Attack of the SIM-Sudan Atar Base 31 Dec 2009

From Jimmy & RoxAnne Cox:

TESTIMONY OF GETACHEW & KELEMWA,
Ethiopian missionaries at Atar. Kelemwa, the wife, was one of Jimmy & RoxAnne’s students years ago when they taught in a Bible school in rural Ethiopia.

It is a great privilege for us to serve as missionaries in the Kingdom of God.

But in the past 44 years of my life – I have never experienced the kind of difficulty that we passed through in the last few days. During our trial we experienced God’s miraculous deliverance from two life threatening dangers.

At 4:30 am last Thursday morning a band of Shilluk tribesmen attacked our SIM compound and the nearby village of Atar. They first lit fire to the dry grass on our roof. When the fire was burning they began shooting into our house. I counted six bullet holes right in the area of our house where we were sleeping. With the burning grass falling in on top of us (it has fallen off the roof and was blocking our doorway as well) and the shooting all around us – both our lives and the lives of our two daughters were in grave danger. But somehow God protected us and brought miraculous deliverance.

We saw two amazing miracles during that night. First, our enemies were watching & waiting for us to try & escape the fire. Somehow God blinded their eyes. They could not see us as we ran through the fire toward the only building that was not burning – our nearby toilet. All four of us escaped without being burned or being hit by bullets. But when the flames came into the toilet area we had to flee the second time to a nearby tent. Again no one saw us. We were able to lie flat on the floor of the tent – unseen to our enemy. By this time our enemies were now looking to see what had happened to us. As they searched all around us, we lay very quietly on the floor of the tent. Here again we saw God performing another miracle. If one our children (or the other three small children from another missionary family) had made the slightest noise, even coughing or crying, we would have been found & killed. But God kept them silent until the enemy went away.

The verse that God had given me this past week was from Gen. 15:1 "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." During all this trial, God was our shield. He shielded us from both the fire and the bullets. He blinded our enemies so they could not see us, and covered the mouths of our children so they did not cry. He delivered not only us but the other two missionary families who were with us even though we were all marked for death. Just like the children of Israel who were thrown into the furnace of fire, not even the hair of our head was burned. Glory to His Name!

TESTIMONY OF YACOB & TIBAREK,
Ethiopian missionaries at Atar. Yacob & Tibarek have had two previous near-death experiences in South Sudan but continue serving faithfully.

First I would like to praise the Lord for His protection & guidance in the past 39 years of my life.

At midnight on Dec. 31, I needed to go out of our house to the nearby toilet shed. When I stepped outside, I could hear strangers moving about our compound. Sensing danger, I came back inside & immediately my wife & I began praying.

At 4:30 am we were suddenly awakened by gun shots being fired into our house. The bullets seemed to be aimed at the closed window, very near the place where we slept. At the same time our thatched roofed house was ablaze. So my wife & I immediately crawled under our bed and began praying, “Jesus, save us.” As the fire burned our roof, the embers began falling in on us we knew we had to get out of our house. But the enemy was outside with their guns! We prayed again. “Lord, make our enemies blind so they cannot see us.”

When we reached our door we could look across our compound & saw the two other (missionary) families standing in their doorway as well. The only place to flee was to the toilet shed. It was built from zinc roofing material & should not burn. We motioned to them & all ran for the toilet at the same time. The mighty hand of our God protected us & we reached safely.

By now the fire had spread to the fence around our compound. Our fence was made of sticks & grass so it was not long before the fire spread to where the toilet shed was. We could feel the heat coming. The only place to go now was into one of the tents that had not burned. All of us rushed from the toilet shed into the tent together. Miraculously, no one saw us.
As we lay on the tent floor, my wife looked up & saw two enemy soldiers coming back to see whether we were dead or alive. If we were alive, they would have killed us. But we claimed the promises of God. “When you pass through the waters I will be with you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned.” The Lord protected us again and we are still alive to tell the story.

After things settled just a little, the Pastor of our local Sudanese church came to see if we were dead or alive. When he found us, we were without clothes or shoes. He & others from the community stood there crying for us & our loss. That day, the Sudanese people of Atar showed us their great love by giving us their own slippers so our feet so we would not be burned or step on thorns. They led us into the center of the village where we sat on the ground. They gathered around us & cried almost the whole day for our loss & theirs – for the enemy had burned many of their huts also.

Even though I have passed through many challenges in my life and ministry, this present experience was by far the most dangerous. As we look back now, we can see that through all this, God was teaching us that in times of trial, we must depend on Him alone.

TESTIMONY OF UBANDOMA & RUTH, Nigerian missionaries at Atar. Among the first missionaries to set up the base at Atar, the local people love them dearly & have given Ubandoma the name “Thon Deng” (from the Dinka language) which refers to a special bull known for its untiring, hard labor.

The Scripture God gave us when we came to Sudan is Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd.

On Dec 30, about 2:30; my wife started vomiting from some unknown sickness. I gave her medicine but we could not sleep well. Then at about 4: 00 am, we wakened & heard some strangers behind our house. It sounded like they were cocking their guns. Not long after, the shooting started.

When the bullets started flying we don’t even remember how we found ourselves under our bed. Our three children were crying in a nearby room, “Dad! Mom! What is happening?” We called out to them to get under their bed.

It was only then that we realized that the thatched roof above us was on fire. Our roof had plastic under the thatch to keep out rain & bugs. This plastic was suddenly ablaze & the fire spread to all the rooms of our house in seconds. The house filled with smoke. My wife & I crawled to the next room where our children were. Bullets continued flying through our house. By God’s grace, none of us were hit.

I took my wife & children into the kitchen but we could not reach the front door because of the smoke. My computer and our (satellite) phone were lying on the kitchen table. I took the computer & put it on top of my head to protect me from melting plastic that was raining down on us. My wife got to our water supply & tried to spray the water onto the burning grass above us. She was trying to reduce the smoke so we could find the way to our door. Already she had picked up our passports in her hand.

I went to the door with my computer on my head. The melted plastic dripped down on my left hand & arm burning into my skin. I grabbed our youngest daughter, Kezya, & was holding her close to my chest with my right hand. Shielding my little girl I unlocked the door. My wife was right behind me pushing the children out the door. When they were all out, I came out last. The whole house was ablaze by now – even the door. As I closed the door & started to move away, it fell on me, burning my back.

We moved out into the open compound & ducked into a tent. In just a moment or two, that tent caught fire as well. We came out & saw our fellow missionaries rushing toward the zinc toilet so we followed them. I was the last one to reach the toilet as I was protecting them and wanted to make sure they had reached safety.

Long before this attack, I had talked with the local Sudanese people about what to do in times of attack. They told me that in their culture, enemies will never kill women and children – only men. So I realized that once they had finished burning everything, they would come back to look for the men. If I stayed with my wife & children, they could kill us all. So for that reason, I left them. The fence surrounding our compound was not burning yet so I put my head down and plowed through the fence. The river was not far away so I ran there. Two men from our village were already hiding in the tall grass & so I joined them. They assured me that I had done the right thing & that my wife & children would be safe.

After about one hour, when the fighting had died down, I heard people crying (because they thought I had been killed in the attack). I came out of the river grass & met with my children & my wife who were all OK. She was crying because she had not seen me for some time. The local people were comforting her telling her that I must be alive. I had been embarrassed to show myself because I was only wearing the underwear in which I had been sleeping. Getachew, one of the other missionaries, lent me his pants. So everyone was Ok. The Lord had truly been our Shepherd.

I see that what happened to us is not our power but is a miracle of God. We lost everything in the fire. But even though we lost all these things, God gave us our lives. Their guns (they used large caliber shells) were aimed right at my bed where I had been sleeping. It is a miracle of God that we were not all killed. I believe this is because God has something for me to do before calling me home. I have this belief.