A letter from Ingrid Reneau in Sudan
June 16, 2008
Friends,
These past 10 months, I’ve been working as an education officer, and recently, donor relations manager with Across (Ax) in southern Sudan. It has been a wondrous journey during which your consistent, loving prayers and financial support have sustained me. I’ve fallen behind with correspondence because I’ve begun to experience delayed “culture shock” on multiple levels: it isn’t just all the different cultures that surround me, but also all the different denominations in such close proximity, and the various way in which we “do” our Father’s mission.
Ax is an intergenerational, interdenominational, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural NGO that has been serving God in southern Sudan since 1972. Its vision is: Sudan renewed by the works of the Holy Spirit with a church that is a light for Africa and the world. Its mission is to build the church and communities leading to Sudan being renewed. Its core values are as follows: Christian distinctiveness, dependency on God, holistic approach, unity, good relationships, servanthood, perseverance, and doing a good job.
I work with Ax “family” members from Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, England, and Australia. Each day, my African-Caribbean-American tongue dances the rhythms of other languages, touching the surface of each in greetings! More than anything else, it is this multiplicity of people working together as one in the rebuilding of a nation that demonstrates Ax’s unique nexus: a creative site where the crossing of ethnicities, cultures, generations, and denominations constitutes the perfect futuristic site to work: it’s preparation for being around our Father’s throne where they’ll be people from every nation, tribe, people, and language.
A typical day
In southern Sudan, I’m usually up by 6:00. Breakfast is bread, butter, tea, or instant coffee. Daily devotion starts either at 7:30, 8:00, or 8:30 (depending on which Ax base I am assigned at the moment) and lasts 30 minutes. We sing two or three songs, either in Juba, Arabic, or English. There is opening prayer, a designated person shares from the word between for about ten or fifteen minutes, takes prayer and praise requests, and then the designated person prays for all. We usually conclude with “The grace of our Lord Jesus, and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore, amen.” Then we go outside, forming a circle as we shake each other’s hands with a greeting of “good morning,” or “God bless you” and have light conversations. These daily devotions knit us together as a “family,” for during these times of prayer, we gather each other in prayer from across our bases in Yambio, Yei, Juba, Rumbek, Adol, Boma, Leer, and Nairobi.
Then, I go off to work doing training in teaching methodology, intensive English, pre-school education, etc. Or I go to meetings with MoEST (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) or UNICEF or any of several organizations that work with education. Or I go to NGO meetings or other meetings regarding donors or partners of Across.
I return for lunch back to the Ax base at 1:00 or 2:00 or 3:00, depending on when we actually do eat. We have beans and rice, or posho (thick maize, cassava or sorghum flour mixed in a stiff porridge) and goat stew, or pasta and tuna fish stew, or rice, posho, meat stew, and a small vegetable salad of tomatoes, green onions and green leaves (all of the above we usually only get in Juba), or chapatti and lentils or beef stew. For dessert, we get bananas, mangoes or papaya. Then we have shai (tea) and go back to work till about 6:00. Then we take a break for a walk to the market or the village, return for a bath and individual prayer. Dinner is served at about 8:00. If I’m in Juba and working on reports, I work till about 11:00 or 12:00 p.m., but if I’m at one of the other bases I generally grade papers by solar lamp. And then off to bed.
Below is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to one of my prayer partners about a recent experience:
to wrap up training this Friday…it has been a joy, but slow going…had chance to share gospel with three teachers …the Spirit of our most loving Saviour moved so upon their hearts—the SPLA (Sudan’s People Liberation Army ) captain, his young friend, and another older friend: they listened, their hearts opened and I prayed with them at the end of an hour discussion! I had been praying for them all, especially for Michael (not his real name) because he’s a such a leader; then this chance to share happened yesterday at the end of a difficult class, when I felt as if I just wanted to cry; I tell you, I was spent! They understood so little English, and I have been going over present, past, and continuous tense for a couple days, and it was still unclear. Then one teacher thought he got it right, but it was wrong, so he became angry and blamed me; another teacher came to my defense and began to argue with him; they argue with each other too readily! Soon, the whole class began to argue; I just stopped trying to talk. I prayed and waited. Then I prayed for the class, calling out each of their names, with my hands raised and my eyes wide opened. After that, I just sat there wanting to cry. They wanted me to leave first as is the custom (students don’t leave the class before the teacher), but I just sat there, so they trickled out slowly, and began to trickle back in to check on me and ask me to help them with books for their classes, and blackboards and so on, till finally Michael returned with the other two and began to talk about how much he wants an education and how much he enjoyed a book I’d loaned him on Dinka folk tales…and that’s what led to this discussion about Christ: how much we need the Holy Spirit of our Savior, so we may have power to overcome sin in our lives, and have eternal life and the forgiveness of all our sins, and fulfill His purpose in our lives…. They listened and shared some of their life stories; Gabriel (not his real name) who was having malaria, said that while he sat and listened, even his malaria did not make him feel so sick anymore!
I entrust them as God’s purchased possessions into His keeping and drawing, knowing He who has begun a good work in their hearts will complete it, giving the increase, daily, amen.
As ever, I thank each of you for your continued prayer and financial support for me and for Ax, that together we may continue to minister the faith, love, hope of almighty God our Father and Savior as we rebuild post-war southern Sudan, amen.
In His Risen Life,
Ingrid
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 10
