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One of my Facebook friends, who happens to be a GPD officer, posted a picture of himself that was taken at the scene of a double homicide last year and it brought back the sights and smells of that day and I thought I'd share them with you. While I won't share with you the details, just imagine a hot summer day in Oregon and then imagine a closed-up house with two bodies left there for two weeks...you think you get the picture but you really don't since it's  so far beyond your normal experience. I was called to the scene because it was really bad and command staff thought it was a good idea to have the chaplain around for officers and family members who were at the scene. Well, the first thing that struck me was the smell. Unbelievable and you just couldn't get away from it. The second thing that struck me was the fact that detectives and crime scene analysts kept going in and out of the house processing the scene. I was outside and felling overwhelmed by the smell and they were inside looking at the mess that caused the smell and I wondered how they do it. How do you go from looking at such human tragedy and dealing with the stench of the left overs and go home? What do you say to your spouse when they ask how your day was? How do you react to your teenager who complains that they don't have the newest cell phone? How about the officers who made initial contact? They go back on patrol and pull someone over for a speeding ticket and get yelled at as if it was the officers fault. 

The other day I had a pretty fun conversation with a police officer. He is a new believer in Christ and wanted to talk to me about the new Bible he received for Christmas. He had never had a Bible before and was really excited to have his brand new NIV. His pastor gave him the basic flyover of Old and New Testament and suggested that he begin his reading in the Gospels. As he described what he was learning, he verbalized that it was kind of strange that the different books he read all told the same stories but in a different way. When I asked him what he read thus far, he looked up, deep in thought, and told me "don't tell me, I know this one." Then, with great pride, he exclaimed, "Matthew, Mark and Luke...I can't believe I remembered that! Wow, I remembered Matthew, Mark and Luke." He hadn't gotten to John yet but he knew the first three. Do you remember being that excited about God's Word? It's so much fun to see some of these guys change their lives. I love it! He and I will begin meeting regularly to go over some of the basics of the Christian faith. He's in a great church and will get a lot of great teaching but I get to help him with the basics. What a blast.

"My brain stopped" is how a man from a village described his inability to comprehend how a couple in the big city could hire him to do dishes. He was stunned that they would expect a man to do domestic chores. Of course he refused and left the city and headed straight back to his village. The culture has very strong norms on what type of work men and women can do. In fact, if a man helps too much with domestic chores, some women will leave them! In the villages, a women will feel useless if her husband does too much around the house. Not only that, but because of the dowry system in which men pay for their wives, a man's family will think that his wife "bewitched" him if he's helping too much and demand their cows back! Another interesting cultural fact is that men can hold hands with men in public as a sign of friendship but it's shameful for husband and wife to hold hands in public. Any outward sign of affection is viewed as shameful since it draws attention to the couple. What's not shameful? Picking your nose, knuckle deep, in public! I don't get that whole thing.

I'd like to tell you about what I call "The Incident." An act of heroism? Perhaps. But I just did what anybody would do...survive. This tale takes place in the bathroom of my room in Yei, Sudan. I had a cinder block room with an attached bathroom. The bathroom was maybe two feet by four and consisted of a toilet, sink, shower basin, and a tile floor that turned into an ice rink when wet. The toilet was so low to the ground that every time I "sat down" I thought I was going to hit the floor. I was thankful for all those squats I did at Crossfit that gave me the strength to get back up. The sink had a rusted out drain and everything leaked onto the floor. I only used it once! The "shower" was a basin with plumbing for cold water. On my first morning, I woke up around dawn and since the generator was off, the single bulb in the room was not working. I went into the bathroom to shave with cold water. So I'm standing there in the flip-flops provided, turn on the cold water which splashes all over the floor so I'm holding on to the door frame for dear life and trying to shave sans mirror when, all of a sudden, I notice something big and black at my feet! It's too dark to make out what it is so I grab my head lamp. To my surprise, I'm looking at what I think is the biggest cockroach ever created. This thing was about two inches long and about half inch thick and I don't know if it jumps or if it bites but I'm thinking the worst. So, I'm holding on to the door frame to keep from slipping, shaving, and keeping an eye on this monster at my feet. I'm thinking this thing needs to die but two thoughts keep me from acting. First, can you imagine the crunch that thing would make? Nasty. Second would be the mess it would leave in my basin. No, I decide the best course of action is to back out slowly and leave it for the girls who clean the room to deal with...they must have seen this type of thing before. So, that's what I do and sure enough, when I come back that night the creature was gone and no mess left behind. Problem solved. And then came the spider! Equally as ferocious looking and big (but not as thick) instinctively I knew this was a fight that could not be lost! Again in my flip-flops with a wet floor I threw all caution to the wind as I went into battle. That spider was fast and he put up the fight of his life. He zigged and zagged, easily avoiding my first strike. The pressure mounted. To my surprise, he dashed out of the basin and went for the wall. I quickly countered with a strong kick but he anticipated that move and climbed even higher. One last chance with the feet or I would have to transition to hands and, being empty handed, I was ill-prepared to go to that level. This spider had outsmarted me to this point but I would not be mocked. Mustering all my strength, I steadied myself for what I knew would be the kill shot. Leading my foe ever so slightly, I thrust my foot forward with such speed that the spider was momentarily caught off guard and fell right into my kill zone. I got him. I won. The bathroom was once again a safe haven of rest. As I relished in my victory, I was once again thankful for all my Crossfit training. Had it not been for all that hard work, I don't think I would have had the strength to carry on with this fight. I slept peacefully that night knowing that I could handle whatever the night threw at me.

For my first dinner, I had one piece of "chicken" about the size of a buffalo wing. The only difference? In America, those buffalo wings actually have meat on them! In Sudan, it's more like a bone with thick skin. The good news was they gave us soup with our chicken. The only problem was the soup was actually broth...thankfully I brought some beef jerky with me and, to my surprise, the jerky was more tender than the chicken skin.

Have you ever eaten okra? I never will again. I don't know if it's supposed to have the consistency of snot or not but that stuff is nasty. The big lunch lesson that day was don't think, don't talk to Maridus, just eat! Get that stuff down and be done with it. They had some meat with lunch as well but I can't tell you what it was since my piece really was just a chunk of fat so I took seconds on the sweet potato and packed some tuna for the next day.

That night we ate spaghetti and some-sort-of-meat balls and it was great! I was getting pretty hungry but it really was good. It's kind of like backpacking. Once you've been in the mountains a few days, pretty much anything tastes good. The next day, we had sweet potato's again with pea leaves and a peanut sauce that was very tasty so I didn't have to break into my tuna. I need to post pictures of the "BBQ" we ate at in Kampala, Uganda. I'm telling you that stuff was bad!

As our team arrived in Sudan, we decided to name ourselves "Drop In The Bucket Ministries" because that's exactly what if feels like. There is so much to do in Sudan and our efforts seem so small. Nevertheless, we did our best and, at the end of our time, I'd have to say we made a difference. The real test will come over the next year as those who participated in our marriage conference take the message throughout the whole of Southern Sudan.

I'll tell a few stories, mostly of things I found interesting and let you in on my thinking process as I spent the week with church leaders, pastors and their wives. I have to begin with thanking those people who supported me financially and made this trip possible. So, in my best Arabic, I say, Shukuran ashan itu rasalu ana pi Sudan and salam alekum! That is, Thank you for sending me to Sudan and Peace be with you!

Welcome to my blog! This is a first for me and I welcome your comments to improve on what happens here. I'll be sharing stories of different happenings with the police as I hang out with them and ride along during their shifts. I'm thinking that's where the good stuff will come from! But I'm going to begin with stories from my latest trip to Sudan since I have to share them somewhere and this seems like the best place to start.