Gary Johnson's "Postcard from Sudan" -- Sunday, December 2, 2012

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Here's the latest posting from CCC's Gary Johnson, on pilgrimage with a team from the DIocese of Missouri to Lui, Sudan. Please keep Gary and the rest of the mission team in your prayers and check back here and at http://luinetwork.diocesemo.org/

Didn't sleep well last night, it was the hottest since I've been here. Finally found a position with no skin to skin contact that allowed me to go to sleep. Which is important when you have high humidly. The heat was the main topic of conversation around the breakfast table.

Celebrated our first Sunday in the South Sudan, it was very interesting. We went to the Cathedral for the English Service at 9:00. We were treated as Honored Guest and as such we sat on the Alter. They are using the prayerbook from 1662 which made following the service interesting. Half of the hymns were sung in English and the other half in what's known as Juba Arabic. The offertory is done by one person standing in front of the congregation with a velveteen bag and each person goes up and puts in their money. There is a 11:00 service at the Cathedral done in Moro which is the native tongue of this area. There are many different dialects/Languages in this part of South Sudan, but the predominant languages are Moro and Juba Arabic. The Dean processed out of the Cathedral at the end of the service along with the congregation and we were greeted by each as we left including shaking hands.

I did make three dehydration trays today out of bamboo. They basically have very little skills when it comes to drying or preserving food. We have a couple of people who on our team who are working on setting up basic canning and dehydrating food. I was asked to build trays with screen on them as models for them to build their own dehydration trays. When making or doing anything in Sudan you have to factor in..... Is this sustainable. Screening can be purchased at the Market, however lumber is expensive so we took bamboo and split it done the middle and the screening will be sewed around the bamboo frame.

It's been a great day.