Putting the Dan In South Sudan

WOW! I finally made it… to WAU!

It was quite the journey. For a guy who has traveled quite a bit… I would have to say this was one of the most interesting and longest adventures I have been on! So, how does one get from Malvern PA to Wau, South Sudan (SS) you ask? I will summarize-

First, the logisticals:

Drive from Malvern to Philly airport. Fly from Philly to DC, layover in the airport for 3 hours, fly for 13.5 hours to Addis Ababa, layover in Addis Ababa for 3 more hours (fun side note: our ticket said departure time was 1050, but boarding at 14:45… this caused some confusion later! …our bags arrived 4 hours later on a different flight after sitting in the rain in Addis for that time). Then fly for 2 hours to Juba, SS. Once we were all in Juba, we stayed at the Salesian site in Gumbo for 2 nights while we had a little orientation and learned some basics about SS and the mission here. Then, Wednesday morning Steve and I woke up at 6 to make our way to Wau, but because they are redoing the run way in Wau, we flew into a town called Aweil. Once in Aweil, we got in a taxi with a supreme court justice and a nice lady and drove 3 hours to Wau where we were greeted by father, who drove just Steve and I to the Wau site! So, it was very tiring, and not the easiest to get to… but I am here! And I could not be more excited for what is to come! J Total time: 41 hours of physical journeying over 3 days. Luckily, although I was tired, I was not out of it, because I was able to share this journey with 5 amazing SLMs, who made even a layover in Addis after a 13 hour flight seem fabulous! J

Second, the REAL reason I am here:

This one is a lot shorter. It is because ‘I said I CAN because I trust in God’. If for even one second I would have doubted myself… I might as well not have even packed! Okay, so that was a bit dramatic. But really, when we say “I can’t” we will never get anything done. How many times do we just say, “I can’t do that”, “it’s not for me” or “I’m not able to”? All those things are just us hiding behind the reality that we are scared to try and put our trust in God. In scripture, we are told over and over again that we can do anything if we put our trust in the Lord! Example: Peter walking on water. He said ‘I can’, and then walked on the water… As soon as he started to say ‘I can’t’, he fell in! Of course, we all know the end of the story, The Lord saved him as He always does… but think about it, how often do we stop having faith and saying ‘I can’t’? Or, even worse, never take that step out onto the water because we never say I can to begin with!? The important thing is the trust in the Lord part… Just saying I can, and then jumping in will cause you to sink… so really, it is more of a faithful “We can!” not an “I can” (We being you and the Lord).

So, to sum up: Don’t ever tell yourself you can’t do something. It is a lie. If we have true faith and trust in God fully, we can do anything. If you hear the voice telling you that you cannot do something, quote the famous John Locke (the Lost character, NOT the historical character)… “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do!” It has been a very tiring 4 days of travel, but I am so blessed to be where I am here in Wau because the community has done so much to ensure that I feel at home and am able to catch up with myself after all this traveling!

I will be sure to update as soon as I start working, for now I have been acclimating myself to the different centers and projects they have before I fully begin working with them! 

I love you all!
~Dan