Sudan-Michele Perry
New pictures are posted below.
Michele Perry , Field Ministry Coordinator of Iris Sudan, with some of her 90+ children
Michele has planted a center in Southern Sudan near a village called Yei. We need to expand into Sudan with
seasoned long-term teams who would face rather severe physical threats from the environment and the unstable
political situation. Arabic is the national language.
Mailing address for non-perishables: D. Michele Perry, Box 1507, Arua, Uganda
Contributions? Please designate " Sudan" and mail to our office address below:
Iris Ministries, Inc.
PO Box 493995
Redding, CA 96049-3995
530-255-2048
Or you may designate in the "notes" field through our online PayPal system.
Arua, Uganda is a border village about 80 miles south of Yei, Sudan. The post office is run by a believer named Gift. He has agreed to hold anything shipped to the post office until Michele is able to make the trip back. Michele tells me that the adults and children love Kool-aid flavored drink packets that can be sent in an envelope by airmail post. They have access to sugar.
January 19, 2008 Update from Michele
Please note: It is the policy of Iris Ministries to not solicit. However, we wanted our faithful supporters to be aware of a matching grant now available to our work in Yei, Sudan. If you are already a contributor to the work, you can now double your support by following the details below:
I want to take a moment to thank you so much for praying for us here and share a bit of a testimony of God’s faithfulness that is still blowing me away. The whole provision area has been the greatest stretch of faith for me personally, as many of you know. But this week I got confirmation of some VERY exciting news. God is really answering our prayers in some incredible ways. Below is more information for you to join us in prayer as you are led.
We are in temporary rented quarters and must move by June. We have the land to build our own facility, but we still need to develop it. A friend of Yei Children’s Village has offered to match every dollar pledged by March 15, 2008.
As we move ahead in faith, the bricks for our first structures (housing for our children, school, kitchen, etc.) are already being made. The final plans and approvals are being completed, so that we can begin formal construction shortly. We are closer than ever before. Each small step of progress encourages our whole family with the tangible, visible evidence of God’s love and concern for even their most practical needs.
 
I never thought I’d be overseeing a building project anywhere, let alone in the bush. But Jesus began to show me ultimately, we are not just building very much needed physical structures, we are building hope. Hope is defined literally as confident expectation, trust, and reliance; to look for and leap up in expectation. So our bricks are not merely bricks of mud and clay, they are Bricks of Hope.
The total cost of the structures covered in this project is about $400,000. The matching grant will help us get there, but only if we see the other half of the funds come in. Would you join us in praying in 200K in the next 6 weeks? It seems big to me but I know it is not so big to Him!
If you know of anyone with a heart for Sudan, would you consider spreading the word? This is an awesome opportunity to see every thing that is invested multiplied instantly. It is not simply a donation; it is an investment in something lasting like buying a brick that will be used to provide structures where our children will eat, sleep, learn, play and worship. Every brick bought not only builds a building; it builds hope into the heart of a generation. Could they really once again live in brick and mortar houses that begin to erase the memories of the devastation of war?
Every contribution is significant, but here are some ideas of how an investment might help our community and family tangibly:
40,000 bricks provide a school for our children to learn in
15,000 bricks provide a house of prayer for our children and the adjacent community to worship in
10,000 bricks provide a kitchen so our children can be properly fed
8,000 bricks provide a home for 10 children and a house mama
800 bricks provide for the portion of a house for one child
100 bricks provide for a partnership with others to build hope for children in Sudan
Each Brick of Hope is $2.00.
If you are interested in participating with us in this incredible provision, we need to have all pledges in BY MARCH 15, 2008 and the funds sent in as soon as possible thereafter. We will be sending out regular short updates via email from bricksofhope@gmail.com as we progress. (If you want to receive these updates, please make sure that address is ok in your spam filters just in case!)
In order to help us get the word out, PLEASE forward this email and our updates to any and all you think might be interested in hearing about, praying for and/or participating in building hope in a generation of children in Sudan. If you would like a mobilization packet to present to your church, office or organization with more information on Yei Children’s Village and participation in this opportunity, please email me at michele@iris-sudan.org or bricksofhope@gmail.com . It will also be directly downloadable from our website once completed. I will soon be sending a second email out introducing it as soon as it is available.
Thank you so much for all of your support of what God is doing in Sudan and in our Iris family here. We truly cannot do what we do here, without your love and involvement there.
Please email me with any questions you have and see the details below of how to participate. Thank you once again for your love, prayers, concern and time!
In His love,
Michele Perry
Hi beloved, Here is a glimpse of some of our latest
Asa, now two, is gorgeous and KNOWS it! Her goal is to rule the world by age three
Michele and Annaitia
Sunday baptism service, Michele and Patrick baptize and preach.
Aren’t they precious?
Down in the reservoir, Nicole, our visitor and friend, joins in the fun!
Just another Sunday in Sudan, we had a man get healed at the reservoir of severe head and
neck pain and several gave their lives to Jesus this morning in church. We couldn’t imagine
living anywhere else, but in the center of God’s dreams!
Thank you for your love and prayers!
Michele
December 31, 2007, Christmas Blessings from Yei by Michele Perry
Dearly beloved,
What an adventure coming home has been! Four 70 pound bags, 3 days of almost 24-7 shopping and packing amidst final speaking engagements, 5 days of travel across territory with an Ebola outbreak of a new strain, the normal regional instabilities and rumors of war, cholera and meningitis on the rise, a jubilant welcome from family, three new boys from the Nuba Mountains (1st picture below), 2 days straight of wrapping presents for our little family of 90ish, one all day celebration with our first sound system and a guinea fowl in a mango tree. Welcome to Christmas in Yei, very southern Sudan!
I am so glad and ecstatic to be home. After 2 months of traveling with all the amenities the west has to offer practically, I have never been so happy to be home with no running water or electricity! This is so home. Now it is only to excavate my things from the layers of dust and dirt that have claimed them and then settle in. Bless the mamas for cleaning my room and re-arranging everything. It has been a 3 day process to find my shampoo!
Our family welcomed Kelly, our nurse midwife friend from Atlanta, and me with fried chicken and chips. We could have cried after a 10 hour trip of many stops and interrogations as everyone was wanting some extra Christmas cash.
It has been beyond a blessing being home. Our kids have grown so much in so short a period that I almost didn’t recognize some of the little ones. They went from malnourished to chubby! So, this week, is "operation settle in" and we begin to look towards 08 and a general timeline.
Patrick, our Sudanese director, is itching to hit the road to do bush outreach, as am I. We have invites into many unreached places to the north and into the Congo just across the border into the camps. We are kind of like kids in a candy store. Where do we get to go first Papa?
I am so hungry for more of Jesus and watching all He desires come to pass. We want to see the signs, wonders and a people raised up so in love with Him they are utterly fearless and unstopable. We want to see revival come and His Presence released without limit.
Our Christmas was a great blessing. This is the first time any of our children or staff have EVER seen a Christmas gift. The children did not know WHAT to do with them. We had to show them how to open them even in some cases!
There were tears and rejoicing and all out hilarity as Christmas came to Yei. It took them a while to figure out that they actually got to KEEP what was in their bags. Then we had a small dinner of several hundred over for a chicken feast. Our kids led worship and danced and all around brought the house down.
I could not have had a better Christmas present than to see the change in them and to see what Jesus has done in only one year! It even brought several churches together to join us and we are seeing Jesus begin to give us favor for seeing several groups come together to pray and work together to see His kingdom come in South Sudan.
Following are some must see pics from our family’s first Christmas ever! If a picture is worth a 1000 words, these are worth a few million. We would not be here with out our global family who joins with us in what God is doing, so once again THANK you sooooooooo much for loving us and praying for us and supporting us and being part of our family.
Without further ado, the pictures come with MUCH love and MANY hugs!
May this New Year take you deeper into His beautiful burning heart,
 
Our family with their gifts!
Preaching at our gathering, Luke 1, Christmas
Being a day of God’s promises being brought
forth into fulfillment.
Patrick, our Sudanese director, with his first
born, baby Zion.
 
Mama Eudita, Michele and Kelly Michele with Issac Juma and
his first stuffed animal
 
Left ,Grandma Mori with then our youngest, Danny at 7 months. We just
took in Steven at age 1.5 mo today on Dec 28. Right, Our toddler group
Gift of a noah’s ark playset
 
Left, Getting ready by wrapping for 2 days straight! We are going to have start Earlier next year. Right, See, sweetheart, you open it this way
 
What’s inside? Happy in Yei!!!!!
Michele Perry
Field Ministry Coordinator, Iris Ministries Sudan
Director/Founder, Converge International
Living from heaven to earth...
Related Websites
Iris Ministries Sudan: www.iris-sudan.org
Iris South Sudan Updates: http://irismin.com/ministryLoc_southern_sudan.cfm
Converge International: www.convergeinternational.net
Pictures by Ingela Larsson, June 2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Following is a recent picture of Michele with some of her children.
|
