 |
| Jiffy Kay and Friend |
Team Members, Special People
Our mission statement is "Empowering the suffering Sudanese church with scripture resources and leadership development."
One way we accomplish fulfilling our mission is by periodically carrying out training events in venues located close to refugee camps in Uganda, or, in the case of Kenya, within the Kakuma Camp in the center we built there in 2018. When we travel, we carry in our luggage scripture resources in digital form. The scripture is loaded on media such as: solar powered MP3 players, micro SD cards thumb drives, Light Streams and video projectors.
During our training events, we focus on teaching the Bible stories found on the two CRM produced story cloths. We also offer the ladies trauma healing counseling, and instruction in how to make washable feminine products from locally available materials. The Lord has called some very special people to be a part of our teams. They hail from various states in the USA, as well as South Africa, and represent a variety of educational backgrounds, life experiences and skills. One quality which certainly is required is the faith to trust the Lord who said to his earliest disciples "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves."
When one considers the background of some team members, it would not be hard to reach the conclusion that they appear to thrive on experiences which produce a lot of adrenaline, while others are grandmothers who normally are very cautious folks. One of the former is pictured above. For this article I will refer to her by her nickname, Jiffy Kay.
Jiffy Kay served as a Journeyman with the IMB in South Sudan around 2008-2009. Her parents raised her in Eastern Europe where they served as church planters, so she was a third culture kid before living in Sudan. You many ask "why are her friend and she posing in military gear ?" Legit question. The easy answer is because when one lives in South Sudan, guns and soldiers are simply a daily part of one's life. So on that day, some soldiers they encountered allowed them to put on their gear and pose. I never asked her if this was her profile picture for some dating site. Hmm. 😉
During those two years, she and her team members saw firsthand the effects produced by acts of violence. Those effects included shattered lives, physical and psychological wounds, poverty and poor infrastructure. Jiffy and one of her teammates introduced us to the idea of training women how to make washable feminine products 8 years before we incorporated it into our training events.
Given all the tough times we knew she and her teammates experienced during those two years, we wondered if she would agree to join one of our teams. How pleased we were to learn she was ready to jump at the opportunity. Since January of 2017, she has made two trips with us, and most likely will remain the only team member willing to return to Kampala from Arua by public bus!
I Corinthians 12 and 14 make it clear that the Holy Spirit gives to believers varying gifts, so that the local church can respond to all sorts of needs and opportunities. So we are thankful that our team members range from the very adventurous to the cautious but willing-to-be-challenged types.
Perhaps you would like to join us in fulfilling our mission? There is certainly a place for you if you are willing to trust Him who also said "but be of good courage for I have overcome the world."
Check out www.calvaryroadministries.com. And if the Lord so leads, make use of the "donate" button.
DC
No comments:
Post a Comment