Now and Then

A Letter from Shelvis and Nancy Smith-Mather, serving in South Sudan and the United Kingdom, currently in the United States

Fall 2021

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Dear friends,

The first and second times I had a one-year-old child in tow, I lived in Yei, South Sudan. With Alice now almost a year old in the U.S., memories of Jordan and Addie’s first years pop up frequently. When making the comparison between contexts, there is much that differs, yet some things remain the same.

Our family loved living in Yei. We loved it because of the incredible people we met. I loved the natural beauty of the landscape and the regular access to healthy food. I loved engaging in a new culture, gaining insight from the church in another part of the world, and learning more about reconciliation work.

And at the same time, the logistics of life were undeniably harder for us than in the US.

In Yei, we bought most of our food at a vegetable market 1.5 miles from our home. We usually walked there at a rushed pace. Office work finished at 5 p.m. and the market closed promptly at 6 p.m. with the blow of a loud whistle. With limited electricity for refrigeration and with all organic food, fresh vegetables wilted and turned quickly. Consequently, we visited the market multiple times a week.

Before kids, I would stuff my backpack full of Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, lentils, beans, onions and cabbage. The lighter things, like tomatoes, avocadoes, kale, okra, bananas and spices were placed in handbags, which swayed by my side with each step home. After Jordan’s birth, he took the spot on my back, so the handbags became heavier. Walking the mile and a half home, the bags persistently pulled towards the ground, straining my elbows.

In South Sudan, the processed foods cost more than the vegetables, and vice versa in the U.S. Even with a good amount of effort and expense, we still haven’t been able to eat nearly as healthy while Stateside. We are grateful, though, for consistent refrigeration and the option to buy pre-made baby food.

Washing clothes by hand takes a lot of time and physical energy. In order to work at the office and care for our children, our family paid someone to wash most of our clothes and hang them up to dry. But, when the unpredictable rain came, we joined our colleagues in the dash through the office doors towards our houses to pull clothes off the line before they got drenched. In the rainy season, clothes, unable to fully dry, would sometimes mildew.

“What is that smell?” I would ask Shelvis. “Oh! It’s me!” I would answer my own question after lifting the collar of my shirt to my nose and breathing in the mildew.

In the U.S., we have our own washing machine and dryer. Laundry is now my favorite household chore. I so appreciate being able to do it myself with less physical exertion.

Bedtime routine with little kids can be trying in any context. In Yei, however, it took extended preparation. We boiled the bath water first, then cooled it. This made the water safe in case the baby took a sip while bathing.

Keeping mosquitos out of a child’s net at night may seem simple. It is not. When morning light landed on a mosquito inside the net and touched on the red bites dotting my baby’s face, I always felt like a terrible parent. We earnestly tried to avoid malaria, but at some point, all the children got it.

In the U.S., our kids can drink their tub water and mosquito bites are usually just annoying, not frightening.

Our access to medical care in Yei differed drastically.

“We only have the capacity to test for a few things here. If you want to know for sure what disease you have, you will need to go to Kenya or Uganda,” a caring doctor once told me. So, with Addie still nursing, Jordan two years old, and myself weak with illness, we took three flights and crossed two borders just to be able to test for more than a handful of diseases.

In the U.S., doctors have not yet told us to seek treatment in another country.

The list of differences goes on, yet what remains the same is actually more important. In both places our one-year-olds have been scooped into the loving arms of family members and friends. In Yei, the general culture of adults offering kindness and care to other people’s kids meant our children felt well-loved and safe. In both places, when I needed help, people stepped in, watched the kids, provided a meal, offered words of encouragement.

While the contexts have been quite different, we are deeply grateful for the experience of raising children in multiple countries.

Thanks be to God.

Nancy and Shelvis Smith-Mather

Thank you so much for your support and prayers while Shelvis is in residence at the University of Oxford researching peacebuilding strategies in South Sudan and Nancy remains in the U.S. with the children. Your love and encouragement mean so much to us. We pray God also surrounds you with the support you need in this unique time. Amen.

Please read the following letter from Sara P. Lisherness, the interim director of World Mission:

Dear partners in God’s mission,

I don’t know about you, but daily my heart grows heavier. News about the pandemic, wars, wildfires, gun violence, racism, earthquakes and hurricanes cloud my vision. It’s hard to see hope; our world is in a fog. Yet we trust that God’s light and love transcend the brokenness of this time.

God is at work transforming the world, and you, through your prayers, partnership and encouragement, are helping us share this good news. Thank you for your faithful and gracious support of our mission personnel.

How can we see through the fog? What will the church be after the pandemic? Could it be that God is doing “a new thing” and is inviting us to perceive it?  Through all the uncertainty we know that God’s steadfast love and care for all creation will prevail and that God’s Spirit is at work in each of us.

We all have an integral part to play in fulfilling God’s mission. As we seek to grow together in faithfulness there are three important steps I invite you to take in supporting our shared commitments to God’s mission:

Give – Consider making a year-end financial contribution for the sending and support of our mission personnel. Your support helps mission personnel accompany global partners as together they share the light of God’s love and justice around the world. Invite your session to include support for mission personnel in its annual budget planning.

Act – Visit The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study to delve deeper into the work God is doing through the PC(USA) and its partners in ministry around the globe: pcusa.org/missionyearbook.

Pray – Include our mission personnel, our global partners, and our common commitments to share God’s grace, love, mercy and justice in your daily prayers.

Thank you for your faithfulness to God’s mission through the Presbyterian Church. It is my prayer that you will continue to support this work with your prayers, partnership, and financial gifts in the coming year. We hope you will join us and our partners in shining a beacon of hope throughout the world.

In the light of hope,

Sara P. Lisherness, Interim Director
World Mission
Presbyterian Mission Agency
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

To give please visit https://bit.ly/PCUSAmission

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16