Larry Duffee – A growing mission
Larry has offered to write this week about his mission in the Sudan – an exclusive for Region One.
"I felt called by God to use the skills and experiences I had been blessed to receive from my education and work in the service of helping God’s Church. In particular, I was looking for someplace where my knowledge of finance and administration would be of greatest benefit. I prayed to God to send me where He needed me.
"When I contacted the Mission and Outreach office of the Diocese of Virginia, rather than being offered a posting in Haiti like I expected (this was in early 2010, not long after the devastating earthquake) instead it was suggested that I go to Sudan. I knew nothing about the challenges facing the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS). But when it was explained that the ECS had a desperate need for someone to come and help get their finances in order, to create systems of administration and to help re-establish trust with their international partners, it seemed like the perfect fit and the answer to my prayers. And what was even more amazing, when I arrived in Sudan in May, 2010, the people here told me that I was the answer to their prayers. So we were all of us praying for God to guide us and that is how it all came about…
"I was originally only supposed to be in Sudan for four months. It was expected that in four months I would figure out how everything worked, create all new financial and administrative systems, train the staff and make sure everything was working before departing. I realized about a week after I arrived that four months was never going to be enough time! On the other hand, I never expected that I would be closing-in on my third year in what is now South Sudan, nor that I would be so profoundly affected by my experiences here.
"It is true that when I arrived I found a Church that was deeply in debt, that had no systems or financial policies and which had lost the trust of its partners. And that the same ECS is now debt-free, which for the first time has written financial policies and in which its partners are now willing to invest again. Much progress has been made working with the ECS to accomplish many great things! But more important have been the relationships I have developed and the changes which have occurred within my own understanding of faith.
"When the time comes for me to leave South Sudan, it will be one of the hardest things I will ever have to do. Relationships here are so deep and powerful, and when people refer to you as a brother or son or uncle, it is meant wholeheartedly. I realized this profoundly last August when my mother passed and my friends in Sudan grieved deeply and said their mother had passed as well. In turn, I have learned to be more like the Sudanese; people who live openly and deeply with their Christian faith as a matter of course. I have learned here to pray, to really pray, to learn to speak more openly of faith and to appreciate more fully God’s hand in my daily life. One of the most profound realizations was when I understood that all of the hardships I had ever experienced before in my life, and for which I often questioned God’s thinking at the time, was in preparation for the hardships I was to experience in Sudan. There have been many moments when I was facing a challenge here when I suddenly recalled a past hardship and was able to say, “Ah, that’s why I had to go through all that, for this very moment!” These have been moments of absolute liberation, which have allowed me to stop worrying about problems and to instead appreciate them as life lessons which will come in handy at some future moment. It has made turning more of my life over to God’s control much easier, not a simple thing for such a headstrong person like me to do.
"I have no idea what the future holds or how I will use my experiences in Sudan for some practical purposes. But I know more than ever to trust God to direct my path and to trust that He will open the door or window through which I am to pass."