Zach Keith did a lot of research on the Dinka people group in Sudan. It was a project particularly close to his heart because he just spent ten days working with them.
You can listen to a snippet of his presentation here.
Posts Tagged sudan
Zach Keith
Dec 14
Thankfully, the homework had nothing to do with math.
After doing several Bible studies at the apartment complex the rest of the class left. I stayed to help Mohammed and Abira’s two oldest kids with their homework.
I forgot about the fact that things in developing countries go at a different pace. Yeah, I was in the U.S., but if you had walked into the apartments we were in, you would swear that you were in Sudan.
I knocked on Mohammed’s door. He let me in. Only he and his three daughters (2 months, 19 months, and 4 years) were there.
They told me the day before the kids would be home at 3pm. They arrived sometime shortly after 4pm.
While we waited, Mohammed and I watched Animal Planet together. We watched the Crocodile hunter chase around lions, elephants, scary looking snakes, and hippos, all of which Mohammed had grown up with. He gave me the inside scoop.
“He better not play with that.” he said about the Hippos.
“That snake is not too dangerous.” he said about the Puff Adder.
“My grandpa got bit by one of those.” making a snake biting motion to his chest. I wondered if it actually bit him in the chest . . .
The homework went quickly.
“Sit down and eat.” Mohammed then said.
I sat down. Mohammed served me a plate of lamb. A bowl of vegetables. And a plate of flat bread. They sat around and watched me.
It was absolutely delicious. No silverware was offered so my hands I used. Actually, just my right hand because a little voice in my head was saying that the left hand wasn’t supposed to be used. I don’t know if that is correct, but I did my best.
Then, Mohammed drove me home.
Here are a couple of shots I took on my phone as we waited for the kids to get home from school. These two girls were precious.
I have the privilege of taking Cross-Cultural Church Planting this week with Dr. Akins. It’s a one week intensive and unlike any other class I’ve had. We spend the mornings in the classroom talking about how to plant churches cross-culturally. That’s normal.
In the afternoons we go out into the Sudanese/Somalian community of Memphis and literally put into practice what we just finished talking about. This is day one.
Cross-Cultural Church Planting // Day 1 from Ryan Bush on Vimeo.
Obviously, it is not reasonable to expect a church to be planted in a week. However, you can definitely get some things going.
We are working in conjunction with the River Nile Baptist Church that meets at Leawood Baptist Church. They’ll pick up where we leave off at the end of the week.
We were able to visit with a few folks in their homes. Most Sudanese and Somali people are of the Muslim faith. When I stepped into where they spend their lives, I was stepping into another culture, another worldview, another way of life. It was both fascinating and a bit frightening. Altogether different, but at the same time very much human, and in it I saw the same things I as a human look for: peace, joy, hope, love . . .