Happy New Year to you from the Jalle Project team!
Rick Wood here...first, I want to apologize for not updating the blog since Fred, David and William returned from Sudan months ago. I think by May, we were all physically and emotionally drained and needed some time to catch up on family, friends, work, etc.
Let me also thank you on behalf of the team for your prayers during Phase 1 of this project. Spiritual warfare was being waged all around the Jalle area while the team was present, we believe, because Satan did not want our freeing presence in an area where he had dominated for so long. There is no doubt that your prayers carried the team through their most difficult times and kept them moving forward to make amazing progress on the project. We owe a great deal of thanks to David Green and Fred Beesley for sacrificing four months of their lives to this effort.
Second, I want to let you know about the beginning of Phase 2 of the Jalle Project, which is just about to begin. However, let me first recap what was accomplished during the first phase of the project. The team dug and poured the building foundations and assisted in the erection of six large steel buildings, consisting of a church, a medical clinic and 4 school buildings. The work was extremely difficult and the climate almost inhospitable, with temperatures reaching 110F or more. Disappointingly, the rainy season arrived earlier than usual and work on the buildings was cut short. Had the team attempted to stay longer, they risked being unable to travel back to the airport that is located almost 8 hours away due to flooded roads. Overall, the Grace Chapel team has accomplished what no other organization has in this remote area of South Sudan. As a result, the community’s hope for a brighter tomorrow has been elevated to a level not seen in decades.
So, Phase 2 will begin where Phase 1 ended, which includes completing the installation of the roofs and sidings on all 6 buildings. In addition, the team will complete the medical clinic building by enclosing the lower part of the clinic’s exterior walls with cement or block and pouring a concrete floor. This will enable the locals to begin utilizing the clinic once staff have been hired and trained. In addition, Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA), an organization that has assisted Samaritans Purse with training of medical staff in South Sudan, has agreed to train the Jalle staff and provide medical supplies to make the clinic operational. This is such a praise for the Jalleans since the only clinic currently operational is too far to walk to from Jalle. The people are very excited about this development and are grateful to Grace Chapel Church for making this clinic a reality.
I’d like to mention one other amazing thing about this trip. It has always been our vision that Jalle become a center for Christian outreach by starting some type of pastor training program in the area. After months of discussions and coordination, we have just finalized a meeting in mid-March between the Bishop of Bor, South Sudan and a representative from International Christian Ministries’ (ICM) Kenyan office to meet 35 miles south of Jalle to perform a pastor training assessment (ICM’s primary mission is to disciple and equip church leaders in Africa and is represented at Grace Chapel by Myron and Carol Goodwin). It is one thing to help the people of Jalle with a church, school and clinic, but how much more awesome it will be to leave them with an eternal legacy of Christ’s teachings and to witness its proliferation to all Muslims, Animists and even uniformed Christians in this part of the world. Please pray that this meeting will be fruitful and be the beginning of a long term, Christ-centered training program for our South Sudanese brothers and sisters.
The Phase 2 team will include David Green, Del Hardin, William Majok and Caleb Chandler. They will be in Jalle for 30-plus days. William left on February 8th to buy and ship the supplies needed from Kampala, Uganda to Jalle. David, Del and Caleb will be leaving Nashville on February 17th to join William in Kampala and then on to Jalle, Sudan. Please begin praying for the team’s safety and for the accomplishment of God’s will while serving alongside the people of South Sudan. May they see the Son in all that Del, David and Caleb say and do while in the presence of these people. Most of all, pray that God will be glorified and people’s lives changed eternally due to this mission work.
Stay tuned!
