Pastor Tito's ministry headquarters.

This building will soon be the home of PPF-supported pastor, Tito Abaha, and his family. Once completed, the home will function as a guest house and the headquarters for Pastor Tito’s ministry in Torit, Southern Sudan. This home is being built with bricks made by a machine provided by PPF. The machine was purchased mainly through the generosity of the late Joanne Wilson, whose life of selfless giving is still “building” God’s Kingdom on earth, even though Joanne is now with her Savior in heaven.

Joanne and Alan Wilson

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“No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.” – 2 Timothy 2:4

As we landed on the Jaac airstrip in March, I noticed two soldiers standing under a tree at the edge of the runway. They were there to protect our plane.

Wilson Wal Malith proudly holds his new Bible, the message of which he proceeded to share with his friend.

Our pilot, Linnie Weeks, offered to spend a couple of days with us on the ground, participating in our outreaches in Jaac. This meant securing the plane from possible vandals and the curious children who may have been tempted to use our Cessna Caravan as playground equipment.

Wilson Wal Malith was one of the two soldiers charged with guarding the aircraft. He immediately approached a PPF team member and requested a Bible, which we were more than happy to supply. As we handed him the Bible, he began to tell us his story.

Wilson had been stationed in Jaac since 2005 and had once owned a Bible. He explained that while he was employed by the military, he was a soldier for God first. He felt that he was a pastor to the other men in his regiment. In fact, he had given his previous Bible to another soldier who had been transferred far away. He hadn’t been able to obtain a replacement Bible for a very long time.

Holding his new copy of God’s Word close to his heart, Wilson smiled. He pointed his thumb at the soldier standing quietly beside him and said, “Now I can share Jesus Christ with this man.”

For 3 days, Wilson shared his faith and the Word of God with his fellow soldier under this tree.

Wilson and this other soldier sat on a cot under a tree, which shaded them from the blazing sun, on the edge of the Jaac airstrip for the next 3 days. Bible open. Words of love and hope pouring forth from a soldier who was “pleasing his commanding officer.”

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Every now and again, I like to rummage through some old pictures of PPF ministry activities and remember how good God has been to us through the years.

Pastor Morris preaching to his congregation in Jaac.

Recently, I ran across several early photos of refugees arriving in Southern Sudan from Darfur. They were on the run, severely discouraged, and starving. Most had no shelter. This was the community of Jaac in 2006.

One of the old pictures I found was of a man who looked very down-trodden. He was dressed in rags and huddled under a tree, holding a tarp over himself and a little baby trying to stay dry. At first glance, he looked like just another refugee from Darfur. But this guy was no ordinary refugee. His name was Morris Malual, and little did I know that within a couple of years, this man would be a leader of hundreds in Jaac.

In 2006, PPF found Morris Malual in Jaac huddled under a tarp trying to keep the rain off his baby (who is wrapped in a blanket on his knee).

Today, Morris is a pastor of the largest church in Jaac. He’s a major leader in the community. He leads a group of pastors representing 15 churches spread over 100 square kilometers. Morris also started the first school in Jaac, which initially met under a tree outside his church building. And he was one of the first graduates of a PPF-sponsored 500 hour Bible-training class for pastors.

Seeing Morris today and where he was just a few years ago is a good example of how man looks at the outward appearances, while God looks at the heart. If I was a betting man, I would have said in 2006 that Morris did not stand a chance.

But God, who is rich in mercy, decided “I’m making that guy one of My leaders.” And He did.

Morris’ story should encourage all of us. When we are frustrated with where we are in our lives, we can think of examples like Morris and realize that God can very quickly take seemingly hopeless people in a hopeless situation, and raise them up. With God, all things are possible. Because of God, we should never give up hope.

Pastor Morris' congregation gathers for worship.

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Photos courtesy of AIM AIR.

Persecution Project Foundation was contacted in early January by Pastor Francis Ayul of Faith Evangelical Baptist Association of Churches (FEBAC), one of the pastors we support in the Upper Nile region of South Sudan. He wrote to tell us about a violent attack that had occurred in the village of Atar in the early morning hours of December 31st, 2009.

Pastor Francis told us that a couple of churches in Atar were completely burned to the ground, including the FEBAC church. In addition, the ministry compound for Serving in Missions (SIM) was also destroyed. And Anglican pastor/evangelist Tuong Dau was killed in the raid.

But stories of God’s divine protection are now emerging from this tragedy. We’d like to share one of those with you.

Ruth and Ubandoma were among the first missionaries from Evangel Missionary Society in Nigeria to join the Serving in Missions (SIM) team working in Sudan. Below is an excerpt from their experience.

“In the afternoon of December 30th, I had been working in my garden. I stayed up late – till about 12:30 midnight working on some reports and pictures in my computer. We had just gotten to sleep at about 2:30 AM, when my wife started vomiting from some unknown sickness. I gave her medicine but for some reason, we could not sleep well. At about 4 AM, we awakened and heard some strangers behind our house. It sounded like they were cocking their guns. Not long after, the shooting started.

“When the bullets started flying, we don’t remember how we found ourselves under our bed. Our three children were crying in a nearby room, ‘Dad! Mom! What is happening?’ We called out to them to get under their beds.

“It was only then that we realized the thatched roof above us was on fire. Our roof had plastic under the thatch to keep out rain and bugs. this plastic was suddenly ablaze and the fire spread to all the rooms of our house in seconds. The house filled with smoke. My wife and I crawled to the next room where our children were. Bullets continued flying through our house. By God’s grace, none of us were hit.

“I took my wife and children into the kitchen, but we could not reach the front door because of the smoke. My computer and thuraya phone were lying on the kitchen table. I took the computer and put it on top of my head to protect me from melting plastic that was raining down on us. My wife got to our water supply and tried to spray the water onto the burning grass above us. She was trying to reduce the smoke so we could find the way to our door. Already she had picked up our passports in her hand.

“I went to the door with my computer on my head. The melted plastic dripped down on my left hand and arm, burning my skin. I grabbed our youngest daughter, Kezya, and was holding her close to my chest with my right hand. Shielding my little girl, I unlocked the door. My wife was right behind me pushing the children out the door. When they were all out, I came out last. The whole house was ablaze by now – even the door. As I closed the door and started to move away, it fell on me burning my back.

“We moved out into the open compound and ducked into a tent. In just a moment or two, that tent caught fire as well. We came out and saw our fellow missionaries rushing toward the [metal] toilet, so we followed them. I was the last one to reach the toilet as I was protecting them and wanted to make sure they had reached safety…. After an hour, the fighting had died down.

“Since 2006, when we first came to Sudan, I have kept reading Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.’ During this whole ordeal, this Scripture kept coming back to my mind. ‘Even though I should walk through the valley of death – You are close beside me.’ (NLT) ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Your goodness will follow me all the days of my life.’ These words comforted and strengthened me.

“In retrospect, I see that what happened to us is not our power but is a miracle of God. We lost everything in the fire. This included my personal money, clothes, computer, camera, cook ware and all of our books, including those of our children and all my theological books. But even though we lost all these things, God gave us our lives. Their guns (they used large caliber shells) were aimed right at my bed where I had been sleeping. It is a miracle of God that we were not all killed. I believe this is because God has something for me to do before calling me home.”

We thank God for protecting Ruth, Ubandoma, and their children.

PPF has ministered in the Upper Nile region of Southern Sudan since 2000. This is an area where most churches were completely destroyed during the war between 1983-2005.

Burned hut.

Violence has been on the rise again as the terrorist-controlled government in Khartoum arms local militia groups and encourages conflict between tribes to destabilize the area.

Please pray that God would extend His protection to all the missionaries and organizations working to promote reconciliation and peace in a part of Sudan that has known little of either for the past 50+ years.

The increased violence has only strengthened PPF’s resolve to engage the people of God in this community with encouragement and the power of the Gospel. Only the healing power of Christ can change the hearts of people hardened by years of war and suffering.

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One of the new wells.

I was somewhere between Gok Machar and Jaac with my team. It had already been a long day. What was supposed to be a three-hour journey had doubled. It was well past dark, and our vehicle was weaving in and out between trees and thorn bushes, trying to avoid the occasional stump protruding from the “road” that was really nothing more than a glorified cow path.

All of a sudden, PPF Director Matt Chancey yelled out, “Hey, stop the car! There’s our rig!” Off the road a ways, lit up like a Christmas tree, was one of our drilling rigs busily drilling another borehole to bring fresh water to the thousands of people in Jaac.

PPF's Matt Chancey washes a child's feet and presents the Gospel during a shoe distribution.

It was a beautiful sight. There was no moon, so the stars were very bright. It was a peaceful night, but not a quiet one, because the air was filled with the hammer-sound of the drilling rig as it pounded its way deeper and deeper through the dark red soil.

Although it was late, the noise of the rig had attracted a lot of attention, mostly from men and boys standing around watching the work.

I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and thankfulness at that moment. I remembered how difficult it had been to finish the first few wells in the community. Now I was witnessing the 41st well being drilled!

Residents of Jaac gather for a time of worship.

By the time I left Africa to return home for Christmas, the 45th well was completed. At the time of publication, the 52nd well was operational in Jaac. Our goal of reaching the half-way mark to 100 wells by Christmas was met. PRAISE THE LORD!

Of course, God uses means to achieve His ends, and that means I need to thank you, our ministry partners, for helping us achieve this aggressive goal in the middle of a world-wide recession. We know God is not worried about the economy, nor should we be. The year 2009 was filled with incredible challenges, but none were greater than God, and He provided for all our needs and many thousands of lives were impacted by the work you have chosen to support.

29 students graduated from our pastor-training program.

In addition to the water project in Jaac, we also witnessed the fruit of our other ministries to the community. It was my pleasure to be joined by my good friend and PPF ministry partner, Larry Warren of African Leadership. Larry and I were privileged to attend a graduation ceremony of 29 pastors in Jaac who had completed more than 500 hours of training sponsored by African Leadership. It had been two years since Larry had last been with me in Jaac, and he summed up the changes in one word: “health.”

Darfur refugees in Jaac eagerly await a PPF shoe distribution.

PPF’s medical clinic in Jaac was very busy, as we received the first of hopefully many shipments of shoes and medicine using our new truck, “Mercy,” to save us thousands of dollars normally spent on expensive relief flights.

It was a wonderful trip, and I felt so privileged to have been chosen to be a part of this vital work in a barren land forgotten by the rest of the world. It reminded me that the same God Who watches over the sparrows has remembered His suffering people in Jaac.

Medical ministry at the PPF clinic in Jaac.

I know most of you reading these pages will never have an opportunity to see this miracle for yourselves, but I hope my words and these pictures convey at least a hint of the magnitude your prayers and testimony of giving have made in the lives of the people in Jaac and other communities in Sudan.

As I write these words at the close of 2009, the words of a powerful hymn keep entering my mind – and I trust they will carry us all through a new and exciting year:

A village celebrates with PPF staff over the completion of a new well.

“To God be the Glory, Great Things He Hath Done!”

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When we think of preaching the gospel, we don’t always associate it with feeding the hungry. Nevertheless, Jesus fed people on many occasions, and He was all about bringing people into the Kingdom of God.

John 6 tells of Jesus feeding 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish. When they had finished eating, there were plenty of leftovers.

A team from PPF traveled to Nairobi in late September and were told that the Soweto Academy located in the Kibera Slum had not been able to feed its students since August. The next shipment of food was due to arrive in November.

We prayed that God would meet the needs of the students and multiply the fish and loaves all over again. Our desire was to get enough food to provide for the children until their next shipment arrived… and God provided.

PPF was able to purchase 32 50-kg bags of rice for the school. Each bag will feed the students for one day. In addition, we bought a truck-load of firewood, so the rice could be cooked in the school’s kitchen.

Additionally, our team delivered much-needed medicines to the Revival Medical Clinic, and taught the Soweto students all about Daniel and his three friends. We encouraged the students to purpose in their hearts not to defile themselves with things or activities that displease God (Daniel 1:8). We also taught that God is able to protect them from persecution (Daniel 3:17), and that God delivers and rescues (Daniel 6:27).

We thank all who supported these outreach activities

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