Ajou was born in the year of Makurup. The year 1988 bears that name because of the deadly famine that hit Aweil area, unbeknownst to the rest of the world. Ajou’s growth was stunted by those early years of hunger. When he was strong enough to pick up his younger sister, he became a full-time babysitter. Later he joined the ranks of the cattle-keepers.

During the years when he lived among the cattle, he dreamed of sitting under the tree with a pen and paper, writing down what the teacher was scribbling on the board. Reality set in, however, when he joined the school. Along with his schoolmates, he struggled with hunger, deplorable teacher attendance and the occasional Antonov (bomber plane) that purposely targeted the school. But as the war edged toward peace, at the age of 20, Ajou found himself holding a primary eight certificate!

Ajou’s hunger was not satisfied with his basic primary school education. He wanted to study the Word of God. One day he came to me to tell me about his dissatisfaction with the English Bible he had. “I want to understand what I am reading,” he said with his face pressed against the chain-link fence. “Can I exchange my Bible for one in my mother tongue?”

Later I searched out this young man in the large Wanyjok market a couple miles from our home. I found him in his small shop reading the Dinka New Testament I had given him. Soon after, he gathered others together for a Bible study. Ajou’s hunger for the Word far surpassed that of all the people who came and went during those six months of Bible study. Soon he was joining us for worship at our first church plant in Magnar Akuac.

After Ajou’s pleading, I accepted his invitation to start church planter training in his home community of Lol Mading. Among those present were gifted leaders and good students of the Word, but no one was willing to take responsibility for starting a fellowship. A year later (Nov. 2009), Ajou gathered up his courage and said, “Even if no one helps me, I am going to start this church!”

It has been a delight to see Ajou continue in his training and take leadership of a growing assembly of new believers in Lol Mading. Initially, he faced strong opposition from the local benybith (diviners), but he loved them in return. The church started with a strong core of women (his mother being one of them) and many vigorous youth and children. With Ajou’s hunger for God’s Word and commitment to feed the sheep, the Lord Jesus is building His Church in Lol Mading.

Our regular prayer is for more men like Ajou—men with an insatiable hunger for God and His Word, men that are born by the Holy Spirit through the living Word of God, men that are called and committed to the work of feeding the hungry with God’s spiritual food from heaven. With these men, Jesus is well pleased to feed His sheep and build His Church.

Aluel is a mother of six. She still remembers the four that died and now cherishes the two that live—Akuem and Deng. Her past was filled with the deep pain of loss and the gripping fear of death. She lived day by day in the hopeless cycle of poverty and surrender to “fate.” Every calamity was a sign to her that she had offended the spirits and that she must appease them lest something worse happen. She only knew the dark deception of Dinka traditional religion.

Several years ago, light started to shine through her darkened world. A young man we discipled in our first few short visits to Parot was chosen to be the catechist in a Catholic chapel in a nearby community. He catechized many women and children who were baptized sometime later. In 2006, when we settled in Parot as long-term missionaries, we noticed that among our neighbors Aluel was particularly looking to God for hope.

I remember the day she brought her sick child, Akuem, to our home. She did not ask for medicine as most people do but requested that we pray to God to heal her. Her unusual request was evidence of her faith in God’s power over sickness and evil.

In 2009, the light of the gospel flooded into her heart. As our home community, Parot, was without a church, we invited one of the church planters from Magnar Akuac to plant a beacon of light for our neighbors. Aluel was the most faithful in attendance and soon became a real servant to our fledgling fellowship. She regularly encouraged the people to continue through the struggles of planting a new church in the area. During the time for testimonies in the pre-service, she always spoke of her great joy in what God did to bring her out of darkness. A dozen ladies in the Parot church now have joined Aluel in her testimony of a transformed life by the gospel. Her greatest joy was when her husband, who is the community chief, professed faith in Christ and was baptized last summer.

Whenever she comes to visit us she is a delight to speak to as she continues to testify with increasing joy and satisfaction in Jesus. Even over the last year, her countenance has been increasingly lifted to her Savior. She speaks of how the Lord has blessed her with an abundant harvest. While most people in the area complain of a poor harvest, she rejoices in the Lord that her grain storehouse is full.

This year has not been free of suffering for Aluel. A relative of hers died, leaving four young children. Aluel was steadfast in her faith during those days of mourning. She and her husband immediately took those children to be their own. Now the children call her Maadit (my grandmother); they have gladly received her as their new mother. Many years ago, the Lord took four children from her. Now she is enjoying four new children whom she can raise in a Christ-centered home.

Aluel’s past was dark and hopeless. Today she is living in the light of Jesus Christ. God spoke Light into the darkness. Now, Aluel shines His light for the whole community to see, that they too can be delivered out of darkness and the fear of death.

Our regular prayer is that God will speak His light into more people like Aluel. There is so much darkness all around us. But with the witness of one faithful person, Jesus has been well pleased to bring many more to His light and build His Church.

Until recently the village of Majak Ajuong (pronounced majang ajuong) never had a church. Evil ran its course through the high number of benybith (diviners), acimuk (witch doctors), and apeth (magicians). In years past, a very small number of people made the long trek to the Catholic church. All the rest of the people continued in their practice of calling on the spiritual practitioners.

For several generations there has been a tree that the community feared and worshiped. According to the story, an evil spirit lived in the tree. It spoke audibly to people who came with their sicknesses or problems to be solved. As payment, the spirit demanded sheep, goats or cows to be sacrificed to him. Recently, the spirit spoke terrifying words as he said he no longer wanted animals but humans to be sacrificed to him. The elders and the traditional spiritual practitioners gathered and considered this frightening request. They decided that they would altogether stop appeasing this spirit.

A couple of years ago, the powers of evil started to lose their grip as a few men, women and many youth and children started to worship at a Pentecostal church in Wanyjok. I met these men through the Bible study I did with Ajou. After doing an inventory of all the people that came and went in the Bible study, I concluded that most of them were from Majak Ajuong. I was then surprised to hear that they did not have a church in their community.

As our church-planting ministry is targeting communities without churches, we started to pray for men to lead a new church in Majak Ajuong. The Lord led us to two men, Akol and Wieu. After basic training, they started Lord’s Day worship. The first few months brought those Catholic and Pentecostal Christians, but soon they returned to their own churches in other communities. Then the months dragged on with discouragingly low attendance and seemingly little impact on the community—that is, until Adutdit came to church.

Adutdit’s love for God and her prayers of great faith started to make a stir in the community. Women began to come to church out of conviction to leave their idols. Every Lord’s Day, Akol and Wieu are seeing new faces and hearing testimonies of people who are turning from their idols to worship the living God. In the Lord’s house there is great joy in their singing and dancing for what the Lord has done to deliver them from the power of Satan.

Our prayer is that these new believers will grow in the knowledge and grace of the One who rescued them from the kingdom of Satan and brought them into the kingdom of God. Because of the victory won on the cross, we pray with confidence in the powerful name of Jesus, the King and Head of the Church.

This is our testimony—that the Lord Jesus is building His Church in this remote area of His world. He is using many people to build His Church in every place. As with Ajou, Aluel and Adutdit, each of us has an important work to do. Jesus calls us to join Him in His mission to the world, believing that that He will build His Church and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

—Vince Ward is an RPCNA missionary with Cush4Christ in Sudan. An RP Global Missions feature appears semiannually in the Witness.