Christmas Envelope Giving
We have received many emails from child sponsors and other partners concerning the special Christmas 6×9 envelopes.  The deadline for the return of the envelopes was Monday, December 15th, but we are extending the deadline until December 31st! If you haven’t heard about this wonderful gift idea, now is your chance to get involved.

Barb Hoffman’s Santiam Christian High School class in Corvallis, Oregon really got involved in this gift giving opportunity and filled many many envelopes for the kids that attend our primary school.  (THANK YOU!) As you can see in the picture, some of them also took the time to decorate the outside of the envelopes!

Some of you have asked if there are still children that need a gift envelope and the answer is YES. Last summer we gathered 50 children from the village and served them a wonderful meal that included meat.  For some of these children, that was their first time to even have meat.  We now want to gather enough Christmas envelopes for those children as well.  For some, this will be their first Christmas gift ever!

On top of that, some of you have asked about giving gift envelopes to the widows in the village.  This is a wonderful idea and it would be such a blessing for those women.  Some gift ideas might be small lotions, fragrant soaps, inexpensive jewelry, scarves, socks, instant teas/coffee.

If you want to be a part of this exciting Christmas event, please pick up a 6×9 envelope and fill it full of small goodies.  Pencils, pens, small games, little books, coloring pages, photos, encouraging letters, toothbrushes and any other small toys are all great ideas.  (We don’t suggest sending chocolate).  Just drop it in the mail to Show Mercy International, PO Box 607, Albany, Oregon 97321 or drop it off at 633 Waverly Place, Albany, Oregon.  Our team will take the envelopes over in January for a late Christmas party.

Christmas Feast at Hope
We are also still planning to serve a Christmas meal to the children at Hope as well as the Alpha Omega Primary school children.  We have a team that is arriving right before Christmas to help serve this wondering dinner, so we will be sending out a post with pictures of that day!

If you would like to donate towards the Christmas dinner, please click here.  We still need $500 to reach our goal.  This will allow us to bring in 30 widows from the village as well as feed over 300 children and staff.

We want to say thank you to everyone who sent such nice notes about the passing of Grace!  We appreciate all of you.  Together we are making a huge difference in the lives of the children, orphans, widows and adults in Gganda Village Uganda.  Many children have been saved because of YOU!

Merry Christmas,
Mike and Lori Salley
and the SMI Team