Ellie Claus

Last November I flew up to Anchorage, Alaska for my Grandfather's funeral. My cousin's husband Karl Clauson is the Senior Pastor of Change Point (changepointalaska.com). It’s a huge church and runs over 5000 a week. My other cousin Gwen Adams is the senior leader of the children's ministry which is running over a thousand children on a weekly basis. Gwen was asking me a lot of questions about Sudan after the funeral. Through this conversation I found out that my grandfather, in the last 6 months of his life, had been praying for the healing in Sudan and that it was a burden upon his heart. Gwen felt she would love to get involved in supporting some type of ministry in Sudan. She said “I have a thousand children that come to our church. If each child would bring a dollar a week that is a $1000.00 a week!” Now there are two ways I could approach this: 1) A sales presentation with PowerPoint and try to meet with key players and close the deal. Which is not me. Or 2) bring someone with us and allow the Holy Sprit to speak to them and let them see what Christ sees and come back to Alaska and share Christ's heart. With this on my mind I thought of asking Gwen to come to Sudan with me. But, my cuz has three children and is running a huge ministry, so going into a very dangerous country is not the brightest thing especially if you don’t have a clear calling about going, forget it. I told Gwen the best thing to do is find someone with a heart for orphans. Two months later I was given a phone number with a name “Ellie.” I called Ellie and realized that I have an opportunity to equip Ellie “to do great things for the Kingdom of God.” I believe in order to do that you have to take risks - big risks - Sudan-sized risks. In a conversation I had with her, she is definitely open to take risks in order to be sold out on Him. Easter Sunday I’m going to introduce her to our congregation at the 9:00 am and 10:45 service for prayer before we fly out that day. Please begin to pray for Ellie that the Lord will instill His direction for her life and that when she goes back to Alaska she will bring part of the hearts of the Sudanese children with her.

Signed, sealed, delivered

We're going to be getting to know 24 orphans that have lost both parents due to the war. I think it's important that these dear children know who is praying for them and supporting them. If you would like to write a letter to them, Jennifer and I will hand deliver it. (yes they are leaning English) In the letter describe who you are and where you live. We will show on a map where the letter is coming from. Please enclose a picture of your self or your family. It's important to have a picture of you and your family to put up in the classroom. If you interested please mail it to:

Kevin Robertson

12610 Braddock Dr #225

Los Angeles CA 90066

Or email me at:

Pastorkevin@marinachristian.org and attach a photo and we will print the letter and photo and bring it with us. Then when we come back we will put the letters in this blog with their picture. It's important that we build a relationship with these children. Please mail them by Tuesday April 3rd, and email by Friday April 6^th.

Sudan Schedule

This is a email from Don Rogers our team leader

Hello again team,

I pray that things are coming together well for the upcoming trip.

I will be in NY for a few days and then leaving for Kenya on the 4th to be there ahead of you by a few days.

A tentative schedule for Sudan:

11th - Leave Nairobi and arrive Padak, So Sudan

Travel by truck one hour to Kolmarek (ELI Site)

Fellowship with Stephen and staff.

12th - Visit with community / home visits / Explore ELI training center / help with construction

13th - Visit School / Visit Cattle camp

14th - Sat.- Children's games and simple Bible story - Meeting/Discussions with local Pastors

15th - Sun. -Church - Discussions with youth - Rest

16th - Mon - Final Video takes - Possible follow-up with teachers and pastors

17th - Tues - fly from Padak to Eldoret and to ELI Kenya Training Center

Everything is coming together well. There will be times for ministry with the children in Sudan. A couple of parachutes have been ordered (Thanks Kevin and Jennifer) which will provide some amazing interaction with children. You may want to bring a few other things like a few jump ropes.

Tim - can you bring those uninflated soccer balls in the office and an air pump?

Visual Bible pictures / flannel graph story or two would be a bonus.

We will have a Kenyan nurse traveling with us! Bernard Kiptoo has been to Sudan before and will be a blessing to have on the journey with us.

Much of our time is dedicated to Listening and Learning. Having a few light tools for spontaneous ministry to children is good.

I'll communicate more within a couple days from NY.

Keep covering this trip with your prayers.

Looking forward,

Don

Missing my buddy….

Going on this trip is exciting and scary at the same time. Last year when I went, Gordon was my biggest encourager. He kept saying “the Lord is going to bless you. He is not going to let any harm come to you.” When I was gone last year he told me that he prayed every day for me on this trip and when I got back Gordon was the first one I saw (besides my wife). I remember I told him “It’s you and I next year buddy!” It will be a year next month since he passed away. I’m still going to wear his hat in Sudan that he gave me last year. But I will miss his prayer covering and his words of encouragement, and his friendship. As we are approaching Easter we are reminded that we serve a risen Savior. Jesus is the one that majors in resurrections. I baptized Gordon a few years ago and baptism simply means death to ourselves as we begin a new life in Him. On April 29^th 2006 Gordon died. But, on April 29^th 2006, Gordon was given a new resurrected body that will last forever. One day I will see Gordon again according to the Bible. That’s what brings me Joy when I miss my buddy.

A Day of Shopping

Yesterday and today we started our shopping for Sudan. Where we are staying is going to be very remote. I don’t think people get how primitive it is there. There is no running water, no electricity, and no toilets. There isn’t even a store around. I have this idea of a reality show. 5 young adults that live in the West Side live in Sudan for two weeks and see how they would survive. It would be a great show. We are going to be in the Sudan for five nights. We bought our tent, air mattress with a battery operated pump, and sleeping bags. We have to buy new clothes for the trip for a few reasons: That we need to have long sleeves, no shorts, and Jennifer has to have long skirts. The temperatures average 100 to 120 during the day and 90 to 100 at night. This is the summer season in Sudan. The reason we are wearing long sleeves is protection from the sun and mosquitoes. When we leave Sudan we will leave all of our cloths there (with the exception of the ones on our back) because there is such a need for clothes. We bought extra batteries for the digital camera as well as the video camera. Please continue to pray for Jennifer and I as well as the other team members that are joining as. We are a week and a half away from Easter and leaving for Sudan.

Our Anniversary

After church we hit the road. We drove north up interstate 101 to a small town on the beach called "Cambria." We are staying at the "Blue Dophin Inn" until Wednesday. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing but neither of our cell phone has reception. We have to drive 2 miles from the hotel to get reception and 32 miles to the closest Starbucks which is in Morro Bay. But, it's a beautuful area and a nice room with a fireplace. We're celabrating 7 years of marraige.

A Good Morning

As you know, when I started my sermon series “Mind, Body, and Soul” through the book of Colossians, I told the congregation that one of my goals was that on Easter Sunday I can have my shirt tucked in without having a gut hanging over my belt. I have been walking 4 miles a day and have been doing sit-ups. This morning I decided that I was going to jog to the beach without stopping (2 miles). I did it! My calf and ankles hurt but I did it. When I was walking back there was a lady that I pass almost every day for the last 6 months and all we have said is good morning with a wave. This morning was different. When I was about to wave and say good morning she staring talking. I pulled out one of my earphones from my i-pod and said “pardon” and my morning was made when she said “You’re looking good” and rubbed her stomach. I said thank you and took this picture of her walking away. Talking about making your day!! A complete stranger saying three encouraging words. How powerful our words can be to encourage one another even if we do not know them.

Getting ready

I decided it’s time to start writing for my blog again. We are two weeks away from leaving for Sudan. I’ll try to keep daily updates on everything with the ministry, myself, and Sudan. One new thing I am doing is inserting videos in my blog . Tomorrow will be the first test video. If it works I’ll post it tomorrow evening. The reason I’m trying this is that I can post videos from my trip in Sudan and give you more of a feeling of being there with us.