This weekend I led a bible study of the Sunday scripture lessons, and
one of them was the story of Jesus healing the demon possessed man
with a "legion" of demons. As we were talking, it seems that all of
them have seen and knew demon possessed people! They believe it is
frequent here. I was the only one in the room who had not knowingly
seen a demon possessed person in my life! They said that the demon
possessed people do the same thing as the man in Luke 8: no clothes,
no home, can't control them, strange voice, live in the tombs and
superior strength. Amazing! (So I have my eyes peeled to see one,
but no luck yet!)

Sunday took me out to a rural congregation called Soura. It's about
1/2 hour outside town. I went with Rev Ezra Elisama, one of my past
students. There were about 20 people there, 1/2 were children.

The weather is hot and humid during the day, but an evening storm has
been rolling in each night and cooling everything down. I sure
appreciate that!

I have started to make videos of the studnets so you can get to know
them a little. I will show one each week in worship. I told the
students 2-3 minutes would be good; I have one at 5 minutes and
another at 44 seconds! I am not sure how this project is going to
turn out!!

BIG THANK YOU to our muscians for sending over musical instruments as
gifts to the congregations. I had 4 with me last week, and there
were 4 children, so it worked out really nicely. This week I had 4
more, and gave them to the congregation, and the music person (a
drummer) was delighted! Thank you Music department!!

June 22, 2013

Today is a lazy day at the seminary. The classwork was finished by
10:30 today, and the prison visit was cancelled. So the students
have been doing their wash and sitting in the shade, hoping to catch a
cool breeze. (I hope they spend some time doing their homework!)

Tomorrow I am scheduled to go to an outer congregation in an area
called "Soura". Soura is about 30 minutes by motorcycle outside
Yambio. I was there the first time I was here, so it will be
interesting to see its condition now. Rev. Ezra will accompany me
and translate.

June 21, 2013

Just when I thought I had seen everything ---- I took the lid off one
for the lunch dishes and it was TERMITES. They were rolled into a
black paste of some sort. One of the guys had 3 helpings of the
mixture!! Needless to say, I refrained!

It rained last night, and cooled down. The students were freezing though!

Yambio is the town in South Sudan where the Concordia Lutheran
Institute of Holy Minsitry is located. Since I have been here last,
it has changed a great deal. The town is at least 5x larger than
before. The market goes on and on; "motorcycle taxis" are
everywhere, and there still is no provision for garbage. They have
some electric poles up and wired, but no electricty. The roads are
atrocious. When I was here last time, the roads were flat and smooth,
they must have recently finished the project. Now the roads are in
terrible shape, even the main road through town. The government
buildings are all new and large and have multiple generators; and
they have vehicles.

The seminary has added deaconesses to the student population. There
are 8 girls who are studying to be servants in the church. They are
housed in a remodeled area of the campus, and they have their own
curriculum. They are working at a confirmation level of knowledge....
they have some issues with the langaugae barriers.

This weekend is a Bible study, the prison worship service, and 2
services on Sunday --- I think here in Yambio, and out to Saura, a
congregation on the edge to the town.

This weekend also, I will be making videos of the students so that you
can meet them and hear them talk about their faith and life in the
weeks to come.

Thank you for your continued prayer support!!!!

Meet the Students

I have 15 students who are preparing for the ministry, please remember
them by name in your prayers and ask the Lord to form and shape them
into theologians who have a passion for the Word and Sacraments.
Please also pray for their families, whom they have left behind with
family members while they study here.

Peter B
Kibongo
Everesto
Celestino
Ogiki
George
Stephan
Aba
Wilson
Gabriel
Leon
Kirapio
Simon
Peter P
Jonah

June 20, 2013

Greetings from Yambio, South Sudan! The classes are going well! We have moved from the Law of God (original and actual sin) to the Grace of God, the Means of Grace, and today focused on Holy Baptism. Yesterday (Wednesday) after chapel, the compound was jolted to wails and weeping from one of the girls. She was uncontrollable. Her name is Fozia, a deaconness in training, and she found out her grandmother died. She lives close to the seminary. Here in South Sudan, they bury the body either same day, or the next day. After an afternoon thunderstorm, Nicolas and Dachi (both pastors here) went to the house of the grandmother. We walk up and there is a group of men sitting in two "U" shapes. The inner "U" consisted of the older men; the outer "U" was the younger men. We went around and greeted all the older men, and they brought chairs for us to join them in the inner "U". We sat there for 15-20 min in silence. The house was about 20 feet away, and on the other side the women and children sat, mostly in silence also. Inside the house was the body of the grandmother. You could see a lot of women in there, and they were singing a chant-type song to a drum. After about 15 min, Nicolas said it was time to go into the house, so he, Dachi and I squeezed into the house --- there must have been 50 women sitting on the floor in this 15x10 foot house, with the grandmother on the bed, with people even sitting on the bed with her. Nicholas, Dachi and I all said some words of comfort and hope based on the Resurrection of Jesus. The family was Roman Catholic, but the priest never showed up. So they came by to ask Rev Dachi (the eldest of us) to do the funeral. The girl's name is Fozia who lost her grandmother, please keep her family in your prayers.

June 17, 2013

Life is much slower over here! I preached at the 9am Yambio service, and then we took a motorcycle out to Baguga for worship. I went with one of the students from the last class who is now ordained, Rev. Ezra Elisama. It was good to work with him. The service starts at 11am; when we got there around 10;45, no one was there. First a little girl about 7 years old came with a baby, then 3 boys about 5-7yrs old, and then 3 adults rolled in around 1145. Ezra decided it was time to start the service! They built a shelter since the last time I was there. The large, beautiful tree with an open area to sit (where they used to worship) is almost grown in with ground cover now. In fact, the jungle is noticably movign closer and closer to the church. The school is no longer open. The good news is that Jesus said, where "2 or 3 are gathered in my Name, I am there amongst them"! We certainly had that experience in the jungle of South Sudan yesterday! On Saturday we went to the local prison. It's pretty stark, of course. The outside guards all had AK-47s, but they were all leaning back on their chairs nearly napping! 2 students led worship, in English and then translated into Arabic. About 25 came to worship. If you have ever watched the TV show Hogan's Heroes, it was laid out like that. Each barrack was fenced off at night and open during the day. The 25 that came were very welcoming and friendly. It was a good experience. Class is going well, we are moving right along, and the students seem interested and engaged. The first test was encourgaging, and I will be giving them multiple quizzes this week. Nothing outstanding has happened; everything is going pretty smoothly (except the rough start with the internet connections!) Thank you for your prayers.

June 15, 2013

I have arrived safely in South Sudan! I have been unable to email because of a series of internet issues over here - no connections, closed internet cafes, and a torrential downpour one day! There are 15 students studying for the pastoral ministry; I gave them a quiz over the first section I taught them on the "Law of God" and they did exceedingly well. They seem to have a good grasp of the Bible and their English is good. We will continue next week with the doctrines of the Gospel, Scripture, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. The day starts with morning devotions in the church at 7:30, breakfast (which is only bread) at 8am, then we meet from 9am to 1pm, then lunch. The students alternate between a writing class at 3pm and an accounting class. If the teacher fails to show, I am the back up. It is hot and humid here, but not quite as bad as it was in February when I was here the last two times. Today (Saturday), we went to the local prison to lead a worship service. One of the students led it, with another translating his English into Arabic. There were about 20 men there, and they all seemed apprecitive that we were there. Thank you for your prayers and concern; please keep Rev. Robarge in your prayers. Thank you for those who are filling in for the next two weeks!