Look Pictures and Video!!!!

One of the issues that is faced on a continual basis in Sudan is the overwhelming number of children that are orphaned. Here is a picture of Mary and her six children. Mary just lost her husband from alcohol poisoning last week. Anngrace and I were sitting down and discussing the future of the family.
It is a very difficult situation because the eldest son is expected to take care of the family now. He is only 14 years old though! Situations like these are very common, but the difficulty of making decisions which will influence the rest of the family are immense.
Please pray for Mary and her family. We are looking at having Mary employed at the new orphanage in Lainya. If this happens her children will be able to stay with her.
Ultimately, the decision is up to Anngrace. Please pray for direction and guidance.
We love you all very much and greatly appreciate your prayers.
Love Truth
Vernon
Gal. 5:22-23
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A note from Amber
Life as a mother is not much different here in Sudan. The last two days i have been tending to the needs of our sweet Titus and his little friends. It has been wonderful. Thank you to everyone for praying for Titus, he is doing great today! I have had a great time here staying around the Yei village getting to know the children and mothers here. They are so beautiful and so happy! Titus has had the best time finding his way around here. It is a two year old boy dream land. I wish Ladan Daniels and Jackson Smith were here to enjoy it with Titus and Albert (titus's little Sudaneese friend) There are rocks galore to throw where ever you want to throw them, because their are no windows to be broken! The children have taught Titus how to pump water into the water cans and how to feed the chickens. Today while he was playing in the dirt, he was simply rubbing the dirt and picking it up and taking in to a dumping place. When suddenly he got so excited about all the dirt and rocks he just layed stomach down and began to do a swimming action...it was hasterical! oh the joys of being two!

the Joys of African LIfe

Hello everyone! Its Amber finally!
Thank you so much for being patient with us as we try to get the Internet back up and running. Hopefully soon we will have the ability to upload pictures and video as well.
Last night was our first sleep here in Yei. We all slept well, until about 3 when Titus decided it was time wake up! He stayed awake for about two hours and then went back to sleep just fine. Sometime before 8am I was woke to the sound of Titus vomiting. This continued all morning. He was so sick. It was terribly sad. Around noon he miraculously came out of his sickness! It was amazing! He went from not eating, not drinking to wanting to go the river and play with the children! Thank you to all who prayed for Titus today! He is doing great now he has had two good meals that have stayed down just fine!
I stayed with Titus all morning but the others went about the area building friendships with the workers here. Vernon and Mike met with a family who just lost their father, they ministered to them by listening to them and morning with them.

Tonight Vernon, Mike and Bishop are in a bush village. Tomorrow, Vernon will be Preaching all morning. We are very excited about what will go on there in the morning. They will return about 2ish and we will all load up and go down the road to Harvesters. Harvesters is an orphanage that is a village away from ours in Morobo. We have a great relationship with these workers and Megan will get to do a lot with their Nurse and Doctor.
We love each of you and are thankful for your prayers.
Please pray for

• Titus to sleep. I think is sickness was just pure exhaustion.
• Salvation tomorrow in the bush.
• Over all health of all the Team.

Have a great day!

Whoops!

Hello Everyone! It's Phyllis again. I realized when I was talking to my mom on the phone that I made a small error in the last post. It was Allison's dad who purchased the ipods for the trip. The church helped out with a significant financial contribution which was also a big blessing as they acquired last-minute things for the trip. I figured I better correct that last entry--both to say thanks to Allison's dad and so that the people from the church weren't wondering who approved the purchase of two video ipods in addition to the financial contribution! :)

Hopefully, this is last update you have to receive from me, as that would mean that the team is able to update on their own, which is infinitely more exciting than hearing from a gal sitting in Louisville, Kentucky! Adios!

They Made It!

Hello Everyone! It's Phyllis (Vernon's sister) writing on behalf of the team. They arrived in Yei earlier today and met up with Mike and Megan who are already there. They're having some internet trouble, but I was able to speak to my brother and Amber on the phone just a little while ago. Everyone is doing well. They had been in Sudan for about 7 hours when I talked to them and were settling in for their first overnight stay in the country. Rachelle seems to be feeling better, which is a huge praise! Megan and Mike are still doing well also.

The travel went well. Amber said that Titus had only about 90 minutes of really rough times. When I talked to my brother and mentioned this, he said, "Oh, really? Well, that sounds better than my estimate, so let's go with that!" Pretty funny! Either way, he did really well considering the circumstances, which is a huge blessing. They are staying right on the river, which is a delightful treat for Titus. He apparently spent much of his first day in Sudan throwing rocks in the river! What fun for a two-year-old! Even more exciting for Titus is the fact that there is a cement maker right next to their place. For those of you who know Titus, you know that he is one of the world's biggest Bob the Builder fans, so the cement maker was more excitement than he had anticipated. Whenever he sees it, he yells, "It's Dizzy!" (Dizzy is the cement maker on Bob the Builder.) And to top it all off, Amber was able to take a 3-hour nap this afternoon to rest a bit.

Titus was finishing off the day with an all-American activity--watching "Cars" on the video ipod that was given to them by the church just before they left. They have been so grateful for this gift! They had been telling Titus that he'd have his own t.v. screen on the plane ride, but it turned out that they were on a smaller plane, so he didn't have one. The ipod was helpful on the flights, not only for them, but for all of the passengers around them! So, on behalf of the Burgers, Rachelle, and all passengers on the plane, THANK YOU! :)

So here are the plans for the next few days:

• Wednesday--Vernon, Mike, and Bishop Taban will travel to a bush village and stay the night there. They will do some teaching while they are there and will return to Yei on Thursday.
• Friday morning the entire group will head out for Morobo, which is the location of the orphanage, school, and farm. They will all spend the night in tents in Morobo on Friday night.
• The team will return to Yei on Saturday and will take a few days to celebrate Christmas together.

They will be updating us more soon, and hopefully their internet connection is up and running very quickly. Please pray for the following items:

• That the people in the bush village will hear and understand the Gospel message and will receive the message with open hearts. Pray that Mike, Vernon, and Bishop Taban will speak with clarity and that their love for these people would be such a picture of Christ's love for us that the people will be drawn to the Lord because of what they are hearing and seeing.
• That Titus continues to adapt well.
• Praise God for Rachelle's restored health. Please pray that she will stay well. Since she was recently sick, her immune system could still be slightly compromised--or it could be the case that she is stronger after having just been a bit ill. Also, please pray that Rachelle would be able to rest well. (She had been having some trouble sleeping before the trip.)
• That Megan's efforts to learn much from the orphanage nurse will be fruitful and that she will grow in knowledge and understanding of tropical diseases and how to care for children in these parts of the world.
• Finally, please pray that the entire team will continue to have wisdom and grace as they determine how they will be able to serve the people of Sudan... and that their eyes and hearts will be open to see the ways that the people of Sudan are serving and teaching each of them.

39 Hours and counting!

hello all. the last five days have been loaded with packing and preparing. Woah! it takes a lot of thought for an entire family to be gone for a month! who knew? needless to say we are a little lacking in sleep, but ahh yes...tomorrow we Sabbath. We had a goal to be totally done by Friday night, ready to walk out the door, so that Saturday we could take our weekly Sabbath. At the completion of this blog, i believe that we have come VERY close to accomplishing our goal! PRAISE GOD!! We have a few things to do tomorrow like put a hold on the newspaper, pick up a prescription and go to the bank.
Here is a little fun fact....each person gets to have 33lbs a piece, a total weight of 99lbs. Well, we set a goal to be Way below that and as of tonight we are sitting right around 51lbs! yippee! that is less than 2/3rds our weight allowed! it will prob. end up being around 70 after we count our super small carry ons.
Thank you for your prayers during our preparation time. You guys are wonderful!

Prayer:

• I spoke with Megan and Mike and they got to go to the Orphanage today! They said the Children look healthy and are growing so much! Praise the Lord today for HIS great provision for them!
• Titus has developed, over the last 4 days, a fear of the dark and hatred for sleep. This in turn leaves Mommy very tired and Titus very crabby. Pray for his Sleep! PLEASE! For his sleep tonight and tomorrow night and then on the plane and in Sudan.
• Pray hard for Rachelle she is very sick. As of last night she was vomiting again. So pray for her wellness and sleep. She has not been able to sleep well.
• Pray that the Lord will keep my mind Sharp as i am tired. I need to remember lots of little things.
• In Yei where we will be staying, there are lots of people in town for a governmental gathering, pray for peace among the people.
• Last night Mike played the movie The Passion of the Christ for all the people staying in the near by hotels. (think huts not marriotts) Pray for salvation!
• Pray for endurance and stamina for our bodies as we travel and parent!

We love yall and i am not sure if we will update again until we are in country. Look for an update from Mike and Megan in the next couple of days!

LOVE TRUTH

Amber

5 days until our departure!

Well, our departure is nearing and all of the last minute things are now at hand. Titus and I just returned from a great stay in Missouri. We got to visit and say good bye to lots of family and friends. It was wonderful.
We have many prayer request as the time is quickly approaching for our journey to Sudan. Please pass this sight around to all you know who will pray... Also feel free to leave comments, we would love to hear from you. If you write a comment and are not a apart of blogspot, just choose anyonomous and the comment will make it to us. We love yall and are so thankful for your love and support.

Please Pray for :

• Rachelle, she has been very sick for the last 3 weeks. Pray she would get better. She is on an antibiotic now so hopefully that will kick it. Pray the antibiotic doesnt interfere with her malaria or typhoid meds.
• I go to the doctor tommarrow, I am not sick, but i need my prescription (thyroid) refilled early this month so that i have enough to make it through our trip. Blood work will prob. have to be done so pray she is willing to go ahead and get me a refill before the blood work comes back.
• Praise the Lord for my nephews sunday school class! they raised $800 for the children to have Christmas gifts!
• Pray for Megan, Mike and Dr. Kelly. They are out of Liberia and headed to Uganda. There they will be seeing widowed Sudanese Refugees and medically attending to them until we arrive on Monday.
• Pray for Titus. He is getting very anxious about the journey. Pray for him to SLEEP on the plane as much as possible. Pray for him to not be scared of the Sudanese people but to take to them quickly.
• Pray for me (amber) because i have a lot on my plate between now and Sunday. I am dealling with all the money, logistics and packing. And all of you mothers/wives know that just because you are busy doesnt mean your other responsibilites go away. Pray for balance and joy.
• Pray for Vernon he has his finals today tommarrow and Thursday.

We love yall and are so thankful for your support!

Amber

14 days!

in 14 days we will be enjoying this...
this is footage from the orphanage from last time, so it might be fimiliar...

Please Pray for:

• all the last minute logistical things that need to take place
• Titus and Amber's visit to MO 5th-11th
• all the packing (we get 33lbs a piece that is all so we have to be creative!)
• Rachelles flight to DFW the weekend we leave
• Mike and Megan in Liberia-you can check out the Liberia team blog here
• Titus-he hates taking medicine and we have to start him on some meds for maleria. it is oral pill so please pray he will take them!
• Rachelle as she prepares in Memphis for the journey.

Thank you all. We love you!