From St.Louis-
On Sunday , the people of south Sudan will begin the process to decide whether to split Africa's largest country in two and form the world's newest nation, or to reunite with their neighbors in the north.
The seven-day referendum was part of the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 22 years of civil war and gave the south autonomy leading up to the election.
Monitoring the referendum closely, from 7,000 miles away, will be members of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, who have had a "companion relationship" with the Episcopal Diocese of Lui in southern Sudan since 2006. Some Episcopal congregations in the diocese also have individual relationships with congregations in the Lui diocese.
"The main point, theologically, is the relationship itself," said Debra Smith, the Missouri diocese's representative of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and wife of Missouri Bishop George Wayne Smith.
"The church is the body of Christ and each church is part of that body. To get to know someone from a different culture who shares the same beliefs and liturgical practices is mind-broadening and spiritually invigorating. "
More here-
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/tim-townsend/article_6bb0ee79-48c3-5870-bd4e-3ebab9c2346c.html
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