a guy can show up at a basketball court for a pickup game and look like he’s the deal – great jersey, the best shoes, can talk like he’s a baller. But then he can step on the court and have no game to back the image. So then Leroy turned that on us – how right now we all look good, or else we wouldn’t be here. But can we play?? There are a ton of critics who will say we can’t – that a bunch of twentysomethings can’t be serious enough to do this -- to leave the fast-track and live in the inner-city, learning what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

That totally challenged me. Ya, I look good. I can throw around terms like ‘holistic well-being’ and ‘social justice’ – and I can quote passages of Scripture that talk about serving the poor. But can I take all of that head knowledge – like the recognition of a pick-n-roll or the figures of Lebron James’ contract – and actually live it out? Actually execute the play or pop the clutch trey? Can I follow Jesus throughout a year in Atlanta?? I don’t know. I want to. I want to so bad.

My thought with that though too was how even if I don’t have what it takes right now, I can still succeed IF I’m coachable. If I listen closely to Coach and trust Him to change my ways and my heart. Then ya, I can play this game. I can experience Christ. I can take part in the Kingdom.

So here’s to beginning the season…”

Looking back with hindsight, that season was incredible. Probably the most I’ve ever matured and learned in one single year. It made me critique how this season in my life is going. Am I still bringing my A-game to life every morning? Still trying to suck all the marrow out of each day, still trying to love God and love people with all I am, still feeling the urgency and passion to fight for goodness and truth in every relationship I have? Well… I’m not sure. In some ways, yes. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think about seeking after the Lord and striving to see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. But in other ways, not so much. There are definitely times when I feel like I’m just kinda cheering on others from the bench, or that I’m complaining to my teammates about not being in good enough shape (meanwhile I’m grabbing Snickers and Sunkists before the game instead of a chicken sandwich and wondering why I’m out of energy in the first half.) But then, I know that none of us are really “off the court”, and that perhaps this stage I’m in is just part of the process. Maybe these months and years of questions are like being in the lockerroom watching film on an upcoming opponent. It’s not exciting in and of itself, but it’s needed in order to understand the challenges to come. My perspectives on life continue to change with pretty rapid speed, and I’m trusting that all these varied experiences in the past years are only going to develop me more into a better follower-of-God and a better lover-of-humanity. Still, if I’m honest, there are numerous ways in which I’m not bringing my best to this journey, and I know I need to stop settling for mediocrity. Too much glory at stake to play with anything but reckless abandon. Time to step it up.

Provision

2008-07-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

So, I have a confession to make. Of all the so-called crazy adventures that I've been on, this whole trip to Sudan has been the one I've been the least confident about going on. Looking back on previous times in my life when I made the decisions to 1) go on a trip to Haiti, 2) move in with strangers to a house in innner-city Atlanta, and 3) sign up to volunteer for a year in post-Katrina New Orleans -- I always made those choices having had a pretty sure conviction that that was the step God was leading me to take. In lots of different ways, it had truly seemed that the Lord gave me pretty tangible confirmation in each of those circumstances that He was in fact opening a door for me to walk through. Which of course gave me a lot of peace once I was in those places, knowing that even if things were difficult, I was where I was supposed to be.

But this time, things have been different. When I first heard about the trip, I immediately WANTED to go, but I had no reason to think I actually SHOULD go. I'm pretty sure that I'd want to go on almost any opportunity that presented itself to travel to another country, so it's not like desire itself was much of a confirmation factor to me. But once I found out that my AmeriCorps project was going to end 4 months earlier than it was originally supposed to, then I actually seriously started thinking about going since I no longer had a job commitment keeping me in Austin this summer. And yet, as I pondered and prayed about whether I should sign up or not, I never received any major "signs" directing me to go or not go. No convenient Bible verses during my devotion time that read "Go to Africa." No seemingly Divinely orchestrated conversation with a stranger that mentioned Sudan. I didn't know if I should really be going or not, or if this was just an example of my desire for periodic adrenaline rushes or new and exciting adventures. Eventually it was commit-or-miss-the-boat time though, and I finally just said "yes" - feeling like it was a good work to be a part of, and that if I really wasn't "supposed" to go, then God would have made that known.

But then came the question of how to pay for the trip. My AmeriCorps job for the past year had pretty much just provided a living stipend, not an actual salary... so the savings I'd been able to put away had been pretty slim. Even if I emptied my bank account, I wasn't going to have enough to pay for all the expenses on my own. The rest of the team was raising support (the Christian term for fundraising), but I really wasn't so hot on that idea. After having done that so much already in the past few years, I felt like it was time to stop asking people to fund the work I was doing... particularly when I couldn't say definitely that God had "called me to go" on this trip. I truly do believe in the members of the Church taking care of each others' needs and each contributing their part to the work of the Kingdom, so I think I would have been much more alright in doing traditional support raising if I'd had more "spiritual direction" for wanting to go. But truth is, I'm probably less confident in evangelism now than I've ever been… and my reasons for wanting to go were much more personal than ministry-oriented. (Well, actually, that gets into the whole idea of WHAT ministry is, which is an area where my beliefs have changed a lot in the past few years. In a different way, my heart is completely ministry-oriented in why I want to go, but not religiously-oriented.) But nonetheless, plane tickets weren't going to buy themselves, so I had to figure out how to cover my expenses. In the end, I decided to not do fundraising in the way that I had before… with the exception being a few folks who I knew would want to give if they knew I was going, so I felt o.k. letting them know what was up. Instead, I simply told folks that I was on a team going to Sudan, and trusted that somehow God would indeed provide the money if this was supposed to happen.

And… incredibly-but-not-really-surprising-because-God-is-gracious-like-that… all the money was provided. And it definitely happened in ways that I would never have guessed. Almost a third of the money was given by people in my church small group – folks who I didn't even know 7 months ago, but who have loved me so much as we've learned about Sudan together these past months, and who really believed in me being on the team. Almost another third came from a handful of generous people who I see less than once a year, and yet who wanted to be a part of this work. I was able to cover for another third on my own by picking up some extra shifts at my job. And the rest came from some good friends who, while young and themselves not well off, are passionate about fostering goodness and Life – and thus gave what they could to support our trip.

Looking back on it, my faith and my heart are so encouraged to see how God has been more than faithful to extend His provision to me through the generosity of others, particularly during a time in life when I've done my share of spiritual questioning. It increases my confidence in the grandness and goodness of the Lord – that He's not going to stop caring for me just because I'm taking less traditional roads to Him lately… and that while my skepticism of organized religion may be well-founded, I'm not a fool for trusting that Christ is indeed Truth and Life. Doubtful of cultural Christendom?, perhaps. But my soul has been made too alive for me to ever renounce the reality of Jesus Himself, and the amazing Restoration that I continue to see played out every day.

Spiritually, I remain in a place where the questions continue to come, and where I long for greater wisdom and am eager to learn so much more than I know. But tonight, I've experienced Provision, and am thus grateful to the Provider.

And it makes me all the more excited to see what else lies ahead once we actually get to Sudan. :)

Simplicity vs. Safety

2008-06-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

So one of the key principles I try to live my life by is that of “simplicity”. Gandhi said that we should live simply so that others may simply live. Thus, I need to be using my resources with the mindset that I’m called to be a good steward of them, and that ultimately all humanity is in this thing called life together -- so I need to be looking to meet the needs of others and not just my own wants. While there are obviously dozens of ways in which I DON’T do this, I’m learning to reprogram my mind as much as possible to see things from a global, even eternal perspective… and one of the most tangible ways this plays out is in how I spend my money. Again, I admit from the get-go that I suck at this in a lot of ways. But, in general, I’ve learned that if I cut down on a lot of my needless expenses, it frees up a lot of money to do better things with. So, I’m not gonna buy the $20 bottle of shampoo when the $3 one works just fine, and I’m not going to spend $80 on a pair of earrings, when I can find some half-way cute ones for $5 (especially since I’m prone to frequently losing jewelry anyway.) However, my stick-to-the-minumum-expense-neccesary philosophy recently hit a snag…

On Friday I went to the Passport Health office for my appointment to get the needed vaccinations for our Sudan trip. I knew that in addition to taking malaria pills, that I was going to need to at least get a yellow fever vaccine, and probably a few more shots too. So I go in and meet the doctor, and she goes through her talk about being a safe traveler, and about the risks for Sudan in particular. Then she goes through all the vaccinations that are suggested for the trip, and then gives the prices for them all. Granted, I’d budgeted SOME money for this, but I was a little taken back by the final price tag. Total cost if I want to be super safe and get ALL the recommended shots: $1,037. Yea right. I could buy a plane ticket to fly to another country for medical attention for that amount. So, I ration in my head that I’m obviously not getting ALL the recommended shots (which, from what I’ve heard, few people actually do.) Legally I just have to spend the $125 for the yellow fever shot and they’ll let me into Sudan, but I know it’s probably a good idea to get a least a couple of the other recommended ones. Which left me sitting in the doctor’s office, contemplating how likely it is that I would actually catch get any of this stuff, and just how much money is a good idea to spend. Would I rather spend $85, or risk getting typhoid fever? $135, or meningitis? $87, or measles? (Apparently, even though I already had that vaccine as a kid, “they” now recommend that anyone born after 1956 get two does of MMR, not one. Of course.) The simple-spender in me was saying “Just get the yellow fever and you’ll be fine.” The don’t-be-stupid-voice in me was saying “Better to be overly safe than sorry when dealing with foreign diseases.” Of course, part of being a 20-something living underneath a fear-mongering government is that I can be pretty distrustful of a lot of major institutions, especially any one where drug companies are making a profit by convincing me that I really need such-and-such medications, whether it’s true or not.

Contemplating all of this in my head while the doctor got the needles ready, I finally decide that for the day, I was just going to get the shots for yellow fever and for Hepatitis A&B. Those seem to be the most urgent, and I figure that even though the Hep A&B are by far the most expensive of the vaccines, I’m going to need to get those if I ever travel overseas again anyways, so mind as well get it out of the way. I had to make another appointment to get my second round of Hep shots before we leave for Africa, and I assure the doctor that I’ll probably get more of the other vaccines on my next visit. I haven’t actually decided if I am or not, but at least I’ve got a couple of weeks to do some more reading and see which ones I’m actually in need of.

It actually brings to mind a lot of thoughts about the whole struggle between living-in-fear vs. being-needlessly-reckless. But, that’s a whole other post, and I’ve got to get ready for work tonight. Maybe I’ll write more on that later…

The Question

2008-06-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it's about that time of year again. The time when my current "gameplan for life" runs out, and I have to start discerning what my next steps should be. It's a time that I've grown to see as both exciting and nerve racking... since this is now the 6th time in five years that I've gotten to undergo this little transition from one plan to another.

Looking back on the past years, I honestly have to say that I'm pretty amazed with how lucky I've been to live out so many incredible experiences. When I first started staring out at the sea of the unknown "real-world" during my senior year of college, I could NEVER have guessed what the future held. In order of address changes, I've lived in Atlanta, Lorena, Tyler, New Orleans, and now Austin - with a total of eleven different roommates (excluding my family). I've tutored students and coached basketball at an inner-city high school in Atlanta. I've organized disaster relief efforts in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. There have been intensely challenging and sobering moments -- like sorting homicide crime scene photos during my stint as a defense investigator for death penalty cases... and there have been absurdly ridiculous moments -- like when I drove a tractor while wearing a gorilla costume during my stint as a guest relations director at a camp in the middle of East Texas pine forest.

There have been nights of dancing to hip-hop, country, blues, jazz, and funk. I've hiked to the top of mesas in New Mexico and to the top of Stone Mountain in Georgia. I've cried many tears from seeing so much oppression, sorrow, violence, and despair. I've laughed for hours with the best friends a girl could ask for. I've ridden a tap-tap in Haiti, played games with kids in Mexico, skied the mountaintops of Colorado, and sang Cajun music on the swamps of the Gulf Coast bayou. All of this has come as I've simply pursued life to the fullest... never really mapping out what lay ahead, but trying to let God direct my path... and trying to learn more about the world and what my part is to play in it.

Certainly I have made mistakes along the way -- whether by intentional sin or merely naive mishaps. But I've learned from the mistakes as well as the victories - and, all in all, I wouldn't trade any part of the journey thus far. And when I look back and see how faithful God has been in taking care of me and teaching me and granting me the desires of my heart.. then I have a lot of peace in trusting His provision for the future. And yet... as always, there is an anxiousness that has begun to slowly arise lately as I feel the end of this course coming quickly, with no idea where I'm to turn next. I'll keep working at Halcyon for the next month and a half, and then I'll be going on our trip to Sudan for the first half of August. But after that?... No plan.

Well, there are some things that I do know. I'll still be living in Austin, and my roommate Linda and I have already decided that we're going to keep the apartment we have now for another year. (This will make the first time since 2004 that I've lived in one residence for more than 11 months!) But I guess the big thing is that I don't know what I'll be doing for a job, which means I don't know where my income will come from once I get back from Africa. I have faith that something will come up and work out - seeing as how it always has thus far. My bank account may have been empty during some of these transitions, but the right job has always started exactly when I needed it to, and I've never been hungry or unable to pay rent. (Well, in all honestly, at the worst of my financial instability, I had to ask my fam for $100 - but as much as I hated asking for that, it thankfully was still a relatively small amount.)

But in thinking about a job.. the seemingly ever-present question surfaces again of "What do I want to do?" I feel like at the age of 25, almost 26, I should have a decent answer to that question. But I really don't, and I'm probably less sure about an answer that I've ever been. Somehow, every year that I've experienced something new and seen more of life, I've become less certain of what career I'd like to pursue, at the time in life when it seems like I should be narrowing down my "field of interest". It's not that there is a lack of things that I'm passionate about. It's that there are SO many different lines of work that I think would be incredible, and feeling like I need to choose one to settle into seems so limiting. Of course, I've talked with many people about this and I know that I'm not actually in a position of having to choose what one specific thing I'm going to do for the next 40 years of my life. People change careers. They pursue one thing and end up doing something completely different. But the reality also is that if I'm hoping to do grad school next year, then I at least have to be able to pick which program I'm going to apply to. And as far work goes, any cover letter I submit is going to require me to say why such-and-such job fits into my long-term career goals. Thus, actually having some "long-term career goals" seems kinda necessary.

For years now I've been saying that I'll probably end up in education.. or social work... or full-time ministry. Any of those could still happen. As I think about the issues around the world that interest me though, fields like public policy and non-profit management are attractive too. Or I'll read BBC reports from journalists working in refugee camps or humanitarian aid outposts and I contemplate giving this whole full-time writing thing a real chance. And in the midst of all this dreaming about things I'd love to spend my lifetime doing... the deadline of August is flashing like a neon sign in my mind -- reminding me that somehow I'm gonna need to figure out something concrete before then, so that I can find a job and hopefully get a paycheck again by September. Perhaps I end up just taking some job that I'm not crazy about for this coming year while I decide some of this "long-term" stuff (though truth be told, I'd much rather keep serving coffee for another year than take a boring deskjob.) Plus my carpe-diem-suck-the-marrow-out-of-life philosophy makes me cringe at the idea of spending 40-plus hours a week doing something I don't think is worthwhile.

Who knows. I'm pretty assured that God will open doors when they need to open. And I actually believe that when all is said and done, that it's much more important WHO I'm becoming in all of this more so than WHAT work I'm doing. But nonetheless, employment is a key part of life, and so it's yet again a subject of much contemplation. I'm curious to see 3 months from now how this is all playing out...

Preparations

2008-06-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Itinerary

2008-06-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

We've known that our trip was going to take place the first two weeks of August, but we were unsure of exact dates because we had to wait and see which days would be the least expensive for our flights. And we WERE going to have to wait to book our flights until we had enough fundraising done to purchase everyone's tickets -- but thankfully Austin Stone Community Church has offered to finance our trip for us -- thus allowing us to go ahead and buy plane tickets and then pay back the church as our support money comes in. SO... two days ago, flights were booked and we got our official itineraries! Note that there has been a slight change in plans from what I original said: instead of staying in Nairobi for two nights for our post-Sudan debrief, we'll just be there one night on the way back, followed by a night in London for our debrief. I'm a little bummed we'll have less time in Nairobi, but excited to hopefully see at least a small bit of London! Below are travel plans from Austin to Nairobi. From there we'll be taking a smaller, charter flight from Kenya into Sudan.

DEPARTURE:
- Leave Austin, Friday August 1, 11:32am... arrive at Washington/Dulles 3:48pm
- Leave DC 6:26pm... arrive at London/Heathrow Sat. Aug. 2nd, 6:55am
- Leave London 10:20am... arrive in Nairobi 8:50pm

RETURN:
- Leave Nairobi, Sunday August 17th, 11:35am... arrive at London/Heathrow 6:30pm
- Leave London, Monday August 18th, 10:50am... arrive at Washington/Dulles 2:18pm
- Leave DC 6:55pm... arrive in Austin 9:14pm

Add it up folks, and that's gonna be just 3 minutes shy of 40 hours of flying! Plus our charter flight to and from Sudan. Looks like I'm gonna need at least a couple good books to pass the time.

Sudan video

2008-06-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

This video was partially filmed in Didinga territory, and it features William and Eunice Laku - the couple we'll be going to work with in Southern Sudan.

WATCH

Sudan Overview

2008-06-01T16:18:00.001-07:00

Although I plan on writing about a variety of things on this blog, the main reason that I've started it is to let y'all know about my trip to Sudan that I'll be going on in August. So, first up, here's an overview about what we'll be up to:

SETTING THE STAGE

- Sudan has officially been an independent nation since 1956, when the people declared themselves free from the British-Egyptian rule that had governed for most of the prior century. Immediately however, the country was thrust into a civil war as rivaling factions disputed over the many strong cultural differences between the northern and southern regions of Sudan. A brief peace was brokered from 1972 to 1983, only for the Second Sudanese Civil War to again ravish the country. In January 2005, a comprehensive peace agreement was reached between the north and south, which essentially granted Southern Sudan autonomy for six years, to be followed by a referendum on independence to be held in 2011. While the horrific conflict in Darfur continues to persist in western Sudan, the South is striving to reestablish some semblance of stable life. Over 250,000 refugees have returned from camps in Uganda, Ethiopia, & Kenya. Though eager to begin recovery, most people have incredibly limited resources with which to rebuild their lives. This is the scene we will be entering into.

THE HOPE:
- The leaders for our trip, Jonathan & Lauren Ramirez, have already spent time in Sudan, having worked with a couple named William & Eunice Laku among the Didinga tribe of southeastern Sudan. William & Eunice became Christians while in refugee camps (some of the first among the Didinga people), and have returned now to their homeland to be ambassadors of a Christian faith and of peace. One of the visions this couple has for their land is a dream to start a multi-tribal boarding school, called "City on a Hill", which would strive to bring the youth of surrounding tribes to learn together in a unified environment. The hope is that if these children of war can be educated together, hear the Gospel, and build healthy relationships with each other, then these future leaders can guide their country into a time of peace and life that hasn't been seen in generations. The Lakus have invited the Ramirezes to join them in this endeavor, not building a school FOR them, but rather developing a school WITH them. And so our team is going to learn more about the culture and to support this great vision, considering as we go the ways that each of us can be a part of this long-term effort, and how our community back here in the States can be a part of what the Lord is already doing among the Sudanese people.

LOGISTICS:
- Our trip will take place the first two weeks of August, and will include a team of 15 people. We will arrive first in Nairobi, Kenya for a night, then fly to Lokichogio -- then fly again into Sudan to our destination of Nagishot. We'll spend 10 days among the Didinga tribe, joining William and Eunice in their ministry and learning as much as we can about the culture, the current circumstances in the region, and the development for the boarding school. After leaving we'll spend two nights in Nairobi for a time of debriefing, then depart on our flight back to Austin. I hope to do some extensive writing both before and after the trip, and will most likely post those pieces on a blog that would be available online for you all to read.

WAYS YOU CAN BE INVOLVED:
- Be in the know. I'll be sending out more details and updates from our team as we get ready for the trip, as well as follow-up reports once we get home. These will include specific prayer requests and opportunities for you to further support the City on a Hill school as plans continue to develop. If you'd like to receive these email updates, then send me a reply at ERLing82@gmail.com, and I'll get those to you. If you'd prefer to receive a follow-up letter once we return in August, then send back your physical postal address, and I'll mail you a trip summary and photos once we return home. From all my previous travels, I have definitely come to believe in the blessing that comes from having a support team of people praying for the task at hand, so know that I truly appreciate those of you can commit to praying for our team and the Didinga tribe!

- Provide a financial gift. The approximate total cost per each team member will be $2,700. For my share of those expenses, I'll be covering one-third through my own savings. I'll be doing fundraising this summer to provide for the remaining cost, approximately $1800. If you'd like to contribute to that goal, you can make checks payable to Austin Stone Community Church. The church is a 501c-3 non-profit organization, and thus all gifts will be tax deductible. If you are interested in helping out in this way, let me know, and I'll give you details on where to send your gift. Providing tangibly for our expenses will enable us to provide tangibly for the Didinga people – so thank you for participating in the task with us!

Many thanks to all of you for your interest in supporting this exciting endeavor – and for your care and support to me personally, to our team, and to the people in Sudan who we will be working with. Blessings and love to each of you!

Sincerely,
emily