It has been nearly a year since I first came to Sudan. I think somewhere around the 10th of May will mark my actually anniversary date. It would be almost impossible to convey into words all of the amazing experiences I have had since being here, though I will try my best to do so. The Sudan has been unlike anything I have ever imagined, for both good and bad. I thought that I had stepped back in times years ago when I visited Cuba, but that was nothing like arriving in Sudan. It's actually quite weird: In many ways people are living here much like they probably have for centuries - maybe loner - especially when you venture out into the countryside. I remember standing looking over the Nile River in Malakal recently, looking at the peasant farmers tending their small plots along the fertile riverbank thinking that little had probably changed there in several thousand years. And yet nearly everyone here has a cell-phone and lusts for a car and a big-screen television! It's like living in a half stone-age/half space-age world.
I came to Sudan because I felt called by God to share my gifts of education and experience with people that needed help in the areas of finance and administration. There is no question that I have been able to call upon every bit of knowledge and experience I have ever had since being here, the demands upon my time and energy have been enormous. But so, too, have been the satisfactions of seeing people learn and acquire new skills and abilities knowing that I helped them to accomplish these things. It is truly wonderful.
Anyway, I do not believe my work here is done. Partly that's because I have found myself so busy most of the time that I am not always able to focus upon the longer range tasks which I should be doing: there is simply not enough time in the day. So, I have prayed about it and decided that I should remain here one more year, that that will allow me the time to accomplish more of what I think God wants me to do.
