March 29, 2013
It is Good Friday and I have
some time in the air-conditioned hotel room to catch up on the blog
Palm Sunday, March 24, I
attended a Presbyterian Church of South Sudan worship service and then
ordination of many, many people who were becoming Elders, Deacons and Pastors
in the church. There apparently had not
been an ordination service for several years and there were over one hundred
who were ordained for the various offices in the church. One of my colleagues, a female, became a
Reverend on that day! She is only the
second or third female to be ordained as a pastor so this was a momentous
occasion.
The worship and service for
ordination lasted for about three and a half hours. The worship service was a Unity service for
all of the Presbyterians in Malakal.
There are many Presbyterian churches in town because each people group
(tribe) has one due to each ethnic group having its own language. The Unity service was primarily in Arabic
with some English, an apology was given at the end of the service for not
having translation for those whose first language is English (I may have been
the only oneJ) and a promise to have translation next time. The service was definitely unifying with each
church being called upon, one right after the other, to present a gift of
singing. This is one reason why the
worship was so long.
The ordination segment of the
total time was lengthened by the number of Deacons being ordained as there were
so many of them that the officiates had to ordain them in several small
groups. I was witness to quite the
organic movement of the Holy Spirit in the church!
This past Wednesday the 27th
I flew to Juba from Malakal in order to obtain a multi entry visa. These can only be purchased in Juba and I had
to obtain it in order to reenter the country after my return from the Gathering
of African Mission Co-Workers in Cape Town, South Africa on April 10th. One of the men from the Presbyterian Church
of South Sudan spent quite a bit of time with me on Wednesday on the compound
of the Office of Immigration going from office to office, the end result of
which was a three-month multiple entry visa in my passport. I had to come to Juba earlier than I had
planned because, while I don’t fly out to Cape Town until this coming Monday
April 1st, there was a strong likelihood that because this is Holy
Week (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday Vigil and Easter Sunday) that the
Office of Immigration would close early on Thursday and I could not risk having
to leave South Sudan without a way to reenter.
I am learning that it is not
good to travel in foreign countries on Christian holidays, nor probably the
holidays of any other religion. I was in
Nairobi at Christmas and had challenges getting my South Sudan visa renewed
there. This time it was Holy Week in
Juba and I had to adjust my schedule accordingly. Now that I have obtained my first multiple
entry visa this situation may become a little less urgent. I hope
I realized on Wednesday as I
was in a car with only two other people and not a public transport in Malakal
with several people, driving down a paved road that I was driving down a paved road.
Then I realized that the culture shock going from Malakal into Juba is becoming
somewhat less jarring. I think this may
be because it is happening more often.
However I then was taken to an actual grocery store, not just a pop and
biscuit stand on the street, and I wanted to break out crying because we don’t
have actual grocery stores in Malakal! I
was actually able to buy a Snickers bar, even though it cost me almost
$2.00!!!! I also got Diet Pepsi, even
though my true love is Diet Coke it isn’t to be found in South Sudan, and that
is cheaper than in Malakal. So that was nice.
I have decided to call the
car rides in South Sudan “Oh Lord, the potholes are so deep and wide and the
car in which I am being driven is so small.”
Up and down, being thrown about, it hurts! Someone told me that most women wear a strap
and I was finally able to figure out that this is different than a seat
belt. It is something that supports the
back and helps to keep us from being thrown about quite so violently.
I will tell you that Juba is
a HUGE city. Huge, huge, huge. It
just keeps going. And going. Yesterday, Thursday, I got to see quite a bit
of it because two men came from the church to help me run errands in the
morning. We were looking particularly
for fuses for my solar battery for one of my two not functioning solar
systems. We could not find them. But we certainly gave it a good try going
from store to store in the heat with sweat running down our faces and
backs. I got to see many parts of Juba
that I have not seen before. I realize
that is simply because Malakal really is a town and not a city that Juba seems
so big to me, and yet I realize that my perspective has changed on what is
little and what is big. I fear that at
this point New York City would totally overwhelm me.
There is a shower in the
bathroom here at the hotel. It is one of
the best things about staying here.
Having a shower where the water actually comes out of a showerhead that
is on the wall and having HOT water if I want it is so delicious! I could wash my hair under a stream of water
coming from above and not bending down over a bucket. I hope never to take such wonderful delights
for granted again.
There are so many other
things that I could share with you.
Every time I am out and about I see and observe a lifetime of thoughts/differences/people/events/etc.
that I forget if I don’t make notes to myself for the Blog! I do keep in mind very often that I am the
door for many of you into a world that you may never step foot in for
yourself. I want to share what is on the
other side of that door, and I try to do that, with God’s help.
May your Easter be bright and
revelatory for those of you who are Christians.
For the others, may you have a peaceful and restful remainder of the
week, which is basically the weekend by now!
Blessings,
Debbie
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