A letter from Debbie Blane in Sudan
March 23, 2011
Dear Friends,
Greetings! This has been an amazingly busy month for me. I have gone from Khartoum, Sudan, to Malakal, Sudan (in the south), and back to Khartoum. Then I went to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and finally flew back to the United States. My port of entry was Washington, D.C., with a seven- or eight-hour layover and then on to Chicago and finally Louisville, Kentucky. I traveled for 36 hours to return to my country of birth.
As you probably know much of the press as of late has been focused on the three-pronged disaster in Japan, and rightly so. The people of Japan need international attention as they struggle through the effects of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear damage to their country. The other country that has taken much of the world’s focus is Libya.
Silk Store in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where they grow silk worms and dye and weave the fabric.
Sudan has not been in the headlines, and I don’t know if this is because there is not much to report or if the other headlines are overshadowing what is happening in Khartoum and Juba (the Southern capital). I heard yesterday from a student that Khartoum is peaceful for the time being. I have heard from other people that for the time being Malakal is also peaceful.
I am in the United States for a time of furlough and itineration. I have begun work on my dissertation proposal for a Doctor of Theology in Missiology through the University of South Africa (UNISA). This is a public university in South Africa. I am able to do this work by ODL, Open Distance Learning. It is the university from which Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu earned degrees while they were in prison in South Africa.
I will be in Seattle in May to attend my daughter’s college graduation and also to attend to some of my own medical needs. And I will be spending time itinerating in different presbyteries and attending the New Wilmington Mission Conference in Pennsylvania.
Itineration is a time for me to visit different churches for worship or for a meeting that is planned in order for me to share about the ministry of the Nile Theological College and also about God’s ministry through my teaching at NTC. This is a time when I am able to share the news of the work of the college. It is also a time to pray for God to touch the hearts of those who will respond in prayer and in financial giving and support for the college and for my own work. When I was a student at Trinity Lutheran College (the college, by the way, that my daughter will graduate from in May!) I learned that God goes ahead of us and invites specific people to be partners in ministry with us. So I go into the itineration process trusting that there is a cloud of witnesses already formed by God who will stand with NTC and with me as we go forward in the work of the Triune God in the English Track in the new country of South Sudan. I also pray for the work of God in Sudan in the north where the Arabic Track and the Diploma Program continue in Khartoum.
Please pray for the preparations in the coming days, weeks and months by the principal, staff and faculty for the move to the south of the English Track. Please pray for my time here in the United States that it will be fruitful and renewing.
Joining with you in prayer,
Debbie
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 54
