Family & Friends,

I leave tomorrow at 3pm from DFW headed to Sudan, Africa...a 23 hour trip. Below is the itinerary of my 16 days there. Please be in prayer for me, Beau Hughes, Matt Elkins, and Jamie Hipp as we are there. Pray also for Faith, Evan and the other families over these next 2 1/2 weeks. I will hopefully be updating this blog during my time there if I'm able.

Below you will find our itinerary, as well specific things to pray about over the next 16 days. Thank you for praying for us!

SUDAN TRIP ITINERARY
SEPTEMBER 3-19, 2008
(we will be 8 hours ahead of you guys)

Wednesday, September 3:

Arrive at the airport between noon and 1:00 to check in for our 3:05pm departure on KLM (Northwest) 670.
*Please pray for our families. This will be a difficult time for for all of us. I’ve never left my wife or son longer than a week. This will be 16 days. Pray also for good rest on the plane, and that I would use my time wisely in the 23 hrs of flying I will be doing. (i.e.-There are a few great books I could read and songs I could write, but there is also access to any movie I want, Direct TV and Atari that could suck every bit of time away from me!)

Thursday, September 4:

7:25am: Arrive in Amsterdam
10:15am: Depart Amsterdam for Nairobi Kenya on KLM flight 565.
7:40pm (11:00am Dallas): Arrive in Nairobi, Kenya
10:00pm (2:00pm Dallas): Depart Nairobi for Entebbe, Uganda on Kenya Air flight 416
11:15pm: Arrive in Entebbe, Uganda and check into our hotel.
Midnight (3:15pm Dallas): Call/email families and church.

Friday, September 5:

6:30am: Depart hotel for airport
8:00am (midnight Dallas): Fly (in a 12 passenger plane!) over Northern Uganda and land on a patch of dirt in Yei, Sudan
*Pray at midnight for us if you're up! These planes are supposedly a little scary. Pray for safety as we land on a dirt runway!
10:30am: Arrive at destination and drive to Vernon’s guest house.
11:00am-3:00pm: Rest/Free time (lunch at gust house)
3:00pm-6:00pm: Drive and tour Yei, meet key people for His Voice for Sudan
*Pray that this meeting would go well and that we would be able to send teams from The Village when we get back.
7:00pm: Dinner at guest house
8:00pm (noon Dallas): Meet/pray/worship as a team

Saturday, September 6:

8:00am: Breakfast and Devotions
9:00am-6:00pm: Visit Moroba Orphanage and meet with key people at His Voice for Sudan & Sudanese Presbyterian Church.
*Pray that this meeting would go well and that we would be able to send teams from The Village when we get back.
7:00pm: Dinner

Sunday, September 7:

Morning: Worship with Sudan Presbyterian Church
*Pray for the widows and orphans that we will be pastoring and loving during this time. FYI: There are 2 children who were orphaned last week that we will be seeing. The dad was killed in the genocide and the mom stepped on a landmine killing her, and taking the leg off of her 5 year old. The baby on her back and the 5 yr old lived and are living in Vernon’s orphanage now.
Afternoon: Meet with leaders within the church and discuss partnership possibilities with The Village.
*Pray that this meeting would go well and that we would be able to send teams from The Village when we get back.


Monday, September 8:

8:00am (midnight Dallas): Breakfast and Devotions
9:00-6:00pm: Visit Lura Orphanage
*Pray for the widows and orphans that we will be pastoring and loving during this time.
7:00pm: Dinner
8:00pm (noon Dallas): Time of worship and prayer with Sudanese brothers and sisters.

Tuesday, September 9:

8:00am: Breakfast and Devotions
9:00am-11:00am: Final meetings and tasks with His Voice for Sudan
*Pray that this meeting would go well and that we would be able to send teams from The Village when we get back.
Afternoon: Fly from Yei to Entebbe, Uganda
6:50pm (10:50am Dallas): Depart on Ethiopia Air flight 9999 to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
8:00pm: Arrive in Ethiopia and change planes
9:00pm: Depart on EA flight 9999 to Khartoum, Sudan
11:50pm (3:50am Dallas): Arrive in Khartoum
12:30am: Stay with Johnny

Wednesday, September 10:

9:00am: Breakfast and devotions
10:00am: Meet with, register passports, and get travel permission
2:00pm: Meet with
4:00pm-8:00pm: Time of worship and encouragement for “workers” in Sudan. Dinner at house.
*Pray that the workers would be edified and encouraged by us as we lead them, tasting and seeing that He is good.
9:00pm: Sleep in Soba with and/or

Thursday, September 11:

Early Morning: Depart on Inshalla Airways for El Fasher (Darfur)
Late Morning: Arrive in El Fasher and register with security/ get travel permission for the camps.
*Pray. Pray. Pray. The people of Darfur are extremely poor and are suffering. Some women have to walk 15 mi. to the nearest pond to get water—water that animals and humans bath in. We will be digging wells in their villages so they won’t have to walk 15 mi. anymore to get 15 gallons of water.

Afternoon: Free time at Guesthouse, discuss plans for the next five days.
7:00pm (11:00am Dallas): Dinner

Friday, September 12:


Day 1 …dig and repair water wells
*Pray (Sept 12-16). We will be working hard and sleeping under the stars each night we are in Darfur. Pray that I would like goat also because I heard the villages will bring a live goat for us to kill and eat while we are there each day. I’ve never had goat, but I imagine it tastes like chicken.

Saturday, September 13:
Day 2…dig and repair water wells

Sunday, September 14:
Day 3…dig and repair water wells

Monday, September 15:
Day 4…dig and repair water wells

Tuesday, September 16:
Day 5…dig and repair water wells, travel back to El Fasher

Wednesday, September 17:

Morning: travel back to Khartoum
Late Morning: Arrive in Khartoum and go to guesthouse
Afternoon: Free time
Evening: Try and have dinner with Ambassador Khidir. *Pray for this man! Pray that Christ would call him to Himself. Pray that we would reflect well God’s glory to this man who is 100% Muslim.

Thursday, September 18:

5:00am: Arrive at airport in Khartoum for Ethiopian Air flight 453 to Addis Ababa
6:35am: Depart
8:15am: Arrive in Addis Ababa
11:30am: Depart on Ethiopian Air flight 811 to Entebbe, Uganda
1:30pm: Arrive in Entebbe, Uganda
3:10pm (7:10am Dallas): Depart on KLM flight 4165 to Nairobi
9:50pm: Depart Nairobi on KLM flight 566 to Amsterdam
*Pray. There are a ton of flights here.


Friday, September 19:

5:30am (9:30pm Dallas): Arrive in Amsterdam
10:00am: Depart Amsterdam on KLM flight 669 for Dallas
1:20pm: Arrive to DFW airport on flight 699.
*Please pray for me here. I will be singing in a friends wedding the next night (Sat.) and then will be leading worship all day on Sunday at The Village. Pray for strength!

Thank you for praying for us! We love you and thank God that He hears the prayers of His people.


Here are some facts about Sudan:

Sudan currently is fragmented into several warring regions. Southern Sudan has tentatively signed a peace agreement with the North. There is also a war raging in the Darfur region, and unrest in the east.

6 million displaced in Southern Sudan
2 million killed in Southern Sudan
Peace agreement signed in the South in January 2005
Male literacy rate: 57%
Female literacy rate: 34%

If you want to learn more about Sudan’s history, here is a timeline:

1820: Sudan is conquered by Turkey and Egypt.

1881: Rebellion against the Turkish-Egyptian administration.

1882: The British invade Sudan.

1885: An Islamic state is founded in Sudan.

1899: Sudan is governed by British-Egyptian rule.

1955: Revolt and start of the civil war. Independence

1956: Sudan gains independence.

1958: A military coup takes place in Sudan. The civilian government is removed.

1962: The civil war breaks out in the southern (mainly Christian/African) parts of Sudan.

October 1964: People of Sudan rebels. The military junta falls after a communist general strike. A national government is formed.

May 1969: New military coup placing Jaafar Numeiri at power.

1971: Leaders of the communist party are executed for attempting a coup against Numeiri.

1972: A peace agreement is signed in Addis Ababa. The southern Sudan achieves partly self-governance.
Ingredients for war: Oil and Sharia

1978: Large findings of oil are made in Bentiu, southern Sudan. The oil becomes an important factor in the strife between North and South.

1983: Numieri introduces the Islamic Sharia law to Sudan leading to a new breakout of the civil war in the Christian south. In the south the forces are led by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) under command by John Garang.

1985: President Numieri is removed from power in a military coup.

1986: A civilian government is made in an effort to restore peace after general elections.

1989: Al-Bashir and his Islamic Front (NIC) takes power in a military coup.

1995: The Sudanese government are accused of being part of an attempt on the life of Egyptian prime minister Mubarak. UN decides on sanctions against Sudan. US attack on Sudan

1998: USA launches a missile attack on a chemical plant in Khartoum assumed to develop chemical weapons possibly in coorporation with the Al'Qaeeda terror network. Civilians are killed in the attack. The Sudanese government denies any link to terror and chemical weapons.

1998: A new constitution in Sudan.

1999: The president dissolves the national assembly and declares state of emergency.

1999: Sudan start an export of oil assisted by China, Canada, Sweden and other countries.

2001: An internal struggle in thegovernment, leads to the arrest of an ideological leader who were making peace attempts with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)

March 2001: Hunger and famine in Sudan affects 3 million people.

May 2001: A Danish pilot flying for the International Red Cross is attacked and killed when delivering aid in southern Sudan. All flights in the area are temporarily stopped.

June 2001: Peace negotiations breaks down in Nairobi, Kenya.

August 2001: The Nile river floods leaving thousands homeless in Sudan.

September 2001: the UN lifts on sanctions against Sudan to support ongoing peace negotiations.

October 2001: Following the New York terror attacks, USA puts new sanctions on Sudan due to accusations of Sudan's involvment with iInternational terrorism.

During 2001: More than 14,550 slaves are freed after pressure from human rights groups.
New hope for peace?

January 2002: A ceasefire between government forces and the SPLM are finally agreed upon.

July 20th 2002: the government and SPLA signs a protocol to end the civil war.

July 27th 2002: President al-Bashir meets for the first time with SPLA leader John Garang. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has arranged the meeting. The war in Sudan is also having huge impact on the northen Uganda.

July 31st 2002: Government attacks SPLA again.

October 2002: The ceasefire is confirmed again, but remains very uncertain. Pecae negations still continues during the next years.

February 2003: The 2 rebelgroups representing the African population in Darfur starts a rebellion against the government as protest against neglection and suppression.

December 2003: Progress is made in the peace negotiations. The negotiations are mainly focused on sharing the important oil-ressources.
Ethnic killings in Darfur

January 2004: Government army strikes down on uprising in Darfur region in the Western Sudan. More than 100,000 people seeks refuge in Chad.

March 2004: UN officers reports that systematic killings on villagers are taking place in Darfur. UN names Darfur as the worst humanitarian currently, but nothing happens. UN fails to take action as Western countries and media has close to no focus on the problems in Sudan. But even the African leaders refuse to take action on the problem.

May 26th 2004: A historic peace agreement is signed, but the situation in Darfur remains unchanged and extremely critical.

January 9th 2005 : In Nairobi the government and rebels signs the last parts of the peace treaty for Southern Sudan. All fighting in Africa's longest civil war is expected to end in January 2005, but the peace agreement still doesn't cover the Darfur region. More than 1.5 million people lost their homes since the conflict in Darfur broke out early 2003.

March 15th 2005: United Nations Security Council agrees to send 10,000 peace keeping soldiers to Southern Sudan. Again the descision does not cover the Darfur region.

2007: Violence and killings continues in the Darfur region. The conflict is in reality a genocide and is still considered the worst huminitarian disaster in the world. But not much is done about it. China has large oil interests in Africa and Sudan in particular. UN sanctions and security forces are needed, but China blocks for any real descissions in the UN security council. The rest of the world is not applying the necessary political pressure on the governments in Sudan and China.