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March 27, 2005

Coming Home

After 18-months we are coming home. We have just left Darfur, Sudan and will be in LA on Tuesday evening. We look forward to seeing many of you and we are currently planning our next journeys departing as early as this fall. Happy Easter to all and may God be glorified. Peace be with you.

Posted by Admin at 07:44 AM

March 26, 2005

Darfur Pics

El Genina Airfield before a Heli mission; note the downed Anatov in backround. These are the planes the Northern Government used to bomb the south mercilessly for 21-years. They would kick the bombs out the back cargo hold as they flew over villages and suspected SPLA camps. The bombs were horrible inaccurate killing many thousands of civilans. "The crosses ontop of hospitals made for easier targeting" one southern told us, "So we would avoid being near the hospital when we heard the Anatovs". The Anatov is being used today to flatten villages in Darfur along with Russian attack helicopters. Russian mercinaries pilot, who pilot the Anatovs, might one week be on bombing missions for the North and the next be flying UN food drops; it is a messy situation.

Children at IDP camp. This camp was home to 35,000.

Man who had been beaten by Janjaweeds. Broken arm and wip lashing across face. AU offical from Chad in backround

Nigerian soldier on helicopter. Note the cross on his helmet; this would be the only cross we would see in Darfur except at the small church, but the church itself was forbidden to put any croos up in view of the public, only insdie the building was it allowed.

Will waiting for Helo mission

Crowd standing around the AU officals. Note the man with the AK-47,
this man is a police man that also works for the government of Sudan, but cannot fight off the constant attacks of the Janjaweed, so the police stay in the villages and do little to help their people as for fear of attacks against them.

Posted by Admin at 12:04 PM

March 24, 2005

The Horsmen of Darfur

Greetings in the Lord. In the last month we have traveled through Darfur, Sudan and witnessed, once again, as we have many times on this journey, the spirit of Death and War. In writing this we think to ourselves, "How do we explain what we have seen? How do we tell of the rape, murder, and genocide?"


In the first century AD John wrote what he saw in his Apocolaypse, which is also translated Revelation. He writes, in the 6th chapter and 8th verse, "And I looked, and behold, a plae horse: and his name that sat on him was Death; and Hell followed with him." Last week in Darfur in one of the hundreds of dusty IDP camps a man in a plastic tent stated this to us, "The Devils on Horseback came and burned our village, raped our women, and killed us all." These horsemen he was speaking about are the Janjaweed, which translated means, "Devils on Horseback". Since 2003 the Janjaweed, who are apart off and support by the Khartoum government, have carried out a campain of terror on the people of Darfur. For the last two years all offical numbers of deaths, according to the UN has stayed at 70,000 with 2,000,000 displaced from their homes; but in a recent statement a UN offical said there was as many as 180,000 dead and even more likley the number was five times as high as the initial 70,000 figure making it over 350,000 dead.

When we arrived in Darfur the Janjaweed were attacking NGO workers in the region, which forced, two days earlier, an evacuation of all Aid workers out of any place except El Genina. The situation was tense and the motivation of the Janjaweed was obvious--get rid of the Aid workers, AU (African Union) and UN and the genocide can continue without restrictions. We use the word "genocide", but the UN offically position is that the Darfur crisis is only "Crimes against humanity" and not "genocide". If they were to call it genocide they would be forced to act militarily, something they nor the AU is willing to due. So in a simular way Darfur is becoming like Rwanda '94. Thousands of people continue to die and we will read about it in Time and Newsweek and be left to wonder when this holucost is complete, "Why did nobody do anything?".

In the IDP camps the Darfurans told us their stories and when asked why they thought this was happening to them they replied,"Because we are black. The Arabs who are all Janjaweed said they will kill all blacks in Darfur and rape our women to get ride of the black." We then asked, "But you are Muslim and they are Muslim doesn't that make you brothers?"
"No!" came the respoinse with convicted anger, "They say because we are not Arab we are not truely Muslim."

On a Sunday we attended the only church in Darfur; a catholic service made up of AU soldiers, Aid workers, and South Sudanese; there were maybe 60 people in attendance.

We also traveled on helicopter missions with the AU to the border regions and to villages that had been a recnt flash point of Janjaweed attacks. On one such mission we came face to face with the Janjaweed. He dawned a green military unifrom of North Sudan and brandished a wip in his hand. When asked about the insecurity in the area he pointed to the crowd in a harsh motion and said to the crowd of Darfurans around him, "Let anyone raise his hand if there is insecurity in this village." Out of fear everyone ducked there heads. There are many more things to speak about the Darfur crisis, but what is the conclusion for us who believe in Christ Jesus?

Well again in Revelation 19:11 is speaks of another horseman: "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True: and in righteousness He judges and wages war." This horseman in Christ Jesus at His second coming. The Darfurans have been slaughtered by an evil upon a horse, and may they now know that they have a vindicator that will come upon a horse; one that is Faithful and True and who will fight the enemy--the Devil.

But how will they know about the one who is called Faithful and True without a preacher? Blessed are the feet of him who brings the Good News. May you read this and realize the Lord has use of you to speak to all mankind, especially those who have never heard, the message of he who is named Faithful and True--Christ Jesus. Amen.

Posted by Admin at 11:41 AM

March 11, 2005

Darfur Sunday

Arrived back in Nairobi, Kenya on the 8th. received our VISAS for North Sudan today. We leave Sunday for Khartoum. We will take a UN flight into Darfur. Seems like we saved the worse warzone for last. After Darfur we set our eyes to the US. 18-months we have been gone. Please continue to pray for us that a door of effective ministry will be opened to us in Western Sudan.

Posted by Admin at 07:50 AM

March 07, 2005

Bangkok

Walking the streets of Bangkok today. Stocking up on cheap clothes and fresh underware. Tuk Tuks are zooming through the back alleys behind our guesthouse. Flight departs at midnight tonight. Back to Africa for us. Please pray for open doors to Darfur.

Posted by Admin at 03:35 AM

March 05, 2005

Banda Aceh

230,000 dead! Banda Aceh was the worst destruction we have seen, even worse than war. We travel back to Africa on the 7th of March and then are homeward bound at the end of the month.

Posted by Admin at 02:21 AM