Saturday, July 26, 1980

Climbing Asarahai

Lohutok, Sudan

This morning, I gave a talk at the clinic.  It was not very difficult.  I talked about Matthew 5: 21 - 22 and 43 - 46.  I tried to bring out that God demands not just obedience to a few rules, but perfection of deed and thought.  I used a scripture about loving enemies because the Lotuko waste no love on the Taposa.  I was trying to follow the example of Jesus who demanded of the rich young ruler the very thing he was least willing to do.  I wrote my message out ahead of time in simple English so it would be easy for Michael to translate into Lotuko.

Brian Arensen and I left right after my talk to climb Asarahai.  It was about 10:00 am.  Asarahai is the mountain also known as "Three Sisters" because of its three peaks.  The first half of the way was easy going.  There was a good path to follow.  But the last half of the way we had to bushwhack our way through shoulder high grass and bamboo groves.  At the top, we were turned back three times by cliffs before we found a way to the peak.  It was a hard hike and we did not bring enough water.  We arrived at the top about 1:30 pm and ate our lunch.  We started down around 2:30 pm.  We did not find the path again.  We were walking cross-wise along the slopes which gave me blisters on my feet.  I ripped the knee of my jeans.  I was very thirsty. tired, weak and rubbery-kneed.  I was also very wet as we got rained on.  We finally got to Ahaba, the mountain field, and I knew the way back from there.  We arrived home at 6:00 pm.  The bed will feel great tonight!

Photo: Asarahai (left) and Lodyo (right) 

Photo: A closer view of Asarahai's peaks

Photo:  Me standing at the top of Asarahai

Photos:  Three views from the top of Asarahai


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