We are having a great time here in Uganda.  We all arrived safe and sound on Wednesday.  Thursday we spent the day at Hope and all of the team got to know the children. Some of the team members sponsor some of the children at Hope and Alpha Omega School.  It was wonderful to see them meet.

This morning (Friday) we all met together before we started our day out.  We asked some of the team members to share their experience at Hope on the first day.  Here are a few of their thoughts:

- The children love singing.  I spent some time singing some of the story book to the children.  One of them just wanted to read the book to me.  I noticed the children are all so patient and don’t need to be “entertained”.  This showed me that we are missing something, because we our time is so filled up.  They have time to think about God and they talk about Him and all that He has done all the time.

- Kids are all so joyful and always smiling even though all the hardship they have been through.

- I watched a child pick up the left over pieces of rice off of the ground after the team had their lunch.  (tears came gushing as this was being shared.  The Alpha Omega children that are not sponsored do not get lunch at school.) If I would have known, I would have dropped more rice.

- The children are always serving and so helpful.

- The kids are so happy with nothing…they just want love.  They observe you so closely like you mean so much to them.

- We visited with Grandma Alice in her small house.  She has absolutely nothing, but all she could talk about was how thankful she was for the things Show Mercy has provided for her.

Today we have been doing some fun activities.  The team split up into groups and worked on different projects.  The Redd family raised money to build cabinets to house some books they collected.  They are going to help us start an official library.  Justin Redd spent time with the children and handed out books for the child to read.  They were all sitting quietly reading their books!

Amy and Julie spent most of the day “cutting” hair.  They brought some clippers for this specific purpose.  The kids looked like they were really enjoying this special time and touch.

Another part of the team worked on some “Hope Banners”.  We cut strips of construction paper, glued their photo and then wrote out what each child desires to be when they grow up.  We then laminated each sheet.  We will be hanging these up over their beds, so when they go to bed and when they wake up, they will remember that they were created for a purpose.  They can have hope knowing that God has rescued them and now they have a hope for their future.

We still have many children that are in need of sponsorship.  The story of the child crawling around picking up the left over pieces of rice was a hard thing to see.   Help us provide a meal for these kids!  Not only that, but when you sponsor a child, that child can know that someone is thinking of them and that they are special in the eyes of another. Click here to help a child today.

We will keep you posted! Thanks for helping us to answer the cry of injustice in Uganda.

Mike and Lori Salley for Team Uganda

Our first summer team has been in Uganda for almost 2 weeks.  They have been reaching out in love in so many different ways.  Here is a combined update of a few of their days.  We will be sending the rest of their updates in the next few days.  Team 2 leaves for Uganda tomorrow, so expect some more pictures and stories soon

Our SMI team in Uganda has been reaching out in many ways in Gganda Village, Hope Children’s Home, Kaliti Village (Field of Dreams) and other parts of Uganda.

One of these ways is reflected by a luncheon the team prepared for widows.   Pastor Prossy invited women from the surrounding area. “We were able to serve them a feast of meats, potatoes, rice, beans, and soda pop,” says a team member. “They were very appreciative, as they are often overlooked in their society.   “Many of these widows were young,” the team member explains, “with many children to care for.   Their stories broke our hearts and we had a new understanding of the struggles they face.” Home-made blankets were handed out to these women as well, and personal visits were made to each one.  Seeds of hope and caring were sewn into their lives. 

During another outreach of love, another widow, Grandma Alice knelt on the ground and cried at how thankful she was for team members, who were cutting firewood for her and hauling water.

Although the team had made plans to visit the cancer hospital, the door appeared to be closed.  However when a friend from previous trips heard about it, he made a few phone calls and they got the ok to go!  The team visited both the children’s and the adult’s wards.   “This was a stretch for many of our team members, but they were willing to step out of their comfort zones and see God work through them.”

Many children at the hospital suffered from benign but severe tumors.  After gathering to sing Amazing Grace, the team divided up and went to each bed, to pray and offer a simple gift to each: a bar of soap.  “Our hearts broke as each child’s suffering was so evident,” a team member conveys.  “We believe our prayers brought hope.”  The team did the same thing for the adults.  What was amazing to the team was that “each patient, no matter how sick, gave us a smile and thanked us for our gift of soap.  It is a time that none of us will soon forget.”

If you would like to get involved and help us continue to reach out to the orphans and widows, click here.

Team Uganda
Show Mercy International
www.showmercy.org

The Stirn Family will be leaving to serve in Uganda with Show Mercy International on August 17th.  They will be helping us to facilitate our programs in Gganda and Kalite Village.  We wanted to share some of their story and journey of how they decided to move overseas.  We will be sending another post introducing our next family that will be moving over by October. We will be taking applications for upcoming opportunities in Uganda.  If you are interested, please email us!

The Journey Begins

Although the bus was rocking side to side, creaking and groaning loudly under the strain of navigating the heavily rutted dirt road, we could clearly hear the excited screams of the kids from Hope Children’s Home, welcoming us.  This was our first trip to Uganda (June 2007) and our first chance to see for ourselves the work that Mike and Lori Salley had begun.  (We have been involved with Show Mercy since 2004.)  As we stepped off the bus, we were immediately surrounded by over one hundred bright-eyed African children, most no taller than your waist, each grabbing for a hand to hold.  In some cases, just a single finger would satisfy them, allowing us to walk with 10 kids at once, one on each finger.  We couldn’t help but fall in love with the gentle-spirited kids at Hope.

We (Danny and Heather) were blessed not only to experience this ourselves, but to also have our 3 kids (Keith-12, Wesley-10, and Jeremiah-7) with us to share this together as a family.  We had been doing lots of travelling over the past couple of years, due to Danny’s work.  We’d been to Singapore for 4 months and were now living in Ireland (for a total of 8 months) and although we didn’t fully realize it at the time, God was using these long-term business trips as preparation for our family. 

After returning to the US in Sep 2007, God began pulling our hearts back to Uganda.  During the summer of 2008, it became clear to us that at some point we would be returning to Uganda for an extended stay and by November of that year, we felt that we were clearly called to take that leap of faith.  We received approval from the Show Mercy board in January 2009 and began preparations to return to Uganda for 1 year.  Miraculously, our house was sold within 26 days in the worst housing market since the great depression.  Today, we’re living in a rental house, making final preparations for our trip, which will begin August 17^th. 

We are so incredibly excited to be part of what God is doing through Show Mercy.  We’re looking forward to loving to the kids at Hope and the surrounding villages.  We’re excited about the kick-off of the Field of Dreams project, which will not only provide more  loving homes for kids with no hope, but will become a base from which Show Mercy will be able to launch out into the surrounding communities bringing hope to this entire region.  We’re excited to be a part of the amazing vision that Show Mercy has for this area.

Just Say Yes
God can use everyday ordinary people, like us, and do extraordinary things in us and through us for others.  We are not loved or favored more by God than anyone else.  He needs people like you and I to say “yes.”  Yes, I will go where you want me to go. Yes, I will do what you want me to do.  Yes, I will say what you want me to say.  And yes, I will give of myself so others can know and receive his love and goodness.  You are that person.  You have something to give.  Say yes and see what will happen!

Answering the Cry of Injustice Together,

Danny and Heather Stirn
Show Mercy Uganda
www.showmercy.org

Our first summer team of 15 people are flying to Uganda RIGHT NOW! They will be reaching out in love in Gganda Village, Hope Children’s Home, Kaliti Village (Field of Dreams) as well as other parts of Uganda.  This team is being led by Barb Hoffman and Kelly Cudney!  The next team of 22 people leaves on July 28th!  We will send out updates as we receive them, so stay tuned. (a few team members are missing from this picture)

The following is an article written by team leader Kelly Cudney.  Be inspired to believe that all things are possible for those who believe!

 “God is Faithful to Provide” 

I am part of a Show Mercy team that will be in Uganda from July 13-28^th.  Our team is made up of six adults and nine high school students.  Nearly half of our team has been on previous trips to Uganda, and we just HAD to go back, bringing others with us.  Going to Uganda changed my life, because God revealed His character in ways that I never knew before.  His love for me was so incredibly tangible, and I was suddenly part of something much bigger than myself.  I began to understand what it means to genuinely care for others, and I learned how to profess my belief in God because He is real and very much alive today. 

With that being said, it was still a little bit scary saying “yes” to going on another trip.  My heart had already decided that I was going, but my mind was concerned with how I was going to realistically raise the funds.  I feared that people wouldn’t be able to give financially, due to the state of our current economy.  I feared that I would have lots of awkward conversations with people, as they explained why they wouldn’t be able to support me.  I feared that I would come up short, and that I wouldn’t be able to go.  I was entirely wrong.

When you say “yes” to God’s call, He isn’t going to leave you to fail.  Part of the process of growing your faith is learning how to trust God when you respond to His call.  I don’t think that means that I could just sit back and wait, “trusting” that God would provide all my funds.  I needed to pray for guidance, and then press forward with a good attitude and strong work ethic. 

These last few months, I was continually blown away by His goodness as He showed our team that He is faithful, and that He wanted each person on our team to be there.  Here are a few ways that we creatively were able to raise funds:  sending support letters, speaking at churches and Bible studies, cleaning houses, pulling weeds and doing yard work, washing and waxing cars, tutoring students, selling smoothies at track meets, handing out “Baby-Sitting for Uganda” business cards, selling pans of cinnamon rolls, selling root beer floats, selling a homemade quilt, teaching French lessons, and having bake sales at schools and churches.  Earning all our support didn’t always come easy, but the point is that it came.  We even had people donate to our team that we never talked to individually … they had just “heard” what we were doing, and wanted to be part of it.  God even blessed us with over $3000 beyond our expenses that we can use for additional ministry while we’re in Uganda.  That blows my mind!

In looking through all of our financial records, I was blessed to see that there are literally hundreds of people who have contributed to this team going to Uganda.  In the days before our departure, God is still getting more people involved, as they keep donating items for us to give away while we’re there, or donations for us to buy mosquito nets.

I am so proud of the good work that God is doing through Show Mercy in Uganda, and am honored that I get to be part of it.  Do not be discouraged when times are tough; be encouraged that God is God, and that He is bigger than the things of this world.  He is faithful to provide when we answer His call.  Please pray for our team as we continue to do the good work He has begun.

Kelly Cudney
Show Mercy Team Leader
www.showmercy.org
541-791-3566

“You were the first visitor that ever stopped. Before you came, I was living in the dirt and had no clothes and bugs in my fingers and in my toes because I was digging for food. But you have taken me in and given me a bed, given me clothes, you have given me food, and best of all you have given me love. I am now like a king’s kid.”

Grace Kawooya, 11 years old.
Hope Children’s Home
Passed away December 2008

We want to thank you so much for your partnership with Show Mercy International and your continued support of the children at Hope Children’s Home. It’s through your support that the children have a loving place to call home. You are making a difference!

We want to tell you about an opportunity to reach out in love! We need to buy new mattresses, blankets, and plastic mattress covers for the children at Hope Children’s Home. Unlike the mattresses we have here in the states, theirs are foam and over time they begin to deteriorate. Just like children here, they have accidents which have now made the current mattresses unsanitary.

We would like to invite you to join with us to raise approximately $4,000 which will give 100 children a mattress, mattress cover and a blanket. That works out to be $40 a child. 

Our goal is to raise this money buy August 1^st. We plan to purchase the new mattresses while on our summer trip to Uganda in early August. Will you partner with us and provide new mattresses, blankets and plastic mattress covers for the children at Hope Children’s Home? Click here to help!  Any amount donated will make a difference and help us to reach our goal.

We are so grateful for each of you, and together are truly answering the cry of injustice!

Mike and Lori Salley
Show Mercy International
www.showmercy.org
541.791.3566