Last
month we wrote about the conflict that has recently broken out in South
Sudan. The two parties who have been
fighting with each other for the past three years had a new “flare-up” of
fighting about a month ago, so we are closely watching the news as we decide
what to do next. Here’s what we know
right now:
- There has been some fighting that involves the army and/or the rebels in two places near us (Lafon and Torit).
- The situation with the government army, the rebels, and possible third-party intervention is still pretty nebulous, nobody really knows what to expect next.
- Other organizations in our area have started bringing their missionaries back to their homes, but the advice we’ve received is that families with small children should wait until the rebel plans become more apparent.
Our original plan was to speak in
churches until the end of October and then, in November, (Justin) would go back
to Lohutok to do finishing work on our house. Then, after a month or so of doing work on the
house, I would come back to get Amy and the kids to go back together. We have prayed about how to respond to this,
and discussed the situation with a few people.
Since November is still a few months away, and that is lots of time for
things to change, we are going to keep moving forward. If we wait to take the Gospel to the people
of South Sudan until there is no fighting or insecurity, the Gospel will
probably never get to South Sudan.
The tough question is,
what do we do if November/December comes around and it is still unsafe to
return? We know that there are Lopit
speaking people in Kampala (the capitol of Uganda), and there are good places
for us to stay there if we need them, so language-learning and other training
opportunities are available to keep preparing for our return while we wait for
the security situation to resolve itself.
We strongly feel like God has called us to work with these unreached
people, and until He’s made it clear otherwise, we will keep looking for ways
to prepare ourselves and make that possible!
