CHICAGO, IL (January 8, 2014) — Covenant Missionaries Pete and Cindy Ekstrand were regional coordinators in South Sudan until recently and say the violence there is heartbreaking.

They were traveling in the country seven weeks ago before the violence among military factions broke out in the capital city of Juba and spread elsewhere, including Malakal, where the Evangelical Covenant Church of South Sudan central offices were located.

“It’s hard to comprehend, it’s just mind-boggling,” says Pete in a video interview at Covenant Offices on Friday.

Church leaders and many members have fled the city into the bush as well as a UN compound and refugee camps in Uganda and Kenya. Some members have been killed.

“They’re friends, they’re family to us,” says Cindy. “Some of these people we’ve known for quite a few years, and now they’ve had to flee their homes,” she says in the video.