Underneath the Mango Trees

Wednesday, May 4th
This morning we flew out of S. Sudan with joy to come home and sadness because we are leaving a place dear to us now. We prayed under the mango tree and got ready to leave. We arrived in Kampala at the MAF Guesthouse this afternoon around 1:30pm Uganda time. We are catching some much needed R&R after such an amazing week!

With that being said, let's play catch up on the last three days! (Whew, here we go!)

Sunday, May 1st
Sunday was awesome! Jason Johnson, Larry Arnold and Kevin Neely each preached at a different church in the Mundri area and the rest of the team split up to visit all three churches. We were blessed with a traditional African service with music, dancing, preaching and prayers. IT WAS AWESOME!! Each church prepared a lunch for us. Some even had antelope for lunch! How cool is that!

We went back to the compound and we finished up with some R&R while playing with the kids. We also started the first set of Disciple Training classes. The classes went about 1 1/2 - 2 hours and were full of discussion and enlightenment. It went great! There were 7 attendees in all. All of this of course is done under a mango tree. Every discussion is most often done under a mango tree. We have been having devotionals every night pertaining to what we did, what we saw and what God laid on our heart that day. There was also a more focused devotional/bible study for evening discussion that was designed for this trip. It has encouraged us, challenged us and blessed us too!

Monday, May 2rd
We headed out early Monday morning with breakfast and bug spray. We cruised in our Land Rover down the red cracked road. It felt like we were attached to one of those belly-shaking exercise machines from the sixties! Anyway, we got to our first stop and waited for the cattle to show up and for the other truck to come.

We were waiting with Rev. Paul Mbari and he told a few of us an amazing story of the History of the Great Mundri and its tribes. These people have known incredibly hard times and persecution for so long. To know some of the tribal history of the Moru people was truly heart wrenching and encouraging as well. To see a living testament to faith under fire was inspiring and a witness to remember when we read scripture's call to stand fast in the Lord and that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. When they are asked for a word to answer a questions, they say they will pray about it. Every answer to a question was often answered with some reference to scripture and filled with laughs and jokes. God is here and His people need us!

After the history the second truck finally showed up and we went the 1st tribe. We had to drive down a footpath to get to them! We were deep in there. We got out and the villagers came out to greet us with handshakes, hugs and smiles. Never a raised voice unless it was laughter. We all came to the corral. It was put together with branches and sticks. I don't know how the cows stayed in it They could have easily ran through it! We went to several villages and met the herdsmen for the cattle and got started.

Woo-hoo! It was like watching rodeo and Nascar all in one! The locals would rope the cow, grab the back legs and drop it to the ground; sometimes needed 5 of them. Then Jason or Paul would go over and check the cow out and then send out the call for the team. Several of the vet students, increased with confidence from the previous days, would run in on the cows giving dewormer, multi-vitamins and injections! They were like a Nascar pit crew called out on command! They were really good too! As soon as they were done, in comes one of the students with the tick spray and they hose the cow down. Then the cow was released and they moved on to the next one.

After we finished with this corral, we went to the next one and started all over again! Afterwards we share something to drink with these guys whom have worked so hard. We took a few minutes to discuss how to take care of the cows when we leave. We left them with some tick spray and how to administer it. Then Larry preached a word for the men to hear about Jesus. He spoke that it was because of the love of Christ that we came here to be with them and help them take care of their cows. He reflected Jesus as the Good Shepherd and we as the sheep. This direction made the gospel very understandable and relational to the herdsmen.
All of this was done under a mango tree.

We headed back and told stories and started discipleship training while everyone else washed clothes and cleaned up for the evening.

Tuesday, May 3rd
We got up early and we split up from Kevin as he stayed behind to document and photograph 11 orphans that Four Corners will be offering opportunities to sponsor very soon.

We visited two farms not far from the compound. Some cattle had a history of coughing. These were Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) suspects. Others had tearing from the eyes and enlarged lymph nodes. These were East Coast Fever (ECF) suspects. The treatment for both illnesses is oxytetracycline LA. We also gave dewormer and sprayed the cattle for ticks, as many diseases are spread by the ticks. Those cattle in poor condition were also given a vitamin injection. We found some calves that had pinkeye (infectious conjunctivitis). We treated them with an ophthalmic antibiotic ointment. We treated over 100 cattle today.

After treatment, we met with the farmers and educated them about the diseases we treated. We also left follow-up eye treatments and tick spray. They graciously gave us mangoes and fresh honey. The honey was so fresh that it still contained the comb and the bees! Pastor Larry closed with a short sermon and prayer.

When we came back to the compound, we played with the children, began inventory, and organized materials. Kevin finished up his disciple training. It seemed to go well as they wanted him to come back real soon and teach disciple makers in Lui for the duration of his next trip. The teaching was concluded, underneath the Mango trees.

At night, we had a special devotion with all of the Sudanese men at the compound. We lifted each other up and the team leaders, students, and evangelists received rounds of applause. We thanked Christ for the work He is doing in Sudan and prayed that the Sudanese continue to be blessed by God because of their love for Him and we all continued to pray for support and help of other missionary teams. That is a prayer and challenge for anyone of you reading this. If we can go serve our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, I know that some people reading this will feel God's call too. Is he calling you?