Dear Saint,

I greet you in the precious Name of Jesus Christ.  I bring you greetings from the people of Southern Sudan Yei.

January 10^th I set off on a journey to Southern Sudan with a team of 14 ministers in an operation named 'Operation Bless Yei New Sudan'.  The main purpose of this operation was to lay a foundation in the body of Christ in New Sudan because we believe God is going to use the church to bring about total transformation in the land which has suffered war for the last 21 years.

I always remember to pray for the people of Sudan because of what I heard about their sufferings but as we traveled through the land I realized firsthand what our brothers and sisters went through. Along the way, we went through what was supposed to be villages but now forests had grown . We traveled with a Pastor who ministers in Uganda but a native of Sudan and for 14 years he had never returned to the land. He is one of the 4 million people who have been displaced . He was in tears as he told us stories of how his people have suffered under the hand of the enemy through the Islamic regime. His village was one of those erased by the bombs. He could only point to the place where his people once lived and you just couldn't imagine that once upon a time people dwelt in that place. Now I understood the heart break that Nehemiah suffered when he heard about the fate of the wall of Jerusalem and its gates. Nehemiah 1:3-4

They said to me  those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its get have been burned with fire. 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept..

Our mission was to a place called Yei which is one of the last cities captured by the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army( SPLA) from the hands of the Islamic ruling regime. God by His grace enabled this army to fight off the Moslems who had a plan to Islamize the whole of the southern Sudan. They also had a plan to force the Sharia law on the people. Many children and women were sold into slavery. Many Christian children were abducted and forced to attend Islamic schools in the north. I met a child of about 6 years whose face was deformed and his left arm amputated after having survived a bomb blast in which his parents passed away. Another young girl we met told us of how she lost her parents after a bomb hit their house but miraculously she survived. Many stories were told of deaths and displacements. Over 2 million people are said to have been killed. The Islamic ruling regime employed what they call 'Arab militias' a group of people armed with swords,pangas and knives. These militias would attack villages, set villages on fire, every house on fire, kill all the animals and destroy all food crops grown by the people. This in the end led to a famine which caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people. The ruling government also denied access to humanitarian agencies to the famine zones and this increased on the deaths.

Unto our brothers and sisters who survived this brutality we went with the gospel of peace. As we ministered to them, you could sense the spirit of fear among them, not knowing who to trust and who not to trust because of what befell them. But daily as we proclaimed and preached Jesus Christ the prince of peace, we saw many people come to confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Not so long ago, we would have been persecuted and killed for preaching Jesus Christ in this part of the land. But we thank God for the doors that have opened up in New Sudan. We preached the gospel to many places daily even as far as the army barracks where we saw many soldiers coming in tears to receive Jesus Christ. The sick and bound were prayed for ,many received their healing and deliverance. One child soldier came staggering to the open air crusade very drunk in alcohol and he asked to receive Jesus Christ. Because of the hopelessness sweeping across the land, many have turned to alcohol and drugs. We had over 600 people confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through the open air evangelism, door to door evangelism and the Jesus Film.

As we conducted seminars for the Christian leaders in the land, we realized that there was a great work to be done. The church is New Sudan is young characterized by the lack of foundation principles in the Christian walk. There are lots of divisions even along tribal lines. We laid a foundation based on biblical principles and the leaders found it to be an eye opener.

Ezekiel 37:3  'Can these dry bones live'  ?  We believe God is doing a new thing is Southern Sudan. For the past year alone, the war has ceased and hope for peace in the part of the earth has never been more tangible. God has heard the cry of His people and He is bringing healing and restoration to the land. The people have started coming out of their hiding bushes, refugees in Uganda and other nations are returning to the land, slowly they have started planting crops for food. We give thanks to God!!!

It is not yet time to stop P.U.S.H ing (pray until something happens) but to continue praying to God that the people of Sudan shall embrace the Prince of peace in their hearts. Only He alone can bring about true peace in this land. Pray also for the ongoing peace process negotiations taking place in Nairobi Kenya that God shall use this to bring about tranquility in the land.

Truly, the harvest in Sudan is plenty but the laborers are few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up harvesters from the east,west,south and north to take up the challenge of rebuilding the broken walls in Southern Sudan.' A Nehemiah Spirit'.

Thank you so much for keeping us in prayer. We all returned safely to Uganda and none of us fell sick. Glory to God!!!

May God Bless you,
Samuel