There and Back Again? Part 2
Part 2: Preparation and Lessons Learned
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. –Psalm 32:8
Preparation
It has been over two years since Pam and I were in South Sudan. How did we mentally prepare for this three-month exploratory trip with departure only two months away? Our preparation came from two resources.
Knowledge
Fortunately, we had already been reading many mission-related books up to this time. We had some experience in living in other cultures and having international students live with us. What we needed was specific information on South Sudan and what to expect there. Two invaluable resources were the Short-Termer/Visitor Handbook by Daniel Faris (the retiring Cush for Christ team leader) and The Pursuit of Glory, a book by Vince Ward (Cush for Christ ministry founder) and his son Samuel Ward.
The Experiences of Others
Our daughter had spent two years teaching at the Cush Christian School, and her insights were very helpful, as were those from Zack and Beth Smith, who had been there too. Our attitudes toward what to expect there were shaped by Zach’s advice to prepare the best we could and take each day at a time, walking by faith. Things happen unexpectedly, necessitating a change of plans, and life seems to happen at a much slower pace. This would require love, patience, and trust in the sovereignty of God (Proverbs 3:5-6; 16:9). We went to learn, encourage, help, and consider if we would return as part of a new team in the future. It took a while emotionally for Pam to accept this reality to go and leave family and things behind, but by God’s grace, he gave her peace to trust him for the unknown, and he later rewarded her with unexpected information that would affect her life.
Lessons Learned
Accepting Help
Our team and the local Dinka believers helped us start learning the local language and culture. We hired Dinka helpers to deliver well water, wash our clothes, and occasionally go to the market for small items. We also appreciated moral support from our team, our family at home, and a few who sent emails and talked to us over the internet.
Helping Others
I spent a lot of time each day going to the Crossroads Training Center to help men with their training, go over their lessons, and signing off on their progress. It was here that I learned to listen and give appropriately to those in need. I helped one man with a question about his marriage and prayed with him. As I got to know him, it was obvious to me that he was an intelligent self-taught man who loved the Lord. So I offered him some biblical resources I had on a thumb drive. He was exuberantly thankful that someone helped him in these ways. With tears, he said my help demonstrated the love of Christ to him.
I learned discernment when our water man needed money to fix his bike. Instead of giving him money, I helped him get a job that honored him while he earned the money needed to fix his bike.
Pam spent most of her time helping students with their lessons at the Cush Christian School, cooking for our weekly team meetings, and helping the Faris family as they prepared to leave for the States.
We saw God’s gracious mercy when Pam was called upon to use her past RN training by giving emergency medical assistance to an injured team member. He almost lost a finger trying to calm one of our injured guard dogs! This incident showed me teamwork in action—from Pam’s quick first aid work and ongoing pain management, to other team members arranging flights to Uganda and on to the States for surgery eight days later.
Being Resourceful
In the compound we lived in, I helped (but mostly watched) Lucas repair a fence blown down by a storm, reinstalled the latrine’s metal shack that a storm had blown about 20 feet away, and later relocated another latrine that had sunk into the ground after a heavy rain. We recruited some of our Dinka brothers and sisters to help us, which was very fun for us, all working together. I took the team’s Land Cruiser SUV to a Samaritan’s Purse facility nearby to replace its fuel pump. I quickly learned that when things break out in the bush, we depend on each other for help, and we learn to use what we can find and do the best we can even when the tools are most likely dull, broken, or missing.
Back Again?
Will We Go Back Again?
God seems to have closed this door for now in a surprising turn of events. In God’s perfect plan, both of us lost weight during those three months, and a tumor was visibly revealed on Pam that had gone unnoticed before. When we returned home, it was examined as an early-stage cancer that was removed before it had a chance to spread to the rest of her body. We praise Jesus for his merciful and mysterious ways!
It seems to us that our place now is as senders, which we are discovering is equally vital in the missionary endeavor. We have learned something about what it’s like to be sent and can empathize somewhat with needs in the field. The book Serving as Senders Today by Neal Pirolo really helped us better understand how we can indeed serve as senders.
Everyone has a Part
We’ve been sobered by the reality that we, at home, are the bigger team behind the smaller one on the field. Everyone in the body of Christ is called to participate in some way in obeying Jesus’s command to go into all his world and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Whether it is by praying, giving, encouraging, transporting, welcoming, visiting, caring for things back home, etc., we are called to participate in Christ’s global work.
We serve King Jesus who, for now, is offering salvation to anyone who believes in him. But there will be a day when he comes back to judge those who have rejected him and his gracious offer of salvation. Jesus sits on the throne now and has bound the evil one so that the Good News of Salvation (which cannot be bound: 2 Timothy 2:9) can go out into all the world. Jesus said, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4.
Whether we are “over there” or “back here,” may we all find our part in the spreading of the Kingdom of God here on earth while it is yet day.
Dean Filson is husband of Pam, father of four children, and grandfather of five grandchildren. He is a ruling elder at 2RP, Indianapolis, IN and recently joined the RPGM board.