Tea with Melissa
Grab a chair and a cup of tea, and join Melissa Hanna (virtually) under the big tree near their house as she chats a bit about her life in South Sudan.
The privilege of speaking at women’s Bible studies at my local South Sudanese Reformed Presbyterian Church bi-weekly (when I am in country) has been a joy. I have also been able to speak at quarterly health meetings in the presbytery. These opportunities have been an incredible blessing to me. They have allowed me to spend more time with the women, hear their hearts, listen to their joys and struggles, and hear how I can be praying for them. The simple teaching I offer is always received well, and I am sure it is more the grace that is given by my listeners than the exegetical ability I have. We go over simple ideas, applicable scenarios that are real in their lives. I express the best I can my sympathy for their hardships, and it is because of my deep love for them that I feel the burdens they carry. And I can offer hope through our Lord Jesus Christ; I can offer peace; I can offer the truth and assurance that his word says to “be patient in tribulation” and explain what that means. I can remind them that we are in this world but not of this world, that we are told we will have hardships and to be ready and well equipped.
One week, my translator could not be there. I thought another woman would be present and we’d do our best, but she wasn’t there either. Twenty other women showed up, none of whom could sufficiently help translate. But with my broken Dinka, two women with English smaller than my Dinka helped me, and we made it through. And what was neat was that before I arrived someone had stood up and read from their Dinka Bible while they were waiting for me, AND the very passage she read, down to the exact verses, was what I was teaching on that day!
I have been taught patience, I have been taught perseverance, and I have experienced greater hardships both through my own experiences and through witnessing those of others. My children have been taught such lessons, as well, and by the grace of God we have embraced his truths that tell us that this is all for our good and his glory.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” –Romans 5:3-5
Our adopted son’s grandfather passed away unexpectedly recently and that has been hard, though the Lord has used it to allow us to spend more time with Bol’s family, learn more of his family’s past, and meet more of his family. All his living biological siblings were present, 6 out of what were originally 13 children. And over the course of three days my children witnessed a dead body being prepared for burial, helped dig the six-foot hole, witnessed the body being carried from a hut to the grave with the multiple layers of covering—blankets, grass, sticks—and finally a dirt mound with a stick to mark where Garang Diet now lies. Three days later, when we returned for the funeral service, my girls got to witness a birth in the same hut. A visitor we had taken to the funeral unexpectedly went into labor. All went well and my girls were troopers, but none of our children would have had such experiences outside of life here.
Well, time is short, and we must say “goodbye,” at least for now. Thank you, Melissa! We enjoyed our chat and will be praying for you and your family as you pack up these memories to treasure as you return to the U.S. soon. We praise God for the work he has done in and through you for his glory these past years, for your investment in the lives of the precious friends you have made in South Sudan.