R.K.’s Turkey / South Sudan Trip | The Bridge International

My husband, Steve and I have through our ministry, The Bridge International, been engaged in sponsoring indigenous people and works among the South Sudanese people for two decades. From March 4 till March 27, I will be traveling and spending time in their new country, South Sudan for the first time. This letter is to inquire if you might be interested in partnering with me by prayer and finances as I visit the Christian believers on the ground in the newest country in the world which presently is the only nations in Africa with a Judeo-Christian-based Constitution! The cost of travel is approximately $3,000.00. I believe that, as I explore the opportunities for evangelistic outreach and works by the nationals, I will return back home with some exciting projects which will propagate the Gospel among the South Sudanese people, of which you might like to partake.

I will be leaving Fort Lauderdale on March 4 and will be spending a few days in Istanbul, Turkey, where one of our Bridge partners, Sargon, an Assyrian-Iranian from Iran who has lived and ministered in Kazakhstan for the last 18 years, is in the process of pioneering a new outreach among the believers there. I will then do a stop-over in Cairo, Egypt on my way to Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

The first few days after my arrival in Juba I will be spending time with Matthew Dengdut to get an idea of what kind of opportunities are available for this young man after he finished Bible college in Israel sponsored by a local church in Florida and has returned back from being a refugee in Israel. He has been asked if he would establish a regular Bible study among the university students as part of their curriculum to help promote an understanding of the Judeo-Christian world view which this new country have adopted as a foundation for their Constitution. I also hope to meet up with Simon Sittin who was co-sponsored by the same church to attend Bible College in Israel.

I then hope to visit Sabet and Suzy Kuj in Tonj, a British-Dinka couple who have built a medical clinic for the community at large and a leadership training center at their base for bush pastors.

The latter part of my visit will be spent near Nimule at the compound of William Levi and his people who have built a self-sustaining community two hours south of Juba along the road to Uganda. William, who lives with his wife and six children in Massachusetts, will be in South Sudan during my time there.

Following is a brief description of the three groups of people I plan to visit, and a link to their background stories on our old website, the content of which we are in process of bringing over to this new site.

Steve and I met William Levi twenty years ago and invited him to visit us in our home. He was then a young refugee who had fled to the United States to escape war in Sudan. He was determined not to forget his suffering people, so he shared with passion their plea and his plans to help them. We became friends and came behind his vision as a supporting ministry. In the beginning years we helped support evangelistic outreaches and micro businesses among the South Sudanese living in the UN refugee camps in Northern Uganda, then followed his ministry, Nehemiah Mission for the South Sudan as his people re-patrioted South Sudan after the peace treaty. With the nationals on the ground, his ministry has built a self-sustaining Christian community approx. two hours south of Juba toward Nimule. Following is the story about him and his work in South Sudan:

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/october2009.pdf

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/turkey-south-sudan-trip/beth-israel-on-the-nile-page-12/

We came to know Sabet and Suzy Kuj through William, and they have also visited us several times in Florida, so we know them personally. Following are the links to their story:

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/september2009.pdf

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/turkey-south-sudan-trip/five-days-in-tonj-page-9/

I met Matthew Dengdut and Simon Sittin during a visit to Jerusalem, Israel in 2008. They were part of the more than 10,000 Sudanese who fled through the Sinai Desert from Egypt and came into Israel as refugees. In cooperation with the Israeli Bible Society, and in partnership with a local church here in South Florida, we sponsored Matthew and Simon to attend Bible College in Israel for two years to prepare them for the work waiting for them among their people in South Sudan. In the Spring of 2011, all the approx. 1,100 South Sudanese in Israel were deported and flown back to Juba where most of them presently live. Below are the links to these two young men’s story:

http://bridgeold.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/june2012.pdf

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/turkey-south-sudan-trip/juba-page-6/

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/turkey-south-sudan-trip/juba-street-outreach-page-7/