Testimonies

When we talk about the water crisis in South Sudan, this is the one thing that has made life in the camp so difficult. Even the schools have been closed because of the hot weather with the temperature rising up to 113-116 degrees.

The camp has been a place of learning and humbling to me. We wake up early in the morning to get water. Many of the women sleep at these water points with little hope of getting any water soon with continuous wars and the fear of getting killed.

On Tuesday, I went to look for water as usual. Many of the people recognize me. One of them asked me in Arabic, ‘Yaa Abuna intadhar Moya’ and from that point, we began sharing how important water is in our lives.

At the end of the day, after we had shared from the Living Water, a woman said this:

“In our culture, no man has ever come with a Jerrycan to fetch water. Our men and our sons do not even think about it. As for the Living Water, everyone should come and drink. Sin that leads to death has also led us to suffering, war, a lack of forgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, and anger. My family is not a family anymore.

As a woman, I have dwelled in alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. May my entire family come to know about this Living Water. May they understand and believe Him.”

Now, this woman has given us time to have fellowship with his family, a family that wants to know more about Jesus who is the Living Water.

John 4.14 says this: “But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

From Brother Lawrence. If you don’t remember, he was shot in the back while driving a truck and is now almost completely paralyzed. In order to get some sunshine during the day, his wife must drag him out of their hut every morning, and drag him back into the hut at night:

“The Lord has been good to us. We thank God for more opportunities to spread His Word. Indeed, I know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. My family and I are remaining strong, allowing our lives to be a testimony of what Jesus can do. Keep praying with us to be well, and to keep sharing His word. Amen.”

From Brothers David and Joseph working in Uganda:

“We are thanking God for every opportunity to share the chronological teachings. We have been going back and forth from Jinja to Tororo.

One Muslim evangelist told us this: ‘Every time I would go out to preach, either the police would stop me, or people would prepare to stone me. I had a poor approach, abusing the Muslims and their Quran (Muslim “holy” book). Almost no one believed what I was teaching. Since I started teaching the chronological lessons in English, not only has my faith grown, but many Muslims are now understanding the Gospel, and I no longer get stoned.’”

From a woman in the Shatt tribe. For a woman to open up about her life is almost an abomination in the camp, especially among the Nubian tribes.

Some brothers have been teaching the chronological lessons at the compound of a sick man, and this woman would come, many times sad and other times very depressed.

They kept praying that the Lord would help her to open up and to be able to speak out. In the last teaching session, she finally opened up, learning of the effect of sin during the time of Noah and the ark.

“I have been having a lot of challenges. I have been like the people during the time of Noah. I was on the outside of the ark. For the last five months since my baby was born, I have not been able to breast feed my baby. I have had many challenges. My family is breaking up. The flood of problems is too much and I cannot do anything.

These lessons taught me a lot, and I relate them to my own personal life, that is, the flood of sickness, a lack of water and food with no breast milk which are all a part of the flood. My husband fights me and I have nowhere to go.

Now, I have chosen to enter with my entire family into the ark of God. I want to be saved from these floods. I cannot handle them alone.

Although the challenges have not disappeared, I have found peace ‘out of nowhere.’ I can now thank God for each day. I believe that my baby that God has given to me will continue to live and stay strong. I am praying that all of the floods will be gone one day, but even if they are not, I am bold because I am in the ark, and nothing can destroy the ark.”

From the Shatt tribe. The Shatt people are very proud and full of witchcraft. Here is a testimony:

“During the war in the Nuba mountains, as I was running for my life, I ran into a stick that impaled itself into my knee. I pulled out as much as the stick as possible, and kept on running. There was not a whole lot of pain at the beginning, and I came into the camp in 2017.

By that time, my leg began swelling, and a lot of pus was coming out of the wound. I went to the hospital in the camp, but they did not have any medicine. My leg grew worse, and started smelling badly.

My family decided to take me back to the Nuba mountains for the witch doctors to work on me. Between 2019 and 2023, I visited several witch doctors, but the leg grew from bad to worse. The witch doctors said I would die. I returned to the camp to die.

In December 2023, I met some brothers who came to share the word of God with my family. I was hiding on the inside of the tent because my leg was smelling horribly. I could only hear them talking about a God who is a healer, who loves all men although he hates sin, including witch craft and idolatry. I wanted to meet them, but no one was willing to carry me to the outside.

Two brothers kept coming and sharing the Word of God with my family. He prayed with the family, and when he heard that I was on the inside, he asked that I be brought out. My own family left because of the smell of my wounds, but these brothers remained, cleaning my wounds with warm water and salt.

Every day, they came to check on me and clean the wounds. They brought medicine to me which they applied after having cleaned the wound with warm water and sodium peroxide. Since that time and all of their prayers, I have seen great improvement with the wounds in my knees. More than that, my spiritual life has been freed from witchcraft.

I want to be a testimony of what God did through His son Jesus Christ. I want my family to know that witchcraft is not a solution. Only Jesus is the solution to all of our problems. The witch doctors told me that I would die in December 2023, but I am now healing. I believe in this God. I believe in this message. Keep praying for me to be completely well, to know God well, and to preach the message of Christ well.”

This is the story of Becky Akello from Uganda. Her parents were Catholic and both died when she was young. In 2020, she came to the camp with “a friend” who then abandoned her. She has wanted to end her life many times. Last year, Felix approached Becky and started listening to her story:

“My parents gave birth to me, and shortly thereafter, both of them died. I was left all alone, and frustrated with life. I worked in restaurants and in bars, and in the early part of my life, I was forced into the sexual business just to stay alive.

No one could help me. I would often ask myself many questions. One of my biggest questions was that if God loved me, then why did both of my parents die? Why did God allow my life to be so much messed up and lost in prostitution? As God did not immediately answer my questions, I thought that if I could get out of Uganda, I would be better off.

A man with whom I had sex multiple times brought me to a camp in South Sudan and abandoned me to die here. I became so sick with Yellow fever, and thought that I would die as a sinner. I did not know what to do, and kept living a life, wishing I could die anytime.

While still sick last year, a brother came and started sharing with me about the love of God. He later encouraged me by giving me booklets filled with Bible stories. As I began to read, I slowly started to see my own life in the stories, living the life of sin, lost, and serving the devil.

I decided to pray a prayer of faith to Christ, and for the first time, I felt peace in my life. Since then, I have been studying God’s Word in these booklets. Felix comes to encourage me, and I now attend the fellowship every Sunday, always learning more from the Word of God. A brother later supported me to start up a coffee shop, and I have seen God use this business to change my life, and the lives of others who come to my shop. Now, I can boldly say the Lord is good and He loves me. I am so glad that God used this brother to change my life. I feel at home. I feel blessed, walking in His love.”

A testimony from South Sudan:

“As I grew up, Arab culture filled my brain. I never thought of anything except Allah and Mohamed, his prophet. I obeyed all that had to do with Islam, including daily prayers, giving money to the poor, and hating Christians. Being poor, however, was a bit of a problem. I wanted to be rich, visit the rest of the Arab world, and make the voyage to Mecca. My biggest question was wondering if I would still be loving Allah (God) if I would die before going to Mecca.

I was given a copy of the English booklets. While reading them, I expected to receive the love of Allah. I read how God killed an animal to cover the sin of Adam. I read how God spoke to the woman after she had sinned, saying that her seed would crush the serpent, Satan. This helped me to ask two questions: Why are women of so little value in Islam and who is the one who would crush the head of Satan? Not even Mohamed, my beloved prophet, had the power of crushing Satan.

Continuing to read the booklets, I read of God having a man build an ark in order to save him and his family who believed in Him. Why didn’t God kill everyone and create new people?

Going deeper, I read how God provided an animal to be slaughtered instead of Isaac. This shocked me, and I wondered why this same God would command Muslims to kill on His behalf?

Since then I have been meditating over my own sinful life, living in denial, hatred, and walking as a child of the devil. I do not want any more of the lies of the world, and I have chosen the way of God. I want to learn more. I want to know more of Jesus and the love of this Father.”

In The Daloka church in South Sudan, there is a woman who believed in the Lord Jesus some two years ago. When she became a believer in Christ, her husband would harass her and beat her. Here is her testimony:

“One day, my husband came home and he was so drunk, I began to pray. As I prayed, he became angry and threatened to divorce me if I did not leave that man called Jesus, seeing this as prostitution and telling me that I could not love two men at a time.

I told him that I would remain with Jesus. Although I have never seen Him, He is so real in my life. He died for me. I told my husband that even if he loved me, he could never die for me. My husband was so bitter that I had made such a statement that he left me and went back to the Nuba mountains.

I continued to pray and learn about God, but my heart was totally broken. I was wondering what I could do to get my husband back. My brother also prayed with me. I owned some land, and I gave the land to the church so that the church could build a building for worship. All the time, I was praying that my husband would take me back, not refusing me to having Jesus Christ.

One day, two men came and began sharing with me the booklets concerning God. I felt that this was what I needed to be able to share Christ with my husband. After telling my brother to pray for me, I went to the Nuba mountains, searching for my husband.

When I finally found him, he was worse than ever. The devil had made him believe in so many lies. I began by loving him and then reading to him the booklets which were given to me. Slowly, my husband started to love me and drank less alcohol. When I prayed in the house, my husband no longer yelled at me.

Then, one evening, my husband knelt down in front of me, and asked me to forgive him for mistreating me so bad. He asked me if I could give to him Jesus Christ. I hugged him and we cried together. I forgave him and I shared with him the love of God. My husband and I now talk together and pray together. When I told him about the land that I had given to the church, he was happy.

My husband and I are now back in the camp. We thank God for having made us what we are today. Thank you for these booklets. They have made it so easy for me to share with others. We understand the stories, and are now sharing them with others.”