Today we made a trip to Kulu. We left at 8:00 in the morning and arrived back home at 7:30 in the evening. It was a marathon day as the roads were rough, at times being only a track or a path in which to follow. Kulu is only 80 miles away from us, but the roughness of the track prohibited going much above 30 mph the whole way. We used to drive on these kinds of roads all the time, but we were a bit younger then; these 50 yr old bones and muscles now feel more jolts!
We took two along two Baptist pastors. Both were excited to be traveling to see what evidences there are of work in the area. As we jolted and bumped along, we would slow down every once in a while to mark a small village or market area on the GPS, write down the name and continue on our way. When we crossed the invisible line from Lakes State into Western Equatorial State, we also left the area where the Dinka people live and entered the area where the Jur Modo people live. Kulu is in the heart of Jur Modo-land.
We stopped in a town called Mvolo. We understood that there would be people here who could help us locate the Baptist church and the area known as the Baptist compound in Kulu. There certainly were! We ended up adding four more people to the four of us already in the car and off we went.
As we travelled along, we came across places where there were granite outcroppings. This was our first time to see granite boulders in South Sudan; it reminded us of our years in Zimbabwe whose name means house of rock as there are so many of these outcroppings scattered throughout that country. Our two pastor friends were excited to see this and made comments about stopping to get a stone on the way home. (We did stop and they each found one huge stone and a smaller stone. These are to be used in the process of grinding in some way . When the day was finally over and we took these men home, their wives were thrilled with these stones. I commented to Jerry afterward that I probably wouldn't be so excited if you brought home a stone, except maybe one for my finger! -- We are terribly spoiled aren't we?)
We went first, to find the chief of the area. This is the proper thing to do. He also got in the car with us and he directed us to the compound for the Baptist. We found this shed and a small tukel (hut) on the property as well as the metal framework where tents had been errected and a wooden crate which held a grinding mill. We, as well as the two pastors with us, were amazed that things were still there. The property is not guarded, it is open to anyone to come and yet nothing had been taken. With all the difficulty we have experienced on the Baptist property in Rumbek we were amazed at the attitude of stewardship of property that we saw among these people. We all sat down under the shed and discussed the past, (there was a missionary couple on the property ministering to the Jur Modo people in years past), and the present, and the future.
We left with a sense that these people would appreciate a missionary presence to live among them again. They are a welcoming people. They are poor in this world, but their hearts may be open to the Gospel message. Pray that God would open a way to minster to the Jur Modo. Currently we estimate that there are only approximately 48,000 Jur Modo people. Other research groups have a higher estimate; but, as we spoke with people on the ground and referenced the new South Sudan census, this is the number that we have estimated. The Baptist church which was there was burned in 2008 during the Dinka-Jur conflict, so there currently is no Baptist church and no Baptist leadership. Pray that God would make His presence known among the Jur Modo for His honor and glory.