October 2002 Amman

Dear Friends of AFTA,

The team and myself has just returned from an exciting trip to Sudan which

gave us a sense of what it would have been like to minister alongside the

Paul or Peter on one of their ministry trips. The team of four guys went

for a month (13th Aug – 9th Sept 2002) and I joined them for the last two

weeks.

The trip was to work in the greater Khartoum area as part of their

cross-cultural training. The goal of this trip was to expose the AFTA team

to a different culture where there is openness to the gospel. Sudan fitted

both of these categories. Firstly the African/Arabic culture and Sudanese

Arabic dialect is very different to that of Jordan or Syria. Secondly,

Sudan is going through an exciting revival with openness to the gospel

that is greater than anywhere else in the Arab world. Sudan is becoming

the second biggest Christian population in the Arab world and the rate of

growth is incredible. Even though Shari law is enforced there Christians

have the right to share their faith openly. Churches are packed with

people and out of a population of 36 million 40 – 45% claim to be

Christians. In greater Khartoum area Sudanese Christian leaders claim that

there are 4 million Christians in that area alone.

The trip to Sudan was no summer holiday for the AFTA team. The apartment

they stayed in was very basic with only mattresses on the floor and that

is where they slept for the whole month. Many times they felt themselves

getting depressed, everything was different from what they were used to at

home, even the people looked different. Mosquitoes, extreme temperatures,

dust storms, a version of Arabic they didn’t understand, dirty water and

strange food had them thinking what had we done to deserve this. This is

not how missionaries live in our country.

But in the midst of these struggles God moved both in their lives and the

lives of the people they ministered to. They visited churches to encourage

believers, visited jails, distributed bibles and tracts in the streets,

talked to many about the gospel in the streets and buses and sometimes

even preached to whole buses.

One of the most exciting times was in a place called Izba, which is where

860,000 displaced people from the south and Nuba Mountains live. These

people live with no food, no amenities, and a lot of sickness. The team

worked with the children and had the opportunity to feed many people. I

preached there twice and the team ministered to many hundreds of people.

They saw people saved, healed, released from evil spirits and filled with

the Holy Spirit. At one service there were 400 people inside and another

400 outside. The AFTA team saw things that they had never seen before.

I also preached at a ladies jail. It was so inspiring to hear these ladies

singing songs of wanting to lift the name of Jesus to the whole of the

land. More than 100 ladies were there with little children. When I

preached the gospel message many of them prayed the sinner’s prayer with

us. We also had the opportunity to bless them with a good breakfast.

When we left Sudan we were not the same people, our lives had been

changed, to the extent that my son said that I should go more often

because I came back a better person. God has been speaking to some of our

trainees about ministry in Sudan so please be praying for them as they

come to the end of their training and consider what their next step will

be.

Yours In Christ

Pastor Afeef Halasah

Executive Director