February 25, 2017

This is Veronica, one of the ladies from the church in Lalonga.  She named her baby “Eemieh” after Amy.  The word means “lion” but also sounds a lot like “Amy” which is why the Lopit people call Amy “Lion” (yeah…that’s why!). 

I got back on Tuesday from a three week trip to East Africa.  With the time we needed to shop in Uganda before driving to Lohutok (South Sudan) and the travel time back to Uganda at the end of the trip, we were in Lohutok for about 2 weeks.  I went with Mitchell, a guy from Oklahoma who is currently raising support to come join our team. 
 
              I had a few purposes for making this short trip back.  My first goal was to get an idea of what the security situation in the village areas is like to inform our decision-making process for going back as a family.  As far as I can tell, after talking to lots of people on the ground (both foreigners and locals) is that the area seems calm, safe, and not involved in the conflict that has closed off work in other parts of the country.  South Sudan is funny like this, with the roads being anywhere from terrible to virtually non-existent and with no other existing infrastructure, it’s possible for there to be war in one part of the country but for other areas to still be relatively safe.

               My second goal for this trip was to simply reconnect with Paul and the church in Lalonga, and to visit some of the areas where we had been doing Bible Study in the past.  I was able to spend a lot of time with Paul on this trip, and was able to do some things to help the church in Lalonga which I will write about in another newsletter.  The church is still meeting, still growing, Paul has a man whom he is discipling and who is helping him with the preaching on Sunday, and they’re still learning Bible stories.

               The third goal for this trip was to take Mitchell on his survey trip.  During our two weeks in Lohutok, Mitch was able to see most of the work we’re doing, make a few trips to Torit for shopping, and get a good idea of what life will be like when he comes to Lohutok to join our team.

               Will you pray with us now that God will be glorified as the Pioneers African leadership decides whether to allow families back to South Sudan?  Pray that God will make His gospel go out whether we’re back as a family, or whether Justin keeps going back alone, or even without us.  Pray that we will accept God’s plan for our family, but really, my desire, is to pray that we all get to return to Lohutok, as a family, as soon as possible!

Thanks!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

Some of you remember praying for Paul and Issaye and their new son Joseph.  This is Joseph now, he’s not a little baby anymore!

January 25, 2017

Amy, Caleb and Karen (Amy’s mom) eating out in St. Louis when we were there for Christmas with Amy’s family.

               Hopefully you had a good Christmas season with your family!  We had a great time at four family Christmases and lots of travelling and after lots of good fellowship, food and gifts, we’re glad that the new year is here and we can move on to preparing for our return to South Sudan!

               I talked to Paul on Skype last week, it’s the first time we’ve spoken since this time last year, and the news that he gave me was tragic.  As many of you know, last year’s food harvest in South Sudan was mostly non-existent.  People survived through various types of aid and lots more hunger and waiting.  This year the rainy season was good, and the crops were promising, and lots of people in our area were able to bring in lots of food for their families.  For the church in Lalonga the story was a little different.

              Somebody in the village decided to go hunting.  The way they frequently do this is to light a large grassy area on fire, and as the animals run out of the burning grass, the men can shoot the animals and take them home to eat.  Unfortunately, starting a fire in the dry season is never a good idea and there is never much advance planning.  The fire spread to sorghum gardens belonging to Paul and most of the ladies in the Lalonga church.  The report I got from someone other than Paul is that most of Paul’s crop and that of the church ladies was completely destroyed by the fire.  With a bad year last year and the fire this year, the outlook is grim and the ladies are actually considering migrating to one of the refugee camps in Kenya.

               I am going to be in South Sudan soon.  I am leaving the USA on January 30^th and will be there with Mitchell, a potential team mate, for about three weeks.  Please pray that God will provide for the church in this situation.  Pray that God would give us wisdom about how to help them alleviate some of their hunger during this time of real tragedy.  Pray that God would give us wisdom as we assess the security situation in South Sudan and how safe it will be to return with the family.  Pray that God would provide for some of the logistical issues that we’re facing as we try to do the building and transporting of goods involved with the projects that you have helped fund.  Pray that Mitchell will get a clear idea about life in South Sudan and his calling, and pray that God would provide safety for us as we travel on the roads.

Thanks!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

We were at a show in Branson, Ezekiel was very excited to go and see the show…but he didn’t really know what he was in for!

December 14, 2016

We’ve been married for five years, and this is the first time we’ve had a Christmas tree!  It’s only 4ft tall, but it’s ours!

On November 30th I flew to Mexico and on December 1st had the surgery that I talked about in my last newsletter.  The surgery went well and the pain was only the normal after-surgery aches for a few days.  Now I am recovering, still on a liquid diet for a while, and then after a few months of learning how to eat again, we’ll hopefully return to South Sudan.

  The trip home from mexico was an interesting one.  I went through the line at Customs/Border Patrol with a few other people who were patients from the same clinic, but when my turn came it was different.  I’ve always been the subject of “random” extra searches and security on international flights because of my travel history, but this is the first time I’ve crossed into the USA by land.  When the border agent started thumbing through my passport and saw some of the countries I’d visited, including South Sudan, I got moved to a different area.

  After 2.5 hours I was finally cleared to enter the United States.  During my time with the agents I was questioned on all kinds of stuff: my family, my job, hobbies, names of people we work with, etc.  One of the agents even looked through my laptop at my pictures, while another one actually opened and read a page from my journal!  In the end they were surprised that I wasn’t impatient with them and that I was doing so well even though I’ve never been detained at a US border before.  I guess that training was worth it!

 Once I got to the airport I found out that I had 3 minutes to spare for check-in.  I rushed to the gate, got on my plane, and about 45 minutes later, the whole plane was emptied because of a mechanical issue.  I spent the night in San Diego and flew home the next day, only to find out that my bag was still somewhere in Dallas!  This morning (a whole week after I got home) I had an email that said my bag was delivered at 2:35am, and I found it on our front porch.  People always make comments to me about how hard it must be to travel so much through Africa, but some of my most difficult experiences have been right here at home!

Merry Christmas!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

October 27, 2016

Ezekiel blowing out his 4^th Birthday candle at Indian Avenue Baptist Church.

                Anyone who has been around missionaries for a while, especially missionaries in a place like South Sudan, will understand that no matter how much we try to prepare and plan, all plans are tentative.  For months we’ve been telling people our travel plans.  I (Justin) would go back to SS in November to work on the house, and come back about a month later to get Amy and the kids to return later in the year or early January.  Well, that has changed!

We will be going back to Africa a few months later than planned, the delay is a result of a few things that have happened.  The first is medical.  I have been thinking about getting bariatric surgery for a while, and have had a few doctor friends suggest that it would be a good option for me.  With that in mind, I met my biological father for the first time (by phone) a few weeks ago, and when he told me his medical history I decided that having the surgery sooner than later would be a good idea.  We were praying about how to get surgery and still return to South Sudan as planned when the next thing happened.

The Pioneers African leadership met last month and decided that they did not want to allow families with children to return to South Sudan until further notice.  This wouldn’t affect our plans so much.  I was planning on leaving Amy and the kids in Uganda (where it’s safe) for a while and making trips back and forth to Lohutok.  This way we could decide when it was safe to go back as a family. With the decision coming down from our leadership (It’s not my call anymore, we’re waiting on a green light from them now) AND the new urgency behind surgery, we decided now would be a good time to get the surgery done.

I am flying to San Diego on November 30^th and will have surgery on December 1^st.  That will leave about 4 months to recover before our leaders meet again in April, and at that point we will *plan to* either go back to South Sudan or leave the family in Uganda while Justin goes back and forth.  Please be faithful in praying for us during these extra transitions.

Thanks!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

August 28, 2016

           

            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!

July 21, 2016

If you keep up with the news on South Sudan, you’ve heard by now that more fighting has erupted in the country. Until now the war has not affected us at all as it’s been so far away. After several days of the most recent shootings and looting all over Juba, the capital, we’ve heard that there is also unrest in Torit – the town nearest to us. One of our co-workers heard rumors that the warring sides might be using the Lopit area as a place to hide. This is our tribe. We have been investing in the Lopit since 2013. If the rumors are true, it’s possible that fighting will reach our villages as people from each side go to look for their enemies. We are praying that this doesn’t happen. The last three years of war have shown us that major military activity in any town or village means utter ruin for the people (especially women and children) who are not even involved in the conflict.

We are praying for a quick resolution to this conflict. South Sudan has been in some kind of war for more than fifty years, and the biggest outcome has been poverty, human suffering and little to no real development to help the people with their basic everyday needs. As we hear of all of this news we fear for the lives of the people we’ve spent years pouring our lives into, “the least of these,” who have become the pillars of the Lopit church that God is raising up. Please pray vigorously over the next few weeks and months that war doesn’t come to the Lopit Mountains – or that if it does, that somehow God would use it to raise up His church, for His glory, among the Lopit. Pray that the people would be able to find safety and that ultimately Christ’s church would grow.

As you remember our past newsletters and the stories of what God has done, please pray for our houseworkers, Deborah and Teresa, and their families, that they would be safe. Also pray the same for both of our guards, Michael and Moses, and their families. Finally, please don’t forget to pray for Paul, the pastor that Justin is discipling, his wife Isayye, and their son who is about 1 year old now; as well as the church he is pastoring and for the other believers in Lohutok. Please pray that all of these people, and their families, are able to find safety if it is necessary.

We are still committed to bringing the gospel to the unreached people in South Sudan. Our return to Lohutok is planned for the end of this year, and so many things can change (for better or worse) in that amount of time. Pray that God would give us clear direction as the time gets closer about how to move forward with our family, and the best way to see the gospel go to this area of great need.

Thanks!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

June 11, 2016

             

          The last six weeks have been crazy with travel and speaking engagements.  First Ezekiel and I went to Mississippi for a week, then, after 14 days back home (in St. Louis) I went to Warren, Arkansas for a few days.  I got home from Warren on a Monday and on Friday we flew to Orlando to visit Pioneers’ base and try to recruit new team mates.  We got home from Orlando, and a week later we spent 4 days in Springfield, MO and now we’re back in St. Louis again.  On Monday we’re driving to Kansas City for Ezekiel and I to see a doctor, but we’re coming back on the same day, and then in less than two weeks we’re moving out of our home in St. Louis and hitting the road.  We’ll be in Columbus, GA for a couple of weeks to visit Amy’s parents and a few partnering churches in the area, and then we’re back to Orlando for a week of debriefing, speaking in Panama City, and then driving to Kansas City where we will settle for our last three months of home assignment.  I am speaking at a church in Kansas City on July 24^th, flying to Orlando the next day to try and recruit more team mates, staying for 4 nights and then flying back to Kansas City to continue visiting friends and churches there.
                God is good in the midst of all of the stress and travel.  When we went to Orlando a few weeks ago, Amy told me that she wanted to take Ezekiel to Disney since we were already there. I told her that I thought it would be fun, but the parks are expensive and we’re spending all of our money just to get to Florida and back.  Amy, as unreasonable as ever (I’m saying this like it’s a good thing…you’ll see) said, “Well, I’m just going to pray that we get to go somehow.
                We got to Orlando on a Friday, and on Saturday we met with a friend who lives two hours away.  Our friend had come to visit Lohutok to see the work in South Sudan, and spent a few months there looking for ways that he could be involved and help.  When he heard that we were in Orlando, he drove two hours to hang out for the afternoon, and before he left (we never talked to him about Disney) he gave me a check, saying “Use this to take your family to Disney.”  Amy may have cried a little when I told her.  The pics in this letter are all from our day at Magic Kingdom.  God is good!
                If you are in Georgia or Kansas City and would like to come see us speak, I’ve been putting the schedule in the Prayer Calendar, or you can email me.

Thanks!
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb
justin@culpsudan.com