GIFTS

 Sewing machines......we hope to purchase 4 this summer

(

(A young lady showing off her newly learned knitting skills...tools and yarn were provided, along with teaching)

I have often heard the saying, "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime".  How true that is.  Mercy Uganda has been involved in so many aspects of life in Uganda that sometimes we have to take a deep breath and evaluate it all.  Everything we have and do, all that we are, comes from God.  He allows us to be stewards of all He provides.  This includes our involvement in the lives of others, in using those resources to expand the kingdom work.  It is so easy to just give someone something, knowing that they need it, knowing it will help them.  Some things are meant as a gift, straight up.  The emergency medical care for Julius and Alex are examples of that.  The ongoing therapy and help for Lawrence is important in that it provides a way for him to learn and become independent.  The child sponsorships are that way as well.  An education is one of the most important things one person could offer another.  It provides hope and a future, a way to learn and to "eat for a lifetime".  The well project is such a gift.  This simple act will provide generations with  better health, and therefore, hope and a future.  There are some things, though, that we can do to help in the teaching, by providing one thing, and then teaching the use of the one thing.  Sewing machines.  Did you know that in Uganda the sewing machines are non-electric and controlled by pedaling?  This makes sense because electricity is a luxury most cannot afford.  We can purchase a sewing machine for $100.00 and teach a lady in a poor village how to sew. She can then use that skill to provide for her family.  We hope to purchase 4 sewing machines this summer for ladies in particular villages to help them, and to help begin a vocational program for others.  We also hope to raise the support needed to send a young lady to nursing school.  She wants to start a clinic in a poor area.  She is a Christian,a and an orphan girl who grew up in one of the poorest parts of Africa... Karamoja.We are also working on support for a dear Christian young woman to go to law school in Kampala.  Uganda needs Christian women, advocates for the lives of women and children in that country.

(Lydia, seen in this picture with our liaison Gabriel, left,  and friend of Mercy Uganda, Ronnie, prepared for nursing school)

(This is Irene, and her husband Alex, with Nathasha, newly adopted to save her life....Irene hopes to begin law school in August)

So you see, sewing machines, education, these teach a "woman to 'fish' so she can feed her family for a lifetime". Investing in God's children, that is a wonderful means of stewardship, and service to God.
Please pray for Mercy Uganda, for the women and children God has placed before us, and for the whole villages that are positively impacted through what God is doing in and through our efforts, and the love and support of those who walk alongside us in the ministry work.

Grateful Hearts!

I am just constantly amazed at the way God provides!
 

Debby over at Just Breathe had a give a way recently.  To win you just had to leave a comment and she used a random thingy to choose the winners.  One of the things you could do was to pick a $50.00 gift card or make a contribution to your favorite charity.

I was over reading and to my surprise and great joy.......one of the winners, Carrie at Cottage Cozy won and asked that her prize be donated to Mercy Uganda!  A check is on the way and let me tell you, Carrie, what a precious and wonderful thing you have done and how much it means to us.

In Uganda, $50.00 can do so much more than it does here in the United States.  It can go a long way towards medical bills, badly needed medications and supplies.  $50.00 will buy two mosquito nets with $10.00 left over! Mosquito nets prevent malaria!

From these sweeties and many more, a big thanks to both Debby and Carrie!  Like the loaves and fishes, God will multiply that $50.00 for His glory!

A Simple Act of Generosity

(The pictures are: top left: my husband mark and a child of Uganda; next is Julius, wired money helped with his emergency medical care in Mulago hospital; then you see Gabriel with sponsored children of Karamoja, the wired money allowed them to start school right away; and next is Lawrence, we regularly wire money for his ongoing therapies and appointments with eye specialists.

It is amazing what a small gesture can do....how a small act of kindness can start something much bigger.  For years, my husband and our son have collected aluminum. I would complain about the bags of crushed cans beside our garage. And then, last week my husband Mark, laid $17.50 on the counter and said "this is for Mercy Uganda". I asked him where this came from and he told me "from the cans I cashed in". We have been struggling with the funds necessary to wire much needed money to Uganda.  As a young and not-so-rich ministry, it really affects us to pay $45.00 every time we wire money. We never ask our recipients on the other end to help absorb this cost because they are already in need of the funds we send.  The needs are so great there, that every little amount of money makes a tremendous difference.  Then it occurred to me......this aluminum collecting could be our ongoing project to fund the wiring fees.  We just started getting the word out, and are already getting businesses and individuals willing to begin collecting for Mercy Uganda.  We may even have an old aluminum boat donated!  This simple act of generosity.....this $17.50 given to show support for the work God is doing in and through Mercy, has opened a door of opportunity for us as we continue to send much needed funds for medical care, emergency care, sponsorships, and more.  I just love how God takes the faithfulness of others and fertilizes and waters it, and makes it grow for His Kingdom's work.  Please tell your friends about this project.......we pray that it will continue to grow and continue to provide a way for us as we seek to serve the Lord in ministry. 

Alex and Irene, and the story of Job

I have read the story of Job many times.  It is a story that makes me pray that God will not see fit to test my faith in such a way.  For many years, and even until recently, I would read that story, and the part that always stood out was that of how Job lost all of his children, and in the end God gives him more.  In my mind I would always say, "but that doesn't replace the ones he lost". Then it occurred to me, that God always has a far better thing than what I can wrap my heart and my head around.  He wasn't replacing those children, He was increasing Job's number of children.....his first children who died still live....they are in heaven. Now Job will have a double portion of his precious children for all eternity in heaven with him. Yes, I know it is so hard from an earthly perspective to think that way. We miss those children.  We want to be with them, to hold them, to love them, to talk to them.  But what is time on earth compared to eternity?  This made me think of Alex and Irene and all that has happened to them in recent months.  They got married just a few short years ago.  He got a job going to Iraq. A dangerous job, not a well paying job, but a job and in Uganda those are very difficult to come by.  His job led him to Iraq for a year. He left and Irene was pregnant.  She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl whom they named Omega.  Omega had a heart condition and Irene and Alex desperately sought help for her.  There was none.  Omega died at 3 months of age, before Alex could make it home to see his baby girl for the first and only time.  As they mourned the loss of Omega, Alex was due to leave again, this time to Afghanistan.  Issue and issue came up that prevented him from leaving. One of those issues was severe kidney stones that led to him being hospitalized.  We think to ourselves....how many problems can one young couple endure?  We pray to God for Alex and Irene.  We are all trying to make sense of the endless struggles of this precious young couple who desire above all things to honor and serve God, even in the midst of pain and suffering, of struggle and uncertainty.
Then, amazingly......God doesn't replace Omega, He has her with Him waiting for the day she will be reunited with her parents.....and increases Alex and Irene's family by giving them a baby girl who had been born around the time of the death of Omega. A little girl whose mother died shortly after her birth, whose father loves her but cannot care for her.  A little girl with some health problems due to malnutrition, but a beautiful little girl.  Job came to mind again.....all he lost, God gave back......Alex and Irene.....God is doing much the same thing. I praise God for His awesome and unfathomable ways....I am thankful that He has a plan and a purpose for his children....plans not to harm them, but to help them....plans to give hope and a future.
Please pray for Alex and Irene as they minister to the needs of this beautiful new daughter of theirs...Natasha. (Please pray for Alex and Irene......they so covet your prayers as they seek God's will in their new family, in Alex's work, and as Irene seeks to return to law school. Mercy Uganda is seeking sponsors for her education.....Uganda needs Christian attorneys....Irene is someone God has great plans for and will use mightily.  Alex is a mighty prayer warrior who puts his trust in God....they are true friends of Mercy Uganda, partners in prayer.....they are always here for us, we want to be here for them as well)
To see a video of Alex and Irene with baby Natasha, go to www.youtube.com and type in A New Baby Girl

God, the Great Healer

 

  
(The pictures above...a beautiful, disabled girl in Karamoja; Grace, a 4 year old orphan with AIDs and open sores; and Kato, a 13 year old orphan with a severe leg deformity....we are working on providing surgery for him).
The pictures in this blog are only a handful of the many with whom we are involved.....
A person could easily become overwhelmed by the needs of the precious women and children in Uganda.  Hunger, clothing, shelter, clean water.......and medical needs.  Those alone can be an emotional weight around your heart.  We see so many children with AIDS, children with serious malnutrition, deformities, malaria......and the list goes on.  The same is true of the women, and often they are left to raise their children on their own, while struggling with medical issues......many have lost their husbands to diseases, many of the medically needy children are orphans.
This is one of the things that drives us to keep on keeping on when we feel emotionally spent, when we feel physically drained......when we wonder where the next dollar will come from when we are providing medicine, or emergency medical care, or needed surgery, or even ongoing help to those whom God has placed before us.  One thing I know.....these are God's children. He loves them.  He cares for them and will provide what they need......that means He will also provide what we need as we minister to them.  It is such a privilege to know these children, these women.  It is such an honor to be involved in their lives as we seek to be instruments of God's love in their lives.  Please pray for these beautiful children of God....please pray for us as we seek to minister to their many needs, their sometimes overwhelming needs......there are no needs too big for God!

T

The hands of Rose....a beautiful lady around 50 years old who has a quickly progressing, degenerative form of arthritis....she has gone from fully active, to nearly bed ridden in 3 years.

 

                                                                          Beautiful Rose 

Join Uganda in praying for Mercy Uganda

 This is Alex and Irene, and their little boy Alpha....dear friends to Mercy Uganda

 People wonder what draws me so deeply to Uganda......there are many things, but I must say that one of the most profound things is the faith of the Christians there.  A few weeks ago, before my January trip to Uganda, I felt discouraged and even shared with others that I felt I only had a half of a grain of mustard seed of faith......I too easily forget just Who is in charge.  I too easily forget that God owns the "cattle on a thousand hills".  I too easily forget that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell in it".   Our dear Ugandan friends, who have so little and experience so much pain, suffering, and loss, seem to remember those important things so much better.  They see God's work in Mercy Uganda in ways that I cannot grasp.  They see what God is, and will be doing through this ministry......sometimes I can't see past the little bank account we have.  Mercy Uganda is honored to have such dear friends who are committed to praying for us.  Please read our ministry liaison's information below.  I pray that it will encourage you to join them in praying for us.  We need your prayers!

A

 A beautiful group of children from the church that Alex and Irene attend.....our prayer warriors!

the information below is from Lauren, our ministry liaison for Mercy Uganda, who is currently living in Uganda...

Our dear Ugandan friends, Alex and Irene, along with members of their church have committed to praying for Mercy Uganda.....we need those prayers, and covet yours as well.....we want to honor and serve God through Mercy Uganda.....

Tonight Alex and Irene brought some people from their church over to my apartment to have a prayer meeting for Mercy Uganda.These really are some prayer warriors--there's so much faith behind their prayers. Some of the specific things we have been praying about are the following:

* That God will show our ministry the needs He wants us to meet
* Wisdom in who we as an organization trust and associate with (there is a lot of corruption here)
* That God will provide land for Mercy Uganda to start a guest house and other projects
(the guest house is a project we are seeking God's will in....it will provide an income for the Mercy Uganda which will be used to minister to those whom we serve there.  Mark and Laura are prayerfully considering if this will be how and where God wants them to be...to live)
We're going to be meeting at my apartment every Friday afternoon to pray for Mercy Uganda. You can join us if you like. It starts at 5pm Uganda time, 9 am Central time ;-).

Please pray for us........

 

Child Sacrifice and a Sovereign God

You may have seen the news in the past few weeks about increasing child sacrifice in Uganda.  It's hard for us in America to imagine a place where witch doctors sacrifice small children, but they do and we need to bring them to light.

Our sponsored child, Frank, was abducted by witch doctors....here he is...

You can read all about him here.


Frank was taken by witch doctors while walking to his grandfather's house.  Many times I have tried to imagine the terror of one of my children not showing up at their destination and having no idea where they were or what had happened.  I can't imagine what must have been going on in Frank's mind and the terror he must have felt knowing what these vile people had in store for him.


Now witch doctors choose children because they are pure and perfect.  Upon examining Frank, they discovered a scar on his stomach from surgery he had as a young child.  He was rejected and probably ran all the way home to a very relieved father!  


What the witch doctors considered an imperfection was in fact our sovereign God's way of saving his life.  It was no coincidence that Frank had that scar!  God has a plan and purpose for Frank's life and witch doctors can't stand in the way of God's plan!


Please pray for the children of Uganda.  Pray for their parents as they keep closer watch on their precious children and live in fear of them being abducted and killed.


And please, pray for the witch doctors, that they may come to know the One who made the only perfect sacrifice.