June 2020
February 2024 We have both been doing really well over the last year since we visited back home aside from a few minor illnesses and hiccups along the way. God has really looked a�er us and our needs up �ll now for which we are very thankful. We have just had two weeks break in Kenya a�er working through Christmas / New Year. It was actually our first Christmas ever to be spent in Juba in the 12 years we have been here and to be honest, we hope never to do it again! It wasn’t very res�ul, not least because of all the noise from par�es and such outside the compound leading up to Christmas, looking a�er various people’s animals on the compound while they were all away, and trying to cover what seemed like an endless succession of work issues and emergencies over the ‘holiday’ period. We were desperately in need of a break by the �me our RnR came which was scheduled in mid-January. We now feel a lot more energized and ready to go, having had
two weeks with good food, lovely summer weather and being able to almost forget about things work related for a bit. So what has Phil been up to in his work?..... Phil has been busy with a solar/inverter/ba�ery upgrade to 60 panels at the MAF office. This involved building a new roof structure to put the panels onto. The power generated from the solar panels now covers 47% of the total office power usage which saves about $1300 a month! The cost of power here is equivalent to 73 cents per unit and the hot season is in full swing, so with temperatures from 29 degrees overnight to over 40 during the day, the ten air-condi�oners are pre�y much running at 90% throughout the day. MAF have about 70 aircondi�oners in total that the facili�es team look
Cover Photo: South Sudanese woman outside the new Sudan Pentecostal Church building in Kapoeta, East Equatoria. Le� Below and Right: Our house in Avonside a�er being burned and in it’s current state.
a�er between two residen�al compounds, a hangar and the office! Phil is also currently planning a work trip to Liberia for a couple of weeks in the near future. He will be going there to help install solar installa�ons at five new houses on the MAF Liberia compound. Power there is 92 cents per unit so with three or four aircondi�oners per house it is very worth it. Phil and James, the technical team, are also assis�ng MAF Tanzania and Guinea remotely with their setups. On top of that they have assisted missionaries and a missionary hospital in the far north of South Sudan. The solar equipment has to come from Kenya so they help with purchasing the equipment there and then do the logis�cal work of transpor�ng the equipment to Juba and further north. Vehicle parts are another requirement as is electrical contrac�ng supplies. These can be supplied from Juba and sent in MAF planes or other NGO truck convoys heading north. MAF Juba has a lot of exper�se that most other MAF bases around the world don’t have and so they are able to help in more places than just here in South Sudan. What about life back in NZ? In regards to life in NZ, many of you will know that shortly a�er leaving last last year one of our houses in Christchurch was set on fire and one half of the house was very badly damaged. We have two houses in Christchurch which we rent out. They provide approximately 80% of our income as we live here in Juba, so the loss of one was a bit of a catastrophe for us, especially since, with the enormous help of a team from the church we had just finished �dying it and doing it up with pain�ng, repairs etc. and had
just had new tenants move in. Praise God our insurance ended up covering lost rent at least �ll the end of the year. We had our belongings stored in the garage at that property and so we were again thankful to the team from church and family who helped us to move some of our belongings from the garage to a safer place on another property up �ll now. The same team also helped clean up burnt remains and some of the smoke damage from the house so that it would be be�er prepared for sale as we decided it was be�er to sell it and get another property than to try to nego�ate with contractors from here to repair the damage. Praise God we are now in a posi�on where we can put the house up for sale and keep the mortgage we have, to be able to purchase another. Please pray with us that God will bring us to the best solu�on - that we will be able to get a good price for the house and find a suitable replacement elsewhere in the city. We thank God for his help and for covering us throughout this year, and we are also so thankful to you and especially those who have done so much to help us with things in NZ regarding the house when we couldn’t be there. We couldn’t be here without all of you and we appreciate you all so much and the phenomenal amount of help that we have had! You have blessed us immensely! Thank you!
Sudan Pentecostal Church - Kapoeta Photos: Paula Alderblad, MAF SS
Magdalena and Filip are two Swedish Missionaries sent to South Sudan to work alongside the Sudan Pentecostal Church.
We wanted to introduce you to two personal friends of ours as well as give another story of the work that MAF is helping in South Sudan. Meet Filip and Magdalena. They are Swedish Missionaries, based in Juba but also working in a South Sudanese town called Kapoeta, where they
are suppor�ng the Sudan Pentecostal Church (SPC) whom they work under. In Kapoeta, SPC through the work of Filip and Magdalena, are working to build and develop a church compound which will be a mul�-purpose centre for the church and community. They are currently building a pastor’s house, a church, a guesthouse and a Sunday School building on the land. As part of the MAF SS technical team, Phil was able to travel to Kapoeta to help Filip with the installa�on of much needed solar power and panels as there is no electricity in this town. It was a very big job, but it is already making a huge difference to those on the church compound. Now everything runs on solar - even the borehole which is primarily used for supplying water for growing food in the garden on the compound.
However any le� over water each day in the tanks is there for the community to use also. The availability of solar power also now means that church members or partners can hold events etc. in the evenings that they couldn’t before because they now have good ligh�ng available and fans to make it more comfortable. Travelling to Kapoeta by road is difficult. The road from Juba to Kapoeta is a high security risk due to banditry etc, and on top of that the roads are very muddy and difficult to use for transport. As a result, Filip and Magdalena are regular users of MAF. They frequently partner with MAF SSD and MAF Kenya to assist in taking building materials to Kapoeta and to travel between Juba and Kapoeta themselves. They have future building plans for another church complex in an even smaller and more remote place in South Sudan called Lo�mor, for which MAF services will become even more cri�cal for their effec�ve ministry.
Above Le�: Magdalena Waern and Filip Lidstrom Top Le�: New church building on SPC compound. Middle Le�: Bap�sm pool being built. Bo�om Le�: Visitors arriving via MAF plane. Middle Bo�om: Tradi�onal large drum being used in church. Top Right: Typical muddy roads leading to Kapoeta and within the town. Whenever it rains, transport becomes almost impossible. Even walking is very difficult.
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