Through the generosity of people like you, we have been able to purchase some water tanks and gutters to install at HOPE children’s home here in Uganda. THANK YOU!!!!

Now the precious rainwater can be saved for washing clothes and scrubbing pit toilets, what a blessing. Now the rain will not run freely off the roof, creating rivers through the yard and funneling itself straight into the dirt floor schoolrooms. Ahhhhhh, the well and hand pump are up and functioning in the yard of Hope, the gutters will be up soon, things are looking so encouraging!

But, as always, there is the natural, and then the "supernatural". The lesson of the gutters and the well are obvious, blessing to everyone around and underneath them, but a deeper lesson was woven into this "natural" event.

A huge part of Show Mercy’s dream is not just to feed and clothe and protect these children, but to prepare them for adulthood. We desire to provide a safe place for them physically so that their hearts are free to dream, to learn and to love those around them and the Creator!

As Brian shared about this project with the children, he enlisted the help of the older boys in completing it.  As they measured and planned, the geometry that the kids had memorized in the dirt floored school house came alive, as Brian asked them questions, some of them for the first time in their lives tasted the sweet flavor of an older man looking at them in love and trust.  As our car pulled away from the home that day, the older boys were running down the road, with 20 dollars in their hands for nails and rope, and the detailed instructions of how to build a ladder out of thick tree branches. For most, this was the largest amount of money they had ever held. It was a risk, yes, but it is the way they learn isn’t it? The ladder was somewhat of a test, would they spend the money wisely, would they measure correctly, would they work together, would it be finished in two days like we had instructed?

Two days later, as we pulled up to Hope, four extremely exuberant young men stood in front of the car, and two absolutely beautiful ladders were leaning up against the roof. For most of you in the develpoed world, these ladders would seem the cruddest creations, but oh in our hearts they could be displayed in the finest galleries. We are so proud!

As they showed them to Brian, the Lord spoke so loud and clearly to our hearts. He told us that He wanted us to be like those children. These children are no longer called orphans, they have a home, and provision, and have been introduced to their perfect Father, but they still have a choice in their hearts. They can hold back and gaurd their hearts from His free love, or they can step forward and believe that the offer of love and relationship is truly for them. There is nothing more beautiful than the once orphaned heart fully in love with their true Daddy. 

He is driving up to our lives with a proposal, with a project, and He longs for us to step forward and say yes (even if we have NEVER done it before and think we just might fail, even if we don’t yet believe His love towards us), He longs for us to look in His eyes and say, "i will try". He longs to give us the supplies we need and put the plans in our hands.  He longs to see us running down the road, with His instructions in hand, and His provisions in our pockets. When He comes back around to see what we have done with what He has given us, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT THAT CREATION LOOKS LIKE, because to the heart of the FATHER, the crudest built ladder made of tree limbs, is a fine piece of art work. His heart sings………."my children believed in my instructions, they believed that they were able to do it and they used my provisions and just look at what they have done!"

Do you see??? So when you hear Him coming, when His "car pulls up to your life" and He hands you some "provisions" and instructions, boldly raise your hand and say yes, He has chosen you, He loves you and you have a vital role to play in making the world around you a better place.

What are the ladders that He is asking you and i to build today? Is it to hammer away at a mundane task, to work through a difficult relationship, to love the person in the desk next to you? It might just look like a simple "crude" ladder to you as you work on it today, but when you follow His instructions, and use the provisions that He has given you and believe He would not have given you the task unless He believed you were able to do it, your "ladder" will be a glorious piece of work!

Keep pounding away on your ladder, He has given you all you need……hey……i think i hear His car coming down the road! 

Click here to find out more about Show Mercy International and how you can partner with us to rescue and care for more orphaned, abused and abandoned children.

Susan Stubbs
Show Mercy International
www.showmercy.org

As we were preparing for the upcoming trip to Uganda in September, 2007, we thought of  a fun, practical, low cost and life saving way of expressing God’s love to the people of Uganda. Everyone can participate in this project and have a direct impact on saving a life in Uganda! Would you consider joining us in this wonderful opportunity? Would you consider spreading the word about this project?

On the last trip, we were able to purchase nearly 200 school uniforms for the children attending the Alpha and Omega Primary School. They were so blessed by this outpouring of love. (on the right-click to enlarge) While our mission is primarily to the orphaned, abandoned or abused children of Uganda, we also have a desire to see the rest of the people in the Gganda Village (Hope Children’s Home) and in the Kaliiti Village where our Field of Dreams project is beginning, experience the love of God in their lives. 

We are planning an outreach with the next short term team, currently around 16 people, that will involve us venturing into the villages and going door to door giving away mosquito nets to our neighbors. Our goal is to give out 500 mosquito nets that will save many lives! Malaria is a huge killer of people in Uganda and for around $10 each (about 3 Starbucks Lattes), you can literally prevent terrible suffering and possibly even save a life! (See the Malaria facts below) We also know that this will open up many opportunities for sharing the Gospel of Jesus with the people in these villages. Not only will this make a huge impact on the local people, it will most likely draw national media attention in Uganda that will allow us the possibility of sharing the love of Jesus with the entire country. We leave on the 18th of September and would like to be able to have all 500 nets purchased before we leave. Would you join with us by purchasing a mosquito net and help us save a life through such a practical outreach? If everyone that receives this message participates, we will make our goal. Spread the news! We will be posting photos on our Blog page of this outreach like we did on the most recent trip last June.

Yes, I will partner with you to buy a mosquito net and save a life. Click Here to Buy a Net with a credit card online.

You can also mail your tax deductible donations or chemically treated mosquito nets to:

Show Mercy International
PO Box 607
Albany, Oregon  97321
541-905-0791
www.showmercy.org

Some Facts about Malaria:
• Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transferred by the female anopheles mosquito.
• 500 million cases of Malaria annually worldwide (underestimate).
• 1-3 million children die every year from Malaria mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
• 30% of the under five-population die each year from Malaria in Uganda.
• 18% of Uganda’s GDP is spent combating Malaria.
• Malaria is preventable, treatable and curable.
• Education and prevention are the keys to diminishing the Malaria problem.
• Mosquito nets help protect people from getting bitten during prime biting hours 10pm-4am, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality associated with Malaria.
• One Mosquito net costs around $10 and can prevent 2 children from getting bitten for 3-5 years. 

Today was an unbelievable day!

The Lord has been drilling into my heart, for the last 1 1/2 years now that my number one job is to worship Him, That sounds very basic and simple, but He did not just mean on Sunday, or when the sun is shining. As i woke up aching and sick today, and stood at the stove making breakfast with a tired heart and mosquito bitten hands that had somehow fallen out of the net last night, i quitely began worshipping Him. Homesickness and Fear were the first to come knocking at the door, but Praise went to answer their knock, and turned them away.  Next came Self-pity and her constant sidekick Weariness, and they did not even make it to the door, when they heard that Fear wasn’t allowed in, they did not even knock. By that time, Sickness and his brother Fever were wondering how long they could hang on without being kicked out too!!!!

We settled our boys into their second day of school and turned the car towards HOPE children’s home. Once there we stuffed as many of the older kids into the car as we could (which Ugandans define differently than Americans do :-)) and we set off to find and explore the 22 acres of land that SHOW MERCY has recently purchased. The plans are drawn up for the first phase of building there. The seams of Hope Children’s Home are busting!!! We need to get moving on this new venture!

It was the treat of a lifetime to see just these few children run and romp over the land, what wild territory. They were pointing everywhere, at papaya, banana, jackfruit, avocado, and mango trees. Coffee and vanilla plants, cassava, yams and sugarcane were growing everywhere. The kids began tearing off the sugarcane and laughing and eating away. It was too big to wrap our minds around. The dirt was fertile, and there was acres of it.

It was like walking across a huge blueprint laid across the Lords desk. What on earth does He have planned for this place? All we know is that it is HUGE. The potential is limitless. The children that came with us were the oldest ones in the home, and as we walked past a little mud house on the perimeter of the land, there was a sick baby in the lap of its mother. We stopped to talk to her, and pray for her little boy, and as we started, the voices of these kids all around us crying out to the Lord on behalf of this little one were like beautiful music. These children actually believe that the Lord can heal, because they have seen the Lord heal their lives, and rescue their hearts.

Thank you for being a part of this miracle. You are sowing into the lives of these children, and the plants are growing beautifully! As we prepared to leave, the kids broke off enough sugar cane to bring back to the children left behind at Hope Home. Someday soon there will many additional orphaned children living on this land, and eating the produce that will grow there. Where are those children today? What events are happening in their lives that will lead our paths to eventually cross? Join us in preparing a place for them, join us in pouring out love on them.

Isaiah 54:2-3

"Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited".

Until He comes and because He will!

Brian and Susan Stubbs

Ben, Luke, Bryce and Adam

 Red,

…..for the first two days in Uganda, i "optimistically panicked" and fought the red. I declared that mine would be the only Ugandan home scrubbed clean of it. The first morning i woke up with swollen hands and wrists from scrubbing, we discovered muscles long dormant….and as i reached for my newly purchased white bowl, i had to dust off the red dust.

Not to be deterred- i rallied the troops, every child of mine, every newly found friend, and we all scrubbed, we went through bottle after bottle of soap. The Ugandans giggled and smiled sympathetically. Did they secretly know that the white new girl would one day have to surrender to the red??? Did they take bets on how long it would be?

You might as well tell the earth to stop spining.

Red is here to stay……………but so are we.

My new favorite color is clayish red. If you surround yourself with red sheets and towells, dark clothes and chair covers, your struggle subsides.

Adam rarely wears shoes here. Our home has a wonderfully inviting white porous bathtub. I thought the red stain in it would surrnder to bleach, but as i poured the tub for Adam’s first bath to begin scrubbing his red body clean, i could not see the bottom of the tub through the water. Then Adam got in, and that shade of red cannot be explained!

We are settling in, have started language learning and the kids start school at the International school this Tuesday. Ben is 15 now, and rumor has it…there are only 12 kids in the entire high school, it should be an interesting first day!!!

Our time at Hope Children’s Home has been the highlight of our first few weeks here. We wish we could bring each of you here with us to meet these kids. The more we crawl into their stories, the more we fall in love with each of them. Please pray for us as we begin to make plans for the future here, as we listen to His heart towards each of these kids. As i sat and watched them eat one day, i was struck by my ridiculous obession with being clean, for the hours i have spent trying to outwit the red dirt, the time i spend creating variety for myself, whether it be with food or entertainment or whatever. These little people were so thankful just to be sitting at their wooden table and smelling the rice and beans and cabbage being dished up for them.  As they waited for their bowls to arrive, their red stained feet swung back and forth.

 Thank you to all of you who have made this whole transition possible. We long to give you a dusty red hug!  

Hello from the Stubbs family…..we are finally in Uganda!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            There is NO WAY to praise the Lord enough for what He has done. The impossible has happened. 8 weeks ago our family was facing the future with fast beating hearts, sitting in the tropical heat of the Indonesian jungle, wondering how on earth we would finish up our lives there, spend a month in America and then move to Africa with all of us in tact as a healthy happy family, but HE is so much more than we could ever ask for or dream of, there is NOTHING that He cannot do, NOTHING.

            We made it to Uganda. All of our bags even made it to Uganda! We have found a home and a car that can negotiate the roads; we have even found a way to have the internet hooked up to our home. We have found the market for food, unpacked the water filter, and we are blessedly sleeping through the nights now, our bodies safely tucked away under mosquito nets from the ravenous hungry mosquitoes that prowl around like lions throughout the night!!!!

Yesterday afternoon, our rented van negotiated the rutted dirt roads and found its way to HOPE children’s home, as we drew near all of us were lost in our own thoughts. Our boys just did not know what to expect or think, we had done all we could to prepare them to meet 95 wonderful children that could not wait to see them, but how can you truly prepare someone for that?  We pulled in to the front of the children’s home and tried to open the door against all the arms reaching in, we were mobbed by children, and it was three or four minutes before I could look up and try to locate my boys, and as I looked around, I saw them, each of them with their own little crowd surrounding them, smiling, holding many hands, and bending close to hear the names being offered up in friendship, that was the last time we saw our kids, except to call them in to eat the wonderful meal that the pastor had prepared for us, which they gulped down and then ran back out to play. My heart just exploded with joy, and thankfulness. Thank you to so many of you who have specifically been praying for this.  The nervousness in my children’s hearts was gone; the prayer of my heart for so many years was being answered right then and there in front of our eyes. Our deep desire is to minister here as a whole family, not a fragment. We believe that there is no age that God cannot use. God is good, He is so so so good.

The thunder clouds rolled in and the rain poured. I sat on the floor and held as many of the new little ones that I could and gathered their stories from the others there. Brian counted beds and mattresses, taking inventory. We are so excited to be able to purchase more beds now, thanks to the HUGE gift from the kids at Grace Chapel VBS!!!!!  My heart LONGS to bring each of you here for even a few hours, just to see this place, to see what we have set our hearts too, as a team. There will be so much joy in bringing you stories of what God is doing here. There is so much more need than we could ever humanly meet, but He has shown us over and over that there is ALWAYS enough, to be able to show HIS love to these kids.                  
                                        

The dirt is red, everything is dirty, everything is red. At first I fought it, but now we roll the windows down and let the wind blow through our hair. We are so thankful to be home here. If you are even remotely inclined to get away for two weeks to another world, look up the short term trips through SHOW MERCY that will bring you here to love on these kids, you will not regret one minute of it, we promise.

Please continue to pray for our family as we learn this new culture, as we begin to study the language with a tutor next week, as our children get ready to enter a new school, as we begin to wrap our hearts and minds around what it will look like to LOVE these kids with HIS heart.

We praise Him that we are IN HIS GRIP!!!

Brian and Susan Stubbs,

                                    Ben, Luke, Bryce and Adam