Our contact worker among the Mündü has this to report at the start of 2010:

Mundu man

“Dominic (one of the Team who translated the Mündü New Testament) was very ill in November and December. He writes says: “I thank God for healing me. My sickness was very complicated, but the doctor told me that it was only malaria and migraine, and the cause of the headache was due to frustration.

The treatment took almost one and half months. During the last three years I had been moving between Yei, Juba and Terekeka looking for green pasture, but all in vain. I am sure God wants me to come back home to Maridi (southern Sudan) to continue with the work he has assigned to me among my own people (the Mündüs), so that is what I am now doing.

I have started translating the book of Exodus. I am halfway now. I would also like to re-open the collapsed schools and visit some new areas.” Pray for on-going victory for Dominic in his battle with alcoholism.

I hear that the LRA rebels are continuing to give trouble, especially in the Mündü area of DR Congo. Pray for an end to this terror and misery. A lot of people (including many Mündüs) have fled from Aba, DRC. Most of the Sudanese refugees have returned to Sudan. 

Levi Bakata (nephew of Seme, another of the old Translation Team) held a Seminar for Mündü Youth in Yei, Southern Sudan in January. He says: “The topic of the seminar was ‘The Role of Youth in the Church’ - which includes Sunday school teaching, praise and worship, Bible studies, helping the needy etc. 

We also had lessons on the Mündü alphabet and learnt some new songs from the Mündü hymn book. About 175 came along. We plan to have another seminar next year, but the young people wish we could have it every three months. The Mündü church in Yei is growing very fast. Every Sunday they meet to pray together in the Mündü language. 
The Sunday School is very active too. We now have yet another Mündü congregation in Lasu [at the DRC border - probably Congolese refugees fleeing from LRA] and they are wanting to buy the Mündü Bible plus the hymns to be used there. We therefore ask you to keep on praying for the Mündü people to embrace the things of God.”

Enoka (also of the former Translation Team) had a Bible Conference in one of the villages near Yei. About 40 people came and learnt about AIDS awareness, how to read Mündü, and why we don’t need to fear witches or the spirits of the ancestors.  People really appreciated this chance to study the Bible in depth. One man said, “We had never really understood before what the Bible has to say about magic and the spirit world.” Another said, “There are many people who practise that kind of magic here in our area. We need to have seminars like this every year so that they will repent and change their ways.”

Some very good news is that there is progress with the plan make an audio recording of  the Mündü New Testament. A small team from Faith Comes by Hearing plans to visit Yei around the end of February or so to asses the situation, e.g. the adequacy of the recording studio in Yei and the number of fluent Mündü readers who could help with the recording. Seme says he has collected a number of readers who could help. Pray it all works out!

Please also remember to pray for peace among the peoples of Sudan as they face presidential and parliamentary elections in April this year and a referendum in January 2011 to determine whether or not southern Sudan will become an independent country.

PRAYER POINTS

• Pray for Dominic as he returns to work among his own people and for him as he continues to battle against alcoholism.
• Pray for the many activities - Sunday school, seminars etc which are going on amongst the Mündü.
• Pray for safety from the attacks of the LRA and  for peace during the forthcoming elections
• Pray for plans for audio recordings in the Mündü language.
• Praise God for the great response to the Bible Conference near Yei and ask that those who heard the teaching would act on what they were convicted of.