Mercy Chefs "Hey Buddy" Podcast
Mercy Chefs "Hey Buddy" Podcast
On Deployment: Uganda
Join us for a powerful conversation with Mercy Chefs Marketing Manager, Craig Wishart, and Vice President of Mercy Chefs Global, Carl Ladd, who calls in from the Nairobi Airport in Eastern Africa.
Craig and Carl reflect on their recent trip to Uganda where they witnessed the brutal realities of life in the villages of Arua and Kaabong. In addition to stories of hardships faced by Sudanese refugees that fled the genocide of their homeland, they share heart-wrenching but uplifting stories of hope. Learn about the life-changing impact of hot meals and the transformations that occur when local pastors show unconditional love to their community.
Hey buddy.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, man.
Speaker 1:And coming to you live from the Nairobi Airport in Kenya, Carl Ladd. Welcome back to the podcast, Carl.
Speaker 3:Hey, thanks, Nick. Always good to be back.
Speaker 1:And folks, if you hear anything in Carl's background, it is because he is en route back stateside waiting for a plane in the Nairobi Airport. So thanks for joining us on a travel day, carl, and I know this. A lot of what we're going to talk about today is still very fresh for you, as you're still traveling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it absolutely is, but I'm happy to be coming home and obviously happy to be talking about this stuff. That's been a pretty incredible trip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you've been gone for two weeks now, more than two weeks.
Speaker 3:Topping three weeks on this one. It's been a long one.
Speaker 1:There you go, there you go, there you go. So, folks, we're going to talk a lot today about kind of Mercy Chef's operations in Eastern Africa, both in Uganda. We'll touch on some work that's going on in Kenya as well. So we want to start our conversation today with global operations in Uganda. A lot of what we're doing is centered around Sudanese refugees. If you've read the news in the last few years, you know about lots of strife going on in Sudan, lots of folks there dealing with genocide and having to flee their homes, and Mercy Chefs has had the incredible honor and privilege of coming alongside a lot of these folks as they flee their native Sudan and find safer refuge in Uganda. So, carl, would you kind of give us a little bit of the background on these Sudanese now living in Uganda that we have found and kind of their story? Just a little bit of background for the listeners.
Speaker 3:Yeah, totally yeah. I mean honestly Uganda is almost like our gateway into South Sudan and Sudan from there. So we've been working. We have really strong partners in Northern Uganda and through them last July actually, we started feeding in Sudan, in Darfur. So the conflict it's hard to talk about Sudan without kind of looking at the conflict happened in July of last year. It started out with some different factions in the government from the government and the military fighting in the capital of Khartoum and then it quickly escalated and just kind of moved into civil war throughout the entire north country war throughout the entire north um country.
Speaker 3:Um and Darfur is a region kind of more in the east of Sudan. Um that's been really fragmented, very tribal um and a lot of religious conflicts there. Um and um was famous, you know, for genocide back in the early 2000s. Um and unfortunately, with the destabilization of the central government in Khartoum, darfur quickly spiraled out of control and back into genocide, and so it was at that moment that we started feeding in Darfur through our local church contacts. They were doing an incredible job, feeding an entire kind of temporary displacement camp, all of their neighbors. So they were there living through just unspeakable atrocities, people dying every day from either violence or starvation. And so when our food relief started there, it was absolutely critical to sustain life, literally sustain life, and so they found a way.
Speaker 3:Started there, it was absolutely critical to sustain life, literally sustain life, and so they found a way to kind of make it work. Through the genocide and famine was happening at the same time, until a flood happened and washed away everything that they had. And so at that point they say, hey, we, we, we have to leave. And so our contacts, a man named christopher, who actually discipled this whole region, he, he helped find a way to get them out of Sudan and into South Sudan, where we continue to kind of provide for them and care for them while they were on their journey and had to spend a month at a refugee camp there in the northern part of South Sudan, and finally we were able to get them to Uganda this last January. And so once they arrived in Uganda and obtained refugee status, we found that there was still a persisting need for us to kind of walk with them and care for them, as there's still no food for them, no relief provided to them from the government or from the United Nations.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 3:And so we continue to walk with these families and provide for them by providing their food for the entire month, each month. So we've been doing that now in Uganda for six months, and so, yeah, craig and I got the opportunity to kind of sit with them and hear their stories. I mean, obviously, we heard their stories through our partners and through our contacts and we knew the context of what they were living in, but we didn't know the reality of what they were living in, and so it was a humbling day of just kind of getting to know them and hearing what God's been doing in their lives, wouldn't you say, craig?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think just being able to sit with them and hear for the first time the word that I kind of kept using was feeling guilty a little bit for how little I knew about the conflict.
Speaker 2:Obviously, I've read from the United States what's going on, but then to hear actual stories from the people we got to sit in this church service and it's always so interesting being anywhere else in the world and just like worship, feels the same everywhere else and so sitting with these people, it's the best, it feels so good, um, but then sitting with these people who, to be honest with you, still look like, uh, muslims, right, like they're still like the woman women are still wearing hijabs and um, but they're worshiping jesus and they're they're, they're on fire for jesus and honestly like through them, having so little, um, what they something I think, like carl touched on a little bit is the little bit that they have they still send back to the rest of their families or friends that are that are still in the war, and it's just like it's so humbling, right, like you're there.
Speaker 2:I'm coming from Annapolis, maryland, and my life here, and I'm going to people who have nothing and are giving everything and, yeah, it's just, it's crazy Another thing that they're that they're running from. I think it's just shocking that this still just is happening, but a fear of theirs is like their children being taken to be child soldiers, like it's the purest evil, some of the purest evil on the face of the earth there. So, yeah, just being able to be with these people was incredible.
Speaker 1:Well, and what a cool story that you know we've kind of followed their journey as they've fled and I just find it so humbling and so cool that you guys get to, you know, follow from afar and then when they find that place where you know they feel a little safer, they feel like they can kind of set up a community.
Speaker 1:You get to go and meet them there and, like you said, worship with them and talk with them and hear their stories.
Speaker 1:You guys have been sharing these stories with us, the Mercy Chefs team, over the last few weeks, as you kind of download and debrief, and there's been lots of moments where I know we as a Mercy Chefs team have cried together for these people and in the midst of that, coming alongside them with support and food, you know it feels like such a small thing and yet we're really really just changing lives and impacting folks over there and I think it's just such a blessing that you guys got to go and kind of touch that and feel that.
Speaker 1:And so, craig, if you would set the stage for us a little bit about kind of what we call it a village? Would we call it a town? Where are these people living? What does it feel like to kind of walk in there to be touched by kiddos? I know I see pictures of you taking pictures and if anyone listening has traveled internationally, you'll know that kiddos love a camera and a lot of these kids maybe haven't seen a picture of themselves, and so what a fun moment to kind of interact with them in that way, be able to show them your camera, take pictures of them, show them what they look like. Talk me through a little bit of that, those first kind of moments.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. So in Arua, which is where we're really helping the Sudanese refugees, there are two kind of operations going on in Uganda and we'll touch more on Kabong in a little bit but in Arua, just with the Sudanese refugees. I think, being with those people, it's like these children have gone through more than I have right in my 28 years on this earth.
Speaker 2:These, these four and five year olds, have seen and done more, and they've driven past dead bodies and they're they're missing siblings and aunts and moms and dads and, like some of the kids, are literally thrown in cars with other families because to get them to safety, but their families stick behind. So I think, without using the word too much on this call, but I think it's kind of just humbling, right, like a lot of times when you're serving and when you're in these situations, you're not totally thinking about what's going on around you. And something that was different in Africa is like you and something that was different in africa is like I was totally aware of what was going on around me. Um, in terms of, like, the power of the people that you're around, it's just like, yeah, so it just um to answer your question. And then in in kabong um, which is kind of where you're talking about being surrounded by the kids.
Speaker 2:Um, we'll talk more about this, but we we have the opportunity to work in a village that um is mostly comprised of women. Um, because most of the men have died in raids, uh, which is still something like raids for cattle, literally to steal cattle. Uh, they're killing each other over this and it's wiping out. I think I saw three men the entire time we were in this village. Um, but just being able to be in it, yeah, it was unbelievable being able to be there and I we got out and everyone's really skeptical of uh, of who we were and what we were doing. But the moment I showed the first kid, like if you take a photo and you show a kid a photo of himself and maybe, right, like you said, uh, he's not seen a photo of himself, the, the smile that lights up, and then all of the other kids kind of realized what was going on.
Speaker 2:Uh, so it turned into this. Yeah, really impromptu. Uh, I just a crazy amount of joy right like I'm sitting down and taking photos of two kids but there are 15 kids behind me just giggling. Yeah, it's hard not to. It's hard not to highlight. That is probably one of the best moments like in my life, which is crazy.
Speaker 1:But yeah, you just you're.
Speaker 2:You're blown away by the joy and love that you feel in that.
Speaker 1:Right, and Carl jumping off of that. I know you had the tremendous privilege to bring your two young sons with you and I wonder you know we've talked about this as fathers of young sons and engaging them in our work and showing them kind of on site and you had just the immense privilege to bring them with you and I know your boys just love going with you and experiencing it and and seeing kids interact with other kids across the world. The things that we as adults see are maybe not seen as easily by those kiddos and all of a sudden play is universal and I wonder what it was like watching your boys play with those kiddos.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, it was such an honor and such a privilege, like you're saying, to have my boys with me. I mean, it's, man, it was such an honor and such a privilege, like you're saying, to have my boys with me. I mean, you can't meet with these people, you can't hear these stories without it wrecking you and changing you, and so to be able to have that wrecking and that changing happen for my entire family all, all together was, uh, how I'll always be great, you know, so grateful for that. Um, and yeah, the boys do, they do kids, you know, they don't.
Speaker 3:There's language in a bear, there's no barriers to them. Like, all of a sudden, they just know how to interact with each other. It's, it's fascinating. Um, I will say this was um, you know, and something that speaks to how, especially in kabong, um, and and to some extent with the sudanese as well, but the extent of how everything, how the entire society has broken down is, the majority of kids didn't know how to play. Yeah, like I've never, I've never seen it, but they, they had no clue how to play and how to just have kids.
Speaker 3:It was like listening to a foreign language, like these kids were just watching it was crazy it's, it's they, they, their culture is is so violent and hard. I mean, yeah, we're jumping ahead to Kabong and it's hard not to, but I mean, the majority of these kids are fed alcohol from when they're two years old because that's the only thing their parents have to fill their bellies. They're all starving, they're all malnourished, so they don't have the energy to play, they don't have the social interactions to know how to play. They just know suffering and violence.
Speaker 3:honestly like, as terrible as that sounds, yeah um, and so my boys even asked me like dad, why? Like I don't play play, or I can't make them laugh, or dad, what's? I don't play, or I can't make them laugh, or dad, what's you know, it's, my boys even felt it and it's a humbling thing to see at that level yeah, and what a what a thing.
Speaker 1:Maybe I'm sitting here taking for granted, as I ask, a question you know about, about play, and then your experience and seeing it really touches on the, the true hunger and the true situation, that we're beyond being hungry, we're beyond starvation, we're so low energy that that, even given the opportunity for a little joy and a little play, it becomes difficult.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, nick, and I think I think something important too is so much of our work is um is providing food for people in crazy situations, just like the most chaotic situation of their entire life and we were there sitting with these people in their normal and it was the most chaotic thing we'd ever seen um, which I think speaks volumes to to the situation at large, but also the amount of work that can be done. Like, instead of it's not just obviously we're feeding body and soul, but like the food that's being given is literally going to change generations right. Like these people are going to learn um, learn how to farm. And like the moment that you take away food, insecurity and starvation. Like okay, children can start going to school and there's education that's introduced, and so it's so much more than just like giving people food and walking away.
Speaker 2:Like it's an opportunity, and I think that the gospel does that as well. Right, like it's so cool that we have a tool uh, the greatest tool ever that we're that we're able to share with these people, and it teaches responsibility and productivity and all these things that the culture just lacks and, honestly, more than lacking, it's non-existent.
Speaker 1:I'd like to touch on Kabong a little bit, as you guys have mentioned that as a place that we're working, it being a separate operation from working with Sudanese refugees. I know we have a very unique and interesting partner there and, if I may, you know, draw a similarity between kind of Mercy Chef's operations here domestically. The community kitchen model here in the States is we don't want to be in and come alongside folks who are already doing that programming and elevate what they're able to do, and I think it's really cool that here in Kabong we're able to kind of replicate that same model. So, carl, would you talk me through a little bit about our partner organization in Kabong?
Speaker 3:So to set the stage for Kabong. Kabong is the most remote region in Uganda, and it's also the poorest and the least educated, and this is a place Craig mentioned. They still practice cattle raiding as their kind of main cultural piece. You can't be a man if you haven't raided cattle, and to raid cattle means killing people and taking their cattle, and so it's just, it's a wild place, and these Ugandan missionaries have literally sold everything and moved their lives to this place to bring the gospel to these people, and when they got there, they found that it's a governmental hospital.
Speaker 3:It's actually the only hospital that serves in two districts of this area and people were literally starving to death in the hospital. They were losing between 30 and 50 patients a month due to starvation, and so they said we have to do something, and so what they knew how to do was farm, and so they started farming, and it's a pretty arid, it's a semi-arid climate there, and so most people didn't think that you could produce enough food out of the ground to be able to have something substantial enough to be able to feed a hospital, and they did it within the first year, and so this particular project is so exciting for me because it has a huge piece of sustainability with it, because our partners are actually providing all the beans for the hospital you know, it's a 400 bed hospital to eat every day for the entire year, and so we, as mercy chefs, are able to link arms with them and partner with them to to bring in the rest of the meal, to bring a complete nutritious meal, um, with with vegetables and and the starch and um, you know. And then, uh, porridge for the breakfast. We do fortified protein, fortified porridge for breakfast, um, but it allows us to have such more sustainability and scalability as they continue to farm more and and they're not just farming themselves to feed the hospital, but they're actually bringing people in from the community and teaching them how to farm and actually bringing complete cultural transformation and an alternative way of providing for these families. So it's absolutely incredible what God's doing through our partners.
Speaker 3:Simple yes to the call to go. You know it was. It was honestly humbling to see, see how they're working and all that they're doing.
Speaker 2:One of Nick, one of one of the guys in the kitchen, when, when they were running introductions, they kind of talked about what they did before and there were two older guys, there was one younger guy and when they introduced him, they introduced him as a warrior, right. And so when we, I think in America, when we introduce each other as warriors, it's like that's a positive thing, right, like, this person is such a warrior and this dude was such a warrior, uh and no, this dude was literally a warrior Like. This dude was like a Raider, uh, before he came to Christ and is now, uh, all of his time is taken serving in this hospital, uh. So it's like, even if it's just for that, one person right Like this will have been worth it, but it's so much more than that and it's it's taking people out of a system and yeah, incredible, just meeting people where they're at, and it's so important for us to remember that there are warriors of the gospel literal warriors reformed into the gospel across the world, the world.
Speaker 1:And to find such incredible disciples, apostles, even in such a far-flung place and to be able to hold their arms what a just incredible opportunity. I'm so honored that you guys got to go and to experience that. And there's one story that has stuck with me as I think about my two young sons at home who are on formula and I don't worry about their formula because if it runs out, I walk to Target or drive to Target and purchase more, and it's such a thing that I take for granted. And yet it's such a big part of my life that when I heard about the babies in this place and their need for formula and what happened, I was just so taken aback. Carl, will you fill us in?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been a lot of hard places, I've seen a lot of hard things over the course of my life. And, um, the, the pediatric non-nutrition ward in that Cabal hospital, I think was hands down the hardest room I've ever stood in. Um, you're standing in a room full of babies, um, a lot of them are crying, um, but maybe the sadder part is a lot of them aren't crying because they don't have the strength to cry and they're just withering away. Um, they're, you know they got the. You know everybody talks about the swollen belly from malnutrition, that far gone. Everything is swollen. Their eyes are swollen, their feet are swollen.
Speaker 3:The doctor pushed on one of his you know, it was probably a four month old baby pushed on his foot and it just concaves completely and and just stays there because he's so dehydrated and non-married. And so this was the nutritionist that we were talking with and he was just pleading the case of we need formula. You know, we don't, we don't have formula. So we, we, you know the babies that are old enough, we, we try to give them the, the porridge, um, but you know they're, they're so far gone what the only thing that can bring help, bring them back, is actual formula yeah um, and it's just it's, it's not provided, it's it's.
Speaker 3:You know they sometimes get shipments of it in from from the government, but they're just not the finances and the resources for it, so they just they're short. Um, there's about 30 or 40 babies every month. That they're short formula for and and so we were able to talk about kind of the quantities that they need, what, what it would take, and for the babies that they had there in that in that moment on it was only about uh 500 a month is is what it takes to be able to have warm role to to care for these babies, and I was like to be able to have warm well to to care for these babies and I was like murphy chef, will find a way to do this.
Speaker 3:And I didn't know. I mean, I didn't, I didn't have 500 bucks in my pocket at that time, I didn't know. You know, I think we could find a way. But when we make a commitment, we're not just saying, okay, we're going to do this one time. You know, we want to be able to set people up for success. So how do we do this for the long term?
Speaker 3:But it was just, you can't see those babies and not not do something. Yeah, um, and so later that day I didn't have answers yet, but I was like we're gonna figure out a way to get formula later that day. Uh, I get finally get reception and I have an email from our partner who provided formula for us during Ukraine saying hey, we have some dented cans of formula. Where can we send them? Where in the world do you need them and where can we send them? And they have enough that will actually cover the hospital in Kaban for five weeks.
Speaker 3:And so it just I. I broke down crying, just thinking like you know the situation, these people, you know what the needs are, and before I can even, you know, have time to figure out a solution. Or talk to somebody. Or you know talk to gary and ann say like, hey, can we take on this new 500 a month? You know, increase the lord's already providing solution. And you know, I believe, you know it's five weeks right now, but I know he's going to provide for the long term for these babies, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:So when we talk about serving the least of these, we talk about, you know, infants, but I also know, craig, that you've mentioned that in these cultures the elderly are also often overlooked, and I know they have a ward specifically for those folks in the same hospital. Talk me through, you know we've talked infants. And then, on the opposite side of things, what's it like interacting with those who have the elderly who have maybe been forgotten?
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally with those who have the elderly who have maybe been forgotten. Yeah, totally. I think the first in Kabong is where this was really evident.
Speaker 2:Our first interaction with people there. We went to a church service that was just basically outside at a gazebo with a tin roof, but it was their church building and, like I mentioned on kind of about the village, when we got there, the first thing that really stood out to me was the lack of men. So there were just a lot of elderly women and a lot of children and they ended up the church leaders kind of allowed everyone to leave at the end of the service but they kept all the old women there just for us to see like these women women are. They're neglected, oftentimes from their family because they're not deemed as useful, and so they end up uh taking, or they're they're kind of enslaved by their own family in some way, like they're they're having to do all of the work. They're they're doing all the farming, they're taking care of the children they are uh taking out. I mean making meals for the men who were coming home drunk, like if there are men, um, just all these insane things.
Speaker 2:So that was, that was kind of our first interaction. But then it really hit that there was a a lack of a lack of respect I I would say like a cultural lack of respect for elderly. When we went to the um, the women's ward at the hospital I would say it was the only ward that like smelled that that I walked in and you're immediately hit just with like a stench, um, and we, we step in and there are just these, these old women who it's like the worst, imagine like the worst homeless situation you've ever seen, and it's that in a person like just there are flies eating their feet, just like they are laying on the ground. There was one woman and this is like I think the only time that I got emotional in the hospital was there was a woman, one of the women who, who had the flies all over her feet, was laying on the concrete slab and she was just picked up, uh, by what I presume probably is her family. Oh, and another really important detail is in the hospital If you don't have, you're provided the most basic medical care, but if you don't have family or anyone there, then you're not getting any hygienic care at all.
Speaker 2:Um, actually, they, before our partners, kind of arrived at the hospital. What they would do is they would put people who smelled outside at night like just terrible, ethical like things, right, like just awful conditions. But this woman was just outside and they ended. These two people ended up picking her up and carrying her over to a concrete slab that had a bucket, and they began, just like just dumped a bucket of water on her, um, and started scrubbing her down like just out naked in the middle of this like public area at the hospital, on a concrete slab.
Speaker 2:It was it, just it like one of the hardest things that you can witness, right, like it truly is the least of these, but also just being treated like the least of these. And yeah, it's just so cool that we can do something, first of all for the beginning of generations, but also the end of generations, and I think that that's where the change will come from. Right, like hopefully, these women, the last 10 years of their life, are comfortable and more comfortable than the first 70 were. Yeah, uh. So yeah, carl, I don't know if you have anything to add on that yeah, I mean, it's just, it's brutal.
Speaker 3:I mean they're seeing just a complete breakdown of society and, um, you know they've been for generations, living in conflict and just barely surviving, enduring starvation, um, and, and so you see all the, all the extras, you know, just simple decency. Um is gone. You know it's so far removed, and so that's another thing that makes what our partners are doing so powerful, because they're not just feeding, but they're doing the best that they can. So they're working hard to make these meals delicious, they're serving them with a smile, they're stopping and praying for people and shaking these women's hands, these elderly women. You stop and you smile and you shake their hands and their whole world collapses.
Speaker 3:They're just like what somebody sees me, somebody sees me and is taking the time to to greet me, and our partners do that every single day, all day, and it's just it's humbling to see them work and and the level of transformation that that's bringing um the hospital, as bad as we saw it, it's leaps and bounds ahead of where it used to be right, um, because because our you know our partners their daily work is actually seeding into the culture of the hospital and the nurses are taking better care of the patients, the families are, are sticking around more because, well, they want a meal too, because we don't just feed the people, the patients, but we feed the, the families that are taking care of the patients.
Speaker 3:So we're on a, on a microcosm. We're seeing societal change happen in this little bubble of the hospital and and uh, you know, craig and I were talking like man I can't wait to come back to this place in 10 years and and see what it's like, like how much god transforms this place is it's going to be incredible absolutely, and, as you guys are talking, I'm I'm finding myself, you know, thinking about us foisting our visions of the American world on the rest of the world and kind of expectations that come with it.
Speaker 1:And I know, as we were talking about this episode beforehand, you know you mentioned that calling it a hospital is maybe generous, at least in the vision of what we would typically have of you know, pristine floors and air conditioned rooms and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:But it is rather maybe just a place where people are taken care of, and societal change and societal issues there make this an entirely different experience than anything we would expect stateside. And so being able to come alongside that and offer those moments of normal, like you mentioned, their normal is chaotic, but how can we come alongside that and offer those moments of normal, like you mentioned? Their normal is chaotic, but how can we come alongside their normal and offer a little bit of comfort, a little bit of dignity in the beginning of life and the end of life? I think that those are really beautiful things. So, as we wind down today, I want to end on a note of joy, because I think it's easy to talk about starvation, about conditions in hospitals, but you've also mentioned a few moments of joy in here and, craig, I feel like I know what your moment of joy would be is interacting with those kids. But if there's one lasting thing that you'll take away from this trip a moment of joy what would that be?
Speaker 2:I think in terms of moment of joy, uh, the the partners carl talked about it, but the partners that we're working with are just so generous and, um, truly instilling just change in this community. Uh, they every, every meal, though. So, uh, breakfast, lunch and dinner, we got to sit with them, and when we say partners, it's like that's kind of an abstract, but there's a pastor and then Pastor Samuel, and then I think there were six or seven other people who live in one house all together and just work and disciple, and this is what they do. But we got to sit with them every meal and just kind of talk about their vision, and it felt like every single meal we were able to talk about more, because we understood more right Like our eyes were opened a little bit every single meal, and so by the end it's like we were able to laugh and share something together.
Speaker 2:But I think in the beginning there was a little bit of it was just hard for us to understand what we were going to see and, um, when your respect for someone is just growing, as you're with them, like there's, there's this weird not not that we didn't respect them coming in, obviously but when you like these are are are giants of our faith like these, these are some of the biggest people, like in heaven are going to be celebrated Right. These are the level of these people, yeah, and so I think just being able to sit with them and watch them work we get to do so much good work, but that's still. It felt like nothing compared to what they're doing, like the inspiration that comes from what these people are doing, in the conditions that they're doing it is. It just makes you want to do more and more and shows you how much more there is to do and what a joy it is that we get to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, carl.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all right. So what I'm going to share? It's going to go dark, but we're going to end on joy, like you talked about. We're going to end on hope. Okay, it's going to go dark, but we're going to end on joy, Like you talked about. We're going to end on hope, but when you, when you ask that question, you know. The story that immediately came to my mind is when we were talking with the Sudanese, a man stood up and he said I've been a refugee, I've been displaced and I've been fleeing for my life since 1984. And he says I was, I was in Darfur, um, and when this happened, um, I grabbed my family and we were, we fled, we just ran, um, he, he, he. Two neighbor boys ended up running with them and they didn't know who they were, but they were running and they ran with them.
Speaker 3:And he says we came to a point on the road where the rebels were and they were killing people just on the side of the road, just anybody that came by. They were just killing them. And he says we got caught in the middle of that and we were walking and they started beating the other man that was with us, beating him seriously, and they were going to kill all of us. And then they just stopped and said we're tired, you guys can go on. And a big smile comes across his face as he's telling this story and he says you see, the faithfulness of god, god gave us a way, he made a way through for us, and he just went off on this tangent about the goodness of God and the faithfulness of God in the midst of this utter atrocity, chaos, violence that I can't even imagine.
Speaker 2:This is a guy who hasn't had a home since the 80s.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think and he's just, he's smiling talking about the faithfulness of God, and I think, as we talk about these hard places, as we talk about these challenging circumstances and overwhelming numbers and people dying of starvation, we also have to remember that we serve and we partner with a good God who's somehow faithful in it and has a strategy and has a plan, and we get the joy and honor of being able to partner with him and partner with these other missionaries that are doing incredible work and see miracles happen. We see people saved every day, we see lives transformed, we see communities and families transformed, and it's all because of the faithfulness and the goodness of our God.
Speaker 1:Amen. What a powerful thing to go and see folks who've been running for 40 years, folks who have nothing have just the most incredible faith. And you're right, carl, we serve a good and mighty God, and what an honor it is to do that, and what an honor it is to do it alongside the two of you. Thank you for going, thank you for spending some time to share with the audience your thoughts. Folks, as you're listening, I ask that you would join us in prayer, not only for our teams that do go into these circumstances, but for the folks who live in these circumstances, the folks that we are honored to partner with across the world.
Speaker 1:Pray for pastors who continue to disciple, in these conditions, amongst the least of these, as we are called to do. Pray for those men and women, giants of the faith, as you said, craig, who live and work in these conditions to further the gospel, to bring the good news to those who need to hear it. Gentlemen, thank you and we'll talk soon. Thank you,
