The day has finally come! I am a citizen of the United States. I am very proud of finally becoming an American. I had waited for a long time and prayed many, many prayers. God answered my prayers and your prayers too. Thank you for your prayers. I am very happy to get my citizenship because I can now see my family soon.

I have applied for my passport and should be receiving it in the mail this week. Once I get my passport, it is the last thing I need before I can go to visit my family.

I have been busy here in Bor town - it is raining here now.  I am still negotiating with the parents of the woman I want to marry and things are very tough. The competition is very fierce and we pray that God will work everything out so that I will have the money for the dowry. 

The people in my home village of Kolmereck are still enjoying the medicines and the one who is there administering the drugs is doing well.  We are still waiting for the pharmacist to come back so that he can administer the drugs that need to be administered by him.

I have also been able to share Bible stories with a few people during my travels and they really enjoyed them. I have been talking with some of the pastors but have not yet set up a time to do training with them. Hopefully it won’t be too long.

My mother is still ill so I would appreciate your prayers for her.  She has gotten a little better but is still sick.

I am doing very well!  I have been busy looking for supplies for the compound.  Most of the things are not available and if they are available they are very expensive because it is rainy season.  I am still waiting for the commissioner to return so that I can meet with him and get another place for the compound.  He said he is coming but hasn’t arrived yet.

I have also been busy telling Bible stories with some groups!  They really like the stories and many other people have said they would like to hear them too.  So hopefully I can tell them the stories as well.

The pastor training went great, I was able to teach them the first eight Chronological Bible stories and they were so excited and said no one else has ever come and taught us like this before.  We talked about when we would get together again so I can continue to train them but we haven’t decided on a date yet.

Pray for the people in Nasir and for the building of the new compound.

Things in Bor town and Kolmerek are doing well.  My mother is feeling much better but continue to pray for her.  I have spent most of this past week in Bor town and was able to hand out all the certificates to the pastors there in Bor town for the training they received. I also spent the week working on the dowry for my new bride. Things are very tough in that many other people are interested in this girl and the dowry is getting very high. Many of them have a lot more cows and things to offer but I am trusting God to work all of this out. I’m also working on getting a loan from other people that will help me in getting the cows and things I need to win the bride.

The medicine from the June 2008 trip is still being enjoyed by the people and has been delivered to the local pharmacy in Kolmerek. The people were very happy to receive the medicine and the pharmacy assistant has been helping the people with some of the drugs that don’t require a pharmacist to administer. My cousin who is a pharmacist is supposed to be coming soon and will be able to help the people even more by being able to give injections when one is required.
 
Please continue to pray for the people of Kolmerek as many are sick - we thank God that medicine is there now to help them.  Pray for me and my mother’s health and also for God to work out this situation about the dowry for my wife, that God would be glorified through it all.  

The weather in Nasir is wet, rainy and muddy.  But things are going very well.  I was able to complete a two day training workshop for about 43 pastors. They were taught the Word of God through stories!  Many of the pastors came from a very long distance in order to receive this training. I’m teaching and training the pastors and also sharing these stories with the people of the community who really love the stories and are so happy to hear them. 

The work on the compound is still proceeding. I talked with the commissioner and we are deciding whether to keep the present location or to find another place as the rain destroyed work done on the last location. If I move to another place, I will take up the fence that is left along with all the other materials and move them to the new site.

Things are moving along nicely!  Please pray for the compound but most of all for the people and pastors that are hearing the stories - that God would work in their lives in amazing ways!!

I was waiting for my final interview so I could get my citizenship and go to Sudan. I received a call that they wanted me to attend the interview June 24th. I am studying American stories and am ready to do it. I’m ready to see friends. If I’m lucky and the right people are there, I can get my passport quickly. Or, I’ll have to wait two weeks or so for the right people to be there.

I’m very excited. I was praying for so many months and appreciate the support of many. God sometimes requires patience but He listens to my prayers. It is a possibility if the right people are in my interview that I can go to Sudan with the team in July. It will be a good time to see my family soon!

Please pray that the right people are in my interview so that I can get my passport soon.

Before I left for Nebraska, it was a very wonderful day when the Aid Sudan team was together for the team retreat because it was the first time for all of us to meet together, very exciting. My favorite time there was our time of praying together and discussing the future of our organization. We had a good time together playing, talking, walking together and it was really a very exciting time.  Now we know one another, after talking. It was very, very good, because I never met Christi or Leigh Ann before. It was good.

My family is doing fine, but it's tough because Nyabang lost her job.  When I came home last week, I find everybody well and we're having a good time. It's difficult to leave them when I am in Houston or in Sudan because I will be away, but God is the only one who keeps everybody. Recently I took my kids to the park and they played over there. We mowed the back yard together. It's a little hard time because my lawn mower was messed up because they put the gas in the oil place but I took it apart and drained all of the oil out. Now I put it all back together and it's running really well.

When I am back in Sudan this summer I would like to see a well dug in the area of my home village, Torpuot.  They have no clean water and get their water from the river.  I hope people will be happy when they see me coming with the new things. They will be even more glad than before. It will be happiness for them.  Everybody will be happy, because they're going to love it. 

I do have a couple of prayer requests right now.  Please pray for Nyabang and our financial situation and for the health of my family.

I give thanks to the people who showed up for the gala. It was a great night for all of us Sudanese and American friends. I think it was a wonderful night because I saw so many faces and friends. I went up on stage with Agook and shared the Dinka songs and they loved it. I shared my life story with the people and it was a great lesson to the people. When I went first onstage I was kind of feeling I was not going to say anything, but God filled me with his word and I talked. It was the power of God.

When the gala finished I went from table to table to greet my friends and a lot of people said “you’re a good speaker and singer”, but it was God not me. Some of the people did not know Dinka music but they loved it. It was a good experience for me for people to love the Dinka songs and clap their hands. When I shared my story, I talked about the war in Sudan for so many years and how my village was attacked and we lost 2 million people in Sudan. That means we have so many orphan children there without school, clinics and no good water. They’re facing so many difficulties and we’re going to save their lives.

When Peter went on stage to share the same things, the people were crying because they were feeling that God touched their hearts to go and do something in southern Sudan. I think if we make it every year it will be good to see friends’ faces again and to talk with them and share our lives together.

Early morning on Saturday, April 5, 2008, James Maker and I left Glenmont to meet the Sudanese at ChristChurch Presbyterian who were waiting for the bus to go together to Bear Creek Park where the race would take place.  We were behind for some minutes and when we arrived, John Markle and the team had already left.  But we thought they were not yet gathered, so we waited for a few minutes. Then Peter Biar came and we went to Houston’s First Baptist Church to see if there were people there but we didn’t get anybody there either, so we headed to Bear Creek Park. We arrived there and found the people starting the race. We parked the car and rushed to the starting point but the people had already taken off for the run. We started running, although we were told that we might rather walk. We made it through bypassing some of the people who ran before us.  We came to the finishing line and none of the people knew that we’d started late. The good thing was that we finished it well.  I think that there will be lots of fun next year for the 5K Run and Walk because God will draw many people, perhaps more than the almost 400 that attended.

The Lord put it in my heart to move to the College of Biblical Studies in Houston in Texas in 2004. I was eager to learn Bible well for ministry and personal enrichment. Because of His GRACE, I got scholarship for four years and got admitted immediately and started with Bible study Methods and Basic Theology. As I moved on with other courses, I became more fascinated and took lots of courses. In April 2006, I graduated with ABS and in year 2007 finished my BS in Christian Leadership.

Today, I see the Bible differently than before although I had seminars prior to my college education. I relished my years in CBS and want to tell you that it is great there and urge you try it. Lastly, I want to invite you to join me in commencement for my BS, which is going to be held in Second Baptist Church on Saturday April 26, 2008. The physical address is:  6400 Woodway Drive Houston, Texas 77057.  I am equipped and just want to share the precious Word of the Lord.

Rev. Agook

As the people return from the refugee camps to southern Sudan for the census, they will suffer a lot because there will be no water, no shelter and no food as they return.

I’m worried because these people have left the country since 1983 and they went to Ethiopia, then to Kenya now back to Sudan. When I returned there were lots of changes. When they were in the refugee camps, they were settled there with clinics, hospitals, medicine and schools for their children.

If they go back now to Sudan, they will not have any of this. They will not have water, or grinding machines, or medicine or schools. There will be a lot of challenges for them. Most of those who are now helping in southern Sudan gained their education in the refugee camps. Life in the refugee camps was a challenge but people learn many things like technical schools and when they go back those schools will not be there.

They are going now during rainy season and there will be so many mosquitoes. When I went back in 2005, I returned back to the US with malaria and was admitted to the hospital. They will be there without mosquito nets and it will be a lot of challenges for them.

What we should do is pray for them.  God says in Matthew, “Ask and it will be given…, knock and the door will be open.” We will pray and maybe God will open the door for them and God will knock on people’s hearts and they will go and help.

Going back for them will be good for the country for the government to start. They will suffer for awhile but then there will be development for them if they return.  This will be good for them.

Ecclesiastes says there’s a time for crying and for war and a time for peace. This is the time for peace and we need to pray that it will happen.

The UN is moving the scattered people of southern Sudan back to Sudan over the next 3 years.  Right now the people are returning for the census in southern Sudan, so that they will count how many people are in each area. They will really need our help because as they travel, they don’t have shelter, and it is the rainy season. There will be no water and no food and the villages can’t support the people.  

Some people are fearing whether they will have good security and education for their children.  They’re being forced to leave what little settlement they have for the purpose of the census.  There is no food, no medicine, no water. Not only are they closing the refugee camp in Kenya, but also the camps in Uganda and three camps in Ethiopia.  The famous refugee camp of Kakuma where so many southern Sudanese lived before coming to the US is closing down at the end of this year. 

This looks like when the children of Israel were outside and God returned them and delivered them back to where they were before. We have to pray for their health, and for their shelters, and the food they’re going to eat. They don’t have what they need and it will be too dangerous for them. We have to pray for them on the way and as they get there.

We can pray for God to open a door for them to have peace and be happy and enjoy the Word of God in freedom. 

It says in Isaiah 18:3, “All you people of the world you who live on the earth, when the banner is raised on the mountains you will see it and when the trumpet sounds, you will hear it.”

In December I started building Aid Sudan's first compound in southern Sudan.  It is in my home area of Nasir, Sudan. 

The land for the compound was given by the commissioner.  I talked to the commissioner and he provided it for us.  To start the construction I bought wood and tall grass for the fence.  I also bought some rope.

I had many volunteers.  Chuol Ruot, John, Yien, and another Chuol who helped me go to the market and buy all of the supplies for the building materials.  We brought them back on a donkey to the compound.  We had to dig with long metal poles for the poles for the fence.  Then we added the grass to the fence with the rope.  We would sometimes go and buy fish and bake it and share it together.  Sometimes we would go and eat at a local restaurant when there was no fish coming.

We are still working to build one hut, a toilet, and in the future we'll build more.  We hope to finish in June or July.

Songs are inspirational.  Songs are not sung just to pass time but they have meaning.  Songs transmit God's Word.

Songs are great tools to convict people.  Not just like reading or letting someone explain it to you.  As you sing a song, you are meditating through it.  The message is received and it convicts you as you hear.

In Dinka culture, songs are very important.  If you are happy, you either laugh or sing or dance.  When we sing songs to God we want to tell people about God and we tell people what the songs mean and how our God is and what He looks like.  How wonderful God is.

I never pass a day without singing.  I sing many songs every day.

To hear songs I recorded with Maker, please visit Maker's latest blog on "Recording Traditional Songs".

The other day we recorded Christian songs from Sudan.  Some of the songs I had made up.  Songs are important in our culture.  When David was called by God, he was given many songs as a way to communicate with God.  They are a way that make us feel close to God.

God gave me some songs when the war was going on and I was in Sudan.  One song was about when the war broke out because everywhere the people were in Ethiopia and Uganda all scattered out.  It talks about God giving us peace so that we will come together as one nation.  So many people like this song.

It was great to record songs.  Since I was raised in church, I never used a machine to record songs.  It was great to use the microphone and I had never used one to record all these things.  We hope this will help the people back home a lot as one day they may hear these songs across the radio. 

To listen to some of the songs please click below:

Yuku Nhialic Leec (Let's Praise God)

Kake Piny Nhom Aa Ye Rot Waar Ku Kritho Aci Rot Ye Waar (Worldly Things Change but Christ Never Changes)

Yin Nhialic Duone Gam Cok Niop (God, Let Our Faith Not be Weak)

I was not able to go to southern Sudan in December, although I was willing to go there and serve my people. The only issue was the documents and I didn’t have the possibility to do it.  My family and my wife was looking forward to see me but it did not work because it was a slow down on INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) and I didn’t get my document at the right time.  I’ve been waiting almost now 3 months but I have done my fingerprints on Saturday. This is the beginning of everything. I have a little bit of hope now that I‘ll go back with the team in June. I thank the team for the support of my wife and my daughter through the prayers.

I talked with my brother back in Sudan and they thought I didn’t go because I don’t have money. I told them it was not because of money. They said to come there and they’d give me something. I told them there is a system in America so that you travel you must have a document.

I have interest to see my daughter Akur, because since she was born I have not seen her. I have only talked to her on the phone. Sometimes she doesn’t want to talk, but sometimes she wants and I just try to talk to her.  It is not simple for a wife to bring up a child without me there. The only thing is the problem of documents.  My parents are there and my wife. My daughter will be 2 years on March 2.  I now prepare something to send for them to go and celebrate.

My wife doesn’t understand why I can’t go to Africa, even though I tell her the only thing is the document and here in America you need to wait on the document. I even have to pass the phone to Agook and he helps explain it to them.  I sometimes spend $40 a month for the phone bills to her. I told them “I love you” and I take care of them by sending money for them until I can come to visit them.

I really appreciate the prayers and all of my family appreciates it.  God listens to our prayers and now it’s a little bit of the process is moving. Please pray for God to allow my citizenship to come through soon, so that I can go to Sudan in June to reach my people with the Word of God and see my family, especially my wife and my daughter, Akur.  Thank you very much.

When the people gathered for the celebration of my homecoming, we started early in the morning at 5:30. Then the people were coming from many different villages to my home village of Torpuot.  First of all people came and prayed for my coming there and my being there. The people were glad that I was back after a long time.  They killed the bull at that time. Then the people were dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing all day. They were shouting with joy and singing.  We ate the bull later after they had prepared the bull everybody ate it.  I felt really good and the people felt good because I meet with them: my family, brothers, friends, relatives and others.  I feel great and they felt great, too. They received me well and I met them well. That was wonderful.   

Many years ago I was forced by civil war to leave the country, but the image of home was not fated in my eyes. The structure, the social life, and local neigboring places. Well, when I went recently, everything looked differently. Tragically people are displaced in a greater number and those that endure the suffering while there are shifted from their original homes. I was taken to many places by people meet members of community because they are scattered. Lots of individuals are now trying to get to their original homes.

Pray for their resettlement.