September 28, 2015
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; - Philippians 3:20
The problem with writing a monthly newsletter is that, when things are slow and boring or even difficult and discouraging, one still feels the need to think of something exciting to put in the newsletter! After sitting at my computer for a few days trying to think of something, I just decided to give it up! The work in Lacharok seems to have stopped. Paul is still optimistic that the guys will come back, but we have not had a good storying session with them since May. In fact, the “leader” of that group, James Latoy, has only been around for one visit since May. On that visit he told us that many of the people were “discouraged” and didn’t want to come anymore. When I asked why he said “They think you deceived them because they were waiting for you to buy them uniforms and book bags.” To memorize stories!
Earlier this week I was in Torit buying some supplies and a new battery for the Landcruiser. As I was pulling up to my last stop, the hardware store, I switched on my left turn-indicator. When an oncoming motorbike driver saw my indicator, he freaked out, lost control of the motorbike, and wiped out on the road. He only had some scrapes on his arms and leg, but the front wheel of his motorbike slid under my vehicle, and my back tire went over it, breaking part of the motorcycle. I spent 6 hours on Monday at the traffic police station where they basically told me, “These guys drive too fast on their motorbikes and cause accidents, but you can’t leave him with all of the expenses, so we’re going to charge you. Don’t worry your insurance will pay half.” Now I’m waiting for his follow-up visit to the hospital for his scrapes before I can find out how much that is going to cost.
The night after the motorbike incident I couldn’t sleep. Every time I fell asleep I would dream that people were on my front porch begging for something, or a ride somewhere, or forcing me to pay something, and I had to keep waking up and deciding if it was real or a dream!
Please pray for us as we spend the last few months before our home-assignment. Pray that God would clearly show us closed-doors, when to say no, and give us patience as we live as aliens and strangers in this world.
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and ??
Monday, September 28, 2015
Monday, August 31, 2015
August 31, 2015
August 31, 2015
Yesterday I was riding in the car with Paul. We had a 2 hour drive to Lacharok and no passengers (quite a rare occurance!) so it was a good chance to talk to the guy who is sometimes our only faithful disciple. I was talking to him about the time that we’re going to be gone next year, from February to November, for furlough. Lately it seems like every time we have to take a trip or take a few weeks off from doing Bible study in the villages (Lalonga and Lacharok), it can take weeks to re-connect and catch up with people.
That makes the 8-9 months we’re going to be away next year a little stressful. I asked Paul what it would take to make sure that the groups keep meeting and keep learning Bible stories while we’re gone and he answered, “I can read the Bible and learn the stories I need to tell, but I don’t know how to get from the ‘What does it say?’ to the ‘What does it mean?’ and ‘What should we do?’” I told him we could work on some ways to do that over the next few months, but then decided to just talk about it. We reviewed the golden calf story and then I asked him, “What does this story teach us about God?” He couldn’t give me an answer, so I repeated the first two sentences of the story and then asked the question again, and immediately he said “That’s easy, God keeps his promises.”
After coming up with five statements about God from the story, I asked him, “What does this story teach us about mankind?” We went through the story bit by bit again but mostly came up with “People are quick to disobey and utterly rebel against God.” After that I asked him, “Now what can we apply to our own lives from this story?” Again he was quiet. I repeated the sentence, “People are quick to disobey and rebel against God” and said “Is that true about you?” He agreed that it was, so I said “How?” He gave me a few general answers about things he used to do, so I said “What about yesterday? How were you quick to disobey and rebel against God yesterday?”
Again he was quiet. I shared with him some of my own shortcomings. Impatience with people, especially my wife, anger and general arrogance about getting my own way, those were just a few things I told him. Finally he interrupted me as I was about to start again and said, “Sometimes my wife talks to me a certain way and I just get angry!” After that he went on to tell me about other things that he does, and knows are sinful, but they are things that he’s never really considered a need to repent from. They’re not “big” like drunkenness or murder or going to the rainmaker. We then discussed the importance to repent from those things, and have a right attitude about ourselves by realizing our own sin. It was a good drive overall…
Justin (and Amy, Ezekiel and “New Baby”)
Yesterday I was riding in the car with Paul. We had a 2 hour drive to Lacharok and no passengers (quite a rare occurance!) so it was a good chance to talk to the guy who is sometimes our only faithful disciple. I was talking to him about the time that we’re going to be gone next year, from February to November, for furlough. Lately it seems like every time we have to take a trip or take a few weeks off from doing Bible study in the villages (Lalonga and Lacharok), it can take weeks to re-connect and catch up with people.
That makes the 8-9 months we’re going to be away next year a little stressful. I asked Paul what it would take to make sure that the groups keep meeting and keep learning Bible stories while we’re gone and he answered, “I can read the Bible and learn the stories I need to tell, but I don’t know how to get from the ‘What does it say?’ to the ‘What does it mean?’ and ‘What should we do?’” I told him we could work on some ways to do that over the next few months, but then decided to just talk about it. We reviewed the golden calf story and then I asked him, “What does this story teach us about God?” He couldn’t give me an answer, so I repeated the first two sentences of the story and then asked the question again, and immediately he said “That’s easy, God keeps his promises.”
After coming up with five statements about God from the story, I asked him, “What does this story teach us about mankind?” We went through the story bit by bit again but mostly came up with “People are quick to disobey and utterly rebel against God.” After that I asked him, “Now what can we apply to our own lives from this story?” Again he was quiet. I repeated the sentence, “People are quick to disobey and rebel against God” and said “Is that true about you?” He agreed that it was, so I said “How?” He gave me a few general answers about things he used to do, so I said “What about yesterday? How were you quick to disobey and rebel against God yesterday?”
Again he was quiet. I shared with him some of my own shortcomings. Impatience with people, especially my wife, anger and general arrogance about getting my own way, those were just a few things I told him. Finally he interrupted me as I was about to start again and said, “Sometimes my wife talks to me a certain way and I just get angry!” After that he went on to tell me about other things that he does, and knows are sinful, but they are things that he’s never really considered a need to repent from. They’re not “big” like drunkenness or murder or going to the rainmaker. We then discussed the importance to repent from those things, and have a right attitude about ourselves by realizing our own sin. It was a good drive overall…
Justin (and Amy, Ezekiel and “New Baby”)
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
July 29, 2015
July 29, 2015
For the past few weeks I’ve been lamenting to Amy about how it seems like there’s not much happening with our disciples. One of them in Loming just doesn’t come when we’re supposed to meet, and in Lacharok they asked us to stop coming for three weeks or so because everyone is busy working in the gardens. I decided to use the down time to get some work done on the house, but getting the materials we need just hasn’t worked out either, so it feels like I’m just sitting idle.
Last week Paul and I decided that, in addition to studying stories with the ladies in his church on Sunday mornings, we would also start meeting with them on Wednesday mornings to review the stories and make sure they know them well. On Wednesday I went at 6:30 in the morning and listened while Paul spent two hours teaching the creation story to a group of seven women and one man. At the end they even turned the creation story into a song! I was hoping to somehow include the song with the online version of this update, but I haven’t been able to get a recording of it yet. When I do I’ll send a separate email, or I’ll add a video to next month’s newsletter.
Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and giving toward the well project. Pioneers’ finance system has been down for a while since they are installing new software, so I haven’t been able to see individual giving since mid-June, but it seems like the rest of the money to pay for the drilling project has come in! Our next goal will be to get a pump for the well and build a water tower to hold the water and feed the house. Those things will come later!
Thanks!
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and…someone else!
For the past few weeks I’ve been lamenting to Amy about how it seems like there’s not much happening with our disciples. One of them in Loming just doesn’t come when we’re supposed to meet, and in Lacharok they asked us to stop coming for three weeks or so because everyone is busy working in the gardens. I decided to use the down time to get some work done on the house, but getting the materials we need just hasn’t worked out either, so it feels like I’m just sitting idle.
Last week Paul and I decided that, in addition to studying stories with the ladies in his church on Sunday mornings, we would also start meeting with them on Wednesday mornings to review the stories and make sure they know them well. On Wednesday I went at 6:30 in the morning and listened while Paul spent two hours teaching the creation story to a group of seven women and one man. At the end they even turned the creation story into a song! I was hoping to somehow include the song with the online version of this update, but I haven’t been able to get a recording of it yet. When I do I’ll send a separate email, or I’ll add a video to next month’s newsletter.
Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and giving toward the well project. Pioneers’ finance system has been down for a while since they are installing new software, so I haven’t been able to see individual giving since mid-June, but it seems like the rest of the money to pay for the drilling project has come in! Our next goal will be to get a pump for the well and build a water tower to hold the water and feed the house. Those things will come later!
Thanks!
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and…someone else!
Monday, June 29, 2015
June 29, 2015
This is Madalena. Madalena has been one of the regular members/leaders in the Lalonga church for a while now. She leads most of the singing and handles all of the offerings, and a few times when the pastor was out of town, she even told the Bible story. Madalena also comes with us to another village, Lacharok, every week because she wants to participate in the Bible study there and sometimes brings some grain to sell.
One Tuesday I went to Lalonga to meet with Paul. I found his house empty, he had gone to Kapoeta to sell his bamboo. Since Paul wasn’t around I walked up to Madalena’s house to visit and ask if she knew about Paul’s plans for returning. Nobody had heard from Paul but they told me that Madalena’s husband was sick. Madalena’s husband was living in Torit and working for the fire brigade. He had three wives (and one who died from a snake bite) and took great care of all three of them. I had only met him a few times when he came to thank me for helping his wife get out to sell her grain.
The symptoms seemed like malaria, he had a fever and was sweating and dizzy, but it seemed advanced, like he’d been sick for a long time. I gave him some malaria medicine that I had in my bag and I took him to Lohutok to visit the clinic. After they had been at the clinic for two days, Madalena came to my house at 10:00pm on a Wednesday night and told me that her husband had died. I drove them back to Lalonga with the body in the back of the pickup and they buried him that night.
I’m writing this newsletter four days after the husband’s death. Today we went to Lalonga for worship but Paul was still gone. I thought that meant we wouldn’t meet since there was no preacher who spoke Lopit, but I was wrong. We went to Madalena’s house where the funeral was still in full effect. There were at least fifty people sitting around her house mourning. Madalena called everyone over to sit around her, led some singing, and told the story of Genesis 1-3. Then she preached the gospel. At her own husband’s funeral.
Pray for Madalena and her children as they adjust to life without the husband to provide for them.
Pray that God would provide godly examples for their children and that they would have the food and things they need to live.
Thanks!
Justin, Amy and Ezekiel
Thursday, May 28, 2015
May 28, 2015
May 28, 2015
Meet Paul and Issaye. Eight years ago, Paul was forced to marry Issaye by his family even though he didn’t want to. A few years later it became apparent that the two of them couldn’t conceive a child. In this culture, children are a big deal and not being able to conceive is an even bigger deal. Both Paul and Issaye faced pressure from their families to divorce and remarry, or in Paul’s case to take additional wives to add children to the family. At some point in Paul’s life, he said that a Catholic priest told him that despite their problems, he should love his wife, never divorce, and never take additional wives. Paul says they continued trying various “traditional” methods to cure sterility, but none of those worked. About 3 years ago Paul met Chuck. Through Chuck’s counsel and guidance,
Paul decided to renounce the local traditions and magic and to make a public statement that he was trusting God to provide him with a child. There were plans to take Paul and Issaye to Kijabe hospital in Kenya to explore the medical cause of this problem, but a week before that trip was scheduled Paul told us that Issaye was late for her monthly cycle. The next day she took a pregnancy test which read positive.
On April 24, Issaye gave birth to Joseph Malis, strong and healthy. They chose the name “Joseph”
after Paul and I listened to Genesis in the car. He heard about Rachel’s inability to deliver, and when God finally gave her a child they called him Joseph. The word “Malis” is typically used for “I’m sorry” but it really means “There is nothing bad.” Paul chose that name to say that their bad condition has finally ended. Will you pray that Joseph grows up to be a healthy man who loves Jesus, and that he can have many brothers and sisters?
Thanks!
Meet Paul and Issaye. Eight years ago, Paul was forced to marry Issaye by his family even though he didn’t want to. A few years later it became apparent that the two of them couldn’t conceive a child. In this culture, children are a big deal and not being able to conceive is an even bigger deal. Both Paul and Issaye faced pressure from their families to divorce and remarry, or in Paul’s case to take additional wives to add children to the family. At some point in Paul’s life, he said that a Catholic priest told him that despite their problems, he should love his wife, never divorce, and never take additional wives. Paul says they continued trying various “traditional” methods to cure sterility, but none of those worked. About 3 years ago Paul met Chuck. Through Chuck’s counsel and guidance,
Paul decided to renounce the local traditions and magic and to make a public statement that he was trusting God to provide him with a child. There were plans to take Paul and Issaye to Kijabe hospital in Kenya to explore the medical cause of this problem, but a week before that trip was scheduled Paul told us that Issaye was late for her monthly cycle. The next day she took a pregnancy test which read positive.
On April 24, Issaye gave birth to Joseph Malis, strong and healthy. They chose the name “Joseph”
after Paul and I listened to Genesis in the car. He heard about Rachel’s inability to deliver, and when God finally gave her a child they called him Joseph. The word “Malis” is typically used for “I’m sorry” but it really means “There is nothing bad.” Paul chose that name to say that their bad condition has finally ended. Will you pray that Joseph grows up to be a healthy man who loves Jesus, and that he can have many brothers and sisters?
Thanks!
Thursday, April 30, 2015
April 29, 2015
April 29, 2015
In just a few weeks we will have been back in South Sudan for a year and a half. It seems like most of our time back so far has been spent learning: Learning language (Amy is making huge strides, me not so much), learning how to fix the car, build a house, cook/bake meals in a completely new way, Learning how to drive again on roads that aren’t really roads, Learning how to free a car that is hopelessly stuck in the mud, Learning how to treat a sick little boy with malaria, learning how to
get to new places, learning how to get along with other missionaries, learning how to build a drain and trap for the kitchen sink, learning how NOT to install a shower, learning about who we are as a bunch of sinners trying to live in the same house together…lots and lots of learning. Since we arrived here, Amy has been begging me to teach her to drive a car with a manual transmission, that’s
something she never learned. Finally, a few months ago, I started letting her drive so she could learn (I had to get a new clutch first!) and she caught on quickly. I turned her loose to drive out and visit people, and she was really excited.
Well, learning to drive here is more than just a stick-shift, it’s also learning to dodge constant potholes and mud pits, knowing when to speed up and slow down, and how to avoid getting stuck. When Amy came home the first day, the shock absorber on the pickup was broken. I immediately knew which spot in the road she had hit…it’s impossible to see that large pothole until you’re almost on top of it, and the road is smooth there so it’s tempting to go fast. You just have to know it’s there.
I’m sure there’s a great spiritual application to that story and maybe someday on furlough you’ll hear me use it as a sermon illustration, but I want to finish the story. I called a company in Nairobi to order new shock absorbers.
They told me that they would take a credit card, but at the last minute said they couldn’t over the phone. So, I arranged for $1200 to be wired from my US bank account to their account to pay for the shocks. They then delivered the parts to the airport, where they were flown to another part of Kenya to be delivered to us. The flight comes through twice a month so we knew it would be only a week or so before we got the box, but then that flight was cancelled because there wasn’t enough volume to justify the flight…then the next one got cancelled too! I was making plans to take a bus to Kenya and get the parts, but that didn’t happen. The busses weren’t going that way because people were shooting at cars on part of that road.
I tried to make a plan to fly to Kenya and get them, but the only flight out I could have taken was full. By this time the shocks on the other car were completely worn out and it was becoming an emergency, but there wasn’t much I could do! Finally, after a week of emails and phone calls, we were able to get the shocks on a flight to Torit. I drove to Torit (the 3 hour trip took 5 because of the shocks) and when I got there, I found an email from the pilot saying that they were going to deliver the shocks to Lohutok after all! I spent another night on the phone getting it changed to Torit, got my shocks the next day and put the new ones on the LandCruiser…six weeks later! Never
ask a missionary in the bush, “What do you do with all of your time?
Please continue to pray for us as we are learning language and culture and sharing the gospel with these villages. Pray that we would be quick, humble learners and pray that the cars would hold up.
Thanks!
In just a few weeks we will have been back in South Sudan for a year and a half. It seems like most of our time back so far has been spent learning: Learning language (Amy is making huge strides, me not so much), learning how to fix the car, build a house, cook/bake meals in a completely new way, Learning how to drive again on roads that aren’t really roads, Learning how to free a car that is hopelessly stuck in the mud, Learning how to treat a sick little boy with malaria, learning how to
get to new places, learning how to get along with other missionaries, learning how to build a drain and trap for the kitchen sink, learning how NOT to install a shower, learning about who we are as a bunch of sinners trying to live in the same house together…lots and lots of learning. Since we arrived here, Amy has been begging me to teach her to drive a car with a manual transmission, that’s
something she never learned. Finally, a few months ago, I started letting her drive so she could learn (I had to get a new clutch first!) and she caught on quickly. I turned her loose to drive out and visit people, and she was really excited.
Well, learning to drive here is more than just a stick-shift, it’s also learning to dodge constant potholes and mud pits, knowing when to speed up and slow down, and how to avoid getting stuck. When Amy came home the first day, the shock absorber on the pickup was broken. I immediately knew which spot in the road she had hit…it’s impossible to see that large pothole until you’re almost on top of it, and the road is smooth there so it’s tempting to go fast. You just have to know it’s there.
I’m sure there’s a great spiritual application to that story and maybe someday on furlough you’ll hear me use it as a sermon illustration, but I want to finish the story. I called a company in Nairobi to order new shock absorbers.
They told me that they would take a credit card, but at the last minute said they couldn’t over the phone. So, I arranged for $1200 to be wired from my US bank account to their account to pay for the shocks. They then delivered the parts to the airport, where they were flown to another part of Kenya to be delivered to us. The flight comes through twice a month so we knew it would be only a week or so before we got the box, but then that flight was cancelled because there wasn’t enough volume to justify the flight…then the next one got cancelled too! I was making plans to take a bus to Kenya and get the parts, but that didn’t happen. The busses weren’t going that way because people were shooting at cars on part of that road.
I tried to make a plan to fly to Kenya and get them, but the only flight out I could have taken was full. By this time the shocks on the other car were completely worn out and it was becoming an emergency, but there wasn’t much I could do! Finally, after a week of emails and phone calls, we were able to get the shocks on a flight to Torit. I drove to Torit (the 3 hour trip took 5 because of the shocks) and when I got there, I found an email from the pilot saying that they were going to deliver the shocks to Lohutok after all! I spent another night on the phone getting it changed to Torit, got my shocks the next day and put the new ones on the LandCruiser…six weeks later! Never
ask a missionary in the bush, “What do you do with all of your time?
Please continue to pray for us as we are learning language and culture and sharing the gospel with these villages. Pray that we would be quick, humble learners and pray that the cars would hold up.
Thanks!
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
April 1, 2015
April 1, 2015
This month I’ve been working with men and women in Loming, Lalonga and Lacharok to try and teach them Bible stories from memory. Since all of these guys have heard the gospel numerous times from Chuck and me, we’re able to commit a “no-no” in normal storying settings, we connect each story to the story of Christ and the gospel. Last week I taught the story of Cain and Abel to Paul. Paul Learns the stories quickly, there are many Old Testament stories that he’s just never heard or read, so he’s excited to hear them. As we were discussing the Cain and Abel story, Paul started asking me questions like, “What application do we make from this story?” He wanted to know how to teach the story to the people in his church and in the other villages where he is leading most of the teaching.
After discussing the story for a while, I asked Paul, “What was the cause of Cain’s anger?” Many animist people who hear this story for the first time immediately assume that God was displeased with Cain’s offering because it did not involve blood, and I wanted Paul to see the sin in Cain’s heart. Finally I asked him, “Imagine you are standing in front of Jesus right now, and giving Him the best of everything you have: children, crops, livestock, money, whatever it might be. Now, imagine that Jesus looks at your offering with disgust and walks away. What is your response? Do you get angry because you are expecting something different? Do you get bitter because you think your offering deserves a better response? Or is your heart broken because you realize there is something wrong with your relationship? Your answer will tell you a lot about your soul, and your motivation for serving Jesus.”
Please pray for the men and women in these three villages. Pray that they will serve and follow Jesus out of love for Him and not because of some material expectation (from God, from the missionaries, etc.).
Thanks!
Justin and Amy Culp
This month I’ve been working with men and women in Loming, Lalonga and Lacharok to try and teach them Bible stories from memory. Since all of these guys have heard the gospel numerous times from Chuck and me, we’re able to commit a “no-no” in normal storying settings, we connect each story to the story of Christ and the gospel. Last week I taught the story of Cain and Abel to Paul. Paul Learns the stories quickly, there are many Old Testament stories that he’s just never heard or read, so he’s excited to hear them. As we were discussing the Cain and Abel story, Paul started asking me questions like, “What application do we make from this story?” He wanted to know how to teach the story to the people in his church and in the other villages where he is leading most of the teaching.
After discussing the story for a while, I asked Paul, “What was the cause of Cain’s anger?” Many animist people who hear this story for the first time immediately assume that God was displeased with Cain’s offering because it did not involve blood, and I wanted Paul to see the sin in Cain’s heart. Finally I asked him, “Imagine you are standing in front of Jesus right now, and giving Him the best of everything you have: children, crops, livestock, money, whatever it might be. Now, imagine that Jesus looks at your offering with disgust and walks away. What is your response? Do you get angry because you are expecting something different? Do you get bitter because you think your offering deserves a better response? Or is your heart broken because you realize there is something wrong with your relationship? Your answer will tell you a lot about your soul, and your motivation for serving Jesus.”
Please pray for the men and women in these three villages. Pray that they will serve and follow Jesus out of love for Him and not because of some material expectation (from God, from the missionaries, etc.).
Thanks!
Justin and Amy Culp
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