Let the children come unto me (Journal Entry)

3:39 pm - After church today I walked over to an area where Michael was with his wife and baby so I could meet them. Then all of the kids from the church started coming over and surrounded me. It felt just like the story in the NT when the kids came to Jesus and His disciples tried to shoo them away and He said ‘no, let them come unto me’. I knew at any moment that one of the adults would probably act just like the disciples so I mentioned the story from the Bible so they would remember it before they instinctively tried to shoo them off. Then, as Michael was going to walk away, I decided to shake one of their hands and say hello. It was like pulling the cork from a well shook champagne bottle! Every single child needed to touch me, shake my hand, and/or say hello. Some would hold on and not want to let go. Some would politely take their turn. Sometimes I shook two or threes hands with one shake of mine. Eventually it seemed that all 70 or so had their turn or at least their fill and I felt free to walk away. After that, Michael took me to his house.

This river is a tributary to the Nile and forms the border between Sudan and Uganda here in Nimule, Sudan

He lives right at the river, which serves as the border between Sudan and Uganda. There he lives with his wife and child, his maternal grandmother, and some siblings of his and his wife’s. The property actually belongs to FRM and was used in the past when they would get bombed by the North at the regular compound. It was safer at this other property because it's hard to see from the air and is right on the border with Uganda so North Sudan couldn't drop bombs there without entering Ugandan airspace. On the way back to the compound from his tukul something strange happened. We were driving down the dirt road and some cows were in the middle of the road. In order to get cows to move you have to drive right up to them and honk and yell. Sometimes you even have to touch them with the bumper. So Michael drove right up to them and began honking. It looked as if they were all moving so he proceeded. What neither of us realized was that the one cow that was actually laying down in the road never got up! As we were passing by very slowly I heard a small "thunk". After we went by we looked back and saw the young cow stand up and walk away. We had driven right over it! It passed between the tires but bumped it's head on one of the axels. It was actually a blessing that it was okay because if the owner saw it or thought the cow was hurt he would demand a lot of money from Michael. Well, my battery is about to die. More later.