[This is a post that I started working on in September 2021, it is now being released for the first time! If you would like to learn about my first mission trip to the Taposa Tribe of South Sudan, please read on…]
September 10th, 2021. I just left South Sudan about two weeks ago and I am now home in Washington visiting family for a short while as I prepare to go back to Kona for more training. I am super excited to share all of the amazing things that God did while we were in the bush working with the Taposa Tribe. First I want to thank all of you who support me financially as well as in prayer, you have no idea how powerful your contribution is to making this work possible, and I cannot express how grateful I am for the last six months of my life with Jesus, it has been a trip and a half. Seriously, thank you!!!
In my last post, our team was finishing our ministry in Juba, the capitol of South Sudan, from there our team of nine took a ten passenger cesna to the city of Kapoeta. Kapoeta is the largest city in the Taposa Tribe, a very recently unreached (unsaved) people group of approximately one million people. When we landed, we were greeted by our new friend, Gred, a missionary who pioneered a non-profit school for boys in South Sudan. Greg was absolutely, without a doubt, the most hospitable man I have ever met in my life – there is truly nothing quite like southern hospitality… He was so cool, he even grilled us a delicious Tennessee barbecue for dinner. We were in missionary heaven…
The next day we packed our team into in Greg’s Land Cruiser and another small Toyota, and we ventured out to the missionary compound in the “bush bush,” where we would be staying for the next month. It was a very bumpy ride, and we crossed at least four rivers along the way, but our whole team, including our hiking packs made it out there in one piece, thank God!
When we arrived at the compound in Naliel (Eastern Equatorial region of South Sudan), we were greeted by several Kenyan missionaries and many Taposa people who were all so excited to see us. It was honestly so overwhelming, all I could hear were voices all around saying, “Maata” and “Maata kotede ecota Yesu!” I shook probably twenty hands and I had no idea what was going on, it was awesome! Then we met the team from Kenya, “Seeking the Lost Mission” (SLM), who has been serving God in the Taposa Tribe since 2018, discipling the whole region with a fierce determination to plant one-hundred churches in five years. We quickly learned that they had already surpassed their original goal and were now discipling villages in several surrounding tribes in Northern Sudan and even Kenya. Our team was amazed to hear about all of the work that has been done to reach this tribe which was almost entirely unreached only four years ago. It was very exciting to hear how successful their ministry has been, but then we found out the secret to their success. They have been using the discipleship model which was basically the DNA of our Discipleship Training School back in Kona, it’s called Discipleship Making Movements (or DMM, for short). If you haven’t heard of it before, you can check it out here –> https://youtu.be/YYSaxAdUqMY. It is quite literally the most powerful method for discipleship that has ever been created, it is actually the same exact way Jesus taught His disciples to do it over 2000 years ago! (Luke 10)
Our team focused on going out to different churches all over the region to work with the local disciples and offer them more training in how to model the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) groups that they have been doing within the villages. We also got to worship God with them under the stars every night at their fireside churches, it was so cool to see how they worship with song and dance, and we had the privilege to share bible stories with them as our team put on little skits to act out the Word of God. It was truly a life changing experience for us and I pray that the work we did there will have a far-reaching and lasting impact on the Christian and non-Christian communities of that region. Here I have recorded some of the amazing testimonies of God that we experienced with our team:
Our first week of being in the bush, we went to Nawiapak and Pongo, two villages that are near to the border of Kenya and Ethiopia, in the mountains. We spent our mornings doing DBS with the local disciples of that area, one morning we had 12 disciples, male and female, we did John 4, and the story of the woman at the well, we encouraged the disciples to continue sharing the Gospel everywhere they went. We found that the people there were really getting a lot of revelation from the Holy Spirit, and that they were already very obedient to sharing the Word with others, even they will travel on foot many kilometers just to bring the Word of God to the other villages, despite the persecution in some areas. Some of us got to experience the challenges of living in the bush that morning while we went to get water at the local well (“bore-hole”). We walked about 5k there and then carried 22 liter jerrycans on our shoulders all the way back. Caleb, Matthew, Brett, Elijah, and Julius all went with some locals for that mission, and we decided it would be better to take the bike next time, haha! It was really good though to go and pump water for the locals, and Caleb ended up going back on the bike to pump more water for people, all of us – and especially Caleb – learned something about serving others that day. Another one of our DBS groups was in Nawiapak on August 7th, we had a group of about 11 men, disciples of that region, we shared the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and they shared the story of the demon-possessed man who Jesus delivered. The disciples got revelation from these stories about the power of God to overcome darkness and persecution against the church. We also saw some healing as we prayed for several people around the area for health. At the fireside in Pongo we told stories of the bible to more than 200 people, we shared the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego again, and we encouraged the people to persevere in the face of persecution. We heard that after we went to that village, the persecution in that area stopped because of the demonstration of the reality of God through our team at the fireside churches. The people were so encouraged to hear about the American church and how there is no difference between us and them. This was so good to hear because prior to that there was a lot of persecution in this area. The last day we were there it looked like God was about to answer our prayers for rain, so we packed our stuff up quickly and got out of there to avoid the storm, and it was a good decision because when we went back we struggled through the mud and had to trek the last 6 miles back to the compound on foot because the Land Cruiser was completely stuck! It rained a lot in these villages though and it was a huge blessing to the people of that region so praise the Lord for more rain!
The next week, after Josh left, we did ministry in Naliel, which was the area in which the compound was located. Some of us went to the school and taught lessons in the mornings, sharing praise songs with the students, while the rest of our team organized more DBS groups during the mornings and the day, and women’s ministries on Tuesday. We did a lot of hiking around that area. sharing DBS with some of the local disciples in their churches during the day. We did some evening hikes to different fireside churches as well, we footed about 10-15 kilometers away to a village near a river, we told the story of Noah’s Arc, I had the honor of sharing the Gospel that night with 120 people and we prayed with that village for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we had a moment where several anointed songs broke out in the Taposa language and many people were moved by the power of God. That night, we were hoping that it wouldn’t rain (even though that was our constant prayer) because we had to walk home, but it did rain just like the first week and we slept through it until it was over. It was another answer to prayer and a huge blessing for that village to get rain too, and we walked back to Naliel that morning with some of the disciples, and then we did DMM training on Luke 10 with about 8 disciples, and we pressed in on the point of teaching obedience to the Word of God in the church. When we were away at that village, the rest of our team stayed at the compound. Brett spoke at the local fireside on identity, and Kyle spoke on healing and the power of the Holy Spirit, about 40-50 people were there, they prayed for healing and 4 women got healed that night and felt the power of the Holy Spirit in them, they also encouraged the church to pray for healing in their own communities. That Sunday, August 15th we went to the local church and Kyle preached on the power of the Holy Spirit, then we prayed with the church for healing over the sick and injured, we prayed also for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and at least 10-15 people got healed, one of our translators got completely healed from his ankle being messed up for at least a few days, he had went with us to the village on foot and this moment God totally blessed him. After he got healed, he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, then he worshipped the Lord in front of the church. Many people were moved to tears by the demonstration of the reality of God they had seen that day. This was one of the coolest testimonies I experienced during our entire outreach, it really had a powerful impact on the church and our team, too. After church, we had fireside that night in a local church, and Yoobin preached on the power of testimony, Felix shared his testimony of getting miraculously healed and met by the power of the Holy Spirit, and this was a really powerful night too, we prayed for healing and saw the Holy Spirit moving in the whole church. This week was a time of breakthroughs in our ministry, and it really opened my heart to see how much God loves to heal His children.
During the third week of our ministry in the Taposa Tribe we did a lot of hiking to local villages. We were able to share the Gospel at two different firesides, each of these being about 50 or 60 people, so in total about 100 to 120 people heard the Gospel. On August 18th, Kyle did a lot of medical ministry with Julius, they went to four different villages, treated about 9 or 10 people, and prayed for them, they saw at least three healings that day. This week we also did community work around the compound, cleaning up trash and doing some basic maintenance. The firesides we went to were all within walking distance, and we gave lots of encouragement and shared stories from the Bible. At the end of that week, we took a trip to a village called Nabois, we met with the elders and the leader of the SLM team gently encouraged them to repent and turn away from their sins so that the rain would come, they had not seen rain for a long time and apparently there was some witchcraft going on in that particular region… We then met with our host family in the village, Luchino and Magdalene, we chatted for a long time, and then Elly and Kath preached on the love of God, Elly shared the Gospel and Kath shared the practical side of walking in love, there were about 20-30 people there for that church service. That night, there was a big fireside of about 250-300 people, Brett spoke on the Prophet Elijah praying for rain, the power of praying in Jesus’ name, and identity in Christ, and we did have a time of corporate prayer for rain. Monday, August 23rd, Kyle, Elly, Matthew, and Julius hiked to a nearby village to invite the disciples and send word to other villages to come to the village for a training on Tuesday, while we were hiking, the rest of the group did a training on repentance, how to give a message, the Trinity (Father-Son-Holy Spirit), and the 5-Finger Gospel (Creation, Sin, Judgement, The Cross, and The Promise). Everyone loved the lesson! During this time, Luchino received prayer for his leg burn, and two ladies got prayed over and were healed, this prayer was a corporate prayer, not just from our team, as we were also encouraging the church to pray for healing for one another. As a team, we spent time worshipping and interceding for the village, which led to a time of repentance for our team and repenting on behalf of the villages for witchcraft. That night, we went to the fireside church in Nabois again and Kyle preached about the power of the Holy Spirit. I felt inspired to do something a little bit different that night, so we invited the whole village to repent corporately and then we prayed over everyone at the fire . One lady we prayed for needed some deliverance, Matthew and Mary invited everyone to pray over her, and then she decided to rededicate her life to Jesus! As the fire tunnel was coming to an end, some of our team prophesied over the children of God as we finished praying, and then we had to go back to the village. That night, the rain came, it was a huge answer to prayer and left the whole region soaked. Turns out, God loves to bless repentant hearts, and He really opened the floodgates that night! The next day, we shared the training on the 5-Finger Gospel at the local church of about 55 people, and we encouraged them to pray for healing again, and so we did end up praying for Luchino, and some of the elders and women of the area, several women received healing that day. This ended our time in Nabois, and we took the Land Cruiser back to the compound in Naliel. It really felt like our team was seeing God move in extraordinary ways!
The fourth week, we did some more community work on the compound, on the 26th, we went to the village of Caldo, and preached at their fireside church in the evening, Josiah spoke about the story of the prodigal son, and Jake shared the Gospel to about 200-300 people there. Early the next morning we did a DBS with about 40 people, Kath led, and then Josiah shared the 5-Finger Gospel and did a little training on it with the disciples there. We prayed for people at the end and then we left to go to another village. We went to the local fireside church where Daniel and Elly told the story of Zaccheus, and then Brett told the story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. Then we prayed for everyone and went back to the village. The next morning we did DBS with the disciples under the tree and we shared the 5-Finger Gospel, and did a training on it with Kyle leading. We then prayed for healing for some people there and a lady got completely healed from physical pain all over her body. She was jumping and singing afterwards while we all praised God for the healing! Then we had fireside church that night and Kyle preached on the principle of forgiveness, and it was a really challenging subject for the people for some reason, so one of the local disciples gave a little word of encouragement on how to forgive and pray for forgiveness. The whole church had a time of prayer and forgiveness, and then we prayed corporately for healing and about 10-12 people got healed! The power of healing from God was really moving through the churches at this time. The next day was Sunday, we split into two groups and one went back to Caldo to preach at the local church. Felix preached, Elly shared a testimony, and Matthew gave a word of encouragement for the edification of the body of Christ. We expressed our hearts as we departed from the people and left to go back to Naliel. The other team who stayed in the village also had church, and Elijah came right at the perfect moment and started translating for Josiah, who preached on the simple Gospel and then spoke about the Holy Spirit, he also gave a warning against worshipping false idols and this led into a time of prayer for healing and blessing for the church. As we prayed, Julius started singing, then one of the disciples started praying out loud for forgiveness, forgiving himself and then forgiving other people, and this led to many people being moved to tears by the power of the Holy Spirit moving through the congregation. Five men also prayed out loud for forgiveness and it touched their hearts in a special way. After the forgiveness time, we prayed for a lady who had just come from doing witchcraft and still had markings of witchcraft on her face and her body, while we were praying for her we could sense that she was getting delivered in the spirit as she started sweating profusely, and then five people got healed! This was an amazing day for our whole team, and it started raining after church, which was another huge blessing! Finally, we all came back to the compound and this ended up being the last big outing for our team.
The last few days of our time in Taposaland we went out and prayed for people in a nearby village twice, we saw 9 healings in total over those few days. Kyle and Julius did some medical ministry and saw at least 7 more healings. Then the final day our team prepared a love-feast for the long-term missionaries at the base, Kyle and Matthew prophesied on their instruments and worshipped while the rest of our team performed feet washing ceremonies while praying and prophesying over each of the missionaries on the SLM team, Mary got totally encountered by the Holy Spirit, and so did Elijah, while we were praying over them, the team was truly moved by the whole experience. That was unfortunately the end of our time working with the SLM team in the field, but it was also an exciting new beginning for YWAM’s relationship with the Taposa Tribe. Before we left, we discussed how we could continue to help the mission in the future and we came up with some really powerful ways to reach more people in the Taposa Tribe and beyond. One of my goals now in serving the Taposa from the USA is to inform others in and outside of YWAM about the need and the value of sending missionaries to this tribe, our school leader in Kona now wants to send more DTS students to work with the SLM team again even as soon as the next Spring DTS comes around. I am working to collect information from our outreach team on their experiences with DMM in the field, and see what we can do to prepare future teams for going on outreach to the Taposa Tribe. Another mission I have on my heart is to work with End Bible Poverty Now (EBPN) so that we can invite Elijah (the main translator on the SLM team) to help in the production of an oral bible translation in the Taposa language! This would be a huge blessing to the SLM team and the whole Taposa Tribe, allowing everyone to receive their own audio bibles in their heart language, and it would be a big win for EBPN too in furthering the ministry. Who knows? Finally, our whole team agreed that our friend Julius, one of the leaders of the SLM team, would be an amazing fit as a guest speaker in a DTS, so we want to encourage YWAM to pursue the opportunity to have him come speak at a school in the near future! So many wonderful opportunities have come out of this outreach, and I am so excited to see God fulfill every single one of the dreams He has so graciously placed on our hearts in this season. Please partner with me in prayer for the Taposa Tribe and the nation of South Sudan, so that we can all see how our Father works everything out for our highest good and His highest glory to be made evident in the Kingdom around the world!
The Long Road Ahead
For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland…
Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
It is truly amazing to be a witness to the testimony of God’s work in the Taposa tribe, and to have a small hand in bringing the people of South Sudan into fellowship with our wonderful Creator! However, the work is not done for our friends in Taposaland. The people of the Taposa Tribe in South Sudan still need the Bible translated in their own heart language, they still need discipleship, they still need prayer. Would you join me in prayer for the peoples of South Sudan and the missionaries who are doing the work of discipling this beautiful tribe? Here are some prayer points:
- For the persecuted communities of believers who are actively living out their faith in the tribes right now, that they would be strengthened in their faith through the trials they face, and that God would bring revival and reformation to their villages.
- For the next generation of believers, and the unborn generations who will one day enter into a world transformed by the love of Jesus in their communities, that they would know and love the Word of God and be obedient to the calling on their lives as Children of God.
- For Bible translation projects to get started for the 11 Bibleless languages in South Sudan, and for the laborers who will bring these Bibles to the unreached peoples wherever they are.
- For the SLM Team and their families to have all that they need to continue the work of discipling the Taposa tribe and that they would have strong family relationships and continue growing in the Lord together. Blessing and favor over them in Jesus name!
- For God to send me and many more missionaries to GO and serve the South Sudanese and provide the resources necessary to bring healing and transformation to their communities.
Please keep the Taposa tribe in your prayers, and believe with me for the miraculous power of our God to bring healing, redemption, and transformation to His people in South Sudan. Thank you for partnering with me in this mission.
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
From Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth (Ephesians 3:14-21)
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