Urgent Prayer Request

From Robin Denney:

Please pray for the following dioceses in Southern Sudan, which have, this week, suffered major displacement of people, influx of refugees, abductions, loss of life, casualties, and destruction of crops and property, at the hands of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), a group of northern Ugandan rebels:
Ezzo, Yambio, Ibba, Maridi, Mundri, Lui, and Torit

Sudan Prayer Request Details pt. 1

From Bishop Francis Loyo, Anglican Bishop of Rokon in Southern Sudan via Fr. Jerry Drino:

Dear Jerry,

Thank you very much for your concern for the people of the Sudan.

The people of the world are very busy with some of their own things and less concern with things or stories far away from them, however, there is a concern always for the Sudan where suffering is still created within the community which has just come out of the civil war for 21 years.

Can we share the burdens of the war with those who are keeping the people of the Sudan in prayers? We believed that some of these things happened and will one day go as well.

What is very important and urgent is the human sufferings and the great concerns for aged and mothers as well as the children who are living under trees and no shelters or even food to eat or water to drink.

Life is precious and we must valued it, so let us act together in prayers and in support for those dioceses of Yambio, Ezzo, Ibba, Mundri, Lui possibly Torit and we hope that it may not engulf other dioceses as well.

Please your continuous prayers support is highly appreciated with thanks.

Thanks,

+Francis Loyo.

Sudan Prayer Request Details pt. 2

From Fr. Jerry Drino:

Dear Friends,

I have just received this email from the Diocese of Salisbury, England who is in a companion relationship with the whole Province of the Sudan. The attacks of the Lord's Resistance Army on the Diocese of Mundri under score the precarious conditions under which the people and the Church in the Sudan exist. When I was leaving Sudan in December the southern government, Kenya and Uganda had launched an all out attack on all the LRA strong holds. However, an estimated 600 of their soldiers survived and continue their work. In the Diocese of Torit 90% of all the adults were killed. The bishops there are bishops of a diocese of children - over 60,000.

Pray for Mundri and all of the Sudan and the Church that attempts to serve peace and justice. Pray for Robin Denney who leaves on the 23 to begin her mission work as the agricultural resource person for the Province of the Sudan. Pray for her success and safety.

Jerry

Greetings to our Companions

From Bishop Mary:



Thanks to Rev. Ed McNeill for his production work on this video.

New Year's Greeting from Rev. Jacob Nhial Guut

From Rev. Jerry Drino:

Below is a New Year's greeting from the Rev. Jacob Nhial Guut in Nairobi. He does much of the coordination of our program in Kenya and is a deeply gifted spiritual leader.

Dear all Friends, Whatever is warm and inspiring...Whatever means most to you...Whatever makes you smile and brings joy to you... that's what I wish you this New Year 2009. Let all that I am praising the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good thing he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youths is renewed like the eagle's! The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is Compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for our sins; and he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers,we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone- as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation exntends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments! The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything. Praise the Lord, you angels, you might ones who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands. Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels who serve him and his will! Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the Lord. O Lord my God, how great you are! you are robed with honor and Majesty. You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You placed the world on this foundation so it would never be removed. You clothed the earth floods of water, water that covered even the mountains, At your command, the water fled; at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away. The people go off to their work, where they labor until evening. O Lord, what a variety of things you made! in wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small. See ships sailing along, and leviathan, which you made to play in the sea. They all depend on you to give them food as they need it. When you open supply it, they gather it. You open your hand to feed them, and they are richly satified. But if you return away from them, they panic. When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust. When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth. May the glory of the Lord continue with us in New Year 2009 forever!. It was wonderful and joyful for me as I keep time without sleeping until the New Year come and to send you this at the same time. Blessings, Rev. Jacob Nhial Guut.