merrychristmassudan

so many people have been asking how they can get involved in helping with WhyTheWoods, which is amazing. so thanks to a dear friend serving in malaysia giving me this idea, i am suggesting christmas cards for sudan. last sunday when i preached i made mention that people were back at home praying for me and the people of sudan. they started clapping and shouting and cheering. it was a glorious sight. i was so thankful in that moment for all of you who are praying. so to further show the sudanese that americans love them, admire their strong faith, and are really praying, send them a christmas card telling them so. if you want, include a picture so they can see the face of someone across the world who is praying. it is such a cheap and easy way to show them that someone cares, and i can only imagine the joyous celebration this will bring. Thank you for helping. please send the cards to...

153 Gibson Way
Mocksville NC, 27028

...make sure it is clear that it is going to sudan or is for WTW. my family will collect them and mass mail them to me around christmas time, and i will deliver them over the christmas holiday. i do ask that you include 2 dollars for shipping costs.

by the way, the past few days i suffered from malaria or something like it. we don't really know if it was malaria because i never got my blood tested, but it acted just like malaria, and it makes for a much cooler story, so as far as i can see it was malaria. but i'm fine now. i got treatment pretty early so it was knocked out pretty quickly. but let me tell you, malaria is not as fun as it sounds. but like i said, im ok now. i met with the chief of wadupe today and played some volleyball at the compound. so it was a great day. i am speaking at a church opening tomorrow, so keep me in your prayers.

wouldi?

"lay down!! i have burned your village, killed your people, and now i must cut off the head of the snake. you are the reason christianity is here!!"
"you can kill me. do what you want. but i'll never deny my God."
the arab soldier put the pastor face down on the ground and put the gun to his head.
"may i first say a prayer?"
"ha, do what you want. your blood is about to be splattered on this ground."
the pastor prayed to his Lord. his Saviour. he would never ever deny Him, and he was ready to see Him face to face.
when the pastor finished his prayer he looked up to find that the arabs had left. this pastor has preached in his village for forty years now. he sat across from me as we had tea and told me his story. i was honored to be in the presence of a real man of faith.

notitleworthy

often i sit down to write about my day and leave with nothing on the paper. not because i have nothing to say, but simply because words are not powerful enough to relive moments that forever change eternity. how can i fully explain what a hug from pastor rufus means to me? how can i use the english language, words invented by men, to explain a friendship with the people of wadupe, given by God, that will last forever? i can only tell you what i saw and describe what i felt, but not until we see the face of Christ will we know what it all meant. we embraced on the steps of the new church, pastor rufus and i. then i was greeted by the congregation, first with looks of surprise which then turned into a rejoicing sort of "he really does love us" kind of look. many people come to sudan and other foreign lands and promise big things because they like to make the people happy, but few follow through with their plans. the sudanese know this, and to see that i actually came back to them triggered a time of praise and celebration. before the service pastor rufus and i were able to sit and discuss my vision for wadupe and whythewoods. his responses and the look on his face said, "finally someone really hears us." i explained to him the notion of "teaching a man to fish." he said, "that is what we have been crying. for so long we have been chained by war, and we have fallen way behind. we just need to know how to catch up." after our talk i spoke to the congregation. i shared with them matthew 9:37-38. i pointed out that Jesus tells us the harvest is there but no one to do the work, so the first thing he tells us to do is to pray (vs38), and this is the first step to changing sudan. i told them that many people at home are praying for me and the people of sudan; the men started clapping and the women started cheering for all of you who are remembering us in prayer. one day you will meet them in eternity and they will thank you personally. i then shared acts 1:8, and told them that this is a big leap of faith for me, but the Holy Spirit will give me power. and finally i shared colosians 2:6, and said that we must train our children in the ways of our Lord so they will be founded on the gospel and so they can pull sudan out of the trouble it is in. i spoke in both churches, explaining to them what i feel God is calling me to do. pastor rufus told me the community will give me a plot of land to live on and help me build a tukul. this, as you may remember, was one of my prayer requests before i left; that God would supply for me land to live on, and on which to set up a base of operations. and here is my answer, free land in wadupe. praise God for His many blessings.

pray for me next sunday as i meet with the chief of the area and the entire community to discuss the issue of the school size and building design, and to officially denote my plot of land. i have already talked with an engineer from samaritan's purse who has agreed to help me draw up the design and find the right people to help build it. like i said, how can mere words describe all of this. i thank you for praying on my behalf. God's hand of blessing is truly on this ministry.

flashlightneeded

thank you so much for all the emails. i sat in tears today overwhelmed by so many friends offering up prayers on my behalf. i feel so unworthy of your praises and your prayers but i thank you for fueling the fire that is in me.

my new base...
one would think a ten meter walk to shut off a generator wouldn't be too dangerous. i didn't think so anyways. so about 11 o'clock a few nights ago i started out the door to turn off the power as i had many times before. "it's a short walk," i thought, "i'll just feel my way along the wall." about half way i stumped my toe on a rock and got mad so i went back in to get the, you guessed it, mini-maglight. i turned off the generator and had a good night's sleep. doesn't sound dangerous huh. well i didn't think so either, until the next day when our guards killed two cobras on our compound. i promise you i will never walk outside at night without a flashlight again. cobras and mambas are on the prowl and i don't want to find one with my bare feet. on the more positive side i saw a monkey that day too, that was cool.

so anyways i have basically been riding around on extremely muddy roads, which is a lot of fun in our landcruisers as long as you're the one driving and not riding in the back baking in the sun. just kidding, fortunately that is part of my job, but i have been doing a lot of work on top of that. we are officially starting 8 new churches this upcoming week. which means for every church i have to go make a speech about the church's responsibility of gathering the natural material, and explain to them what SP is going to supply them with--hammers, shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, etc. usually the pastor and local leaders give speeches and then we have a feast. the last church we started greeted our truck with dancing and singing. we died laughing and jumped in and danced with them. so everyday i have to give two speeches and have two feasts. these churches are over a two or three hours drive from our base so it makes for a long day, but seeing them excited and getting them so encouraged to work is more than worth it.

i am extremely excited about tomorrow. i finally get to make it out to see my good friends, the people of wadupe. one of our engineers told them i was coming back to sudan but he didn't know when i would be back, so they have no clue i'm here. it will be so nice to surprise them at their church service tomorrow. pray that all goes well and we have a great reunion.

movingout

well i finally have my assignment and location. i am moving to the sub-base i was hoping (isn't God so good), which is close enough that i can come back to town on the weekends and use the internet. i can't wait to get out into the field and start working with these wonderful people again. my job has a little more responsibility with it this trip as i have graduated from an intern to the head of operations at my base. i know that title may sound big, but really it's just me and another guy mobilizing our area, and my job is to make sure we get enough churches ready for construction by the time the construction crew comes in. so im not really in charge of a lot, but responsible for a little more. if you guys email me, give me a week or so to reply because i don't have internet out there, so all my blog work and emailing will done on the weekends. so you can start looking for more posts on saturdays or sundays. a big thank you to everyone who wished my 22nd year a happy one. i spent sunday celebrating with the other guys at a new sudanese "restaurant" in town. this one was a little nicer than previous experiences. it at least had a concrete floor. we had chicken, roasted goat, chips(fries), salad, and of course rice and beans. one of the ladies had gone into town and gotten some cake mix, so we even had birthday cake. i guess it's pretty cool i can say that i celebrated my 22nd birthday on a different continent. well, anyways, pray for the churches i am going to meet these next few weeks and the upcoming months, and as always the children of sudan. if any of you are wondering, i am going out to wadupe this saturday or sunday. last sunday got rained out.

drivebyfaith...notbysight

talk about jumping in and getting my feet dirty. this adventure is one worth writing home about. most of the new guys spent their second day in sudan getting over jet-lag or touring the town. but not me. about 6:30 thursday evening we get a call at our base about an emergency, i can't mention, so matt, my boss, grabs me and says, "we're going to [a location i cant mention on the internet]." this is a town about 2hrs northeast, and we have a sub-base there. so i grabbed enough supplies for a couple days and jumped in the Land Rover. our first heart pumping moment came about five miles outside of town. matt was trying to talk to the Lainya base on his satellite phone but it kept cutting in and out so we pulled over so he could get out and get better signal. by this time it was dark, so we couldn't see the two soldiers approaching our truck until they got right on us. matt stayed on the phone but got into the truck and shut the door, acting like he didn't hear the soldiers, who were saying something to us. normally soldiers are fine, but at night in sudan, why chance it. they couldv'e been drunk or something, and there was nothing stopping them from taking our phone or robbing us. we don't exactly have the safety net of a stable and fair judicial system out here. one of them started tapping on my window, so i nonchalantly locked my door and then matt quickly sped off, leaving them in the night. well, things were fine after that, bumpy, but fine. until about an hour into the trip when our headlights died on us. we stopped in the middle of the road, in complete darkness, in sudan...not exactly encouraged by the UN safety regulations. we both got out of the truck, neither of us knowing anything about cars, but hoping a jiggle to some wires would do the trick. as i stood out there in the dark i realized that i was exposed to every danger sudan has to offer and no way to escape it. i thought about the "lost boys." a group of thousands oflittle boys ages 5-12 who fled the war in 1987, walking thousands of miles on their own to ethiopia and kenya. these little boys had to fend off lions, hyenas, and alligators, not to mention the enemy soldiers. as i stood on the road that winds through the head-high grass, i thought about a lion or hyena jumping out at me. how did these little boys do it. i also thought about late night travelers who might see two stranded white men as an easy target. there was no way we could flee. we couldn't see a thing and the roads are way too treacherous to try and drive blindly. for some reason (God) matt had grabbed a mini-MagLight on his way out. we laughed at the thought of us driving through southern sudan at night with a AA flashlight as our guide. but... the two foot wide beam of light is all we had to see the people, ditches, potholes, and the road. i had to hang out the window and move the light back and forth so we could see the grass on both sides. needless to say, we SLAMMED into some major holes, which sent my head into to the windshield or the roof several times. just outside of Lainya there is a checkpoint. matt was sure we were going to jail for not having proper headlights, but again God gave us what we needed, and the soldiers didn't even question us, though they probably laughed at the stupid kowajas(white men). what should've been an hour and 45 min to two hours turned out to be over 3 hrs. we crawled into the base and had a great night's sleep. the next morning's drive back was obviously a little easier. we could at least see the huge potholes before we hit them. we did manage to get ourselves stuck in the mud, but a good push from about 15 sudanese men did the trick and was well worth the 20 pounds (ten dollars) we paid them. so yesterday we rolled into the compound, muddy and tired, but with a great story to tell. if MagLight needs a new commercial tell them to give me a call.

dirtyfeetagain

flying in a second time was so incredible. i could pick out villages i had worked in and i could see the shiney tin roofs of new churches. i saw the wadupe mountains and just smiled at the thought of seeing those wonderful people again. as i got out of the truck at our compound i looked down and saw that my toes had a little dirt on them. "im back," i said. My clean american skin will soon give way to the red sudanese murrum. it wont be long before im covered in it.

inafrica

i made it to nairobi just fine. i leave out wednesday morning. just in case you guys want to email me, my new email is billyriddlejr@Gmail.com so send me a message. i think to comment on my blog you have to have a blog of your own so if your like me and need help with that kind of stuff the easiest thing to do is email. talk to you guys later.