Seed Effect Loan Day

Seed Effect disbursed our first loans yesterday! Words can not do this day justice so I will leave it to pictures, or rather to video . . .

To watch a video of our first client, please check out our You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/seedeffect (Caution: our first client was breast-feeding during the loan).

I leave tomorrow to return to the US so that I can raise enough funds to live in Kajo Keji full time. We are shutting down the satellite internet and preparing to leave so I don't have much time. Lots of stories to tell when I get back!

Early Impressions

It has been great just living at Kaya's house/compound and getting to know everyone on the e3 trip team and also the national team. I've been surprised at how nice everyone is. Little children run after us smiling and waving. Its a little strange that everyone looks at you like they've never seen a white person before (some really haven't) but I don't think the smiling kids yelling "gelatat" (white man) will ever get old. So much to tell and I will have many stories to tell when I get back. Its a long way from home and the land is sparse, but South Sudan definitely feels like (and truly is) the frontier of both global missions and economic development. But, I feel much safer here than in Russia . . . no one hates Americans and we even have a security guy named Mawa who is ex-special forces for the South Sudan military (more stories about him to come).

Training Success

We continued to meet with the team on Sunday afternoon and Monday to prepare for the training session . . . basically we were "Training the Trainers" so that our team of nationals could conduct the actual training. On Tuesday we met our first group of potential clients and began the Loan Orientation Seminar. We actually just finished the training today and began working with our clients to fill out their loan applications. The training was much more successful than I expected. Our team really stepped up and delivered a great four days of training.

Kenneth, our Director of Operations (and hopefully future me) was truly impressive and I have a ton of confidence in him as a leader. Our clients have said the training was incredibly valuable and that they have never received this kind of training before. They learned things about business they hadn't even though of before and they now feel empowered with education. Most of our clients can't read or write and have been sparely educated due to the civil war and poverty. We will spend Saturday completing the applications, probably to distribute the first loans either Tuesday or Wednesday.

We still have so much to do to prepare for the ongoing operations of the MFI and make sure our team is ready. I am already very nervous about having to be absent for months before I can return full time. So much can go wrong without a shepherd. Please pray for the this time and that we would have faith in God's provision.

Radio Show

I got to do a radio show Monday night (there are two stations in the region). One of the local guys is like "oh, by the way, we've booked you on the radio tonight at 8, you just need to talk for about an hour" . . this was at 6:30pm. Very cloak and dagger . . . wooden shack with a UN tarp draped over the door and a diesel generator powering the antenna. They interviewed me and had me talk for about 20 minutes about Seed Effect, then Kenneth translated into Kuku. Then we took questions from callers at which point I had no idea what was going on as English as no longer being used. Totally awesome!

First Days in Kajo Keji

The first day we went with the church planting team to share the gospel in one of the neighboring villages. Its hard to describe, but think of walking through the brush (high grass) and then coming upon a mud-hut along the path every now and then. We were each paired with a translator from the local church. I was paired with Kenneth, who not coincidentally will be my right hand man at Seed Effect.

I got to share the gospel with the first group. It was a little intimidating and came across awkwardly, especially through a translator, and I thought it was going over very poorly with the group. It actually appeared to be received poorly with each of the four groups we met with. So I'm thinking I've just delivered the worst rendition of the Good News ever and with a little defeatist reluctance ask if anyone wants to know this Jesus, assuming the response would be similar to street evangelism in the US: please leave me alone. And to my amazement, the response was like "Yeah, that sounds really great, please tell me how to receive Him!" God doesn't work through eloquence (1 Cor 2:1) and amazingly 5 people received Jesus in just a few hours.

The church planting team had a wonderful week and regretfully we were only able to be with them the first day due to the work to be done for Seed Effect. Saturday we met with the team to discuss the microfinance operation and prepare for our first client Loan Orientation training. At first it seemed to be rather rocky as we had a hard time connecting, but after only a couple hours the team really came together and we made lots of progress.

Sunday we went to church and it was lots of fun. The service was beautiful in its simplicity, with quite possibly my new favorite worship song: literally the words "Jesus is number one" over and over again for about five minutes straight, and impressive in the depth of exegetical teaching with an entire hour devoted to Colossians 4:10-11 without a single thought lacking insight. I truly look forward to being taught by David Kaya, the teaching pastor who I will also live with.