Patience. Waiting on God for the Right Time.

A Letter from South Sudan

I have been in South Sudan for the past two days.  Specifically, I am in the border town of Nimule, about 2km from the Uganda’s northern border. The trip from Kampala to Nimule was several hours on both paved and unpaved road.  I hope to return home in another day or so.

Nimule's Border Check Point

In June, 2011 Far Reaching Ministries (FRM) sent a shipping container full of supplies for their chaplain training facility here.  FRM graciously let us put some of our personal items on their container free of charge.

Some of these items were very important to us like wedding photos and home school materials.

Isaiah 40:31 reads, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”  I love reviewing this verse in detail.  Waiting on God will bring us renewed strength.  To fly and run suggests quick action when needed (like escaping danger and moving fast).  The very last part “walk, and not grow faint,” suggests that God give longevity on a long journey.  Waiting on God's timing is the way to go.

We loaded these things on the container in June 2011, and the container arrived in Nimule around August.  We moved to Uganda in March 2012, but I needed FRM’s help get me through customs.  Trying to get our things any earlier could have involved great expense and "entanglements" with the border authorities.  But we had the patience and faith that God would give us the right opportunity to get our things.

Taking some important things back home.

Pictured is Komi (FRM worker), who helped me stuff the Prado.

 Are you waiting on God to arrange the right opportunity or are you struggling to make things happen?

The Bible teaches to wait on God.  Be patient, and let God open the door when the timing is right.

From Nimule (Republic of South Sudan),

John Eastham

New Missionary to Uganda

John in South Sudan

John left for Nimule, South Sudan on August 7th.  Praise God everything went smoothly during his travels to get there. He enjoyed a brief rest in Kampala, Uganda, for a day and had the opportunity to ask questions that will help prepare us for our move there early next year.  Since his arrival in South Sudan, he has had an opportunity to teach a Bible study to the chaplains and unloaded a shipping container that he took part in sending from the U.S. several weeks ago. 

 His main focus in these first few days has been to set up a large conference-size tent.  He's been measuring around the compound to figure out where to put it.  Another issue he's had is that the instructions to the tent didn't make it to Sudan.  Today he writes:

Things were fine today. I measured the FRM compound in a different area and discovered that the tent would not fit there either. We eventually decided to set the tent up at another FRM compound about 2 miles from here. It took 3 other chaplains and me about 30 minutes just to unload the tent materials from the container. It’s a lot of weight. I am fairly certain that the tent’s instructions got lost between its maker in Oklahoma and S. Sudan. We will have to do our best base on the instructional video.

 Driving with the chaplains to the other FRM compound gave me some good discussion time with some of them. One had a Saber player with praise songs in various languages including Luganda (language of Kampala where we will be). It was very neat especially since I understood enough Luganda to know that song’s chorus was “Jesus is good.”

 Tomorrow we plan to put up the tent at the other FRM compound. Please pray that it goes well. I think a few pieces are lost. Hopefully they are non-critical and can be replaced.

Chaplains have been returning from the field to the FRM compound. Wes, Ed, et al are seeing old friends. It is neat to see. Stories about chaplains are very exciting. 

Wes bought a cow and brought it into the FRM compound. It will be dinner tomorrow. The cow got a bit unnerved and ran around wildly in the compound. It was quite a spectacle. I have video footage of it charging me (or so it seemed; I was actually behind a tree). The chaplains eventually go the cow tied up.

After dinner tonight there was a bonfire. Chaplains were singing praising God. It was very neat. The sky is partly cloudy, and lightening occasionally lights up the sky. It’s very cool.

Thank you all for your prayers.  It is sustaining us.

john e.