Taylor and the SIM Sudan logistics team have been hard at work finding us a plane to take us and all of our stuff to set up house into Sudan. Praise the Lord that we were able to get a flight so soon! April 7th we will be moving into Malakal. We will be busy double checking our pack list, packing and making a detailed list of what is in our luggage- a new requirement for the agency who will be flying us in. We will also have to drop off our luggage 36 hours prior to our flight as another new requirement. So as of this afternoon we are now in a rush of preparations but are thrilled to be on our way shortly!

After many months and many prayers our director has gone ahead and given the okay for us to plan on moving into Malakal. Praise be to God that the UN also lowered the security rating so flights have been picked back up going into Malakal. We went yesterday to pick up household goods that we will need and will soon begin the re-sorting and packing process! Please keep us in your prayers as we are packing, traveling, and settling into life in Sudan. We also need prayers for the availability of the certain type of plane we will need as that can handle the extra weight of items we will be bringing in to set up our home. It is a wonderful thought to know that, Lord willing, within the month we will be at home. Thanks for sharing this journey with us!

Other than Aljazeera being a great news source for all things Middle East and Arab related, it gives a profound insight into the thought process and worldview of that people group.

Working in Sudan and almost anywhere in the world these days (as the whole world has become the melting pot American was once so well known for being) you come into contact with Arabs in daily life.

When I first started to learn about the Arab culture in college (in large part through Allison and Perspectives) I began to understand the differences in being Arab and being Islamic. The two are not the same. One is a people group the other is a religion. The ‘West’ often confuses these two. Much as I’m sure the Middle East confuses being American with being Christian, the two are obviously not the same. Though the majority of Arabs are followers of Islam and Aljazeera is, if I may borrow the term, by Arabs for Arabs, and they do transmit and came to prominence for delivering the radical Islam news, their news as a whole is well balanced and not religiously motivated.

So, all of that to say that Aljazeera is the best source for understanding the world news from the Arab worldview. They carry news from all over the world, written from the Arab viewpoint. I read an article on BBC.com (as it has better international coverage than CNN) and then go right to Aljazeera.net to see the same article. Often times you can see the different points of view. This is most prominent when the article is on something like the recent Israel/Gaza war. They are noticeably sympathetic to the Arab resistance as much as BBC is sympathetic to the Israeli side of things.

Soon Allison and I will be in the meat of our Arabic leasons. I look forward to learning to read Arabic so that I can read the Arabic web site for Aljazeera and not just the English translation version. I’m curious to know if the tone changes between the two or if the English translation is true to the original article in Arabic.

If you ever want to see what other parts of the world think of America and world news in general, head over to english.aljazeera.net to see what the Arab world is thinking.

I (Taylor) really enjoyed my trip with Aid Sudan to a few of their locations. I went to soak up as much photography knowledge from Austin Mann as I could. He’s available for large projects (mostly international) if you need a good photographer.

We first went to Aweil where they were installing a radio tower. It’s the largest tower in that state of Sudan. It’s probably the tallest of anything in the entire state. They hope to be broadcasting soon. Aweil is the center of the Dinka tribe, the largest tribe in all of Africa. It has a very heavy Catholic influence. Even the Christian churches we attended had many people wearing the Catholic prayer beads. The second half of the trip took us to Nasir, this time the head of the Nuer tribe, the second largest tribe in Sudan. Aid Sudan was researching locations to build schools and clinics for areas where there are none.

Enjoy the pics below and click any of them to see the whole set. I didn’t take many photos as I was there to shoot video for Aid Sudan and learn from the photos Austin was taking. But I managed to take a few….

This is a girl who was going through an exorcism in the middle of the church service. We had a long time of intense prayer, singing and thrusting of bodies on the dirt floor. It was an intense experience for me. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve never felt so much pain, grief, fear, joy, glory and so much more all at the same time.

Austin snapping a photo of a small child.

I think this was an Arab, probably from Darfur. Darfur was to our North just 30km away. The Arabs in general are very good business men. They carry a good bit of the weight when it comes to developing the economy.

Shooting video with the new Canon 5D Mk II. It does HD video. The thing one the top of the camera is part of the wireless lav kit. We also shot with a shotgun mic on top of the SLR. Looked really strange, but might become more common.

This is a tukul, the traditional home used all over Sudan. They look a little different depending on the part of the country you’re in. The most striking difference in Nasir was the black and white painting on either side of the door. This was not on every home, but not unusual. I am curious to know if there are meanings behind the paintings. This shot was done at night with a new technique I learned from Austin. We call it ‘painting.’ We do a long exposure and then ‘paint’ the intended object with a flashlight so as to only expose that one object in the frame of the photo. Austin did some really awesome pics of the Samaritan’s Purse DC-3 (flown by AIMAIR) at night.

Click the pic to view all the photos…

Thank you for all your prayers! Taylor was able to get on an earlier flight and came home last night! He had a wonderful trip, even in the 140 degree weather. Keep a look out for some pics to be posted soon.

We received word that visas were granted for us to go to Khartoum for language study! This is a huge miracle, especially in light of the upcoming possible arrest warrant being given for Sudan’s Presidents involvement with Darfur. Please keep praying for us and our leadership as they decide if it is wise for us to go at this particular time. March 4th is the date set for the ICC to give notice on whether or not they will be issuing the arrest warrant.