Arua, Juba, Yei, and the Stories We Carried Home

.Here I am Send me!… Isaiah 6:8
There is something different about being there.

For years, I have read the reports, looked at the photographs, listened to stories, and prayed for communities miles away in South Sudan. Like most of us, I have celebrated what God is doing through PEER Servants from a distance. But the August PEER Servants Trip reminded me that there is a difference between hearing about a story and sitting in the room with the person who has lived it.

There is a difference between seeing a picture of a road and being on that road, from Arua toward Juba, with all its bumps,delays, uncertainty, and beauty. There is also a difference between reading about a community and sitting face to face with the people who call it home.

And honestly, getting to Juba and eventually to Yei was not easy. The journey was long, tough, and at times uncomfortable. There were moments when we could not help but wonder, “Are we really doing all this just to get there?” But looking back, I am convinced that the Lord was teaching us something in the journey itself.

Sometimes, the road has to be difficult for us to appreciate what awaits us on the other side. The difficulty of getting there made the moments with our family there even more precious. It reminded me that Kingdom work is not always convenient. Sometimes it requires sacrifice, perseverance, patience, and simply being willing to keep going because you know the people on the other side are worth it.

And they were worth it.

I felt deeply privileged to breathe the same air, share the same meals, listen to the same laughter, and sit with people whose lives have been touched by the work of our PEER family. And that work is not possible because of one person. It happens because volunteers give their time and resources, donors give generously, partners give their lives, and people pray from thousands of miles away. Teams travel, sacrifice, serve, encourage, teach, lend, mentor, and keep showing up.

We are incredibly diverse as a PEER Servants family. Different countries. Different cultures. Different gifts. Different stories. Yet somehow, God takes all these different parts and brings them together around one mission, the love of Jesus and the great sacrifice He made for us on the cross.

And then, every once in a while, you get to see what that collective obedience looks like on the ground, like we did in August. One of the moments that challenged and encouraged me, was sitting with some of our scholars and graduates and hearing their stories directly from them. Sitting right across from us, they shared what God had done and what they were now doing with what they had received. I can’t promise that some tears weren’t shed in those moments.

One story that particularly stayed with me was that of Monday Sarah. Sarah now runs a mentorship program for girls in her village. Her home has become known as the “School of Girls.” She regularly gathers girls from her community in her home, mentors them, encourages them, and creates a space where they can grow.

I found myself thinking about how beautiful that is. That someone invested in Sarah, and now Sarah is investing in others. The Kingdom is multiplying!!

What PEER may have given as an opportunity, someone else is now giving as hope, guidance, courage, and opportunity to another generation, deep in the heart of South Sudan. Isn’t that beautiful?

I came home grateful not because the journey was easy, but because I got to see, hear, and feel what God is doing through His people.And most importantly why we needed to be in South Sudan this August. May God continue to give us the grace to go where He sends us, to give what He has entrusted to us, and to serve wherever He has placed us.

Because when the different parts of the Body of Christ move together, Palpable Kingdom Presence is experienced in ways we may never fully fathom!

Atieno Oketch
Director, Growth Teams
Kenya