Greetings from Juba! We have one final small flight into Bor scheduled for this morning because of flooding and safety concerns along the road. After that trip, we will finally be at our final destination for the rest of the week, the proposed school site.

On the flight from Addis Ababa yesterday, God blessed me with the opportunity to sit next to a lady from Uganda who works with the African Union and is a representative for her local area. I praise God for her encouraging words about how God is working in and through churches around Africa! She shared that churches are growing, and Africans are traveling to other parts of the world to share the gospel and help with church planting. Please pray that God would continue to strengthen His body in Africa so that many would surrender their lives to Jesus and live according to His Word.

Please continue to pray for the eMi team and the local churches here in southern Sudan. Praise God that He has used the Dinka tribe for His glory through severe persecution. May they continue to stand for Him and cling to Him in times of weakness and attack. Pray that the school we work on designing will be a place of peace and that God works in lives through it, including our own as we learn more about this part of the world. May God alone receive the glory as He brings scattered people back, purifies them, replaces hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, and fills them with His Spirit (Ezekiel 36:24-27).

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Seeking the sovereign Lord,
John

Greetings from Addis Ababa, where my team is unexpectedly spending the night!

After our flight from here to Juba was delayed three times due to plane maintenance, the airline ended up canceling the flight and scheduling a new one tomorrow morning. So, Lord willing, we will make it to our final destination in Sudan by tomorrow evening. In the meantime, we have had some good team bonding, and we plan to share our life stories after dinner tonight.

Praise God for His grace and provision throughout this trip. He is faithful! Please pray that our time of sharing honors the Lord and that tomorrow’s travel goes well.

For Christ’s glory,
John

Greetings from Frankfurt!

I am currently in a hotel room near the airport with the rest of the guys on our team headed for southern Sudan. We will still likely have time to explore some of the city before our flight to Ethiopia departs tonight around 11.

Flights so far have been full, but restful, and God has encouraged me greatly throughout the trip. As I was reading through Lamentations yesterday morning on the flight from Denver to Boston, the Lord brought to mind the similarities of Israel’s affliction and the affliction southern Sudan faced. Praise God that He uses persecution and hardship to strengthen His people and spread His message to new areas as people flee their home areas!

Please remember the people of southern Sudan who we are going to serve in prayer. Pray that they would call to mind and have hope in Jehovah because “the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” May their souls say, “The LORD is my portion, therefore I will hope in him.” Praise God that He “is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Pray that those we interact with and those who attend the school we design would wait for the Lord’s
salvation, lifting up their hearts and hands to Him as they examine their ways and return to Him. (Lamentations 3) May Christ’s kingdom come and His will be accomplished in Sudan! Pray for renewal and restoration, and that the Lord would reign in hearts and lives.

I am excited to be a small part of encouraging believers in the south, as well as sharing testimony of God’s greatness, love, and power with any who do not personally know Him. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading in my life so that all glory goes to the Lord for what He accomplishes in and through me.

Filled with hope in the Lord,
John

In less than a week, I will be journeying to Sudan. Praise God that all of us who are going received our passports with visas to enter the country last week! The team of 12, including 2 eMi leaders, 2 eMi interns, 3 engineers, 2 architects, 2 church leaders, and a friend of the Rebuilding Sudan ministry will meet for the first time in Frankfurt, Germany before we venture on to southern Sudan.

Please continue to pray for the trip, including:

• Pray that the team would spend time seeking the Lord before departure.
• Pray that packing & preparation would smoothly.
• Pray for the team as we prepare to leave our jobs for an extended period of time next week. May this sacrifice stimulate discussion with
  coworkers about why we are going and Who we are ultimately serving!
• Lift up the people we will encounter along the journey to our ultimate destination. Pray that God would lead us and give us boldness
  to speak His name and share His gospel.
• Pray for those who will be hosting us in Sudan, including the Rebuild Sudan staff members who will be present.
• Pray that hearts would be encouraged in the Lord and that His Spirit would work powerfully in the lives of those who go to the school/well
  site, both during and after our visit.

I plan on sending some additional requests in the coming days. And, it is not too late to partner with me in reaching out to people of southern Sudan by giving toward the project. The website for online donations is https://emisecure.org/donate.html (include “Project 5493 – Agee” in the Designation box). Contact me soon if you would prefer to give by check.

I praise God for blessing me with the backing of such a strong partnering team! Thank you for your willingness to pray and be a part of where God leads me!

Rejoicing in reconciliation to God through my Lord Jesus Christ,
John

Romans 5:1-11

As April comes to a close, I have been reflecting on God’s faithfulness at the beginning of this month to lead me in deciding to go to Sudan on another Engineering Ministries International (eMi) trip. I got to snowshoe up to a hut just east of the continental divide near Leadville over the weekend. Yesterday morning before most of the group I went with were awake, I was reading in Isaiah and enjoying the beauty of snow falling on pine trees outside the hut window. God again impressed me with His power to save and how glorious, strong, and worthy of praise He is. My heart rejoices in the well of salvation through Christ, and I want to share about that life-giving water so that many might know redemption through the blood of Jesus!

Praise God for the opportunity to spread His gospel and provide for the physical water needs of Jalle, Sudan! Thanks to each of you who have contributed with prayer and finances so far! I still would like to challenge others to set aside time to pray for the trip or money to give toward the trip. I have included some requests below, and the website for online donations is https://emisecure.org/donate.html (include “Project 5493 – Agee” in the Designation box). Please contact me if you do not have my address and would prefer to give by check. You may also mail checks made out to “EMI” with a memo of “Project 5493 – Agee” directly to eMi: 130 E. Kiowa St. Ste #200, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.

Prayer Requests:

• That the team’s visas would be approved by the Sudan government (Our passports and applications are currently being walked through the
  Government of Southern Sudan by one of Michael Kuany’s contacts.)
• For Henry Watts, as he plans and leads the trip, as well as wrapping up the plans and report for the Sierra Leone hospital project
• That recent tribal conflict in Southern Sudan would subside
• That the team would work well together and bond quickly
• That God would prepare our hearts, as a team, to share His love and His gospel
• That the several unbelievers who are interested in the project and going with the eMi team would witness the power and love of Christ through the rest of the team during the trip
• That the Holy Spirit would be working in the hearts of people we will encounter on the trip
• That financial needs would be supplied for each team member
• That God will continue to provide vision to Michael Kuany and the Rebuild Sudan team
• That the school and community well would result in the gospel being proclaimed and transforming many in the Jalle area
• For continued restoration and peace after two decades of conflict in Sudan
• That people of Southern Sudan would be able to forgive and reach out to those in the North who persecuted them
• That the Sudanese church would be strengthened and that God’s fame would spread around the largest country in Africa

Thank you again for your prayers and support! Praise God for giving us all roles in outreach around the world so that worship of Almighty God
might exist among every tribe and tongue!

I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on Isaiah 12: praising the Creator for turning His anger away and comforting you; for enabling you to trust Him, your strength and song, without fear; and for restoring your life with Him through water from the wells of salvation. May He fill you with the desire to proclaim and exalt His name among all the people He places in your life!

Reflecting HIS glory,
John

Isaiah 12

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds
among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”