Right: Sharon Brugger Norton preaching at Khor English Church.
Photos by Sharon Brugger Norton and Donna Parcell.
My lasting impression, now over a month later, is that South Sudan is a beautiful and complicated place on our planet. Many times throughout the trip I felt despair as I saw poverty, effects of intercommunal violence and corruption on a scale I’ve never seen before. How could Global Brethren Services (GBS), our non-governmental organization (NGO) in South Sudan, ever do enough to bring healing and rebuild this country? Do local people have hope? Or do they live in tragedy and despair?
I began praying early on that God would show me something other than reasons for despair, if it should be God’s will. God got on that right away! Just hours after the first time I prayed that, a young man serving as security guard at the GBS sat down next to me in the courtyard and began telling me what a wonderful country South Sudan is and how much he loves it. He loves Jesus, he is a singer and a youth minister, and spreads joy everywhere he goes.
Other times when I dipped into despair, God answered my prayer by sending women. I saw their resilience and determination to end to gender-based violence, their advocacy for education and health, and that they are trustworthy ministers to the needy around them. They are the ones who do most of the manual labor and raise their children to love the Lord and go to school!
My greatest wish is to bring a women’s delegation from South Sudan to our Annual Conference, so that they may bless us with their stories and we may bless them with our love and care.
Read a full report of this visit to South Sudan at www.brethren.org/news. Learn more about the ministry of Global Mission at www.brethren.org/global or support it today at www.brethren.org/givegm.