Every year SIM spends the ten days between Ascension and Pentecost in special prayer for the mission, the church, and the world.

Beginning this year on May 1 and culminating with the Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost Sunday, May 11, SIM missionaries will be following a prayer guide adapted from the guide produced by Waymakers in cooperation with the Global Day of Prayer, the International Prayer Council, and America’s National Prayer Committee.

Pray
We invite you to join us in this important time of prayer, modeling what the disciples did after Jesus ascended to heaven, “they all joined together constantly in prayer” (Acts 1:14).

Click here to download the prayer guide [655 KB]

Official word from the field has arrived. The team and pilot made it back to Nairobi and some are resting at home and some are in surgery at the hospital in Nairobi.

A True Miracle has occurred!

The following is from our Director of SIM Sudan:

After receiving more details about Saturday’s accident at SIM’s Doro base in Sudan, we are in awe of the MIRACLE that took place. Before every flight, the pilot prays and commits each trip to the Lord. This time it was no different–and we confidently reaffirm that truely, ‘our times are in God’s hands.’ Thank you Lord for the lives of each person on the plane!

Pilot and passengers are here in Kenya and getting medical attention. Two are at Kijabe Hospital receiving surgery today:

• Barb Hartwig had both a fracture at her sternum and a dislocation at the base of her thumb. Today surgeons will insert a pin to correct that. She will be in a cast for 6-weeks. There are top visiting hand surgeons at the hospital during these two weeks.
• Pilot Andy Keller is in surgery as I write correcting a fracture of one knee.
  Sandy Ewan will have another x-ray tomorrow but is recovering in her apartment with a broken rib and aches and pains.
• Debbie Sardo had wide soft tissue damage and is recovering in the SIM Sudan apartment after two days in hospital for pain management and observation.
• Claire Meckler will have a CT scan today to check an anomoly seen in her x-ray. She is recovering in the SIM Sudan apartment

New peices of information have come to us: The damage to the Cessna Caravan was severe. That is presently being assessed by our partners. This plane was not SIM’s newly purchased Cessna 206. We’ve learned that the plane went down before reaching critical flying speed, landed in a ravine and flipped over.

I want to honor some individuals who helped and ask you to pray God’s blessing over them:

• Sandy Ewan was stuck inside the plane hanging upside down and couldn’t get out. A big Sudanese man came in and cut Sandy Ewan out of her seatbelt and gently lowered her out of the plane. We don’t know how the Lord will use this incident among the Sudanese and nudge them to faith in Christ, but pray for them.
• Gentle Indian UN medical staff in Malakal did initial assessments, x-rays and we don’t have their names. They clearly shared that they were Hindu, but we pray that the fragrance of Christ in us will draw them to understand Christ’s compelling love. One funny incident was that an Indian asked our missionaries if they were ‘RC.’ Our SIMer wasn’t thinking of acronymns and had to ask what’s ‘RC’ but then had a chance to share her faith.

Under His Mercy,

Jo-Ann Brant

Acting SIM Sudan Director

I have received the latest news from a friend’s blog @ ngkilloren.com.

His insight follows:
The aircraft in the accident was a Cessna 208 Grand Caravan. Photo of aircraft. The aircraft was departing from Doro, which has a dirt airstrip that was muddy at the time due to recent rainfall. The aircraft was airborne after takeoff but, for reasons not known at this point, struck trees at the end of the runway, went into a gully and flipped over on its back. Miraculously, there was no fire and everyone got out with only minor injuries. Some, who saw the wreckage remarked how amazed they were that no one was killed. The pilot has a broken knee and one passenger broke a thumb.

Malakal was a major battle ground during the past wars. Recently the UN has partnered with the Sudan governments to begin demining the areas around Malakal.

Just 100m past a group of homes, where the locals use the area as a bush toilet, a huge mine field is just waiting for it’s next victim. Read the article about the project at IRIN News

As many Sudanese are repatriated into the areas they fled long ago, they get settled further and further out from town where these mine fields are located. To date, the hazard has been mainly to livestock, but it’s only a matter of time as the population in these areas encroach on the mined areas. “Malakal has a 10km long, 400m wide stretch of contamination; that will take time to clean up.” That’s huge!

In the past, I have written on tech blogs both as a personal outlet as well as for pay. It’s been extremely difficult to find a good source on the web for tech needs on the mission field. The intention is not only to cover ‘high’ tech like computers, software, media, etc. but also sat phones, water related tech, ag machines, welding, basic electric & plumbing stuff, etc.

I hope to have other missionaries on the field take part and add their bits of wisdom and knowledge.

Check it out:

missiotech.com

On Monday Allison will head up to Tulsa. The church she grew up in, FUMC, is having what they call WOW week. It’s a whole week of missions related events. She’ll be sharing at some of these. Please be in prayer for her this week that God would use to her to educate and inform about what He is doing in Sudan.

I will head to Tulsa on Friday to share at events Friday night, Saturday and on Sunday.

A DC-3 arrived in Malakal Sunday morning (local time) to transport the injured back to Loki, but more likely they are heading straight to Nairobi. They decided to use the large plane so that they could lay down if needed.

At the UN clinic in Malakal, it was determined that one person did have a broken bone that was discovered via x-ray. We’ll now more in the coming hours when the plan touches down and further discussions and medical evaluations are done.

Please continue to keep the SIM missionaries and the missionary pilot in your prayers.

On Friday, April 25, a Caravan arrived in Doro to drop off supplies and move SIM missionaries to Thiangrial to start teaching at the BELC. It appears that the plane swerved prior to take off and went off the airstrip. All the passengers and pilot are reported as ‘okay.’ A few have minor injuries. They are scheduled to be flown via UN helicopter to the UN clinic in Malakal. It just so happens that Doro is the location where all of our medical personal are stationed. So there were plenty of medical professionals on hand. Dr. Congdon, our Western Dr. is headed to Malakal to take charge of the situation when they arrive by helicopter.

Prayer:

• Please be in prayer as some are dealing with swollen legs, hands, etc.
• Keep the pilot in your prayers as he recovers from this mishap
• Also, this will certainly delay the arrival of the teachers at their schools