The Children of hope….

When I look into the eyes of the children who live and go to school at Hope Children’s Home I don’t see poverty, I don’t see masses of orphaned children, I don’t see a problem that I can’t begin to understand or help with. What I do see are people I have fallen in love with, I see individual children much like my own, and I see opportunity. I see opportunity to make a real difference in someone’s life; and an opportunity to change my own life in the process. These children are bright, enthusiastic and loving. They have hopes, dreams and aspirations. Each child just needs one person who cares enough to open a door of opportunity up for them.

A few of the boys came and sat down next to me the other day and told me they were going to give me a language lesson. Their native language is Luganda. They patiently worked with me to learn words that will bridge a gap between our two cultures. They were eager to invite me to walk into their world. As we spent more time together, I found that they were truly special kids and so I asked them about their dreams. Without hesitating, Silage told me “I want to be a Pilot.” I looked at him and envisioned that for him. I think he would make a very good pilot. Ronald on the other hand chimed in “I’m going to be a Business.” He said it with all the confidence that a business man would need to have. Then lastly Moses gently said “I want to be a Pastor” and I thought I would surly want to attend his church.

These children have hope. They have hope because people like you have been willing to set aside a portion of the plenty they have and reach their hands across the continents, in love, to help someone who has no one. Many of the people on our team sponsor children at Hope Children’s Home and have had the joy of getting to know them while in Uganda. I know without a doubt they would all tell you that they are far richer for having been given the opportunity to help these little ones to have a home, eat, go to school and realize their dreams. We invite you to consider this same opportunity. My husband Randy and I have found that Show Mercy is not just a place we have chosen to give money to, it is an opportunity we have taken that is changing our lives and giving us joy we never knew before. Sponsoring a child is very easy and yet it means so much to everyone involved. 

Show Mercy has many children’s pictures on the website and will be posting many more soon.  Click here to help a child today.

Alisa Varga
Show Mercy Volunteer

We only have 3 days left with our team and still so many great things on the schedule. I wanted to share with you a few of the different ways our team has been reaching out in LOVE!

Mending a Pocket…Mending a Heart
Some of the team has been working to sew up all the rips and holes in the children’s clothes.  As I watched the team sew, I could see the look in the children’s faces. They weren’t sure about what was happening…probably because no one has taken the time to mend something that is torn.  As each child sat as the mending took place, I could see a look of peace and joy come on their face.  They not only looked better on the outside (with mended clothes), but I know something happened on the inside of the little ones as well.     

Teaching the Next Leaders of Uganda
Another part of our team has poured many hours of sharing and teaching in the classrooms. The children have all loved every minute! Many of our team has commented on how smart and special these children are! It is really amazing what our Alpha Omega teachers have been able to do with a very tight budget. We need help to build classrooms as well as purchase text books for the school. Click here if you can help with this project.

Living Water for Kaliti
We are currently in the process of drilling a fresh water well in Kaliti Village (Field of Dreams). The village leaders are very excited for the people. All of those that we are meeting that live by the Field of Dreams are so appreciative for all of the ways we have been reaching out to them. Last year we were able to hand out mosquito nets. This year, the previous team went door to door handing out donated flashlights/radios. This team has been able to hand out blankets to the widows and now they are going to all have living water to drink. We are very excited about this project! Mike is meeting with a builder today and we should have plans for our new missions base as well as the first children’s cottages very soon!

Tea Party at Hope
Today,  we will have a “tea” party for all of the girls that live at Hope. We will also give each one a brand new dress. Over 70 dresses  were collected especially for the girls at Hope. Thank you to all who gave the dresses and thank you Linda for the wonderful idea. (here is a picture of all the dresses…they are hanging on Linda’s front porch)

Say No To Hunger
We are going to be feeding 50 hungry children on Saturday evening. The menu will be meat stew and rice. This will be the first time these children will have probably ever had meat in their life. Our older children from Hope will also have an opportunity to share a Bible story with these children. If you would like to help feed these children, please click here.

Sorry it has been so long since we have posted an update.  We have been so busy! 

Our Show Mercy team of 29 is AWESOME!  Each person has so much love in their hearts and they are an answer to prayer.  They have been showing LOVE to so many people.

Yesterday (Wednesday), we had a wonderful day out in Kaliti Village (where we are building The Field of Dreams).  Here is Linda Dodson’s description of the day:

We pulled into Kaliti in front of a building with a big wide porch and pretty front lawn filled with luscious trees and shrubs and even several kinds of pretty flowers—a welcome sight in this land with no garbage service and unpleasant signs of poverty. There was a festive feeling in the atmosphere—this was obviously a special occasion for the village people. Gathered on the front porch were several village officials and a woman pastor. The most colorfully dressed Ugandan widows were spreading lovely cloths on the ground and sitting together in small groups. They had anticipated our arrival and were absolutely, stunningly beautiful! The team walked among them, shaking their hands, sharing names and trying out short Ugandan greetings. It felt like a family reunion and we were blessed to be God’s representatives with about 65 lovely new blankets–gifts from Show Mercy.

We were given a warm greeting read by a Kaliti leader. Then Mike gave a short greeting, with the help of his interpreter Simon, our bus driver, and assured the people of this village that our intention in coming was to love and bless them. He also thanked them for welcoming us  and then introduced themselves with their new Ugandan names: Mike is “Mukessa” (blessing) and Lori is ”Kiskye” (God’s grace). One by one, each of the widows’ names were read. The ladies were greeted by Mike and Lori and then we shared our words and hugs and gave them their new blanket. We were told some of them didn’t even have a blanket! It was so fun to see how the randomly held blanket perfectly matched the colors in a widow’s dress! God is in the details.

Mike happily commented to me later that there was such a new peace in the atmosphere. The favor of God is a wonderful blessing!   In the midst of an oh-so-sweet ceremonial gifting, three white doves flew just above our heads three times! One white dove lit on a nearby rooftop, sitting next to a white and black dove. We didn’t question that God was in our midst, but the confirmation brought a rush to our hearts! 

 Linda’s description is so perfect!  It was so touching to be able to give a token of love to these ladies.  When they go to bed at night, they will remember that they are loved and not forgotten!

Thank you for helping us to share hope with the widows in Kaliti! 

Reaching out in LOVE…one widow at a time.

Lori Salley
www.showmercy.org

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1

On Sunday afternoon we drove through beautiful countryside to a prison which held 126 men. I guarantee you that our prison experience was unlike any in the USA! As team of Americans and Ugandans entered the courtyard, all of the prisoners were just sitting on the concrete floor of the front porch in several long rows. We were escorted to a grassy knoll only about 20 feet from them, where Josh, Heather, Virgil and Steve shared the message God put on their hearts. He used each one powerfully to minister His love, His redemption and His salvation—even they themselves later commented they felt a new boldness and anointing as they shared. Our leader, Ugandan Pastor Simon Peter, extended a salvation call and 42 prisoners raised their hands—a much greater number than usual!

What came next were personal ministry time and my deepest experience of God’s love to date. Imagine there were only two guards with machine guns standing about 30 and 50 feet from the prisoners and we were allowed to walk right up to the prisoners, touch them and pray for the sick. Though there was obviously some risk, nobody seemed afraid. Instead, we were overcome with God’s love in a way that completely broke my heart open. God’s love overwhelmed me, like I have never experienced before and I started weeping and calling out to them. “I came 9,000 miles from America to tell you I love you!” As I wept and cried out, at least 50 prisoners looked straight into my eyes and were locked in. I continued in a stronger tone as I cried: “God wants to break the chains off your hearts right here in this prison so that you can feel free. He wants you to know him deep in your hearts!” Their gaze never left me and tears began to well up in many pairs of black eyes. What I saw before my eyes, was the response to the love of God which melted hardness on their faces and brought an instant spirit to spirit connection. It was a God moment.

As the team continued to minister to the prisoners, I saw another member at the back row of prisoners pray. So I also climbed over two rows of men, touching many of them on the head, to get to pray for two in the back row. I felt absolutely no fear, only God’s powerful love pulsing through me I continued to pray with warm tears rolling down my face. It was then that I heard one of my team members say: “Linda, get out of there. You’re not supposed to be back there.” Oops! The men actually extended their hands to help me back to the front where I was “safe.” I then tried to take every hand I could to say: “I love you,” “God loves you,” “God wants you to give Him your heart,” or “You’re my brother and I’ll be praying for you.” They eagerly reached for my hand like true gentlemen often saying: “I love you too, Mom.”

We ended our time at the prison passing out rolls and bars of soap just before the guards ushered them back to their dark cells with no heat, no blankets and living in cramped spaces. I tell you again, the best thing you can do to prepare yourself for ministry is to ask God to give you His heart for the people. His love never fails.

Reporting from Uganda for Show Mercy….

Linda Dodson

We had to share this fun story with you. You might wonder how you would figure out shoe sizes and shop for so many kids without an official measuring tool. Well, ingenuity isn’t lacking in Uganda. As you can see from the photo, they actually take sticks and break them while holding them next to the feet of the children. They then wrap the child’s name around the stick. Then, they take the sticks to the market and insert the sticks into the shoes until they find a stick that fits into the pair of shoes. Once they find the pair of shoes that the stick fits in, they leave the stick in the shoe, purchase the pair and bring them back to the kids. Have you ever seen anything like that in your life. What a great idea! It is amazing how simple complex tasks can be made when you are dealing with hundreds of children.

Speaking of shoes thank  you so much to those of you who donated so many pairs of shoes. The kids are very excited about getting some new play shoes. We also need to purchase over 100 kids new shoes for school. When children don’t have black shoes that are designed for school, they actually have to go bare foot. They cannot wear tennis shoes or sandals to school. You might remember that we purchased some last year but they have been outgrown and torn apart over the previous year. Each pair of shoes is approximately $10. Would you like to be a part of providing a new pair of school shoes for a child in Uganda? It is such a simple and inexpensive donation that is such an incredibly huge deal for the kids. Can we work together and buy them tomorrow! Please consider purchasing a pair of shoes for one or several children. When we purchase them, we will send some photos showing your purchase.

To make a donation for shoes, please click here  to make a tax deductible donation on our website and just write a note in the comment section that says “Shoes.” We will make sure that 100% of your donation goes to this project. You can also mail a check to: Show Mercy International, PO Box 607, Albany, Oregon  97321. If you send a check, please email us and let us know since we are out of the office for the next couple of weeks. Thanks in advance for helping us make this coming school year special for many children who don’t have parents to purchase their school clothing and shoes.

Mike and Lori Salley
www.showmercy.org