August 22, 2013 Update

Dear Friends and Family.....

The past few days have been fruitful and rewarding. We continue to build wonderful relationships with men and women in Uganda and are thankful for the opportunities to stand along side them as we seek to serve the Lord.

The men have had several good days of construction work on Mercy Uganda's land, and will complete the walls for the storage building/living quarters for caretaker of the land.  They will also do the concrete work on the piggery tomorrow.  It has been amazing to see how much can get accomplished with a team of American and Ugandan men even with language barriers. Doug and Mark show a love and humility that speaks volumes without words. The men see these two Christian men and we see the bonds that are growing. Praise the Lord!

The ladies continue to hold the sewing classes every morning, and the Ugandan ladies have really shown a willingness and desire to learn the art of sewing. The church ladies even want to start a sewing group to help ladies continue to learn and build upon their skills so they can help provide can income for their families. Many of these women's husbands work making bricks in the brick business near the church, making very low wages. Our prayer is to raise funds to help provide several good quality sewing machines for this group to encourage them in this hope. The sewing classes have allowed us to build friendships with ladies from the church and surrounding villages, and is creating opportunities for the Ugandan ladies to build new friendships as well.

The sewing classes are a great bridge to our afternoon bible studies, and the women all seem excited to stay, often from 10 in the morning until nearly 5:00. Our study is about some of the women of the bible, and how, like them, we have stories as daughters of Christ. Two key things being taught: 1) Nothing is impossible with God and 2) I am loved. This seems to resonate with the women and we see smiles and hear amens. The ladies hear stories of forgiveness and healing, hope and a future. They hear that there is nothing in their lives too big for God and He is faithful in all things. 

We have also had the privilege of singing with them and teaching new songs. We closed today with teaching the Doxology.....they had never heard it before, but loved being in a large 30 something lady group holding hands and singing that song. 

Thank you for praying for us as we seek God's guidance and plan for us here. Pray that He will show us what He wants us to do, and that we will be obedient and willing servants to these absolutely precious men, women, boys and girls in Uganda.

Love in Christ,

The August Team: Mark and Laura, Doug and Kristin, and Barb

P.S. The construction pictures show the slab and beginning of the storage/caretaker building and the beginning of the foundation for the piggery. The pictures of the ladies are some of the Ugandans modeling the blouses they made.