December 10th

Update on South Sudanese students at Meserete Kristos Seminary sponsored by MCA

When Ruth Bergen Braun requested an update on the two students from South Sudan who are being sponsored by MCA to attend the Meserete Kristos Seminary in Ethiopia, I really didn’t know what to say that hasn’t been said before. These are two students whose names are Khan (Isaac) Gatkuoth and Gatjiak (Simon) Tongyik. Both have families. Both are grateful for the opportunity to learn and train for ministry so they can go back and train their South Sudanese Mennonite church members in Gambella, Ethiopia, and eventually in South Sudan. But then I thought, “What if I just shared what they are like and what they are interested in, as opposed to a list of facts about each one?” After working with Isaac and Simon for several years at the seminary, I have started to get to know them and appreciate their very different calls and personalities. Both are South Sudanese, but each are very different.

Isaac wants to be a pastor and you see his pastoral heart in the way he relates to other students on campus. He calls me “mother.” I really believe he will be a faithful shepherd. Isaac is a 3^rd year student so was required to choose his emphasis this year. He chose “pastoral mission.” This semester he took Werner’s class entitled, “Pastoral Care and Counselling.” One time, when we met for coffee, I learned that his mother was unable to have children and when God answered her prayer, she took him to a Lutheran church to be baptized. When he was an adult, he met Mennonite missionaries and chose to be re-baptized on his adult profession of faith. A good foundation to becoming an Anabaptist pastor!

Simon is a 2^nd year student but I don’t expect him to choose “pastoral mission.” I am guessing he will choose “leadership.” Simon wants to be a missionary and likes considering the big picture. He is the one who is always checking that things are on track and wondering how future ministries could be established. He is repeatedly asking me for more copies of The Mennonite Confession of Faith to give to leaders in the churches.

Every May the students return to their churches and to their families. Isaac was excited this year because his wife gave birth to a new baby boy in April named Abraham. Isaac plants corn in May for extra income and then picks that same corn in September before returning to the seminary. He serves in the church all summer, preaching around 3 times a week combined with visiting. His family lives in Lare, Ethiopia, in a community of other South Sudanese, where they play and eat together.

Simon returned to his personal farm in South Sudan for part of the summer where his wife and five children reside. He harvests corn and sorghum for extra income. While in Gambella, he helps the regional pastor, Simon Hoth Bel, who is responsible for overall leadership including weddings, funerals, and communion services (he is the one pastor for the nine South Sudanese Mennonite churches in the Gambella region).

In conclusion I asked Isaac and Simon what they would like to say to Mennonite Church Alberta. They said that if they saw you in person, they would jump up and down and say thank you! I also want to say thank you to all of you for supporting this emerging ministry. God is at work and you are all part of it! God bless you!

(Photo: Joanne De Jong: Simon on the left, Isaac on the right.)