Adventures in Missions has some exciting news…
We’ve just entered the newest country in the world!
The men of the January 2012 D and E World Race Squads are spending the month of August doing “manistry” in South Sudan, the world’s newest official nation.
Sudan has been in the news for decades as the site of brutal military conflicts, human rights violations, drought and starvation, and underdevelopment. Its people have been ravaged by the Darfur conflict, two civil wars, and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Fighting between the north and south resulted in the deaths of at least 2.5 million people and the displacement of another five million. Peace talks between the north and south eventually led to South Sudan’s decision to secede from Sudan and form their own independent nation on July 9, 2011. Joy Robertson, a World Race alumnus from the January 2011 V Squad, remembers that day vividly:
“Last July I sat in a living room in Eldoret, Kenya, watching the new nation of South Sudan come peacefully into existence on a fuzzy television. I was fascinated, drawn into history being made before my eyes. I couldn’t focus on the people around me.
Past the voices of the Kenyan people and my teammates, I heard the voice of a new nation being born. I heard the sounds of change and hope happening only a few hundred miles from where I was sitting, and I knew someday I had to be part of it.”
Joy finished her World Race, and along with four other World Race alumni, she is now in the process of moving to South Sudan for the next few years to be part of bringing hope to the new country. They will be partnering with Uche Izuora, a long time friend of Adventures in Missions founder Seth Barnes. Uche works with Sudan for Christ to improve conditions in South Sudanese schools and orphanages. Joy and the team will be moving to Yei to help care for the 102 orphans of Dreamland Children’s Home.
“The new Republic of South Sudan is full of hope, full of incredible, divine potential. Yes, the scars from their war-torn history are still fresh, but the Lord has given me his eyes to see this nation as he sees it. Beyond what’s plastered across our TV screens–war, death, poverty, disease, bombs, etc.–there is hope.
What drives me is the idea that I can impact the first generation growing up in a new nation. There is amazing potential, especially in children, to transform the very layout of South Sudan. They are the future leaders of this country. They are the ones who will shape their nation into one that honors God. They are the ones who will stand up and say no to corruption.
But to be equipped to lead well, they need love. I get to be a mother to them. I get to help raise a new nation’s first leaders. I can’t imagine anything more worth it than that.”
Now, for the first time, the World Race is joining the efforts to bring that kind of hope and promise to the world’s newest nation.
The men of the January 2012 D and E Squads are spending the month of August in Yei partnering with Uche and Dreamland Children’s Home. They will be helping with construction projects at the orphanage, preaching in local churches, and ministering in hospitals and prisons.
As the first World Race teams to enter South Sudan, these men have the opportunity to build–physically and spiritually–into the rich future of this nation.
We invite you to follow along with their journey this month and see what God does with these men in South Sudan. We will be following up with them on our updates blog, so make sure you’re subscribed!
Participant Login
Donor Login