The posts are a little out of order now because I've finally been able to download pictures. The next 2 posts are from a mosque we visited in Entebbe, Uganda and Lora Orphanage in Yei, Sudan.
We all went to bed at 9:30pm. Jamie, Matt and I woke up at 2:00am and we were unable to get back to sleep, so we stayed up until 6:00am and gave up. We headed to the airport and jumped into a 18 seater Eagle Air propeller plane. 
It was a little scary but we made it to our first stop in Northern Uganda where we dropped a few people off. From there, we got back in our small plane and headed toward Yei, Sudan. It was supposed to be a 30 min flight and after 45 min, we landed in the same airport we had just taken off from. They told us the weather was too back in Yei, so they turned around and came back until it cleared up. We drank some shady tea, ate English biscuits(crackers) outside a small store for 30 minutes while we waited for the storm to clear. We jumped back onto the plane and found ourselves looking around for answers about 45 min into our flight. We realized that our pilots had no idea where we were. We were lost in Sudan!! We were lost boys! that's probably blasphemous. forget I said that. We were laughing at our pilots as they looked out their windows trying to find Yei and that darn runway. 3o min later, we were landing in Yei and glad to be on the ground. This was our 6th flight since we left Dallas!
Bishop Taban was waiting for us (and videotaping us) on the dirt runway we landed on. He runs the orphanages for Vernon here. He is an amazing, powerful, kind man. He is an advisor to the board that will decide on Sudanese adoption, his wife was the highest ranking captain in the SPLA (Sudanese People Liberation Army), he was a scout, cleric and ammunition captain for the SPLA, and EVERYONE in Sudan knows him. He drove us to the 1st orphanage (Lura (means "Heaven"), which was an hour and a half away. If the road was paved, it would have taken us 20-30 min. I have never been on such a horrible road. 30 million was given to a leader in the Sudanese army to fix the roads, and it never happened. Her son does have a new, very lucrative business in Nairobi now though...hmm.
Lura orphanage was amazing, depressing, exciting and somehow full of so much hope. 
This boy stepped on a mine and will have plastic surgery in the next month:
We walked around and played with the kids, spoke with the widows, saw the watering hole they drank from for years (awful) and also saw the water well that was installed a month ago. Certain stomach bugs and other sicknesses are slowing down in the children now that they have clean water to drink.
On our way to their old water hole:
The water they drank until last month:
The new well:
We found a land mine:
Their only bathroom:
Roasted G-nuts:
This is a 7 foot tall termite hill:
Daniel (5 yrs old):
and his sister, Soraya (3 yrs old):
It was a blessing to meet Daniel and Soraya today as they waited to get into the clinic for their checkup. Vernon and I had coffee in Dallas 3 weeks ago and he told me about Daniel and Soraya and their story. It was incredibly good and difficult to see the 2 kids I had been praying for. Daniel was walking with his mother and Soraya (she was on her mother's back) last year when their mother stepped on a land mine and died. Soraya was untouched by the mine and Daniel lost his leg. I knew this story before I arrived and had even prayed for them in Dallas 2 weeks ago, but to look Daniel and Soraya in the face and grab their hands and see their sweet smile, made my heart so happy. There is so much joy in the midst of suffering; so much hope when the situation looks hopeless in Jesus Christ Who is being worshiped in this place by these children and widows.
From Lura, we headed to EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church), which is the organization that Vernon runs.
View of part of the EPC compound:
We are staying in a great room and just had dinner (Beau spilled his food all over the ground and didn't clean it up). 
This is the view from outside our front door:
Tomorrow we have church service here at EPC at 9am (1am Dallas time) and then tomorrow night our team will have a time of worship. Beau will be preaching in the morning. Pray for him! He went 30 hrs on this trip without sleep. He's doing well now...sound asleep.
Monday we will head to Vernon's 2nd orphanage, Morobo. I can't wait to show you all pictures. The server here can't handle the downloads.
I love you all. Thank you for praying for us. This is an amazing trip. Day 5 tomorrow!
Prayer from Matt Donovan, a member of The Village:
Father, thank you so much for the opportunity Michael and the team have to
lavish serve and love the men, women, and children at Lura Orphanage. My
heart breaks for the hardships the children and their caretaker endure
daily. Please grant our church a vision and passion to help them, to serve
them, to walk with them, and be Jesus to them.
Please give the team endurance and compassion today. Amen. Matt Donovan
Day 3: I need to start with our day yesterday in Entebbe, Uganda. We were able to walk to Kiwafu Mosque 
and sit down with the Imam and other clerics and talk about the differences between Islam and Christianity, heaven and hell, and many other things. 
We were also able to watch the call to prayer there. Vernon, our resident Islam expert, did much of the talking, which was seasoned with grace and truth. It was a powerful, God-ordained time. In that hour, we were able to set up an open discussion "conference" for people in Entebbe where Vernon and the Muslim leaders will speak when he comes back to Uganda. They were very open to it, which was amazing, and are hosting it in their mosque.
The Imam:
Please pray for these Muslim leaders in Entebbe.
We have had an amazing day today. It has redeemed last night. What happened last night you ask? Well, I made the mistake of leaving my bedroom light on while we were at dinner. When I got back to my room around 10pm, I walked in to see that half of the bugs in Sudan were on my bed. A few of the bugs squeezed their nasty, fat, bug bodies through my mosquito net and were just chilling on my pillow, on top of my sheets, under my sheets and in every corner of the bed. I'm not a bug guy. I realize I made the decision to come to Sudan, and I realize that it's nothing like Dallas, but I'm telling you, there were 1,000 bugs IN my bed. That's with a mosquito net already tucked in to "keep bugs out". I spent an hour killing bugs from the outside, pressing my finger through the mosquito net and smashing each bug I could reach. I finally laid down and turned the light out. I could feel the bugs dropping (a bat just flew over my head...I'm in the cafeteria...wow) on my chest with the lights out. Needless to say, it took me a while to get to bed.
We had an amazing day. We had church at the EPC this morning. I led worship and Beau spoke. They love Jesus. They have no shame in their worship of our Lord. I loved it. There are so many stories. Isaac was burned very badly and Vernon was able to raise money for plastic surgery. He's doing much better but his scars are very apparent. Vernon asked him how his uncle was doing today (his parents died in the fire) and he lowered his head and said, "When he's not drinking, he's good." We found out that his uncle beats him when he is drunk. very frustrating. I saw a 12 year old girl that is pregnant. An older man made her one of his many wives. Again, very frustrating. I want The Village to be here. I want others to see, smell, taste and experience life here. It's beyond description. Beau does a great job below, describing our meeting with Bishop Taban, who is the head of the EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church). He is one of the most humble, kind, powerful and godly man I have ever met. He started from the beginning (he was born on the day the North/South war in Sudan started and his mother hid him in the forest for 3 days-the first 3 days of his life with his umbilical chord freshly cut), and went through the rest of his life and his involvement with SPLA, his involvement with a poorly run mission organization based in the US, his church here in Yei and his love for Jesus. It was a powerful, humbling time for all 4 of us. Here's Beau's take on our meeting:
As sincerely as I knew how I looked across the table and asked, "What are the greatest needs in your ministry?" Attempting to clarify my question, I continued, "How can the Church in the west serve you as you serve the people of Southern Sudan?" Taking a deep breath, Bishop Elias Taban, the lead pastor of the Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Southern Sudan, leaned forward and began to answer my question. I wish I could put into words the hope and shame that collided in my heart as he did.
As the good Bishop sat and unpacked to me the gut-wrenching, beautiful work that our God has entrusted to him among his people here, it marked one of the only moments in my life that I have felt as if I was experiencing something that mirrors what I read about in the scriptures. Okay, that's an over-exaggeration; when I really sit and ponder how God reveals Himself to me daily, I realize that every single day I, if I have eyes to see, I experience my theology as my reality. But hopefully I've made my point. As "Bishop" shared with us his persevering hope for the people and nation that he has spent his lifetime serving, I sensed, in a way that I rarely have before, that I was in the presence of a man of whom this world is not worthy.
With a humble groan behind his voice, he looked us in the eyes and said, "You’ve seen my toilets, you’ve eaten my food, you have seen there is no electricity." In other words, I knew the answer to my own question. The felt needs of this place are everywhere, and they are all needs, not just wants. "I wanted to disappear in the ground when you asked me where the toilets were… they are a hole in the ground with flies and it’s dirty," the Bishop continued, referring to Jamie's request yesterday to use the restroom at one of the church's two orphanages. "Daniel needs $450 more for his leg replacement," he said. Daniel is one of the orphans we met. He was walking with his mother as she stepped on a land mine leftover from the North/South war. His mother died on impact. Daniel lost his leg but survived. So did his infant sister who was strapped on the mother's back. Pick a need.
The interesting thing was that the Bishop didn't want to spend our time together talking about these needs. He rattled through a list only to make the point that they were everywhere, all the time. He is aware of them, gravely aware of them. Instead, Bishop wanted to talk about hope; he wanted to talk to us about how Jesus Christ and His gospel, the underlying need of his people and country, has and continues to transform hearts and lives in Sudan. The testimonies he shared were some of the more miraculous stories I have ever heard. They fueled my belief, all over again, to believe the gospel and gave me courage to put my hope in it-- for salvation and toilets and limbs.
I love you all! Here are a few pictures I was able to download in the 3 hours I've had this blog open.
our room in Entebbe, Uganda:
Lunch at the hotel in Entebbe:
A Muslim boy from the mosque in Uganda:
For more on the trip, visit The Hughes link under the "Friends" column.
We made it! I am in a internet cafe right now down the street from our hotel. We are having an incredible time so far.
The hotel looks really shady from the outside but it's actually really great.
The room was great and lunch today was interesting, but really good. We went to bed last night at 12:30a and I woke up at 8a. I was completely up so I read a chapter of a book I'm reading (The Reason For God) and then decided to lay my head back on the pillow. I woke up at 1:20p. Jet lag is rough and weird but we all got up, ate lunch and we're walking around Entebbe today trying to find a mosque and see the rest of the city. Beau got up last (around 1:45p) and met us for lunch as we were finishing up. I was eating a chapati (a rolled up corn tortilla) and Beau asked me where I got my "enchilada". We all laughed, especially me because that's something I would say.
I'm trying to download pic's right now but it's taking a long time. I'm not sure I'll get any posted today but I'll try tomorrow maybe.
Thank you for praying for us. We've only been awake in Africa for a few hours and it's already been fruitful.
It looks like I got one pic up. That's our hotel.
I love you. Thank you for loving me and calling out to God for us as we speak and live out the love of Christ to those in Africa for 2 weeks.
- Michael
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.
I had a so much fun taking Colby and Mack's engagement pictures on Thursday. Sweet Mack has been a close friend of ours for a few years now and Colby is quickly becoming a great friend as well. There were times during this shoot that my eyes teared up as they looked through the viewfinder of my camera to see God's goodness and grace on these two lives. Mack, we love you and are so so happy for you!
This is well overdue but on July 15th Michael turned the Big 3-0! I was able to surprise him with a night away in Ft. Worth at The Ashton Hotel and had a sweet friend make this video of his life over the past 30 years. Watch out there are some good pics during the awkward teenage years that you can give him a hard time about. Enjoy!
I love you honey...
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