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John Haspels Sudan mission slide presentation.
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- John HaspelsNow what I want you to do is to try and use your imagination and pretend like you have just gone
- John Haspelsas a volunteer to the South Sudan.
- John HaspelsAnd one way that you got into the area that I referred to as Pibor was to ride on the back of a merchant's truck.
- John HaspelsAnd as you're riding along. You might as well catch that mic too, while you're at it. As you're riding
- John Haspelsalong, the sun begins to come up and you realize that you're coming into a populated area because you can see
- John Haspelsthe silhouettes of houses and granaries.
- John HaspelsIf you're really alert you can hear the cry of the fish eagle [Haliaeetus vocifer] from tree to tree, which is a very familiar sound as in
- John Haspelsthis part of the world.
- John HaspelsBut it's not until the sun comes up that you realize that you're in a drought stricken area. This would be a very
- John Haspelscommon sight. Thousands of cattle died during the drought. And, cattle like this were laying everywhere,
- John Haspelshaving died from not having enough to eat. In fact the
- John Haspelscattle were so weak that, when they came down to the watering hole, which which was drying up, they would get bogged
- John Haspelsdown in the mud and then just simply collapse. And, the people would have to drag the cattle out of the water.
- John HaspelsThere are two problems that normally accompany a drought. One is the problem of hunger. The other is the problem of
- John Haspelsgood water. Hunger was alleviated because the people were able to eat the cattle that were dying.
- John HaspelsNow you can see the water problem. This man is just scooped into the same water that the cattle were wallowing
- John Haspelsaround in. And, he's drinking it without boiling or filtering it.
- John HaspelsThis became a common sight as the water holes began drying up. The people began migrating to where there was more water.
- John HaspelsWomen would normally carry all the personal belongings on their head sometimes weighing up to 80 pounds. The man
- John Haspelswould often follow with a spear. In this case the man is blind. And, so he is being led by his son.
- John HaspelsThis is one of the elders in the Presbyterian church there in Pibor. And, I refer to him as E.F. Hutton. The
- John Haspelsreason I refer to him as E.F. Hutton is because we went on an evangelistic trip one night, when I spoke
- John Haspelsnobody listened, but when he spoke everybody listened.
- John HaspelsThis is what it would look like inside one of their homes. They have mud plastered walls. The man in the middle
- John Haspelsis the sub chief. And, a lot of people ask me why is his face so much shinier than everybody else's. The reason was
- John Haspelshe slept under a mosquito net that night. The rest had to cover themselves with ashes to keep the mosquitoes from biting.
- John HaspelsFarmers are usually interested as to how the people store their grain. If they have grain to store, they will store it in granaries
- John Haspelsthat you see on the right. They will build a fire under the granary and the smoke from the fire keeps the
- John Haspelsbugs and weevils out of the grain. The tribe in
- John Haspelsthis area is known as Murles. And if you were a Murle woman when you reached the age of
- John Haspels12 you'd have to wear a certain pattern of beads. That pattern of beads would be with you the rest of your life. And, they would
- John Haspelsidentify which age group you belong to. If you were to see this pattern of beads, you would know that it was a very
- John Haspelselderly woman. Notice also that the Murle women will pierce a hole through their lower lip and put in a bone
- John Haspelsplug. One of the favorite
- John Haspelspastimes of young men is to play a thumb piano that you see this young fella playing.
- John HaspelsIt was really interesting to us to see the transition from a time of drought and hunger to a time of
- John Haspelsplenty and glut. And, as the rains began, the river came up. Everything turned green and a certain kind of
- John Haspelsantelope began migrating through the area. And as these antelope swam across the river, the people would
- John Haspelsswim out with their spears and spear these animals.
- John HaspelsIn about a two week period, thousands of these animals were speared, as you can see in this picture here.
- John HaspelsThe women and the children got in the act by butchering and pleading what animals were killed.
- John HaspelsBut how were they to store the meat that they could not eat? What they would do is cut the meat up into thin strips, hang it up in trees
- John Haspelslike this, and let it dry in the sun. And this is the way they preserve their meat over a long period of time.
- John HaspelsA farmer over there would have three basic tools. He would have a machete for harvesting his crop. He would
- John Haspelsprobably have a small hoe, which he works his ground with, and maybe an axe for chopping wood.
- John HaspelsI'd like to pose this question to elders in the church. This man was nominated to be an elder in the church.
- John HaspelsBut when they examined him they discovered that the lady he was living with was not his wife, his legal wife.
- John HaspelsThe reason she was not a legal wife was because he couldn't afford to pay all the cows. In this. In this tribe it
- John Haspelswould cost up to 80 head of cattle. So how would you solve a church problem like that? These are the kinds of
- John Haspelsproblems that we wrestled with in the church. The way we solved it was, we asked him if you had the cows
- John Haspelswould you take this woman to be your wife? Now, that's an important question because oftentimes when they finally do
- John Haspelsget the cows, they choose another woman.
- John HaspelsWe had a Christian wedding for him, and then he was ordained and installed as an elder in the church. And, here he is with several of
- John Haspelsthe other elders and leaders in the Pibor Presbyterian Church that you see in the background.
- John HaspelsThere are three congregations that meet in this church. Two of the congregations would be Presbyterian and the other
- John Haspelsis Anglican. Once a month all three congregations meet together. These three congregations would
- John Haspelsrepresent three different tribes.
- John HaspelsInside the church, the people are packed in. And, the women would sit on one side and the men would sit on the other.
- John HaspelsWe discovered that the local church in Pibor was doing nothing in the way of evangelism, reaching out to the villages. And, we
- John Haspelsencourage the leaders to begin going out into the villages. And, as a result, this new congregation was
- John Haspelsborn. Since we left Pibor, they've built their own church.
- John HaspelsHere's a fellow that I referred to as a bush Murle. He's a man who was a cattle raiser, a nomadic
- John Haspelscattle raiser. He moved wherever there was green pasture. Yet, he was a Christian and he was making up songs that we
- John Haspelswere singing in the local church. So E.F. Hutton and I decided to try and find him one day and after a long
- John Haspelswere singing in the local church. So E.F. Hutton and I decided to try and find him one day and after a long
- John Haspelstime of finally trying to find him we did find him. And after a nice long night of
- John Haspelsinstruction and teaching, the next morning we baptized him.
- John HaspelsWe wanted to baptize his wife, but we ran into the same problem again. We couldn't afford the cattle to pay
- John Haspelsfor her because all the cows had died during the drought. And so, he was making installment plans and was not
- John Haspelslegally married yet. So the parents said, "No. You cannot baptize her." So we didn't.
- John HaspelsI'm also assigned by the Presbyterian Church in Sudan to be a parish pastor. This means that any different
- John Haspelsany church in the parish that would have a baptism or wants communion served,
- John Haspelsthey would call me to come and officiate. On this particular day, 71 new Christians were baptized and there
- John Haspelscould have been many more if we just had the time to hike up and down river where people had become
- John HaspelsChristians and wanted to be baptized. One of
- John Haspelsmy responsibilities is leadership training.
- John HaspelsSudan is officially a Muslim country so according to their books, there are no missionaries working in the Sudan.
- John HaspelsSo people like me have to come in under another heading. And, I am in the country as a builder. And, others would
- John Haspelscome in as medical workers, development workers, agriculturists and this sort of thing.
- John HaspelsOne of the things that we built in Pibor was this small dam. We hoped to catch rainy season water during the
- John Haspelsrainy season and hopefully it will store enough water for use during the dry season.
- John HaspelsWe are not just working with Presbyterians. This is a Southern Baptist doctor who is on the team team with us at Pibor. And,
- John Haspelshe's seeing one of his patients in the clinic.
- John HaspelsHis wife Ginny works with him in medical work as well as women's work. One of
- John Haspelsthe things that Ginny did was to go out to one of the villages every day and try and teach women
- John Haspelsin that village how to read. Normally women would never have the opportunity to learn how to read. And, she would teach these women, as
- John Haspelswell as any young men that wanted to learn. And, after they learned, she gives them New Testament portions.
- John HaspelsNow, we are going to leave Pibor and move to the new area that I referred to where we were to do
- John Haspelspioneer evangelism and church planting. You can see the superhighway that we travel on the lower right
- John Haspelshand corner of the slide and we're going to move up into the mountains that you see in the background to start this new
- John Haspelsevangelism effort. We brought in two trucks and
- John Haspelsthe unimog that I am I am driving. It broke down on the way in, and so it had to be towed up the
- John Haspelshill. We brought tried to bring in all our building supplies, all our fuel supplies, food. Everything
- John Haspelsthat we would need for a year at a time.
- John HaspelsWhen the trucks arrived at the top of the hill it was a really exciting day for the people because this was the first
- John Haspelsconvoy to come up to the top of the mountain since World War II.
- John HaspelsThis is a volcanic plug right outside our front door. It has religious significance to the people because they
- John Haspelswill sacrifice goats to this mountain in order that the gods would be appeased and that rain would come.
- John HaspelsIt's a very beautiful area with waterfalls during the rainy season. This waterfall would dry up during the dry season.
- John HaspelsAnd also tropical rain forest.
- John HaspelsEach morning we can hear the colobus monkey. And, they would be responsible for waking us up in the mornings.
- John HaspelsThat people have their houses right on the edge of the escarpment. In the rainy season water is not a problem. But in the
- John Haspelsdry season there's no water on top of the mountain. And so it all has to be carried.
- John HaspelsWhen we arrived at the top of the mountain, we discovered a completely different tribe from the one that we had spent a year learning the
- John Haspelslanguage and culture of. This particular tribe is known as the Surma.
- John HaspelsThey are very primitive isolated people. And, a lot of Americans, when they come over there, say I can't tell one
- John Haspelstribe from another. Well. Let me give you some clues: If you see a man with a tuft of hair on his forehead with a larger tuft
- John Haspelson the back of his head with a large hole in his ear lobe for decoration, you would know that he was a Surma.
- John HaspelsAnd you would greet him by saying Shandi. The Surma
- John Haspelswomen are easier to tell, because a young girl when she reaches marriageable age will cut a hole
- John Haspelscompletely through her lower lip and begin to stretch it out with the lip plate.
- John HaspelsThe larger the lip plate the more attractive the girl is. And it's true, I guess, that beauty is indeed in
- John Haspelsthe eye of the beholder.
- John HaspelsYou can see the loose part of the lip around the white part of the tin can. That's her lip that's around the tincan.
- John HaspelsI show this for another reason, however, that tin can was our garbage. And, our garbage
- John Haspelstends to become their treasure. And I think they would be appalled by what we as Americans throw away and
- John Haspelswaste each day. The Suleima
- John Haspelsmen have a favorite sport, much like our football, only their sport is stick fighting. And, they will put on this
- John Haspelsprotective gear before the stick fight.
- John HaspelsThey will have the cloth knotted at the back of their neck. If they were not to have this cloth on the back of their neck, if they were to be
- John Haspelshit at the base of the skull with these sticks, it would kill them.
- John HaspelsIn the background you can see two men beginning to stick fight.
- John HaspelsThis is a very encouraging and exciting thing for us and it represents a court case. What had happened
- John Haspelswas some men from the Suleima tribe had gone over the mountain and beat up some people from another tribe. In the past that
- John Haspelswould have been settled by retaliation and possibly a tribal war. On this particular day it was
- John Haspelssettled by this court case. The men responsible were whipped and then tied up and taken to prison.
- John HaspelsI show this picture for two reasons. One. Notice the cuts on the back of this young lady. They will
- John Haspelsmake all these cuts and then rub ashes into the cut. And when it heals that leaves a permanent welt. This is to decorate their
- John Haspelsbodies. Both men and women do this. Also we noticed people standing by the Unimog, oftentimes by
- John Haspelsthe hour. We discovered that they were looking at themselves for the first time in a mirror. And I wonder what your
- John Haspelsresponse would be if you were to see yourself in the mirror for the first time.
- John HaspelsThe other tribe in the area are what I refer to as a high land Murle. And they live in very
- John Haspelscompact villages like this
- John HaspelsThe Murles tend to be a little more civilized, if I can use that word, than the Surma. They do have
- John Haspelsclothes, and they do encourage education for their children if they have the opportunity.
- John HaspelsThe men after harvest is in have a favorite pastime of smoking hubble-bubble pipes. And, a lot of times people ask
- John Haspelsme, what do they smoke? Well, they do grow their own tobacco, but they oftentimes mix cow manure with the
- John Haspelstobacco for added flavor.
- John HaspelsWhen we arrived, we had all kinds of children coming up to play with our children. Unfortunately all the
- John Haspelschildren were boys. The reason was the girls were all down in the villages babysitting little brother and
- John Haspelssister. A third tribe that
- John Haspelsmoved into the area because of famine in the lowlands were the Toposas. that you can see this man does not fit the
- John Haspelspattern of the other two tribes that we've pointed out.
- John HaspelsWe wanted to build ourselves a house as soon as we arrived in this new area, but because there was no water
- John Haspelsin the dry season, at least not enough water for sand making cement and no sand, we had to
- John Haspelspostpone until the rains began.
- John HaspelsAfter the rains began, the framework to our house started to go up.
- John HaspelsWe are living in a modified A-frame house. It was designed to be inexpensive, go up quickly,
- John Haspelsand be cool in the hot time of year. And, a lot of people asked me why. How can a tin house be cool?
- John HaspelsActually there are two layers with about a foot and a half of dead air space between the two layers. And that keeps the
- John Haspelsinside of the house cool. We also use solar panels that you see in the lower left hand corner for
- John Haspelscharging 12 volt batteries and our house is lighted on 12 volt batteries.
- John HaspelsEven before we moved into this new area, we had to construct an airstrip because six to
- John Haspelsseven months of the year the roads in Sudan are closed due to flooding from the rains. And so without an
- John Haspelsairplane, we would be stranded.
- John HaspelsEvery two weeks the airplane would come in with supplies and mail. And, it was an exciting day for the people because
- John Haspelsmany of them had never seen an airplane on the ground before.
- John HaspelsNow what about my wife [Haspels, Gwyneth] ? I couldn't bring her with me. So what are some of the things that she would have to do? When she. When
- John Haspelswe were in Pibor, she would go to market and she would have to cross the river in a dugout canoe.
- John HaspelsWhen we moved into the into the new area, there was no medical aid being given to the people. And so in the
- John Haspelsmorning she would teach our children by correspondence courses. And, in the afternoon, she would hold this clinic out under a
- John Haspelstree, and she was seeing from 70 to 90 patients every afternoon.
- John HaspelsThis fellow came in with burns over his neck and shoulders and chest, and they were not healing. But, it was amazing to
- John Haspelsus how quickly they did heal after he got some antibiotics in his system.
- John HaspelsBurns are very common because they have open fires in their houses all the time. But more often than not the
- John Haspelsburn victims are babies. This fellow's not a baby. You can tell that he was to the witch doctor before he came to us
- John Haspelsbecause you can see the green markings which witch doctor put on his forehead.
- John HaspelsThis is the first time in our missionary experience that we've come face to face with famine and starvation.
- John HaspelsThis young fella died several days later.
- John HaspelsRegistered nurses in their training here in America are not trained for some of the things that my wife would see, such as the goiter
- John Haspelsin this woman. Also,
- John Haspelswhen their favorite sport is stick fighting, we had an all day stick fight about 200 yards from our house. And, of course,
- John Haspelswe had a steady stream of young men who were wounded in battle.
- John HaspelsBut it's not all work. Sometimes my wife would act as a lifeguard when our kids were swimming and there was always a
- John Haspelscrowd that gathered when our kids were swimming. So my wife would use that as an opportunity to practice her language.
- John HaspelsWe made this water catchment hoping to catch water to store during the dry season, and our kids turned it into a
- John Haspelsswimming pool. A lot of times
- John Haspelspeople think that missionaries' kids are saints, but they aren't. My son is sliding down the hill with his
- John Haspelsbest shoes on into the puddle of water.
- John HaspelsThis always goes out of focus. I think it is so it won't be a bad example for kids in the crowd.
- John HaspelsThis is a four wheel drive club of Pibor. The only store bought vehicle in this whole
- John Haspelscollection is the one that my son is driving. All the rest are homemade.
- John HaspelsAnd it's interesting our kids pick up the sports of the kids there. And, when everybody was down spearing fish, the
- John Haspelsriver dried up. Our kids were down there with their spears as well spearing fish.
- John HaspelsWe like to have cookouts with our workers as well as our children.
- John HaspelsBut what are some of the problems that people face? A major problem is insects. Tsetse f
- John Haspelslies keep them from raising cattle in this new area. Mosquitoes spread malaria and all kinds of
- John Haspelsinsects destroy their gardens. What the insects don't
- John Haspelsdestroy, the birds do. In the new area, we
- John Haspelsdiscovered that our biggest pest were baboons and monkeys. If a person left his cornfield
- John Haspelsunattended for a short time, these baboons could come in and wipe out the field.
- John HaspelsAnother problem is water. We tried to dig for water. In the shallow well here, we did find water,
- John Haspelsbut it was very swampy tasting and smelling.
- John HaspelsWater is a critical problem for the people. This lady may have to walk several miles to get a pot full of water. That
- John Haspelspot full of water may last only a few days, and then she would have to go again. Notice that she does not have
- John Haspelsher lip plate in her mouth and so her lip is just hanging down.
- John HaspelsThis points up a problem in most third world countries, The people have no idea of germs or
- John Haspelsparasites. And so, this young girl hass just washed in this water. And then, she will scoop into the same water and drink
- John Haspelsit and wonder why she becomes sick.
- John HaspelsOne of the solutions is a water project involving windmills and hand pumps. This is a
- John Haspelswindmill that was made by a missionary in another area.
- John HaspelsAnother problem in South Sudan is the problem of good roads. There are very few. And so you spend a lot of your
- John Haspelstime just digging out of mudholes.
- John HaspelsA problem that we're facing is a problem of refugees. Most relief agencies have
- John Haspelsrefused to get involved in the refugees in this area because there's just not enough of them. So we are the
- John Haspelsonly ones responding to their need. And also I want you to see if if you can see there's something
- John Haspelsconspicuous in this picture by their absence. Can you see what it is? Just one woman and two
- John Haspelslittle kids. The reason is those men as they fled across the border from Ethiopia left their
- John Haspelswives and children behind. And now, it's impossible for them to go back and retrieve their wives and children.
- John HaspelsNormally in African society, a woman is responsible for grinding the grain. So what were these refugees to do?
- John HaspelsWe provided these two small hand grinders for the men to use and they sometimes used them up to six hours a day.
- John HaspelsWe're living next to the second largest game park in the world with the second largest herd of antelope in the world. The
- John Haspelsparticular kind of antelope is known as kob.
- John HaspelsSudan is referred to as the land of whirring wings in, in Isaiah. And it's true. There are many different
- John Haspelskinds of birds in Sudan. These are golden crested cranes.
- John HaspelsThere are also other forms of wildlife in the area.
- John HaspelsBut the question still remains, why are we there? And this scripture comes to mind, What does it
- John Haspelsprofit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? And what does it profit them if we just
- John Haspelsbring in clean water and medical aid and they lose their own soul? So our primary reason for being there is
- John Haspelsto do evangelism and church planning. And, we are working together with the Presbyterian Church in Sudan.
- John HaspelsThe young man that you saw the blackboard is an evangelist assigned to work with us. And, they've discovered in
- John HaspelsSudan that where the church is growing the fastest is also where the church is involved in literacy.
- John HaspelsAnd so as a resul,t we began literacy classes right away in this new area.
- John HaspelsPeople ask us how do you communicate the Gospel in a new area? Well one way my wife [Haspels, Gwyneth] does is when
- John Haspelspeople come into our home for a visit, she'll sit down and chat with them and use it as a good opportunity to share the gospel
- John Haspelswith them.
- John HaspelsWhen I go with the evangelist out into the villages, we would sit around on mats. We would always
- John Haspelssay that we wanted the chief and the decision makers in the in the village to come to the meeting, because if we
- John Haspelsonly spoke to children. they would get the idea that Christianity is just for kids. And, we may start by asking them
- John Haspelsthis question: What is the most powerful thing in the world? And it's interesting the conclusion they come to. They
- John Haspelswill often say that death is the most powerful thing because no matter how rich or how poor, how
- John Haspelsold or how young you are, you're going to eventually die. And it's true for us. We have all these fancy hospitals with
- John Haspelsnice medicine and we still all face death. But you noticed the opportunity that it gives
- John Haspelsus. We can say ah but we know somebody who has conquered death on your behalf, and his name is
- John HaspelsJesus Christ. And, this is one way we begin to share the gospel with them.
- John HaspelsOne of our goals before going into this new area was to see the Church of Jesus Christ planted in this new
- John Haspelsarea. And a lot of you have been hearing bad news about Gaddafi [Gaddafi, Muammar] in Libya and Sadat [Sadat, Anwar]
- John Haspelsbeing assassinated in Egypt. I want you to think about some good news tonight. And that is a new congregation
- John Haspelswas just born. This congregation was formed about two weeks before we left the
- John HaspelsSudan to come back to the States. And I want you to pray for them and remember them when you hear
- John Haspelsabout all the bad news in that part of the world. And also remember that that congregation would not be
- John Haspelsthere today if it weren't for folks like you who, through the years, have cared enough and shared enough
- John Haspelsto see that missionaries have gone over to share the Gospel. Now, if we can have the lights, I
- John Haspelscan answer any questions that you might have.
- John HaspelsI think I can just turn that off.
