Thankgsgivings and Prayer Requests

Currently we are at a critical stage in Bishop Gwynne College. BGC now has a new constitution. We are putting an end to the interim period. We pray for the new Board of Governors and College Council due to have its first meeting on 26^th March.

We are at the point when a child puts on a spurt of growth and suddenly seems to outgrow all her clothes, or when parent birds cannot seem to collect enough food to satisfy the demands of their fledgelings. As we develop, so we are just managing to provide the basics, but have no reserves, no fat to call on, to help us over the lean bits. This last month we have managed, but only just. We are owed more than enough but those that owe it take their time.

Last month I reported that all of the prayers that we have asked for up to then have been granted. There is one vital thing, however, that still has to happen – the removal of the shipping containers parked on our land. If we are unable to rent out the roadside part of the site, then we will not make ends meet and we will have to suspend operations.

So we ask for your prayers.

Finance

Please pray that Zephaniah, the owner of the containers, gets his machinery sorted as he has promised, and gets on with removing all twelve of the monsters that are putting the future of the college into jeopardy.

Pray that the two indebted tenants manage to pay what they owe this week as they have promised us.

Pray that we can work a deal with a new tenant to obtain money in advance so we can finish the second staff house. This is desirable not only from the financial point of view but for the life of the college.

We give thanks the award of the Anglican Communion Fund towards this second house and pray that will soon arrive.

We thank God the money on its way for the library that has already been given by the Slavanka Trust

Students

Pray for all the 38 students sitting the Special Entrance Exam on 19^th March to begin a first year diploma course in August. By no means all 38 will qualify for admittance – we could not take them all in any case – so please pray for those involved in the discernment process.

Pray for the third year now involved deeply in the last semester of their course which has extended over four years. Pray especially for all these students that all of them manage to get it together to earn a College Diploma.

Pray for those in the first year doing the Limuru University Diploma as they get their results from the first semester exams next week.

New University Feasibility Study

We thank God for the generosity of the three people coming on the study and for those who have made grants towards the exercise. Please pray for Dr Ruth Eade, Dr Eeva John and Prof. Peter Haycock are due to begin their study on 3^rd April

We Give Thanks

...for the faith that surrounds us on every side. Thank God for the way that he helps us all here despite the many problems, personal and organisational. We rejoice in the healing and the huge patience of so many people. We thank God for the humility of saintly pastors who work for so little – often giving and receiving nothing – in a culture that sees poverty as weakness and honours the wealthy. We thank the lay people for their patience with other pastors who sometimes have more worldly motives.

We thank God that, despite all the problems, we still have a governable country, and we pray that those traditional aspects of the culture which hold the people back can be overcome.

We rejoice in the women of the Mothers' Union who love, and give, and organize where other channels may get clogged up. We pray for the visit of our Mothers' Union friends from Mary Sumner House in April.

We rejoice that we have a new beginning, emerging from the interim period, at BGC.

We thank God for all you who are praying in 5 continents of our planet for us at BGC and the Sudan. May God bless you and be with you, and may you know his blessings in your life as we do in ours.

Thank you

Thank you, Prayer Partners.

We continue to make progress here in Sudan, albeit not without its excitement. I can report that again everything we have prayed for has been given us. Economically in the college things are much better this month. We have a full compliment of staff, and the exams look to have gone better than we dared have hoped. In the political arena there has been a peaceful and successful referendum. If you want an anxiety free life, then the Sudan is not the place to be - but, similarly, if you want to see things coming together against all odds then this is just the place to be. It's tightrope walking, but, somehow, by the grace of God, we cross some dizzying chasms. From a purely philosophical point of view, you cannot absolutely prove the existence of a caring God - but the evidence from experience is beyond reasonable doubt.

Thank you.
Trevor

The College

Give thanks for the developments in the lettings of the college.

Give thanks that a new short -term let has been found for one of our houses. We have reinvested the six months rent received in advance into its complete renovation.

Praise God that we have now concluded a good arrangement whereby the piece of land on the main road area of the new site has been let for a period of 17 years to an investment company. This company will build luxury residential units in a protected compound that they will let to people involved in the development of the city. This has already brought in much needed rental income and will continue to do so. It will increase the integrity and the security of our site enormously. After the conclusion of the period, the land, and all that is built on it, will revert to the control of the college. Both of these lets will give future stability to the college.

First, however, will require the removal of containers that have been deposited on this land. The owner has promised that he will remove them within a month. But we still need him to come and do it! Please pray that he will come and fulfil his promises quickly so we can conclude everything amicably.

We give thanks for the grant awarded to the library. Work has begun on the shelves . We hope to be moving the books within a month. Pray for the workmen and for Tina and the students as they tackle this challenging task of moving the books.

Pray for out students, especially those preparing to take the Special Entrance Exam on 19th March that will see members of the foundation year continue on to the diploma. Again pray for Tina who is preparing them. Pray for Larry Duffee who has joined the staff and is teaching arithmetic and budgeting so that our pastors might be able to understand parish finances. Pray for John Turpin from Texas who has joined us on a voluntary basis to teach church history. Pray also for Joseph, Simon, Peter and Daniela our other staff members. We give thanks that the Lord has blessed us so much in so many ways with the staff we have.

University Feasibility Study

On a wider front, we pray for those who are planning to come to Juba and elsewhere to do a feasibility study for a new university. We give thanks that three wonderful academics from the UK are giving us their precious time free, as well as putting their own money into coming. Please pray for the success of this study and God's blessings on this party. While they are here we want them to be able to get everywhere they need to. Pray that we can find the money to transport them around locally. This is important for the effectiveness of the exercise.

A new university might seem very ambitious. It is certainly a huge vision and a tremendous challenge, but the opportunities, especially in the south post referendum, are enormous. The church here is always ambitious for the Lord, and it cannot be wrong to ask for the young people of the Sudan get a little of the advantages that are enjoyed elsewhere. They learn to be very patient when things don't happen quickly. They have also learned that if you don't ask, you don't get!

The Politics

We give enormous thanks for the peaceful and well organised referendum on the future of the south. The latest news is that there has been a 95% turn out and a 98% vote in favour of separation. The people in Juba and the south are very happy.

Things are not so easy along the border with the north or in Khartoum. Please pray for the many refugees from the north heading south, and for those left behind who have not the money or opportunity to leave. Please pray for the Church in the north as many of their members have headed south and they are under pressure from the government. Pray especially for Bishop Ezekiel and the diocese of Khartoum and the other northern dioceses.

Pray for the voting taking place in Blue Nile State, and that planned for South Kordofan - northern provinces with a preponderance of people who identify more with the south. Pray for Abyei as the border there is still in dispute.

Thanksgivings and Prayers Requests

The college has reopened for the New Year, but not much is happening here at the moment as we are still gathering together the students following the referendum. Voting continues to the end of this week. Here in Juba there is a quiet, thankful, festive atmosphere. People are full of joy that today they have been able to vote for independence from what has been an opposition from the north extending back for centuries, but especially during two civil wars raging for most of the time ever since Sudanese independence in 1956. We are very grateful for the way peace is so highly regarded here. Much still has to be resolved about the distribution of oil revenues, the border demarcation and other instruments of government. The result will be finally declared on 15th February.

We are very grateful for all your prayers.

One sadness has been the death of Revd Samuel Kayanga who was a part-time teacher of Religious Studies last semester. He completed his valued teaching duties at the end of November but was recently taken ill and died in hospital in Nairobi. Samuel has played an important role in the ECS for many years in the course of the war and beyond. He is the coauthor of But God is Not Defeated with Andrew Wheeler.

Thanks,

Trevor

Thank God for way everything has come together and that the Referendum is taking place on the exact date promised six years ago at the signing of the CPA in 2005. We thank God that, despite the sporadic disturbances in some of the border areas, southern Sudan is probably more peaceful and less divided than it was in 2009. The inter-tribal violence and cattle theft has certainly declined. Please continue to pray that this trend continues.

We ask God's blessings on the family of Samuel Kyanga as we commit him to God's heavenly care.

Pray also for all the members of staff. Especially we pray for John Turpin, a new volunteer from Texas, who has joined us as lecturer in Church History. Pray for Larry Duffee who is joining the staff part-time to teach parish budgeting and financial administration.

Thank God for the improvement in the financial situation of the college. Some of the unpaid rent has now been paid, but there is still much to do to get the college on a sound financial footing. There are houses that have yet to be let. Pray that we can find suitable tenants soon.

We give thanks that God has given us the help of Elger in the financial management of the college.

Thank God for the generosity of several overseas charities towards the development of NBGC. The Anglican Communion Fund has grated us a further £10,000 towards the completion of the first phase of the development. St Saviour's Guildford has awarded us £1,500 from their mission fund. The Slavanka Trust has given us £2,500 for the re-establishment of the library on the new site. And there have been many other contributions from dioceses, parishes and individuals in the UK, Germany and the USA - some large and some small.

Please pray that the gifts continue to enable us to finish building the second staff house, and then embark on the the second phase - the multi-purpose chapel.

Referendum Day

We have arrived on 9th January 2011 and voting is taking place in the referendum on the future of southern Sudan. This is a great day, one that many people wondered whether would even happen only a few months ago.
The NCP (National Congress Party - President Al Bashir's party) has honoured the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) on this question, and the vote is happening six years to the day following its signing. The people of Juba are in festive mood. Things seem to be going their way after so very many years. The people here are quiet and peace-loving. They have had more than enough of war. Although there are still disputes over the border, and things to be worked out concerning the oil that is so very vital to the economy of both north and south, neither side, it seems, is prepared to fight another war over it - a war, of course, that could never be won outright. Everyone knows that compromises and agreements have to be made.
The people who will suffer the most are the southerners living in the north. Many have come south but others remain. We are very concerned for the church in the north. Although the country is going to divide, the province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan will not. We need to pray for these people. The churches have been growing there for some years. They now face a very difficult time.

We had a good time in the UK over Christmas and the New Year. Staying in Bath we saw lots of our new family in Bristol. We were joined by our others from London and China. In Cornwall we had a quiet time with Trevor's parents now in their mid to late 80s.

The college recommences this week. Trevor will be teaching philosophy and Tina continues with her English. We have been granted money from a trust in Wales to move the library to the new site so that will be a major task that lies ahead of us.

Thanksgivings and Prayers Requests

Thank you all for your fantastic prayers in the last few weeks. So much has happened that I have not had time to give you an update. So now here goes.

We have so much to rejoice about - we have received nearly everything we have asked for. Thanks be to God. He delivers much more faithfully than I do when I am sent out shopping! Well done. Now I have a new list for you!

Building Works

Give thanks for all the building work that has been completed and is on the way to being completed. We thank God that the new dormitory, the wash and toilet block, the hall and kitchen are all completed and in use. (You can follow some of the story on our blog and picture page).

Give thanks that, although it took a very long time, we now have electricity and water from the mains so student life is now much more comfortable.

Give thanks that the flow of money from Salisbury has been established and we have now received most of what was given. Give thanks that one of the two staff houses will be finished before the end of this month. The main structure has already been completed, and the electrician and plumber are at work.

We praise God that the fence is in place and the goat sellers are out, and the gambling establishment and their clients that has set up under a big tree on their way, although they are more resistant.

Give thanks that the house we have had for up for rent has now been let long term at a good return. Pray for good tenants for two other houses that are coming up for rent at the moment. We pray that there will be a minimum of delay here.

The only problem that remains regarding the reclaiming of the site concerns the containers that are still parked here. Please pray that the owner will see that he must move them quickly. We have been asking him to move them since March 2009. Pray that we do not have to go to law on this one.

We thank God for the interest in the land available for investment, possibly for a Conference Centre. Pray for the negotiations with these people, that a good deal may be made in the best interests of the college and the Church. This has the potential of moving fast. Pray that we may do so safely and accurately.

Praise God for the interest in the idea of a multipurpose chapel from different places. There is nothing solid yet, and all the money still to be found. We need lots of prayer as we move into Phase Two of the development.

We have application for grants for the moving of the library and the building of a second staff house. Pray that these will bear fruit.

Staff and Students

Praise God that we now have all the staff at the college! Joseph Taban joined us at the beginning of October. Mark Mayool came, at last, last week. This delay has put them under great pressure. Pray for them as they struggle to catch up in this their first semester.

Please pray for Simon Lual and his family. Simon is experiencing a lot of problems with one of his sons who is in danger on the slippery slopes of bad company. This is a huge worry to his parents. Please pray for him.

Thank God that the students are all working very hard and getting used to college life. Pray for them and the staff as we work out the ways in which we want to live as a community in a new college setting. Pray for Joseph Taban who is setting this up.

Pray for improved health for both students and staff. Thank God for Dr Katie who has given her time free to lecture and tend. Pray that God may help all the students to live by the hygiene rules she has ordered - not something that most of them are used to.

Pray for the health of our teachers who are regularly under the weather with something. There is much malaria, some typhoid and other things going around. Give thanks that Trevor and Tina, despite all the hard work, remain in excellent health!

Pray for Andy Wheeler who did not make it to Juba because he had to have a multiple coronary bypass op. Give thanks that he us now on the mend.

Pray for all the students as we approach the exams at the end of this month. This is something new for most of us, including the staff.

The Political Situation in the Sudan

The point of the referendum due on 9th January is to ask about dividing a country into two. This is not something that happens everyday! There is a lot of uncertainty. No-one is sure how it is going to work out. However, we are all carrying on knowing that whatever happens there will be still be a church and people needing ministry. South Sudan is undergoing a huge development. Much is being invested, hope is high.

Our biggest concerns are for those in the border areas, and the ethnic southerners in the North. Also the Christians there of any tribe. If there is trouble this is where it is going to be centred. Large numbers of ethnic southerners are already coming south - often with nothing. The Nile transport captains are cashing in and charging much inflated fairs. These people are often urbanised and have lost touch with the traditional way of life in their ethnic homelands.

So please:

Pray for a referendum that is fair and acceptable to both sides that will take place on the appointed day.

Pray for those living in the north and in the borders areas who are most at risk.

Pray for those coming south that they might be re-absorbed into the south without too much hardship or rejection.

Pray for soldiers on both sides that they will remain disciplined and under the control of their political masters.

We give thanks for the good ethnic diversity at NBGC. Pray for their families and home dioceses in this time away over this challenging period. The college will be in session on 9th January.

Pray with for the Sudan Council of Churches (the ECS and the Christian Church of all denominations) and the many Muslims across both South and North seeking to unite the people in love and peace. May their prayers resound around the whole of the Sudan so that the belligerent minorities will be overcome with love.

Ma Salaam!

Peace be with you

Trevor and Tina

Settling into the New Site

So much has been happening in so many directions, it is difficult to know quite where to begin! First, we have now largely moved onto the new site - although not completely. We still need the old building for one of the classes and six resident students. Our offices are still located here too. The library is due to move to the new site as soon as we can get the new shelving built. We are not quite sure when that will be. This is not ideal as the two sites are about three quarters of a mile from each other and traipsing between the two is hard for some, and you never quite know where a particular student is if they are not in the place they should be! And not just the students. Staff are frequently getting lost. However, as the timetable settles in, the problems should ease. Moving the kitchen from one site to the other was quite a palaver.

Pictures on the picasaweb site when we get round to uploading them.
Secondly, we can now report that, at last, we have every expected member of staff present and working. One should not assume that just because a person is agreed and signed up, that they will actually turn up! But, after two months we have got everybody, which is a tremendous relief. At one point in September with sickness and other things, Tina and Trevor were the only teaching staff on duty with fifty enthusiastic, but often homesick, students! Not good. Thanks for your prayers on this one. Now, having got over the initial settling in period with the new students, we are beginning to gel into a community. Joseph Taban, our newest full-time member of staff, has taken on working with the students to form a proper community with an agreed way of life.
This is not easy as we still have to share the site with all sorts of people. The workshops are still operating in the middle of it, for instance, but we will not ask them to move until we have the money to clear all the buildings properly. Nature abhors a vacuum. If the buildings are empty we would be inviting who knows who, or what. There are, of course, a variety of fauna including human that would delight in empty buildings!
So we need to get on with the second phase of the development - the multipurpose chapel - before we can be really comfortable. But this is where the usual patience comes in. We couldn't have done anymore than we have done in the time; there just aren't enough hours in the day. But now the question arises of where we are going to raise the money for the next stages. We have some exciting developments here.
The roadside area of our site that is earmarked for leasing to an investor is already drawing interest from people. I have had a meeting with an interested agent. Other ideas are out there. After the planned referendum, if all goes well, we anticipate quite an investment spree in Juba and we are on land that is very central. So we need to see what transpires on the political scene - but not for long because the referendum is due to take place in January. But if a lease were agreed this would result in more rent money - quite a lot in the long term.
Then there is the possibility of a visit to the USA in June next year to tour some of the parishes and groups that might be interested in supporting us from there.
But more immediately we have applications in to two charities in the UK for money to help us build the second house. We have also applied for a grant to enable us to move the library to the new site. Lots to pray for!
People are asking about the political scene and all that goes with it. From everything we hear all is still on track for a referendum in the South on 9th January 2011. The question to be put is whether or not Southern Sudan should be independent of the North. Most people in Juba are assuming a vote in favour of separation. But, of course, no one knows for certain how things are going to turn out, so we are inevitably in a time of uncertainty mixed with excitement and a lot of hope. For those of you who are not familiar with the geography of Sudan, it is the largest country in Africa. The northern two thirds is mainly desert type land. This includes Darfur which has had an issue with being ruled by Khartoum/Omdurman for centuries. The southern third is green and fertile with many great rivers, and now oil has been discovered in it. Juba is many, many miles from the border - two or three days by road - and has long looked south to Uganda and Kenya for its trade, so whatever happens we here will not find as much day to day change as those along the border or in the north. Our plan is that the students all register to vote here in Juba. This means we will be open again in time for 9th January so term will start early - 5th January 2011- which means we will be in the UK for the whole of December until just after the New Year. Then we shall all be safely in Juba when the hoped for referendum takes place.

Thanksgivings and Prayers Requests

Dear Prayer Partners,

Developments at NBGC have been wonderful even if fraught at times. However, the problems are small in relation to the blessings, so let us start with the latter. You might like to download the interim administrator's latest report for greater details.
Thanks. Trevor and Tina.

Give thanks for the building that has been completely renovated on the new site and is currently in use for teaching and as a temporary dormitory, and the the fact that the actual dormitory and toilets are almost completed.

Give thanks that we have 32 new students bringing our total to 50 (10 more than we had planned for!). Do pray for them.

Give thanks that we have so many generous sponsors for them. Thank God for the finances that have come our way and the promises made to us for the future.

Thank God for the very warm welcome we received at St Paul's University, Limuru and that we are now a fully affiliated university college offering a diploma in theology. We rejoice that we have 15 first year students embarking on this programme.

Give thanks for God's blessing us with excellent staff, both full and part-time, to ensure quality teaching.

Give thanks for yourselves, our prayer partners all over the world.

Pray for the smoothing out of the hiccups we have encountered.

Pray that the Revd Joseph Taban is soon enabled to come and teach at the college as planned. He is key to the progress of the new diploma students, and his delay is threatening to damage their prospects. Pray also that Mark Mayool will soon be able to join the staff part-time as hoped. Pray for the students in their frustration. Even though we are prepared to do long hours to try and cover, we cannot be in two places at the same time, and it is painful to see the students suffer.

Pray that the money being sent from England flows without problems. We have had to delay the work twice in the last month because of the banks raising difficulties. We trust they have at last been overcome.

Pray for the powerhouse here that they will come and connect up the electricity as promised. All they require has been paid them, but somehow we don't seem to be priority. This makes life very difficult for the students who are studying by torchlight. Our logistic officer has spent hours on this work when there is so much else to do.

Pray also for Andy Wheeler who was planning to be with us and teach in October with a team from Guildford. We were so much looking forward to his coming but he has been told he needs medical treatment which will prevent him from coming. Pray that he may soon be put right and be able to come before long.

Pray that we can let an empty house soon at a good rent so that we can guarantee our funding.

Our dreams ...

Pray that we can soon start building the new staff housing so that our staff can be comfortably accommodated on site. This has to be approved by a committee of persons in the province. Pray that it is not held up at this stage.

Pray that we can find someone prepared to invest in a major conference centre on the site, to both enhance the project and provide some investment income in the long term.

Pray that donors can be found for "stage two" of the project, a multi-purpose chapel. This will enable the new site to really come together and effective teaching to be done in one place (it is hard for both students and staff trailing about three quarters of a mile from one site to the other on foot). It will also enable us to expand the college further.