Dear BGC Prayer Partners,

• A short update.  We now have 15 students who have returned. Some are giving excuses but Samuel is trying to be patient with them.

• Esparanza has not yet returned so there is only Samuel and Benjamin in the administration. They certainly need our prayers. However there is a slow but sure recovery for which to give thanks.

• We are still critically low on funds - but are so grateful to you all. Today we have received $500 from Canada and over £800 from the UK. Sadly this doesn't happen everyday! 15 students doesn't sound much but the overheads are high. Juba is no cheap place to live and food is now even higher priced.

• The US are having a day of prayer for South Sudan on 16th February. Contact me for a prayer sheet from the Diocese of Camino Real which you might find useful.

Many thanks,
Trevor

PS. Some of you have asked about my new novel, The Kicking Tree. It is to be published on 28th May (paperback and ebook). It isn't based in South Sudan but some of it was written there - mostly when I was waiting for people to arrive for meetings! It attempts to tackle the problem of believing in God when suffering happens. There are some accounts of suffering in the book, but nothing like that on the scale of South Sudan. There are lots of nice bits too! I have a young adult audience in mind, but it may appeal to a wider age group of Christians. More information on http://www.trevorstubbs.co.uk