A Summer Prayer for Sarah

In 1995, when our oldest was 15, he informed us that he was going on a summer mission trip to Haiti. Haiti. The same country that had just had a coup d’état and been occupied by American troops (which was a selling point for the church youth minister promoting the trip). We weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea, but we gave our OK. When I took him to a travel agency to get his passport photo taken, the agent there brightly asked, “And where are you going?” With great excitement and pride in his voice, he answered “Haiti.” With a fixed smile and a big nod, she said, “Ah, Haiti,” and took his picture.

It turned out to be one of the best experiences he could have had. He was immersed in a culture totally unlike what he was growing up in. He worked, and he worked hard, on construction projects like a water pipeline from the mountains. And he got to spend some time away from parental oversight.

I bring this up because Sarah Salter, the friend of many of us online, is spending two weeks this summer in Africa, specifically the Sudan and Kenya. Neither country is exactly the top of the charts for typical summer destinations. In the Sudan, she and her fellow team members have to carry all of their food and water with them. And plenty of pre-moistened towelettes, because there will be no showers (the country is experiencing a water shortage). While they rest of us back in the States are enjoying our air-conditioning, Sarah will not be – and in an area that’s four degrees from the equator.

This isn’t a mission trip to Paris or London. It’s to a part of the world that has seen more than its share of upheaval, rebellion, political instability, civil war and death. But for Sarah and her fellow team members, this has been an exciting trip to anticipate and plan for. She’s done mission trips before. And she knows the planning is critical.

If the travel schedule was maintained, she would have flown to London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday and then transferred to Nairobi. From there, she was flying today in a very small airplane (“a flying tuna can”) to Kapoeta, Sudan. She scheduled a post on her blog for today that gives some of the details, and there will be a number of posts over the next 10 days or so.

So hold up Sarah and her team in your prayers. Some of the specific things she’s asked prayer for include:

(1) Finding favor with the Sudanese and Kenyan government officials.
(2) Unity and harmony between the team and the host missionary families.
(3) Safe travel (and all the connections get made) and their baggage makes it with them.
(4) A flexible attitude toward their schedule and “faith to trust the Lord in all unfamiliar paths.”

And I would add this: that their hearts and minds and arms and spirits be used in a mighty way.

To read more blog posts on "Summer," visit the One Word Blog Carnival over at Bridget Chumbley's place.