Today’s post is unplanned. However, we know that those who read these adventures each week are committed to pray and we are grateful.
If you have been following Exploring the Land from the beginning, you will remember our adventures in South Sudan.
Our time among the Nuer People is where our story begins today.
If you need to refresh your memory, click here and it will link you to those stories.
Back in December, we asked you to remember Mathew and his family as war broke out in South Sudan between the Dinka and Nuer people.
Today we are asking you to pray again and continue praying. (We are just now hearing this story).
As the crisis grew and it became evident that they had to flee their home in Leer, Mathew took Sarah and the children to Bentiu to stay in a refugee camp.
Mathew, having a passport, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, hoping that from here he could procure travel for the others to follow; this was some months ago.
News came to Mathew that the situation in the Bentiu camp was dire with little food, and water and fighting intensifying, Sarah and the children, at that time eight of them, fled farther north. They made it to Khartoum and have been living in a refugee camp there for several months.
Just this past week we understand that one of our missionaries secured tickets on a commercial airline for Sarah and four children. (Evidently, the four older children left the camp trying to make their way to a more secure location).
There is no way for them to obtain passports from South Sudan.
It seems the way forward, now, is to get them back to South Sudan.
We are hoping they can fly to Juba on a humanitarian flight with their travel documents.
After reaching Juba, they would need to travel by bus to Nairobi, an arduous two day journey.
Don’t you know Sarah and the children are weary – after losing everything and traveling with just the clothes on their back for months? They need to know, with out doubt, that the Lord’s favor is surrounding them as a shield. Mathew needs to have God’s peace that passes all understanding – he is here in safety while his wife and children are struggling.
*Pray specifically that God would unite this family.
*Pray that Sarah and the children would be able to fly to Juba and get a bus to Nairobi.
*Pray that God would spread His protection over them.
*Pray for peace for the country of South Sudan. We knew the window of peace was small – we just didn't think it would close so quickly.