Dear His Grace the Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak, Greetings to you from Christ Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin. We have been keeping vigil and praying for a peaceful referendum and God’s blessings on the people of Sudan. As I look back on my own involvement from 1994 onward with the Province of the Church of Sudan, it started in 1992 when I read an article in the YES magazine of CMS with a picture of Bishop Nathaniel Garang on the cover. From that time I have committed my efforts and voice to speak for the persecuted church in Sudan. We have been praying for this day for God to set the people of Southern Sudan free from the oppression of the Northern Sudanese government. Finally, God has brought this moment, a day for the people of Sudan to decide their future and enter into the Promised Land. I am your brother who has stood in solidarity with the suffering people of Sudan. God opened doors for me to be the voice of the people of Sudan in the USA, at the Lambeth Conference 1998 “Hear My People’s Cry”, around the Anglican Communion, before the US Congressional Hearing on the Capital Hill in Washington D.C. and to President George Bush. It has been a great honor for me to serve as the chair of the Link committee in the Episcopal Church in the USA to ECS and Canon and Commissary to the Archbishop of Sudan. With deep humility, I give thanks to God for allowing me to be a servant of Christ to serve my people in Sudan. This morning I join many around the world on my knees in prayer and fasting for a peaceful separation between North and South. Tomorrow will be a new day when we shall celebrate your freedom on the Altar of Christ Episcopal Church as we celebrate the Feast of Epiphany. For this truly is a new Epiphany that, once again, God has set His people free from the tyranny of Pharaoh to let His people go free. We give thanks to the risen Christ who has suffered with his people in Sudan, and now in the power of resurrection we are about to celebrate new life. ALLELUIA! Even yet, a free Southern Sudan shall present many challenges. Although President Salva Kiir Mayardit in a speech last January said, “This is the final part of our journey,” in reality tomorrow morning you begin a new journey in the family of the world community. It shall now be your responsibility to turn the page from decades of civil war to learn to walk on the road toward being a peaceful community. In just a few hours we shall find Southern Sudan as the world’s newest country on the map with new challenges to build, to heal and to establish law and order in an area recovering from the longest war of Africa. New challenges can also be opportunities for your people to work together with the world community to build a prosperous and peaceful Southern Sudan as they cannot do it alone. Our world is in desperate need of such models. The world community needs to stand in solidarity with you, so I pledge to continue to work for peace and stability for my people in Sudan. Please let me know if a celebration for freedom service is organized at All Saints in Juba. I would like to join you in celebration to give thanks to God. I continually pray for God’s blessings on your ministry and the people of Sudan. Salaam, Shanti, Shalom! Your brother in Christ, The Rev. Canon Dr. Patrick P. Augustine, Honorary Canon, All Saints Cathedral Juba Rector Christ Episcopal Church La Crosse, WI USA Letter issued to Press Media on January 10, 2011.