A Day in the Life....

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Yesterday was an amazing day full of many different activities and much learning. I will share some of it with you....

In the morning I spent time with some of my students. We traveled by bus to a park in Khartoum. There are a few parks where there is an entry fee, in this case it was 1SDG which is about .40 USD. The park was a pleasant change from either the NTC campus or from my apartment.

I was told that there are over 500 tribal languages in Sudan. I have had many people ask me about the tribal languages in the United States and I always reply that English is our language though we also have Spanish in certain areas. I am aware that some Native American tribes in the US are working to bring their languages back from the edge of extinction. Sudan must be, in this sense, like America was when the Native Americans filled the country. It has been challenging for me to begin seeing things from this perspective, but I think it is also a good thing because it gives me at least a slightly better understanding of some of the language challenges facing the Sudanese.

It appears to me that most of my students speak their native tongue which is the language of their particular tribe. Then they speak Arabic which is the official language of Northern Sudan, probably because it is the language of Islam. Then they speak English. In my eyes this is an amazing feat! Our learning in class appears to be multi-layered!

Yesterday evening I went to a worship service at a beautiful old Episcopalean church. This is also where the Couple's in Ministry Conference took place this past Friday. In this place are the church pews of my heart. The ceiling is raised and the building reminds me a little bit of the majesty of the cathedrals in Europe. It also reminds me a little bit of St. Mark's Episcopalean Cathedral in Seattle on Capital Hill.

I saw with my own eyes the church of Sudan at this service. The service was filled, FILLED, with young people! The minister who invited me to participate with him in the service said that while North American churches are ageing, the church in Sudan is filled with young people. Being from Seattle, Washington it was really kind of hard for me to fully comprehend what I saw in the pews.

The young men were on the right from where I was in the front of the church, the women filled the other two rows. There was a choir -- a choir! Different groups had on different colored robes symbolizing different things. The five young women who were baptized were sitting in the front dressed in white.

The service was conducted in one of the tribal languages. I could tell this because the writing in the New Testament that my host had was definitely not Arabic. When I asked him about the language he told me that it is their tribal language.

The congregation is made up largely of young women who are in North Sudan because they have had to flee situations in other parts of the country. While they are literate they are mostly uneducated.

I have now learned that when I am asked to "encourage" a church it means I am going to be preaching and not just be present with them. Having once again not realized this I quickly figured out what to say. I had been asked to talk about the value of education and since this figures in very well with baptism a message fell into place.

The Apostle's Creed was recited, by memory. At this point I was thinking about the Compline service in St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle Sunday nights at 9:30. That service is filled with young people from the city. The first time I went to that service I was overwhelmed because it was clear to me that the Compline filled a spiritual void for the youth that were there. At Compline the Apostle's Creed is recited as well. Everyone stands up as if on cue and recites it, turning at the appropriate time. It is a beautiful moment to participate in. This worship service last night was a beautiful moment to participate in as well.

There were five young women to be baptized. Rev. Johnson baptized two and I baptized the first three. I stroked their heads with the water and he told me later that they had liked that. Precious children.
Blessings,
Debbie