A profile of Opari Village. A community of believers living by faith in South Sudan.

Shalom to you brothers and sister in Yeshua, thank you so much for your prayers and support . On the home front, we are doing well in the Lord. Our youngest newly born baby Shoshanah is doing great. She is keeping mama and Papa busy at night lately but what a joy to have her in our lives. Our mission trip to the South Sudan is coming right up in May. We need your prayers and support for it to come to fruition. I will be going with my two older Children, Abijah and Nechemyah

On the Mission front, I want to bring you some good report that Operation Nehemiah ha been conducting in the village of Opari as part of our quest to disciple one person, one family, one Church and one community at a time.

Opari Village

Operation Nehemiah is reaching out to the village of Opari Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan, even in the midst of so many challenges in a country yearning for peace and stability with practical support both spiritually and physically. We are impacting one life, one family, one Church and one village at a time both spiritually and physically. The Gospel has been preached, families are being discipled, the families, widows and the fatherless have been supplied with food supplies produced by Operation Nehemiah from within South Sudan. What you are seeing here is not the food relief distribution coming from the UN but from God through your benevolence gift to your brothers and sisters in South Sudan.

Yeshua fulfilled this prophecy in the hearing of religious leaders of the day 2000 years ago. We are here to follow in His command and teaching s

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;.... ...."they shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastation; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastation of many generations." Isaiah 61:1-4. The remnants of believers who are left in the village of Opari, in Pageri county, South Sudan.

Interaction with local authority who are appreciating Operation Nehemiah's out reach to the community with basic needs both physically and spiritually.

From Left to right : Matthew Izaru, Pageri country Executive Director, ONMI Country Director Timothy Levi, ONMI Agricultural Coordinator Steward Orule Leon, Former Eastern Equatorial Deputy Governor Hon. Jerome Surur and ONMI Mission Compound manger John Karo

We are very proud of our ground leadership team headed by our country director Mr. Timothy Ajjugo Levi, and Assistant country Tombe Isaac and farm coordinator Steward Orule for their dedication.

Profile of Opari village and the people who live there: Opari people are the true embodiment of the spirit of freedom of Christ in South Sudan, a country that had broken free from the yoke of Islamic oppression in 2011.

I love this one : Last year in November 2017 , we visited Opari, on our way to the village, we met the UN Armour vehicles coming out of Opari village heading to Juba. We arrived shortly after their departure and sat down with the Elders of Opari headed by the Rev. William Mbadasshi who said " UN sent some agencies to Opari and they alleged in their global report that the people of Opari had fled to Uganda which was not true. So they came to the village as they were told in the State capital Torit that Opari was intact. They came down with the state MPs from the Pageri county to verify the truth. Upon their arrival, they asked the Rev. William Mbandashi why the community did not evacuate the village and ran to Uganda for refuge as the area was insecurity? The Rev. William (center) Picked up his Bible and answered them using a passage from Colossians 2: 4- 8

"I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.Spiritual Fullness in Christ 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ." Colossians 2: 4- 8

Due to the national Crisis that erupted in 2016, so many people from Pageri county in Eastern Equatoria state, crossed the border into Uganda. But most of the resilience community of Opari did not desert their village. They stood very strong by faith, refusing to send their families into exile to languish in the refugees camps. The people of Opari are self governed. Their Population is about 1000 people. Others who have left are returning back to their home lately. They have three Church leaders who are directing the spiritual affair of this small beautiful town tucked away in the rolling hills of Pageri county. They have their own elementary school, even though poorly equipped , yet they are educating their own children. This is a community making the most with very little supplies. The nearest hospital is 45 miles away, transportation is very difficult . They have a local chief who answers to the county commissioner. They work with their own hands and refused to receive UN hand out.

Last year around this time, my family and I were on the ground. We went and held a national day of prayer in Opari with the Elder the Rev. William Mbadasshi. We prayed for South Sudan, our state and the community of Opari. They asked Operation Nehemiah to supply them with seeds, farms tools and drinking water. They refused handout except to help the elderly, the widows and the fatherless.

They wanted to supply Operation Nehemiah Missions with the men power to work the Beth Israel Farmland so that those men can get support in order to support their families and keep them busy working away from the influence of alcoholism etc.

Today we are so grateful to God for the people of Opari because 100 % of our farm workers came from Opari through the recommendation of their Church elders and their local chief.

March - April 2017. Workers from Opari Assembled to start work at the Beth Israel farm land. Last year these men from Opari helped us cultivate several acres of farmland at Beth Israel Farm, producing thousand of kilograms of grain. In the past couple of weeks we have been working with them in distributing grains cultivated at the Beth Israel Farm to the families, the widows and the IDP of Opari, Pageri and etc.

Ground Preparation - July 2017

Time of Harvest - December 2017- January 2018

30 % of all farm products are given away to the community in need: We are distributing grain grown locally from within the country by Operation Nehemiah through your benevolence support and in turn given out to the very community in need. Thank to be to God for our ground leadership team headed by our country Director Timothy Ajjugo Levi, Assistant Country Director Tombe Isaac and Katherine Saunders and our Agriculture coordinator Steward Leon for spearheading the field work.

Rainy season is upon us in Pageri county. The hardworking Oparians have cleared 169 fields of their own to be plowed. They are all waiting for this one tractor from Operation Nehemiah which has developed problem at the moment to till their fields. This is not to mention the people of Pageri and Moli. Please pray for our effort there. We have people who have the hearts and mind to work in our area. But we do not enough farming tools, I'm afraid, the first rainy season will fly by without much impact in the area of agriculture for this community . We need two additional tractors at least to balance the demand of the farmers as they are hurrying to finish the preparation of their fields.

Prayer Needs:

Summary:

So here is the summary of the practical needs on the ground as the Lord leads you to consider helping us with in 2018. You can pick from any one or two of these.

Our mission trip to South Sudan May 2018 - $10,000
Nehemiah Trumpet call 97.3 FM Gospel Radio Broadcasting Studio project - $40,833 Priority
Agricultural production: Beth Israel farmland 2018 budget - $15,000 ( April , May , June)
Three wells (hand pumps to be drilled in three villages - $ 24,000 ( $ 8,000 per well )
Nehemiah Field Clinic - $13,000