One Church, One Tribe

          

        As many of you probably have heard or seen in the news things are not currently going so well here in South Sudan.  It all began on the evening of December 15^th when an “attempted coup” occurred in Juba and since then rebels believed to be lead by former Vice President Riek Machar have taken control of multiple South Sudanese states. Thousands have been killed and injured, and tens of thousands of people have been displaced. To say the least it has been a far from peaceful week leading up to Christmas. It has been sad to see this young nation turn back to its violent roots just as it was beginning to progress forward. One of the major problems that has caused so many problems for the people of South Sudan is that of tribalism. The people here do not identify themselves as South Sudanese for the most part but as a Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Zande, etc. There is a lack of unity, which has once again resulted in suffering though before it was between North and South and now it is between themselves as a nation.

            But if you want to learn more about the conflict I am sure CNN or the New York Times can explain it much better than I can so I will spare you a poorly written news report and try to shed a little joy on this whole situation. Among all the suffering and unrest in South Sudan in a little village outside of the nations capital of Juba something very joyful happened. You might think that Christmas would be forgotten this year among all of the fighting but you would be very wrong. Due to the conflict all Christmas Eve masses in the diocese of Juba were cancelled but here in Gumbo we just celebrated a little earlier, with a 3pm mass. People were singing, praising, and celebrating the coming of baby Jesus as if there was no conflict at all. As if there was peace here in South Sudan though that is far from the truth.

            Going into the mass my mind was still terribly distracted by all that has been going on and a frustrating afternoon of scrambling to get everything ready for the mass at the last minute had only put me in a less joyful mood. But then something amazing happened and everything changed. Amid all the bad news and the struggle this nation is going through we welcomed over fifty new little boys and girls into the Catholic Church through the sacrament of baptism. The Christmas joy had finally arrived in Gumbo! It was such a gift and all my distractions just went away and all you could do was be joyful and smile.

       The parents all lined up in the middle of the church as Fr. David and Fr. Jacob went through and baptized them one by one welcoming them into Christ’s church on the eve of his birth. It just shows that in the darkness the light is always shining and that light is Christ. On a side note, I also got a kick out of some of the little ones sucking on their baptismal candles as if they were candy. It was an added Christmas present to an already incredibly beautiful moment. What was most beautiful about the whole celebration was that amid all of the tribal and political tensions for a few hours everything was different. There was no separation, no tribes; we were all equal; we were all one people, one Church celebrating Christ together.

           

        With that I wish you all a Merry Christmas! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support it means so much to me as I continue on my journey here in South Sudan. Please continue to keep this nation and its people in your prayers. Pray for peace for they need it badly here, and we can only hope that things do not worsen as we enter into a new year. Enjoy your families and friends during this joyful celebration of Christmas and remember that it is all about Him! And the word was made flesh..and dwelt among us! Our Lady Queen of Peace, Pray for us! 

           

         

                                                                      MORE PICTURES!!!!

Nativity Scene in the Parish Church!

God is with us!

Babies eating candles!

More babies eating candles!

Goodbyes in Gumbo

      Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a joyful and peaceful Advent and are getting pumped for Christmas! This past weekend our family here in Gumbo got a little smaller as we said goodbye to two dear friends, SLM Tom Kelly, and the great mustached man from India, Robin one of our fellow volunteers. It was very sad to see them go but I am very thankful for the time I was able to spend serving with these two selfless and holy men. Since Mike and I arrived in Gumbo at the end of August Tom and Robin have helped us get acclimated to life here and have been our closest friends. If you compared our life here thus far to a bicycle Tom was our training wheels and Robin was our father who fixed everything we broke along the way including school bells, doors, fence gates (it’s a long story… but I drove a motorbike into it.), and the list goes on and on unfortunately (Mike and I are apparently really good at breaking stuff around the compound, its one of our many gifts).

The Boys

          Now we have no dad and no training wheels so its time to see how we do on our own which will be exciting yet I am sure will entail some falls here and there but such is life. It is also getting to that point on mission where we have been here for some time but there is still plenty of time left on the clock. It has been difficult to get over that hump and stay focused on mission especially as we have entered the holiday season during which home has been on my mind often. Yet the Lord has really blessed me and helped me to refocus on why I came here and on trying to be the best missionary that I can possibly be. This has changed my feelings of impatience and exhaustion into feelings of peace and joy in the fact that there are still many days ahead of me with many opportunities to serve God’s people here in South Sudan. I look forward to the many adventures to come.

            At the secondary school we have one exam left and then the school year is finished. The exam results have been much better than last term’s so I am glad to announce that most of our students will be promoted to the next grade in January, thanks be to God! The first few weeks following Christmas will be mostly spent in preparation for the 2014 Academic Year. The secondary school will be welcoming many new students, as we will have Senior 1, Senior 2, and Senior 3 next year opposed to just Senior 1 and 2. This means I will have to put my African name-memorizing cap back on as we welcome the new students and will be getting back into the routine of teaching everyday. But for now I am excited about having a short break from the classroom and celebrating Christmas and New Years with the community here and the people of Gumbo. May God bless you all during this time of great joy!

For Robin's departure from Gumbo I decided to grow a sweet stache in his honor...I will never be able to compete with him, and thankfully this bad boy is coming off very soon.