Please Pray for Healing

Please pray for healing for Jok Madut (founder of Marol Academy) who was assaulted by a band of his own country's soldiers on New Year's Eve.

And pray for healing for South Sudan. As the country is formed and war-time memories continue, there are many lost people in South Sudan who don't know where their security lies. Soldiers who would commit such violence must be amongst these lost.

Prayer Request

I just wanted to write to ask for urgent prayer for the people of Jonglei State. It is far from Marol, but friends' home villages are nearby and people fear it is sign of broader instability.

There have been attacks between the Lou Nuer and Murle communities that have left uncounted numbers dead. A friend described it as "like Rwanda" because of the disregard for any ethics in combat. "If the world saw this they would not believe in South Sudan any more". While there has long been cattle raiding between groups in Jonglei, the dynamics and scale of the violence have rejected previous restraints.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16375646

Please pray.

2011 bought so many answered prayers for South Sudan: a peaceful referendum; independence day; some good rains. Yet, there is still much uncertainty.

“Yes” said Queen Lucy

“In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

I pray that you have a happy Christmas and that you are reminded afresh of the love that dared to let a king be born in a stable.

Thank you for another year of love and prayers for Marol Academy and South Sudan. After independence in July, this is South Sudan's first Christmas...

Yet, really, the story has only just started.

Graduation, Growing and Safely Home

Thank God For:
1) Safe Arrivals Home
Now, finally, Gordon, Joyce, Loice, Rachel and Emma are all safely back in their homes. Some are now in the Lydney and others in the bustle of Nairobi, but they are still at the heart of what Marol Academy has done this year.

2) Nhial's Graduate from Teacher Training College
A star of the college, Nhial Bona has finally graduated from Yei Teacher Training College. He is the first trained teacher amongst the 90,000 Apuk Dinka and will return to Marol for the 2012 school year. We are so, so proud of him. And we hope to send another teacher for this two-years' training. It seems one of the most lasting legacies that is possible. We have only been able to do it thanks to the funding from teachers in the UK. So, thank you.

3) Growing Support in the UK
Thank God as He gathers His people in the UK to love, be envisioned and serve the children of Marol.

The Marol Family

Gordon, Joyce, Emma, Loice and Racheal all leave Marol today in the direction of home. They will sleep tonight in Luonyaker (the nearest market village) and then, tomorrow, drive to Wau, fly to Juba and fly onto Kenya.

So many of us are in such awe at the strength of this Marol Family and what God has done through them this year. It is beyond expectations and hopes. It is truly a miracle.

Please pray for:
1) Logistics
That everything fits together with times and planes.

2) Safety
That God carries them safely home.

3) For Peace
That God would really guard their hearts as they say goodbye and process all that God has done this last year. Pray for vision for His plans ahead for each of this fabulous five, and pray for God's heart and grace as they look back over these last nine months.

Plane, Peace and Plans

Through the plane's small window and across the thin tarmac that shimmers in the sun, you can see a handful of cattle grazing at the runway's edge. A tiny plane comes into land as the engine on our Kenya-bound flight kicks into action. Just a few months before, after a miscalculation by air traffic control, our plane had been metres from landing on top of another when flying into Juba airport. The sight of the strip of tarmac always reminded me to thank God for his mercies. But, it was soaring up over the vast, green lands and snaking rivers that was the real reminder of God's provision. Beneath us was spread South Sudan and its post independence hope. God had done mighty works in this nascent nation but there were many more left to do.

Yet, looking down on the glistening roofs of Juba, reminds you of what is hidden in Juba that is not always the hope that seems more abundant in the village. NGOs and the UN are accused of consuming money intended for South Sudan. The government is accused of using South Sudan's money to buy the biggest cars that can fit on its crowded streets. Land Cruisers, high security fences and quick construction characterise this city that few Southern Sudanese would recognise as their own. Yet, with the jumbled streets and the beating sun, this is still almost a reminder of Marol.

This morning saw me land into the mist of a London morning. From home to home in just an afternoon and a morning.

Please pray for:
1) Peace In Gogrial East
Five people died last week in the grazing lands where the cattle from Marol are kept. School-aged boys, guarding the cattle, often come into deadly conflict as they attempt to protect their family's wealth. Recent disarmament campaigns have confused the usual security setting. Fear of more conflict remains while these families still grieve their loss.

2) Plans
Please pray for the plans for Marol for the year ahead and also for my plans for the year ahead. Please ask for the right people to seek God, to listen to His plan and to obey Him. At the moment, Marol has no secondary school teachers for 2012 although we have dozens of eager students. Plus, due to student protests, many schools in Wau have been closed indefinitely meaning that even less secondary education is available in the region. Marol needs you to beg God for teachers so that we can keep providing.

3) Church of Sudan
This week the leaders of the church of Sudan gather in Juba. This includes Bishops from the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile who are experiencing intense persecution as civil war erupts in these regions. Pray for strength and vision.

The Joys of Juba

Just before the thatched roof bar in our hotel is a small bridge that leads over a little stream that gushes down to the Nile. When it rains, the little flow becomes a torrent to carry Juba's rain fall down stream. Over this bridge, as you walk out of the hotel and into the rest of Juba, the roads run red with mud and small boys, whose play was interrupted by the rain, shelter beneath thin grass roofs. For a moment the bustle of motorbikes and LandCruisers stands still, too timid to face the torrent. Yet the people of this city over time have seen everything from seasons of being beseiged during the civil war to bursting with development as it is now. Juba has the chaotic haze of any bustling city. The educated and aspiring, the entrepreneur and the nephew all descend on Juba. Life comes and goes here.

Please Pray For:
1) Gordon, Joyce, Rachael, Loice and Emma
This saintly cohort have just over two weeks at Marol before the school year ends and they head home for a rest. Pray for easy good byes that remind them of the joys they've known and the difference they've made. Pray for last minute opportunities to make a world of difference. And pray that God would already set the logistics in place so that they safely make the three flights home from the red dust of Wau's airstrip to the swarm of Heathrow.

2) Students at The University of Juba
Again and again and again the University of Juba did not open. It was meant to open in April, then August and then October. The students returned but the lectures never started. And with no lectures and no funding, the students now sit in the university accommodation without a means of getting food or the money to return home. The promise is that the university will open in December but students are not confident. The University of Juba was initially founded in 1975 to support the education of Southern Sudanese, yet during the war the university was moved to Khartoum. While some of the university's departments reopened in Juba after the peace agreement of 2005, since the Southern government took over this year they have found it hard to find teachers and funds to get the university open. The same is the case in Wau and Malakal.

3) Peace
There are increasing whispers of possible attacks between Unity State and Warrap State. Rebel leaders just over the border from our county seem to want to advance towards us to make a political statement. The rebels are also claiming that many soldiers already in Warrap State will defect to their cause. At the moment it is far from a reality, but it is a season of rumours of wars. The rain laden swamps will hopefully act as a natural barrier for peace at least for now.

4) Work on Communities
This week God has been gracious enough to give me two incredible meetings that I know could not have been without him. Key people just happened to sit in front of me at church or be friends of friends over breakfast. But I still need his guidance as I work out what I'm doing and what doors to knock on.

5) Universities
Having thought God had put things together, there are small complications with the details of my PhD due to new regulations at the university that had not filtered down to the department. I am also seeking funding and would appreciate your prayers for provision. I know my struggles are nothing compared to those at the unversities in South Sudan but it has still upset me. With the growing threats of conflict in Warrap, I hope the work of my PhD will serve well the communities of this land