Hi. (i hate title lines)

The long awaited address to mail me things is here! After me being extremely lazy and forgetfull here is the address for the SIM Sudan office based out of Kenya.



SIM Sudan

c/o Joel Beckett

P.O. Box 79252

00200 City Square

Nairobi Kenya



Instructions for mailing:

1. Nothing expensive! (i'll have to pay customes)


2. Under 4pds in total weight


3. I hear the best packages that come thru are padded envelopes no more than 4pds.


4. If you have questions if something is good to send ask me.

Ok... Ok. Enough business.

Nick. You are welcome to come to sudan. You just have to kill the president first. Or brib the department of the army. :) But your outstanding sense of humor would be greatly appreciated. Since the sudanese don't have one like mine.

Life here in Malakal is becoming more and more comfortable. It's still quite an interesting place to be sure. The small creatures are everywhere. The other night i went out to use the outhouse And when i got to the door the was a fatty spider about face level across the door, a scorpian at the door sill, and when i went out the door there was a frog on the door step. :) Needless to say you have to watch where you're walking around here.

But the creatures are the easy parts to get used to. The hard part has been just being comfortable in my spirit. I've had a real hard time adjusting to being here. One reason maybe is because i know when i'm going home again. But i really think that ever since i've gotten to Africa. And especially Sudan, i've pretty much been in like a sort of greaving process. Greaving one because i miss home and my friends and family and my electric guitar. But also because of all the poverty and destruction from the war here. Everywhere you look there is intense amounts of poverty that you just don't see very many places in the world. From women gathering water out of the ditch (that certainly isn't any good for drinking) too some little kid squatting next the road taking a dump because he has diarea and no bathroom. The whole town is just starting to recover from the years of war. Only now in the last 2 years are people starting to work on infrastructure and develpment thats been neglected for the last 30 years.

But i'm starting to adjust to these types of things. And see God through it all. I'm learning to abide in him no matter the setting. It's certainly been an interesting last few days.

Also i haven't been feeling very well. The medical book i have says i have amebic dysintary. :) I flash from diareea to constapation and throwing up. At first i thought it was just some food not agreeing with me. But now i think it must be something a little worse. I'll be talking to the SIM doctor about it soon. Last night was pretty miserable. You all can pray that i can get this diagnosed and treated soon.

Well anyways, I also have a local cell phone number from a sudanese cell network. The network only works some of the time. But it's still not bad. I've even been able to make some international phone calls. The rates are much cheaper than the SAT phone. Although the SAT phone will be handy to have when i travel in the bush. My number is +249919194614 It's about .50$ a minute to call home and .12$ a text. Although i don't think the international texting is working. Also i'm pretty sure it doesn't cost me anything to recieve calls. Since that's the way it works in most of the world. It only charges me to make a call. Not recieve one. So yeah, if you want to talk maybe just email me and we can set up a time to talk. Or just randomly call me. That works too. Remember that Sudan is 11 hours i think off of Alaska standard time.

I'll write more later. Hopefully put up some pics when the VSAT works.

Love, Joel.

Hmm... what to say.

I'm not sure waht to say right now. This is my first time i've been able to use the internet in Sudan. It's HOT, dirty and smelly here. And things compaired to America are at a really basic level. But... i have a roof over my head. And running water (Nile river water though.) As well as a nice deep outhouse and plenty of toilet paper. :)

My daily routine is varied. Somtimes it's going to the market with andrew to get supplies and sometimes it's working on the houses. The sun comes up at around 7am. And set about 7pm. That's pretty cool. I just finished installing a solar panel power system on one of the houses im working on. It's to power i hopefully soon coming sattelite powered internet system.

Last week there was a bunch of guys with SIM staying here at the houses in Malekal. They were here to try and get a hold of some land to start the moving process from nairobi to malekal for the SIMsudan admin office. Things went ok. There are still a lot of things that need worked out. And alot of things need to happen. You can pray that the local government will give SIM favor in this process.

Well i'm done talking for now.

P.S.

I have a Satellite phone! Curtesy of Nick the gnome Gliem! And here is the number(+8821643335141). In case you Must get a hold of me. *WARNING* it's $1.49 a minute cuse the rates just went up. But SMS is only .25$ So try that if you need to. But email is still the best way to contact me. Especially when the V-SAT is up and running.

Off to Sudan tommarow

I'm off to Malakal tommarow. I'm ready. I think. :) I got to go visit an awesome old friend tonight (matt dompier.) He works for International Justice Mission here in Nairobi. That was awesome! It was really good to catch back up with him after not talking to him for years. I'm stoked to see that he is following God. And exploring the call on his life. I hope to visit him again when i come back to nairobi.

I'm ready for Sudan. But my heart and mind have been there for so long that it's hardly very exciting. I'm just ready to settle in somewhere. I've been in transit for about a month now. And it's a little frusterating knowing that i'm waiting to go somewhere. It wouldn't be so bad if i were travelling for the heck of it. But when i am, just to get somewhere. Then i just want to get there already! Maybe some of you know what i mean...

I wanna shout out to my Kairos peeps. You know who you are! I think about you all alot. I know that most of you are in school. And there is all kinds of stuff happening there. Good... and bad. Joys and pains. Broken relationships... and good ones. But i want you all to know that i'm thinking and praying for you all. And that i have a feeling God is going to do something truly new/unexpected for you all this year.

I came across a passage the other day that reminded me of your group. And the heart behind it. Phillipians 2:15 talks about a "crooked and depraved generation" and that you will "shine like stars in the universe as you hold out (or form) the word of life." It just reminded me of this idea of working out your salvation. Which i know is a daily struggle for so many of you young adults. (me included!) Basically though Jesus had me read Philipians just for you guys i know. Because the whole book spoke to me about you all. You should definatly read it. But you guys to me are definatly stars that shine! Seriously...

Well anyways.

Things i miss most... if anyone wants to know. :) Fatty cheese burgers, pretty white girls, my electric guitar and most excellent VOX amp, and worshipping with you Kairos guys! In no particular order.

I'll take my leave now. Asante

Malakal here i come!

So i'm going to be going to a town called Malakal. It's the capital of blue nile state. Which is the province that SIM works in most in sudan. Right now SIM sudan has had a man from new zealand named Andrew there for the last 7 months working at a church compound refurbishing two houses. The compound is run by the Sudan Interior Church or SIC. SIMs goal is to hopefully if peace lasts between the north and the south to move its Sudan operations and field office to Malakal. And out of nairobi.

I'll be going up there to help Andrew make contacts, minister, teach, build, and whatever else. I've been told that i'll probably end up preaching some. :) And also leading worship. Especially since i have my guitar with me. Soo.... i have my work cut out for me. I'm sure God is going to stretch the heck outa me.

I'm not sure what malakal is like since i've never been there. But i've heard its much better than living in a bush station. They have markets, some reterants, an internet cafe (sometimes works). And a few other things. But i've also been told that compaired to the USA it'll be really basic. It should be a blast!

You all can pray that God will help me open up some. Because i'm probably going to be doing alot of things out of my comfort zone. Which is not entirely unexpected. And also pray for my health. I have pretty bad allergies here in Nairobi. I had to go pick up some presription strength antihistamines. It must be something in the air here.

A praise is that i had a lost bag when i arrived in Nairobi on wednesday. But amazingly enough it has shown up already! STHWEET!! Because that's rare. A couple here has been waiting on a bag for 2 weeks already. And they have no clue when it will show up.

Anyways. I'm going to get mailing information to you all soon. Things happen very slowly here. So i'm just taking my time settling in.

I made it!!

Hey all! I'm made it into Nairobi. Everything is well. I'm really tired. But otherwise good. I met a bunch of the team from SIM for Kenya and Sudan. And found out where i'll be stationed. It looks like on the 15th i'll be going up to Malakawal (spelling) and helping out to refurbish two homes in a church complex there. I'll write more later of why we're doing that. Where it's at etc. But for now i'm going to go to bed.