Wednesday, December 26, 2018

December 30, 2018

       
   This “term” I am going through 10 weeks of lessons with Paul on prayer (“Talking With God” is the title of the book) and the non-church letters of the New Testament.  The picture you see is a snapshot of my notes from our first meeting for the course on prayer.   
          The opening lessons of the book are answering basic questions about “What is Prayer?”  The answer in the book is that prayer means “Talking with God” which is different than asking for things, or talking TO God, or even talking to other perceived spiritual beings which depend on the culture.  As I was preparing this lesson, I was reflecting on some insights I’ve gained from language-learning, primarily that all of the words used for prayer in Lopit churches come from the word for asking, begging, a beggar on the street, etc.  I wanted to ask Paul about this without being too direct.  It’s not my job to say “You should change what you’re doing” if there’s a way for him to see that’s happening and decide it for himself.  During our meeting I just asked Paul, “How does this lesson relate to the words we use for prayer in our church?”   
          When I asked that question, Paul immediately lit up and said “Yes!  I was going to ask you the same thing!”  The next day, Sunday, Paul told the story of creation all the way up to Adam and Eve hiding from God in the garden.  He asked the people what Adam and God were doing at the beginning when God was bringing him the animals to name and walking with them in the garden, and then He asked them what it was that caused Adam and Eve to be afraid of God and hide from Him rather than enjoying their fellowship (the answer is sin).  Paul then asked the church what they call it when they need to travel for an emergency and have to call an uncle or relative and beg for money to help, and they gave him the word “Amoju” which sounds like the word for prayer “emojo.”  He gave a few more examples, and then he asked “What should we call it when we’re telling God our problems, praising him, repenting, etc.” and everyone was quiet.  As a group they eventually decided that instead of using the normally-accepted words for prayer, they were going to start saying things like “Erara iyohoi iko Hollum” (Let us talk with God).  It’s a small change, but huge in a culture where dependency is so widespread and new believers are learning what a relationship with God looks like. 

          Will you pray with us for the church here as they grow in their understanding of basic Christian truths?  The small group of ladies who meet with Paul still struggle with traditional religion and syncretism, pray that as Paul grows in his study of scripture and theology that the church would grow in their passion for the gospel!

           We are all doing fine as I’m writing this.  We’ve had a bit of a break from everyone being sick, helping team members evacuate because of sickness, fixing internet and car issues that never end, and now that the holidays are almost over it’s time to buckle down on language learning again.  Pray for joy and perseverance as we struggle to learn the language well to effectively communicate the gospel with people, and pray that God would guard us from more spiritual warfare as things seem to constantly come up.

 Thanks as always for your prayer and support!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

We celebrated Teresa’s birthday this month.  She was pretty happy to get an onion chopper like the one Amy uses at our house. 

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

December 5, 2018

       
 This is a snapshot of the page in our kids’ devotion book from last night.  The story was about Joseph meeting Pharoah’s cupbearer in prison and the lesson was, “God brings people into our life for special reasons.  He always knows what we need.”
          A year ago we were on our way back to South Sudan after a period of time when I was here building our house and Amy and the kids were in Uganda.  We stopped for lunch on the way up and saw another American family with children, so we started visiting with them.  We happened to see the same family at the same restaurant twice after that, it just turns out that all of our trips happened to coincide.  A few weeks ago, our family was headed home after training in Kenya and we stopped to visit our new friends for lunch on the way.

While our family was headed home we started having car trouble, again.  While we were in Kenya our mechanic was working on the transmission and injector pump, but it turns out that the problems weren’t completely solved, and we were halfway back to Lohutok before we found out – the hard way.  We stopped in Kitgum, where we normally overnight on the way home, but instead of just spending the night we spent five.  The mechanic came from Kampala with a transmission in the back of his car, installed it in our LandCruiser, it still didn’t work, he went back for some kind of computerized control unit that was required and he didn’t realize was missing from the car when he came, brought that back to Kitgum and installed it, and the transmission still didn’t work.  While at the hotel Caleb got a bacterial infection that kept him up at night, and Ezekiel went on antibiotics for an ear infection.  At this point I (Justin) was just ready to give up.  How much time are we going to spend on car trouble and sickness?
          When the mechanic told me he had to go BACK to Kampala again to get a new control unit, I told him to just go in our vehicle.  It was drivable but not shifting right, so if he could get it back to Kampala he could finish the work there instead of doing more back-and-forth for spare parts.  He agreed, left me with his vehicle (a funny little Suzuki that looks like a roller skate) and left with our LandCruiser.

          The next problem I had to deal with was where we would stay.  We were already way over budget on car repairs, and the hotel stay that was supposed to be 1 night had turned into 5 already, and who knows how long it’s going to take to actually fix our vehicle?  We have a place in Kampala, but that means having the kids in the car for an extra 2 long days of driving, and our place was being used.  We messaged a few other friends just to see if there was anything available that was cheaper than where we were staying, but doors just closed left and right.  Finally, Amy decided to message our friends whom we had only met on a few short occasions (and who lived just an hour away from Kitgum) to see if they had any ideas.  It turns out, they have a guesthouse and, although they normally charge per night for people to stay there, they wouldn’t ask anything from people like us having an emergency. 
          We ended up staying in the guesthouse for the next seven nights.  Amy got to meet some new missionary wives/mothers while Ezekiel and Caleb got to make some awesome new friends, and Justin got to go back to Kampala to get the car…and then spend the night again on the way back because the alternator/battery weren’t charging! 
          Last night was our first night home getting back into the routine of family time/devotions.  When I opened the book and realized what story we were on, we talked to the kids about how God used all of Joseph’s problems to bring about something really awesome, and God put people in Joseph’s path who could help him later when he needed it, just like our friends in Uganda were there when we needed them.  Praise the Lord for his kind provision!

Now that we’re back it’s time to get going on language learning again.  Pray for us that we make good progress in language and homeschool over the next stint in Lohutok, and that God would protect us from more car trouble and sickness!

Thanks for praying as always,

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

October 30, 2018

There has been a consistent theme in our last few newsletters if you haven’t noticed.  At the end of July we asked you to pray about some strategic relationships in our village and the potential for spiritual warfare now that we are focusing on language study and a long-term plan for the gospel in this village that seems to be so hard to reach.

Let me tell you, our enemy does not disappoint, but neither does our Savior!  This month we went to Kenya for some required training, and we have been blessed by the fellowship and teaching, but it’s been a trying time as well.  Amy has had trouble sleeping at home because of a mold problem in our house that has to do with the way rain runs off of our roof, so I have been working on a plan to solve that.  I went to town to get some supplies for that project, and Amy and the kids went along to get a few days’ break.  On my way back home with a truck full of supplies, one of the wheels started falling off of our truck.  The lug nuts/studs just started breaking!  I’ve had problems with that particular wheel lately and was glad that we were on our way to Uganda where we could get it looked at (It’s cheaper to fly from Uganda so we were planning to drive there first), but all of a sudden I had to make a decision.  Do I drive to Uganda with the family in a vehicle that insists on losing a wheel?

I started writing emails to people who might help me get Amy and the kids to Uganda by air so I could drive down slowly and without the worry of having them in the car.  At first I was told that it wouldn’t be possible to get there from here, but in the end our friends at MAF were able to make it happen…the email I got said “We can pick them up, it will be tomorrow at 9am!”  So we rushed to unpack from our trip to Torit and repack for Amy and the kids to fly the next morning.  Since I was home for a few days by myself, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do some things I’ve been putting off like spraying our house for mosquitoes.  The first night I was home, I got up into the attic space to look at the roof structure and make a plan for the mold/water problem, and as I was climbing down from there my ladder collapsed.  With me at the top.  I laid on the floor and said “Ow!” for a while and then messaged our friend Scott who came down and helped me.  I’m pretty sure my heel is broken and I know a few ribs are, but I wasn’t able to get an XRay and it is all healing slowly, but for anyone who knows me, not being able to walk is a bit of a trial.

Amy went to Uganda with the kids, and the first day she was there she decided to go to a hospital and get some labs and vaccinations that the kids needed.  While they were in the waiting room, she noticed a funny-looking rash on Caleb’s legs.  She asked the doctors at the hospital to look at it and they told her it was just some sort of viral rash that she shouldn’t worry about, but Amy thought it looked different, like bruises, so she kept exploring.  After messaging a few friends at home and some who live nearby, Amy went to another pediatrician who confirmed that Caleb had HSP.  It’s some kind of auto-immune issue that causes bleeding and has other potential complications.
I managed to drive myself to Uganda after a couple of days.  Scott helped me do the mosquito spraying and packing for the trip.  It wasn’t very easy to make the 2-day drive with a broken foot and ribs, and even though my family flew out so that I could come in the pickup, in the end I had to bring a different vehicle since I couldn’t drive with the clutch.

I got to Uganda and had a few days to potentially get my foot looked at and get the mechanic started on what we needed him to do.  I never got a chance to go in for my foot because Caleb was awake all night, miserable that his tummy hurt, and was at the hospital for part of most of those days.  One night Amy took him to the Emergency Room for an ultrasound because of a possible blockage/intussusception, but in the end there weren’t any major concerns.  We flew to Kenya to head to our training conference, and spent those weeks trying to manage two crazy kids in a hotel with basically one functioning parent (Amy) who has been taking care of all of us!  Ezekiel was sick for one night as well, so Amy has been the only well person and has been a nurse for our whole family!

With all of that going on we’ve still managed to get a lot of good insight from this training.  We have been learning more about African culture, traditional worldviews and other things pertinent to our work here.  We have also made lots of new friends and the kids have had lots of fun.

Language study has been going well, I have made some major strides in storytelling, hearing and vocabulary and Amy is studying regularly but is struggling with balancing language time with homeschool.

Ezekiel turned six while we were in Kenya!  He had so many of his new friends giving him drawings, treats and presents all day long…I don’t think he minded all of the extra attention! 


Would you keep praying for us in this endeavor?  We are sold on the fact that ministry here is going to take some time to get going and show fruit and are dedicated to “sticking it out” but it gets pretty tiresome after months and months of one sickness, injury, car issue or village drama after another!  Pray that God would give us endurance, eyes fixed on Jesus, and joy in His love for us.  Pray that we would do a good job taking care of ourselves and each other, that Satan would not succeed in driving wedges between us in our family, our team or with the village.  Pray that we would use our time well as we manage everything that is being thrown at us and still strive to learn the local language well enough to share the gospel, and pray that God would open doors for the Gospel and His power to be known in Lohutok and in the Lopit tribe as a whole.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

Saturday, September 29, 2018

September 29, 2018

The boys and I were walking down the road, looking for cows when a crowd of women came walking toward us with spears and cow bells, ringing them in our faces and dancing wildly with their spears.  Thoroughly confused, I asked them to explain more.  “The garden is crying,” they explained.  For the next two hours, masses of women walked by us doing the same, some dancing wildly in circles around us.  Between the information I gathered from multiple ladies and our watchman, we learned a considerable amount about the culture that day. 

“The garden is crying” when the crops have been destroyed by insects.  When this happens, they bring their spears and cow bells and have a funeral for the garden.  Each woman who has had crops eaten will cut it at the stalk.  They tie multiple strands together and place them in the middle of the road, as a sign to show what has occurred.  Here is one that we found while driving through another village:

Anyone who lives in the village of the destroyed crop can drive or walk through undisturbed, but those from other villages must pay to cross the barrier. 

After cutting the crops they continue the funeral with dancing and singing.  I have been told they also sacrifice a goat to appease the land.  They carry the garden up to the fuara, which is the community meeting place where funerals are held.  They continue the funeral for the garden there.  The mind blowing thing about this is that at some point, the women get on their hands and knees, crawling a good portion of the way to the funeral.  The path is rocky, unsteady, full of dung (from animals and humans) and often has thorns. 

When they arrive, they beat the drums and dance, just as they would at a normal funeral for a loved one. 

Please pray for us as we attempt to learn the language and culture here, and look for culturally appropriate ways to share the Gospel.  Please pray that we abide well, teach our boys to do the same, and for physical emotional protection for us. 

Justin continues to meet with Paul, and I continue to meet with Teresa.  Please pray for abundant grace for them to abide in Jesus, stand firm, find joy and stay the course.  Paul and his wife would like to have another baby (for the amazing story of their infertility and miraculous pregnancy, ask for one of our earlier newsletters).  They have been unable to conceive, however, and her family has stated that they “have cursed her” because Paul’s family failed to pay all of the cows when they were married.  Cows are used as a dowry, and the husband’s family will often “make a down payment” at the time of the wedding, intending to pay the rest later.  Please pray that in spite of this, she is able to get pregnant, and that the confusion regarding the cows will be resolved. 

Teresa has sent her family to the refugee camp while she remains here, having a house built for them.  Her maturity is beyond her years.  She is also going to school and working for us.

 Please continue to pray for healing for her mother (she has paranoid schizophrenia), and that her family – especially her uncle and grandfather – will repent and follow Jesus.  I have been told that the UN wants to take her mother to the hospital.  I have been trying to track down someone to find out more – about the hospital and for someone in the refugee camp to advocate for them.  We would appreciate prayer for connecti
ons and wisdom to know how to handle this situation – we are still praying for healing for her, and that her children would be able to live and grow in a safe environment. 

We are both studying language and culture, and I am homeschooling Ezekiel while Justin maintains the cars and updates things around the house as needed.  The boys are very slowly learning language (it’s not as easy as it sounds for littles). 

Thanks for praying for us and standing with us, we are truly grateful for all of you!

In Christ,

The Culps

Justin, Amy, Caleb and Ezekiel 

Thursday, August 30, 2018

August 31, 2018


This is what the cab of the pickup currently looks like…


This has been quite a month.  Last month I wrote the newsletter from Uganda while we were taking some family time and getting our shopping done and vehicle repaired.  As I was writing that newsletter there were two things impressed on my heart.  First, I thought about how writing the September newsletter was going to be boring and hard because “all we were going to do” for the month was study language.  Second, I was thinking about some of the strategic relationships that God has given us in Lohutok and how, as we start trying to learn how to communicate the gospel to these people, we would be facing some opposition and spiritual warfare.
               Well, now that August is over I can say that I was right about the second thought, but wrong about the first!
               We got back from Uganda at the beginning of the month on a Wednesday, and as is usual, we spent Thursday and Friday getting the kids back into a routine and unpacking from the trip, and then started on language study Monday morning.  That week I realized that we needed groceries from Torit and planned to go on Saturday, so Friday I checked out the pickup to get ready for the trip.  When I got in the truck, it wouldn’t go anywhere!  After a bit of tinkering, I realized that one of the brake drums was locked up with mud, which is an easy thing to fix.  I jacked up the vehicle, and before I could even try to get the brake drum off, the bumper bent and the jack slipped, and the truck almost fell over.  I managed to stack some timbers (as you can see in the bottom picture) and get a jack under it, and finish freeing up the wheel, and I was set to go to town the next day.
               I took Caleb with me to Torit to have some daddy time.  On the way I noticed that the steering wheel was doing something funny.  It would turn randomly and “slip” so when I turned the steering wheel, the car didn’t respond.  By the time we got to Torit it was completely broken, with the car parked I could spin the wheel around with no effect.  I managed to get the vehicle to a compound where I found some friends staying, and the problem we found seemed to be easy and we fixed it within 30 minutes.  The vehicle worked fine most of the way home, but the steering which I thought was fixed broke again about 10 miles from our house.  That portion of the trip usually takes about 30 minutes, but that night it took four hours.  I would stop, adjust the broken spline shaft, drive until it broke again, adjust again, and repeat.  Finally, about 4 miles from our house, the thing broke and I couldn’t get it to work again.
               So, I’m on the road at 9pm with Caleb (our 2 year old) with me in a truck that won’t steer.  I got back in the truck and said, “Caleb, I can’t fix the truck anymore so we might have to walk home, but first let’s pray.  I can’t fix the truck, but Jesus can, and Jesus wants you to know that he is powerful so let’s pray that He helps us get home.  My sweet little boy immediately closed his eyes and said “Jesus please fix our truck amen.”  I started the truck, tried the steering, and it worked.  And it worked for the rest of the trip home.  As soon as I pulled into our home it broke again, but we were home and didn’t have to walk or leave our truck full of groceries on the side of the road.  I might admit that I cried for most of that trip home.

Amy’s malaria test.  I thought it would be funny to post on Facebook to see if people would think it was…something else!

               During the week between getting home and going to Torit, I took our LandCruiser down to the airstrip to meet a plane.  On the way back I noticed a rattling sound, and upon inspection I found that one of the rear shock absorbers had come completely loose.  Someone who installed the shocks before we bought the vehicle had used the wrong-sized washer, and it just came out of the bushing completely (I know some of you won’t understand what I’m talking about, but just know that it was broken).  Since it was loose, probably for part of our trip home from Uganda, the bolt that holds the shock to the frame had bent, and as I was trying to get the nut off, that bolt broke off completely…a problem that requires some serious welding which is a skill I don’t possess.
               So now we’re here in Lohutok with two vehicles that are down.  A friend has let me use his 4-wheeler for a little bit while he is gone, but that doesn’t get us very far as a family!  The spare parts we need are all purchased, but are in Uganda on a truck with a local shopkeeper from Torit who is bringing them to us.  Those trucks usually get stuck in the mud this time of year, but we’re praying that they make it safely and quickly, and that we’re then able to get the parts from Torit to here…somehow!

               In the midst of all of that stuff, Amy got malaria that didn’t quickly cure with the usual treatment and had to go into secondary measures.  Caleb has managed to climb OVER our gate in an attempt to escape the compound, and then climb on the roof of a friend’s house when he found an unattended ladder.  I was trying to finish making a brick oven that was Amy’s birthday present this year (Her birthday is in January…) and while I was drilling a hole in an angle-iron, the drill bit broke and went into the palm of my hand (I learned the Lopit words for “Bleeding” and “Spurting” and I learned that arteries spurt, veins don’t).  Add to that numerous other little concerns with kids’ behavior, school and isolation, and the daily struggles with Satan’s lies (“What are you doing here?”  “This is all a waste of time.”  “You’re not cut out for this”) and this month’s newsletter which I thought would be a struggle to write could actually turn into a book with multiple chapters!

               It’s a bit easier to go through each day when there’s a busy to-do list full of building projects and logistical tasks.  Now most days are filled with hours of language 
study, preparation for those studies, and review of yesterday’s study, and although we’re making big strides in speaking the language already, the results are less tangible and discouragement comes much faster.

               Will you keep praying with us against Satan’s attacks on our emotions and bodies?  Pray that our kids stay safe and healthy, that our marriage relationship is sweet and free from jealousy and pride, that we have the courage and energy to press on when the days get tedious.  Thank you all so much for your encouragement and prayer, we couldn’t be doing this without you!
                                                                                                             Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb 

Trying to break loose a frozen brake drum, the rear bumper came loose on the truck and the high-lift jack almost fell over!  I had to run fast to get something to stack under the bottle jack to keep the truck from falling.  It’s a good thing the spare tire was there to catch it!

Friday, July 27, 2018

July 27, 2018

Going to Uganda to take our visitors back to the airport…we made it to Lalonga and our rear axle wanted to fall off!  I walked 10 miles back to Lohutok and brought Scott to help me fix it.


So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21

     You’ve probably gathered from our last few newsletters and prayer calendars that the past few months have been crazy with visitors and travel.  For years we have been praying for team mates for Lohutok, in the past six months we have had six visitors and three of them are now going through the long application and fundraising process to join our team!  That is exciting news, but entertaining visitors is a lot of work, even for the low-maintenance visitors we’ve had. 

     Normally we go to Uganda every three to four months for shopping, car repairs, medical care and rest.  With the extra visitors and an extra trip to get a car running Justin has actually made six trips to Uganda so far this year.  Add in a required unit retreat in Kenya, a week in Juba to get our two year residency permits, and supply runs to Torit every couple of weeks and this half-year has been pretty insane, but mostly in a good way. 

     Justin recently drove to Uganda to take back some visitors from our sending church so they could get their flights home, then drove back to Lohutok three days later to pack up Amy and the kids to come back down…although Justin has had to travel quite a bit, it was time for Amy to have a break!  The two day drive is not leisurely, and both times there was some kind of catastrophic mechanical issue with the vehicle (as you can see from the pictures) but the past week in Uganda has been one of incredible rest and refreshment and we are ready to go home and hit the ground running. 

This was two weeks of car trouble!  On our way back to Uganda with the family we got stuck once, had to be dug out by some guys who were there to help, and then when we hit the fast road in Uganda our radiator exploded!  Thankfully we have a mechanic who spent 8 hours on a bus to come and help us fix it! 


     We have been doing language study in the midst of the busyness, but we are looking forward to our next time “in” to really get into a good routine with our tutors, visiting people in the village to practice, and finding new friends and relationships that way.  Please keep praying that we would be able to focus on learning to speak Lopit (we can already see our progress when we go to funerals and homes in the village to talk to people!) and not be distracted by the “urgent.” 

     Last month you read about Teresa and some of the difficulties she is having.  She has made some progress in finding care for her mother and Paul has actually called some of her family members to a meeting to discuss their mistreatment of her.  As I have been talking to people about this whole issue, I’ve discovered some close links between Michael (who is the watchman at our compound and my language helper), Teresa’s uncle, and the village landlord.  We are praying that God will use a few people of peace, people with whom I’ve become friends through the building process, etc., to give me some access to the uncle and landlord and share the gospel with them.  It is a little scary and humbling, but the more I pray about the connections, the more I experience the temptation, self-doubt and discouragement that can only be from the enemy. 

     The past few days I have been struck by 2 Timothy 2:21 as Paul uses it in the context of instructing opponents, and spiritual warfare.  I’m praying for the Spirit to reveal to me things in my life that need to be purified and help me be “useful to the Master.”  Please keep praying for us, Teresa, her family and the spiritual strongholds that exist in Lohutok to keep the church down after so many decades of missionary history. 

Thank you for your support and prayer!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp

Amy and Caleb having fun on their night out together! 

Sunday, July 1, 2018

July 3, 2018



“Will you teach me about God?”  She walked to my house specifically to ask me this question.  She was a 14 year old girl.  I had seen her in the village before, but we had never talked.  I later learned that her mother lived in Torit (the nearest town), and her father lived in a village several hours away.  At the time she had not heard from him for 3 years.

She and her younger siblings were staying in Lohutok with their grandparents, but her grandfather had recently threatened to burn all of her clothes if she continued going to church.  For a few Sundays, she stayed away in fear – and then returned, determined to obey God.  Since then he had forced the entire family, including his wife, to move out of the house and told them never to return.  This is Teresa Ihuro, 3 years ago.  Her mother’s name is Cecilia Okwa.

I began teaching Teresa a Bible story weekly, and reviewing it daily.  It was a humbling, sobering time as I saw first-hand that she, along with most other people in South Sudan, knew only a few Bible stories – and the few that they knew, they had only heard bits and pieces of instead of the full story.  Eventually, she began working in our house, helping me with the extensive household chores that don’t exist in the U.S.  I was so grateful to have someone I could finally invest in, I had been praying that God would send the right person to me! 

She was also thrilled to have the work as she now had a way to feed her family, as well as spend time together and be discipled more.  Throughout the following months and years as I discipled Teresa, I learned more about her family.  Teresa’s uncle, Cecelia’s ½ brother, had killed a woman, and as the culture demands, he was required to give one of his daughters to the family of the woman he killed.  Since he didn’t want to give up one of his daughters, he came to Teresa’s mother and demanded that she give them one of her daughters instead. 

She flatly told him “No, you are the one who has killed this woman, give them your daughter.”  Teresa’s maternal grandfather, with whom she was living, became enraged at this and set out to impale Cecelia with a spear.  But God had other plans, and as he was approaching her with the spear, it broke in two.  She ran to the bush and entered into a psychotic episode, something she already had a history of. 



Cecilia spent the next few years in Torit, which is when I met Teresa.  Her mother returned to the village a little over a year ago and has been living with her children since then.  Over the past month she has entered into another psychotic episode (I was previously unaware that this is what she was experiencing before, as Teresa was unable to verbalize what was happening).  It has become apparent that she most likely has paranoid schizophrenia.  Teresa has, for the most part, raised her sisters as her mother has been unable to do it much of the time. 

They do have more family in the village, but the only one who helps provide for them and is Cecelia’s mother.  The uncle has continued to abuse the family in multiple ways.
I am thankful to testify, by God’s grace and in spite of my sin as I disciple her, that Teresa is now able to confidently and courageously proclaim the Gospel to her family and friends.  She is full of God’s Word and it flows from her being.  She has become a big sister to our boys, and they adore her.  We are grateful for her and are praying for a godly husband, and for God’s will to be done in her life.



Please pray for Teresa and her family, and for us, as we discern the best way to ensure that they are getting the care that they need.  On Tuesday, July 3, there will be a community meeting with her uncle, to discuss his abuse towards them.  Please pray that God will raise up people in the community to protect and defend them, and to provide for the children as they need to be separated from their mother as she is experiencing psychosis.  And of course, pray for deliverance for Cecilia, and that any and all demonic influences would be cast away. 

For those of you who are interested, you can go to our Facebook page (Justin and Amy in Sudan) and see a video of Teresa sharing her testimony!

Thank you for your prayers and support, we are truly grateful for you.

Amy (for all of us)








Thursday, May 31, 2018

May 31, 2018

My name is Ezekiel, I like Superheroes, I am 5 ½ years old.

Kindergarten!


           Last month I wrote about our language studies.  That is going to be our full-time job for the foreseeable future!  We have been asking for prayer regarding the regular busyness and distractions that take over and this month has been no exception.

           Three weeks ago, we all got on an airplane and went to Lokichoggio, in Kenya, to join the Africa Inland Mission’s South Sudan Unit Retreat.  The other people at the retreat are all missionaries doing church planting in our general area, so it was a good time of fellowship, training and encouragement.  We spent the week learning about what it means to “abide.”  The kids had a program where they learned some Bible stories and memory verses, and the women got to do some specialized things for them.  It was a busy, but fun week to rub shoulders with other people who do what we do!

           The week after Kenya, I (Justin) had to fly to Juba to get the residency permits for our family.  I missed my flight on Monday because the clouds were too low for them to land, twice, so at 3pm we jumped in the truck and rushed to Torit (the 4 hour drive that’s only 50 miles!) in the rain and mud so I could be there to get a flight the next day.  Tuesday a MAF charter came and picked me up from Torit to take me to Juba, and when I got there I had to rush to immigration to start working on the fingerprints and paperwork required.  Since I rushed straight from the flight, I hadn’t put much thought into clothes.  Everyone here dresses up to do things like go to the bank, travel, and yes, immigration.  I showed up in my shorts and muddy shirt, and the General at the immigration office asked me why I was naked!  That was a fun experience, it was hectic but by the time I flew home on Friday we had 2 year residency permits for our family!

           Thirty-Six hours after I got home from Juba, I left again for Uganda.  We are excited to have some visitors from our sending church come to stay with us for the next month.  I came down a few days early to do all of the normal shopping and car repairs…We got a great deal from a friend on another LandCruiser (that needed lots of repairs) before our other one has had a chance to sell, so it’s been a tight squeeze, but the car is definitely an upgrade.  Amy can drive it because it has an automatic transmission, and it runs on diesel which is better than the gas engine we had before that died every time we drove through a puddle (the puddles on the road here get up to the windows sometimes…).  As I’m writing this, I’m waiting for the mechanic to finish some of the work so I can start figuring out how to get two vehicles back on this trip!  Pray for us this month that our other vehicle would sell, That the logistics of getting the new one back would work out, and that our visitors would have a good visit and clear vision about their future in ministry or missions.

Thanks!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp

Caleb going full-on redneck.  He insisted on wearing this thing and wouldn’t let us change him!

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

April 25, 2018

Caleb helping lead worship.


               Language Study.  That’s the story of our life right now!  Everyone knows that learning a new language is hard work, but what about learning how to learn a new language?  In the USA we take French, German or Spanish classes in middle and high school, and maybe college, where we learn using printed materials and classroom lessons.  In Lohutok, learning Lopit, there are no printed materials, no classroom lectures, and with a language like this one which is learned and passed on orally, those things wouldn’t even be helpful!  Everybody pronounces things differently, phrases things differently, uses different words for the same object…and when you learn something from one person, everybody you talk to wants to tell you that it’s wrong and you should say it their way! 

               We have a set of material that we’ve decided to use, and are just sticking to that one for now, there are a lot of options out there.  I spend the first half of every day just pointing to things and listening to Michael say the Lopit word, and then switching to him saying things like “Where is the frog?” or “Put the comb under the bench.”  I then respond by pointing to the object he’s asking for or doing the command he’s giving me.  We’re a few weeks into the process and it is working, but sometimes it’s stressful trying to decide what to do each day!

               We had a visitor this month from the USA.  We met a single girl at the Pioneers headquarters who is interested in moving to the village, learning the local language, and doing discipleship/church-planting.  That’s perfect for our team, but we are not using her name or any specific information until we know for sure that she is deciding to come and join us.

               Ezekiel and Caleb have also been working a bit on learning Lopit.  They run around the house and point to things and Teresa or Susanna will say the Lopit word.  Caleb will listen to us doing our language lessons and try repeating what we say.  Keep praying that God would free us from distractions and help us learn to speak the local language well so that we can effectively communicate the gospel!

Thanks!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

Caleb was mad that we wouldn't let him play the drum!

Thursday, March 29, 2018

March 29, 2018

 Our visitors from Mississippi went to Lalonga one day and showed the Jesus film.  Most of the people who came were from the church but there were a few new folks there as well.

              We’ve had a busy month!  Many of you who get our emails saw the updates about the pickup.  I was leaving the house one day to go to Torit, and the alternator in our truck was bad, so we tried to pull-start it and somehow ended up with a seized engine!  After a trip to Uganda to get the mechanic and three days breaking in my new shiny workshop, the truck was fixed and we were able to make our scheduled trip to Uganda.  If you didn’t get the details and want them, write me an email and I’ll send them to you.

                Last month I wrote about a visitor we had who helped get a motorbike and grinding mill for Paul and the church in Lalonga.  A week after those visitors left I flew to Juba to meet and escort another team from a church in Mississippi who wanted to come and see what we were doing, help us with some work on our house, and encourage our family.  It was a great week with the team and we even went and showed the Jesus film to the church in Lalonga.

                The week after the team left, I was in the office with Paul working through the last weeks of his first term of Bible School.  I have been going through a Theological Education by Extension course with him, and he just finished the books “Following Jesus” and “New Testament Survey 1.”  At the end of Following Jesus there are a few lessons about evangelism, ways to do it, who should be doing it, and where it can be done.  This went well with the final lessons in New Testament 1 which were about the book of Acts.

                Paul started expressing to me his wish to be doing more outreach, evangelism and discipleship than he is already doing.  He is already as busy as he can be with his family obligations and the work he’s doing through the church, but he sees more needs and feels bad for not meeting them.  I encouraged him that we should be praying that the Lord of the harvest would raise up more workers, and then I told him a story.  In my story, I came to South Sudan at a time when there was a lot of activity going on to try and start churches.  Over the first couple of years most of that work just fell apart.  I came back last year and did mostly building, but there was this one guy (it’s Paul) who was growing and even starting churches, and asked me to teach him Bible and Theology.  I spend every week preparing lessons that are meant for a group, but I’m preparing them for that one guy.  Sometimes we meet and I’m not completely prepared or he hasn’t finished his homework, but we just keep doing it anyways.  The last few weeks my thoughts have been filled with “What are you doing here?” and “You’re wasting your time and not accomplishing anything” but we’re continuing on because God is working through this one guy.  Then, last week we went to that one guy’s church and showed a Jesus film, and even then I was wondering why we were there, why this team had come to visit, and if I was really doing enough.  Then, at the end of that film, when the team got up to greet the church (as people always expect them to do), something happened.  After the team shared their names and greetings, some of the women from the church stood up to speak.  The first woman said “It is good for you to come here and encourage the missionaries.  There are two ways that we can follow in this life, the Way of Jesus and the Way of Satan, and we need to be repenting, following Jesus, and sharing the gospel while staying on the Way of Jesus.”  A second woman stood up and said “We all have to be sorry for our sin, confess our sin and turn away from it, and the missionaries are here helping us learn how to do this.”

Another thing the team did while they were here was helping us with some work at our house.  This is a picture of the bars we built for our kids that week.  Danny said he knew how to weld, but I’m pretty sure Scott did most of it! 
             
                Both of those things are great to hear from members of the church, but for me there was something special about it.  You see, all of that stuff that those ladies said to the team were word-for-word quotes from the material that I have been going through with that one guy.  That means that, even though sometimes it feels like we’re working harder than we should for something so small, that one guy is going back and teaching what he is learning to his wife (the first woman to stand up), who three years ago was too timid to say anything to the group, and to the other people in his church.  We want to see big results and numbers from our hard work, but lots of times God starts movements with these seemingly small-scale things, so let’s be faithful to what He’s given us to do for now and make sure we’re doing it well.

               I had asked Paul a few weeks before that if Lopit people every cry when they’re happy and he told me no.  We had asked a few other people the same question and they were surprised at it…crying is for sadness and shouting is for joy.  But, at the end of that story Paul had tears…then we laughed about it.

                Will you keep praying for us?  As we enter into our language learning season I will continue doing classes with Paul, but there’s always the danger that the “tyranny of the urgent” will take over and our time will be consumed by things like visitors, car trouble, sickness and the endless list of needs with which we are constantly approached.  Pray that God would give us clear vision to stay the course, press on with the handful of disciples He’s given us, and learn to communicate well in the local language so that new people can start hearing the gospel through Bible stories.

Thanks as always!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

Ezekiel and Caleb on a boat at the Source of the Nile in Jinja. 

Saturday, February 24, 2018

February 25, 2018

       
Paul posing with the new/used motorbike.  He is still learning how to operate it, but I think he was pretty happy to have it around to use! 

  February has been a busy month for us!  With Amy and the kids settling back in to our house in Lohutok there has been lots of transition, joy, unexpected challenges and work!  Amy has been doing a wonderful job of getting into new routines, learning where everything is and how everything works, anticipating new challenges with the kids (Caleb actively seeks out ways to injure himself…), practicing language, discipling Teresa, meeting new people in the village and dealing with a constant influx of people (she loves that part!).  Ezekiel and Caleb have made a couple of new friends, found new places to climb, animals to chase, villagers to charm, and some sickness.  Justin has been doing Bible and Theology courses with Paul, managing the “Honey-Dos” that Amy has found since she’s arrived, traveled to Uganda for some much needed car repairs, and then traveled to Uganda again to get some things for the church. 
          Last month I updated the project list with two new ideas for Lalonga.  Paul was struggling with coming to Lohutok every week for our class meetings (It’s a 3-4 hour walk) and it’s just not possible to meet at his house because of constant interruption.  We thought it would be a good idea to get a motorcycle for him to use for ministry, and coming to Lohutok for class.  We had also been discussing (Paul and I) ways for the church to be more self-sustaining.  They had decided to save the money they were getting from the church garden (using the offering money to help plant it) to eventually buy a grinding mill, but since the offering money is being consumed by their building need I decided to add the mill to our project list as well. 
          This month we had a couple visit for two weeks (He had been here before, she hadn’t) and when they came, they had raised the money we needed to finish out both of these projects.  We drove to Uganda and spent 2 days buying and loading the motorbike and mill, and now Scott is taking the lead on helping get the mill installed and running for the church.  Now Paul has a way (once he learns how to shift the gears…) to get to class without consuming the whole day, and the church is on its way to having an income-generating, job-creating resource for the building, pastor support, and to help with other needs that always come up! 
          The busyness hasn’t ended yet.  I’m writing this from Juba where I’m awaiting a team of visitors from the USA who are coming to explore the church’s long-term relationship with the ministry here, and at the end of this month we have someone coming who is looking at the possibility of joining our team long-term.  Pray for us as we manage our time and resources while God is meeting all of these needs.  Pray that God will provide some long-term team mates to help us shoulder the load.  Pray that we would find good language helpers and start to take off in our language study.  Pray for Scott who works tirelessly when he’s away from his family to complete his own projects while also helping with(or more accurately, just completely doing) whatever we throw at him.  Pray for our family time and health as the “tyranny of the urgent” tries to take over.

Thanks as always for your love, prayer and support!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb
The grinding mill sitting in our workshop.  Scott is building the mount that he will cast in cement to hold the engine and mill.  He’s also surrounded by spare parts for the motorbike…my workshop doesn’t stay as organized as I’d like! 

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

January 27, 2018

We celebrated Amy’s birthday this month.  That cake was more like a meatloaf (crumbles being held together…) and is mostly icing, lol. 

        This is another one of those months where lots has happened, and I’m going to break the “one page only” newsletter rule…sorry!  I’ll use headings so you can feel free to read selectively! 

Twas the night before Christmas…and we slept on the road in a broken truck.

          Well we’ve had an eventful month.  Amy and the kids got back to Lohutok with a few days to spare before Christmas.  I had the whole house ready, Christmas tree set up, presents wrapped, meal planned…it was our first Christmas in Lohutok.  
          Two days after everyone got back, we decided to go to Torit for a night.  There are some new (to us) missionaries there whom Amy hadn’t met and there were some things Amy wanted to do in the market, so we went to Torit.  We would spend one night in Torit, have some cool family time, and drive back the next day which was December 23rd…still time to get ready for Christmas!  
          On the way to Torit we stopped to pick up Paul, he pretty much comes with me every time I go to Torit now, there’s always grain to sell or things to trade.  About fifty feet away from Paul’s house I heard a funny noise on the pickup, so while Paul was loading his grain in the truck I looked and saw that one of the sway bar links was just gone, the ball joints in the link had given way and the link had popped off.  In the process of that happening the CV boot had also been destroyed.  
          Since I’m a novice mechanic at best, I thought “Well it’s just a busted boot” and we finished the remaining 3.5 hours of driving to Torit.  When we arrived in Torit I mentioned the issue to another missionary who looked, saw the torn boot, and told me I shouldn’t be driving like that.  So for our evening in Torit, Amy got to spend time resting with the kids while I spent the evening in the workshop helping replace the broken CV boot.  

Our ducks had more babies.  We have quite the farm going here with ducks, rabbits, antelope, kittens and puppies! 

          The next morning we got up and started getting ready to go home.  As it usually goes traveling with the kids, we got on the road a bit later than daddy would have liked.  We had a pretty smooth trip and were going to get home at a good time, but then about 2.5 hours into the 4 hour trip my steering wheel just stopped doing what it was supposed to!  I got out and looked under the truck, and the whole axle (the one we had spent all yesterday evening working on) was laying on the ground in the dirt.  Apparently I didn’t get one of the bolts tight enough, it rattled out and the wheel came loose which allowed that side of the axle to just…come out.    
          Paul was able to find some of the missing parts by walking back down the road, I was able to put it all back together since, fortunately, I had a drum of gas in the back of the truck and could clean all of the dirt out, but the problem was that the bolt was missing and couldn’t be found.  I decided that if I got the other one tight enough, we could probably go home slowly and maybe just stop to check for tightness occasionally…that didn’t work.  Eventually the axle came loose again and while I was stopping the truck (which I couldn’t control) we got high centered in a rut…we were stuck!  
          By then it was almost dark.  Paul decided to walk up to the next village and borrow a motorcycle to ride back to Lohutok where he could ask the local pastor to come and get us in the big truck.  Amy and the kids started getting ready to sleep in the truck for the night and I, since I’m incapable of sitting still, put the truck back together again, started jacking up the truck, finding stones to put under the wheels, and trying to get the back differential free from the ground so I could get out of the rut while we waited.  It didn’t work.  

Our dog Jax, I’m pretty sure he catches more rats than our cats do…I guess that’s why we feed him more! 


          At 4am I was dreaming about headlights when I realized that there were actually headlights pointed at us.  Apparently Paul found the guy with the motorcycle who graciously refused any sort of help for our stranded vehicle, so Paul walked all the way to Lohutok.  He reached Lohutok at 1am, roused Sabba (the pastor/driver) who got the “mechanic” and left to come and get us around 2am.  At 4am we pulled the truck out of the rut, transferred all of the shopping (we always come back from town quite full) to the truck and started the ride back home.  We got home at 6:30, unloaded the truck, got the kids resting, and then I started the mission to recover our stranded vehicle.  
          By the end of the day all of the vehicles were back in Lohutok, then there are more long stories about getting spare parts, the truck being unusable, the other vehicle having carburetor problems, another changed boot getting broken, and finally 2 days ago I was able to fix it!  Lots of time was spent this month just trying to get one of our vehicles into “reliable” condition again! 

Ezekiel the perpetual patient (and the rest of us were sick too) 

       

          Last month we wrote a bit about Ezekiel’s appendicitis scare.  He’s been complaining about stomach aches for a while but a CT scan and a few ultrasounds cleared him of any chronic appendix issues.
          That being said, our poor guy has been some kind of sick for more than half of his time back in Lohutok.  He’s had a few fevers and vomiting episodes, most of which are expected with the transition back to the village and new viruses, etc.  A couple of weeks ago Ezekiel had a fever and other symptoms that led us to treat him for malaria.  After the three days of treatment his fever was gone and he seemed to be feeling fine, but then two days later he started complaining again, so we check and sure enough, he had another fever.  Since he had just finished malaria treatment (and I had too) we decided to wait a day or two and see if it was just a virus that needed to go away on its own, but in the process a doctor friend of ours suggested that we have him tested for typhoid.  I ended up with a second case of malaria, and we treated Ezekiel for it again too because that’s what he seemed to have, but while mine got better with treatment, Ezekiel’s didn’t this time.
          Yesterday Ezekiel woke up with an abscess on his neck, so Amy took him to our local clinic and sure enough, he tested positive for typhoid fever.  So now, he gets to have a cannula in his hand for 10 days of ceftriaxone injections.  When I took this picture of him this morning I said “Smile like you’re happy about it!” and he responded, “I am a happy boy today!”


Bible Class with Paul 

          In the midst of all of this, I have started a Bible training program with Paul.  He asked me a few months ago if there was anything we could do to get him some more “formal” type Bible training without him having to leave all of the work that is happening with the church in the village.  I had a few ideas, but as I started asking around, I found one better.  We started using a series called “Theological Education by Extension” that was designed for Paul’s situation.  He enrolled through a Bible school that is nearby (but too far for him to attend while still living at home) and is now doing the courses by extension.  
          Every day Paul has to complete a certain amount of coursework in the first two books, “Following God” and “New Testament Survey 1.”  Then once a week on Saturday Paul and I get together and discuss the week’s material and go further into how to apply that material to his life, family and ministry.  We also work on Bible stories that he can use in the church and village to help teach the material he is learning.  Paul has taken this up with great excitement and is learning a lot of new things about the gospel and what it means to be a follower of Christ.  Yesterday we were in the truck going to Torit and listening to our friend Chuck preach on the radio, and Paul was excited to hear some of the things he’s learning being preached and applied.  Things like “The Holy Spirit gives us the power to repent” and “The Holy Spirit gives us new life” seem so basic, but for Paul they are exciting truths that he is just starting to understand. 

           Thank you for praying with us as we go through all of this transition, spiritual warfare and stress.  We have been unreasonably and illogically joyful through each day’s new challenges!  Pray for us this next month as we receive a few visitors in about a week, Justin has to go to Uganda to get the other vehicle working again, we receive another team at the end of the month, we pick language helpers and start to begin that process, and as the newness of everyone being back wears off and things start to become more tedious.  God is good and loves his children, and is doing some pretty exciting work here that we just get to be a part of, we appreciate you and the time and energy you put into keeping up with us, supporting us, writing with encouragement, and holding us up in prayer. 

Because Jesus is King, 

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb