Ita ainu? Jena ta ananas weledu fi inak! (Do you see? The baby of the pineapple is born over there!)
When I first heard this phrase in Arabic, I just laughed! It seemed strange that someone would refer to the new pineapple as the "child of the pineapple.” Yet as we see from the pictures, that is indeed what is happening - a baby pineapple comes off the top of the old pineapple leaves after 2 years of patient waiting! Some plants take even longer - I was told many years ago that the avocado tree takes about 7 years to produce the first crop of fruit. Patience...waiting.....that has been a theme for this year...2014!
Thankfully we were able to return to South Sudan in March, more than a month later than planned. Yet God is faithful, and we have returned to a safe place in this young country, troubled again by violence just before Christmas 2013. The negotiations continue. Nearly 1,000,000 citizens have been displaced over the past 3+ months, and thousands have been killed. News of insecurity in many places fill conversations and UN security meetings. Inadequate supplies and food for the displaced people trouble the minds of all aid organizations who attempt to help. Yet many complain. Many are critical of the way things are handled. Nothing is easy. And the rains are not helping.
We get our news from several news sites online as well as the radio. Last week we were listening to BBC, and I realized once again the privilege that it is for us to be in this place at this time in the history of South Sudan. Yes, there are problems; the lack of infrastructure and governmental structure make every step slow and tedious. Understanding of disease and basic health is very low and repetition is essential. Yet there is progress....in time! I heard today again: Something GOOD takes TIME! So true.
The United Methodist Church has had missionary staff (what we might call "cross-cultural workers") here on the ground in Yei since 2009 - just 5 years. At this time we on the District Team are working through the Strategic Planning process for the next 5 years! It reminds me of the birthing process - painful at times; exciting at others. But new life is the happy result! Now the challenge continues as we re-cast the vision for the future of the church in this place and work alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ to finalize the Strategic Plan - and suffer the growing pains in the process. Thankfully we are never too old to learn! It reminds me of the time we as parents invest in the lives of our children. Slow and daily steps lead to an adult life, living for Jesus and serving others. And it reminds me of the patience of our Heavenly Father as we continue to grow in faith and faithfulness - living into the mission of making disciples for the transformation of this little part of the world!
I read these verses from II Corinthians 5: 17 - 20a and am challenged to realize this is the call for each of us: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors......."
The ministry of reconciliation - so needed in this time in the world. News of Ukraine and Russia; the 20 year anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda; the stabbings in a Pennsylvania school; the tribal conflicts in South Sudan; the pain in Central African Republic; the desperate situation in Syria. May we seek new life - new birth - with patience, love, and reconciliation, as Jesus' ambassadors, wherever we are! Nina bilimu tani! Rabuna kali barigu itakum! (We will meet again! God bless you all!)
