First news of our South Sudan teams
Two teams from the diocese have travelled to South Sudan (read more here). The following is a blog from Juba, reproduced with the kind permission of CMSI:
So we’ve arrived in Juba – a brief interlude before we embark on our final stage of the journey by the St John’s team to Ibba and that of Jane and Nina to Maridi.
God has been with us as we travel – and everything has worked as we had hoped it would.
We left a very damp and cold Dublin on Tuesday afternoon (a big thanks to Matt Peach who drove the St John’s Team with Jane and Nina to the airport) and arrived on time in Addis Ababa – we did not see our bags, these having been checked through to Juba.
Flying out of Addis to Juba was ‘interesting’. We had a brief delay whilst we waited to board our flight – much warmer now than in Dublin! However, when we tried to find our seats, those of us in rows 29 and 30 were somewhat nonplussed to find that the plane had only 25 rows! Jenny and Linda quickly instructed us to sit where you can find a seat – and wonderfully after some confusion and milling about everyone on the plane found a seat.
A few hours later we landed in Juba – a quick Ebola check at the airport confirmed we were able to pass on to passport control and from there to the baggage carousel. Well, I say ‘baggage carousel’, but really… By the time we came through, bags were heaped around a room which was heaving with people who all were wanting to ‘help’ with our bags.
How many prayers did we all pray route that all our bags would arrive intact? More than we can count – but with God’s grace all 22 items of luggage had arrived! Trying to explain why we had five singer sewing machines in our bags was another challenge – but eventually we were able to travel on to the hotel – for a night of real comfort.
Some sat by the pool (yes we had a pool at the hotel) whilst others (Linda and Jenny) were sorting out alien registration (wonderful name). For David, the sight of the pool was too enticing not to be enjoyed first hand – photos may be available at a later stage!
Flying into Juba in daylight afforded us a wonderful opportunity to see the beauty and vast scale of South Sudan – tired from our travels, we’ve not seen much other than the airport and the hotel – but our journey now is only truly beginning.
We would ask you to continue to pray for us as we pray for each other that God would continue to bless us in our travels and as we prepare to do that which He has called each of us to do during our time in South Sudan. It is wonderful to really be able to feel that we are covered in prayer in everything that we do.
Olwen