Children at the street outreach in Juba.

On Sunday, Dr. Luke came and drove me from the MAF Guest House to one of the busy Juba streets called Street no 107 (they have not named the streets, yet). It is a broad dirt road with corrugated metal shack vendors lined up on both sides as far as the eye can see. Matthew had set up church in the street right in front of the local bar (alcoholism is a problem among the men in particular) He had rented 100 plastic chairs and a sound system… and then we had church under the sun there for 12 hours!!! Most of the people living in that street had been refugees in Northern Sudan and Egypt, so most of them spoke Arabic in addition to their individual tribal language. Now, the official language in the country is English, so Matthew preached in Arabic, and his friend Moses translated into English.

Many were healed of sicknesses through prayer.

I looked around.. I was the ONLY white face among the street’s perhaps 10,000 people… loved it, although I felt like a little white dumpling among these slender, tall, beautifully ebony black people!! Being in the sun all day, I was amazed I did not get burned. It was steaming hot, but I wonder if the ozone layer is more intact in South Sudan than in Florida where I burn after an hour or two in the sun! After my first day, I took off my hat, lost my sunglasses, and refused to use the smelly sun protector… I did great just living life under the sun like everybody else. At the end, my white skin got a nice tan, but no burn… it might have been God’s grace!

After the first meeting I removed my hat, glasses and sunscreen – not relevant there!

In the beginning the children came, a bit later the women joined. We stopped at lunch time and I was taken to one of these metal shacks where a smiley friend of Matthew’s who had been a refugee with him in Israel, served us a most delicious South Sudanese meal… homemade bread dipped in four different dishes of spicy chicken, beans, meat, and okra.. a five star hotel could not have served us any better as far as hospitality, warmth, and good service were concerned!

Some of Matthew’s co-workers in his open air church.

After lunch… back into the streets where the team continued to blast worship music throughout the street, while Matthew kept preaching from the Word of God. When the dusk set in, the shops closed, and the lights went out, the men ventured out and drifted toward the action, then slowly joined the crowd, so by the evening hours, there were perhaps 300 people who came to ask for prayer and/or receive Jesus … Matthew prayed for every one of them! The day was one unique and memorable event!!