11 Children that need Sponsers

During the Party for the Kids, Lori called 11 up front, these are the ones that still need a sponsor. Some live here, and others come here for school.


There are three postings today, so take a look farther down the page.

What an honor it has been to be here and to witness all of the wonderful things. We were warned when we first arrived, to look at the "glass" half full, not half empty. I am truly overwhelmed that the "glass" is not full, but it is overflowing. I have seen true happiness and love in these children's live, like I have never seen before. Thanks for being a part of our journey through this blog.

May God Bless you, each one of you, who have read and prayed for us.

See you soon,
Randy

Photos

This is what we did in Uganda, Simply Loved the Kids.
A Song sung to us.
A boy with a new shirt.

One last blog... Maybe

Saturday 6-28

Today was a good day, but a hard day for all of us. You see, this was our last full day at “Hope Children’s Home.” Our plan was to have a party for the kids and staff, so we prepared gift packages and all met in the church. The children sang and dance several songs for us. It was very touching as they used the name “Show Mercy” in all their songs; they called us their parents and gave the Lord all the praise for bringing us together. Then to break the mood one of the boys, Hakim, gave us 3 different “Brain Teasers”. We were able to solve one, but failed miserably on the other two. But it didn’t matter because they love us anyway.

Now it was our turn, so we shared some words of love with them after which it was time for gifts! Lori called up all the teachers one by one and recognized their efforts on behalf of the children. Then she had the older children come up, had them hold their teachers hands to pray for them after which each teacher was presented with a small gift of appreciation. When the teachers had received all their gifts it was time for the children. One by one their names were called out and they received a bag with toys and candy.

There was a lot of time just to hang out today. Some helped organize, some just sat on the steps, holding kids and talking, some went into the village. I was able to go around with some of the children to all the sick children in the home and pray for them. Some of them even prayed with me. A friend of mine Heather ended up in the village with a small group of children praying for people. Soon she noticed that a man was following her. She wanted him to go away because she thought he was drunk. Soon as she approached a house she found out it was his daughter’s house. He then came up to her and told her “I want to be born again”!! Yes, she got to pray with him as he asked Jesus into his heart. After that he lifted his hands to heaven and praised the LORD. His sins have been forgiven. Heather prayed that the Lord would break the spirit of drunkenness and he was free. His daughter also became a believer today. My other friend Jessica was able to pray with her. It was Jessica’s first time to pray the prayer of salvation with someone. I am sure the Lord is enjoying all the parties the angels have been throwing these past few weeks.

Randy and I had to leave the home early to go to a meeting with Mike and Lori, but in the late afternoon the children watched the children’s version of the Jesus movie. From the sounds of it the bus home was a mixture of laughter and tears. We have all made deep relationships in the past few weeks. We have all been touched by Hope Children’s Home, Ganda Village and the country of Uganda. None of us will be the same again.

The Lord is here, you can see Him, you can hear Him, you can touch others with His love, and as best as I see it now, that is abundant life!

Tomorrow we go home… We will attend church one more time at “Hope”, then head back to the hotel, freshen up, and will be driven to the airport at 6pm to face our 37 hour transport home. For all of you who have followed our journey with us, we love you and we miss you. We are excited to see you again and bore you with all our stories and pictures. Thank you for loving us, thank you for caring about us. We will see you soon!

Sula bulungi (good night)
Randy and Alisa

"TIA"

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Friday 6-27

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I just got back to the hotel after another amazing day at Hope. There is a phrase that we have learned the meaning of here and it is “This is Africa”. We say it so many times that we have shortened it to TIA. When it is said we know we are in for an interesting adventure. Today as we set out we had one plan and as the day went on it was totally changed to God’s plan. When you are in Africa for any length of time, you learn to lay down your plan and die to your own needs as you help others. In the end it is much better…for sure. Randy and I were separated again today because he went with Mike Salley while I went to “Hope” with most of the team. The plan was to get right in and distribute all the shoes & clothes that were generously donated to the children. What was supposed to be an orderly organized effort soon became very chaotic, but not in a bad way. The first children to receive their clothes were those who do not live at the home but are sponsored by people in the States to go to school. There was so much excitement in the air as each one got a new outfit and shoes!! Many of them have probably never received anything like this before in their lives. While that was going on I was helping with the shoe distribution. Each of the “Hope” kids that needed new black school shoes tried them on and got their picture taken. Soon it was time for lunch and then it hit…TIA… The event we had planned for tomorrow was misunderstood and was happening today. So we broke into two teams and went to work. One team stayed at the “Hope” to help each girl in the home try on and select a brand new dress. This was according to our plan. The other team went to do a “Rice and Meat Feed” to 50 poor children in Ganda Village whom Pastor Prosy had invited. I went to the village “Feed”. It was simply wonderful. Even though we weren’t prepared to do so much the little ones who greeted us made us forget about our plan and bless them with all we have. It was so sweet. Lori led the team and talked about the dream Jesus had given her to feed the hungry children in the village. She shared that they weren’t to thank us but to thank Jesus who cares about them and loves them. She shared about how very, very, very BIG our God is and how He spoke the world into being. She told them to share their dreams with the Lord and ask Him to help them accomplish everything in their lives. Then we served them a heaping bowl of rice, meat and gravy which we thought was more than we could eat, but most of those little ones cleaned their plates. There were probably many children who were tasting meat for the first time. After that, we got to visit for a while before heading back to the home. Back at the home all the girls were dressed in their new dresses. They were so beautiful but they use the word “SMART”. Since they were all dressed up we decided to have a “Tea Party” just us girls. Looking at the girls all dressed up in new clothes they looked no different than kids back home and you could see that it was a real blessing to them. From there we went into the church for pictures. Now it was time for the boys of “Hope” to receive some new clothes. Each one received something that was new to them. Along with the clothing donations others had brought, I had brought some things that Gabe has outgrown and it touched my heart to see the boys who selected something that Gabe had once worn. As we entered the bus at the end of the day it hit me, soon we will be going home. I will miss the “TIA” days. Some tears welled up in my eyes at the thought about it. Being here has touched a place in my heart that has never been touched before. The Lord has taught me some very valuable lessons here. It is much more blessed to give than to receive. Being His hands, being His feet, loving with the Love of Christ, laying down my own agenda, serving others without regard for myself, dying to my own self are the things that make us truly rich. Knowing that you were able to encourage, bless or lighted the load for another person should be our life’s ambition; and if it were, our lives would be changed and we would be free indeed! My the Lord’s blessings rest upon you today.

The Team Visited a Hospital in Lugazi

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Thursday 6-26

Randy was a little under the weather today so he stayed back at the Hotel. There is a 24 hour bug that has tackled the team one by one and it was his turn. Please pray with me that I don’t get it. Some of the children at the home have had it as well.

Our mission today was to take medical supplies to Lugazi Hospital and go through the wards praying for the sick. I was paired up with my team member Virgil Ricks, who is an incredible preacher and prayer warrior, and our interpreter Simon our bus driver, who recently rededicated his life to the Lord while the first team was here. We approached each bed respectfully and asked for permission to pray for the sick men. It was heartwarming to see their openness. Each one wanted prayer and explained where they hurt. After praying originally we would ask them if they felt any better. Most of them said they did feel a little better so we would continue to pray until we saw that the Lord had worked to improve their condition. We saw two men who were bed ridden get out of bed and stand! The best part though is that 8 of the people we prayed for were not yet Christians, but they took today’s opportunity to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. It was not only the patients but also the wives who are now brothers and sisters in the Lord. They now have hope that goes far past this life we are living and into the eternal future. I know there was an incredible party in heaven today!

One man we met was a 70 year old believer. He told us that he thought he would get well as soon as God would forgive him. He thought he was being punished by God. It was our joy to tell him that God was not punishing him, that Jesus loves him and that all His thoughts are good towards him. I looked into his eyes and assured him that this is true only to see the first tear trickle down his cheek followed by many others. He had an injury to his foot and I could smell the infection. We prayed and he said with confidence that he knows for sure now that he will be ok. I am glad he is in that ward with all the other new believers to encourage them. I pray they will all grow and thrive in the Lord and count their sickness as a blessing because through their sickness they have encountered the Living God!

After the hospital we went to Pastor Hudson’s home for lunch. We had the privilege of having Pastor Hudson stay with us a while ago, so it was so nice to meet his wife Mercy and their children. We also went to his children’s home “Faith Children’s Home” in Lugazi, where the children sang for us. It was so sweet to see these precious children that once were orphans but now have been adopted into a home of there own with brothers and sisters who love them.

The last stop in our journey was the radio station where Pastor Hudson preaches to 7,000,000 people. There, two of our team members spoke and one of our team members sang to the country of Uganda. I can hardly wrap my brain around that.

In the evening we had a meeting with a man who is staying at our hotel, and had been in the area where we were meeting and praying this morning. He was so touched by the presence of the Lord that he came to offer his help to Show Mercy any way he can. He is in pharmaceutical sales and wants to facilitate funding and much needed drugs for the Children’s Cancer Hospital that we want to help. He is not a believer yet, but we asked if we could pray for him tonight, and after we did, he had a huge smile on his face. God is working incredibly!

I am reminded of the song we sang to our kids… “Our God is so great, so strong and so might, there is nothing our God cannot do…” I am seeing a God like that.

Thanks for all the comments and prays, we know we are loved by all of you.

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Some photos for 6/25

Who could imagine what one blanket could mean?

Wednesday 6/25 (Gabe’s birthday)

I hardly know where to begin to share what today was like. The property that Show Mercy has purchased and has plans to build on is in the village of Kaliti which is about 30-45 minutes away from Hope Children’s Home. The village is predominantly Muslim and over the past few years has been resistant to Mazungus (White Man) coming in. But Show Mercy has persisted in showing love and care to the people of the village when they are there. They have handed out mosquito nets, radios and flashlights.

Today the plan was to hand out blankets to the widows. It is a poor village and many do not even have a blanket to cover themselves at night. Show Mercy had asked the village leaders what they would like and this is what they wanted. We were told before we arrived that we were not to mention Jesus’ name and to only pray silently for the people. When the buses pulled up and we got out, we found all the widows seated on the grass beautifully dressed in their Sunday best. We greeted them, took some pictures and spent some time just getting to know one another.

Soon it was time to start. Lori walked by our group and quietly told us that it was a good time for us to pray silently for the Lord to be present. It turned out that it was a very official meeting, and the “counsel” of the village all were introduced and welcomed us. The leader said that next they would offer prayers. At that I was a little concerned that it would be a Muslim prayer. But when he began to pray it was a Christian prayer that was spoken out to all the people of the village and all the glory for the day was given to Jesus!!! We all felt the presence of God fall on that place and we saw three white doves fly over head and then dip down and fly off again. It was as if our Heavenly Father, Son and Holy Spirit were saying “We are here and we love you all!” It was an amazing moment. In turn each widow was called up by name and given a blanket by one of our team members. The women were so grateful, they hugged us many times and one lady even did a little dance. It was so beautiful.

As it turns out, there are believers in this village, and Show Mercy’s acts of kindness are enabling them to be bolder in their faith. Bette was one such woman who I connected with. I gave her a picture of our family and we agreed to pray for each other. After the meeting we spent some time looking at the property after which we climbed back in our bus to continue on with our journey.

Randy and I went with a team back to the Children’s Cancer Hospital. We were able to talk with the Director and he gave us permission to hand out toys and soaps to the patients there. We were able to stay quite some time and we got to hear some very hard, sad stories, pray over some very sick children and bring a smile to parents and children alike with toys, hats, soaps, bracelets and the love of Jesus. I met a little boy there named Moses. I put a hat on his head and made his little toy dance around. When it was time to go I signed to him that I loved him and with a smile on his face he did the same to me. I prayed for him and continue to pray for him tonight.

Tonight as I continue to think over the day my heart is touched at how easy it is to show someone a kindness and how much it really means to someone who is poor, sick or hurting. God is so good and we are so grateful to be in this place with Him right now.

The evening ended with Mike, Lori, Randy and I meeting with a builder who took our ideas from the other day, and put them into drawings of what the “Field of Dreams” Compound might look like. Then we had a second meeting with a retired pastor from the States who has build 50 churches around the world, two of which are in Uganda. This fellow offer to help us with our building project. It is amazing how God can orchestrate all of this, for His Glory.

Blessings to all and thanks for praying for us.

A day at the Source of the Nile River at Jinja

We took a day off and went to the source of the Nile River, saw a few moneys, thousands of beautiful birds, a few croccodiles, and amazing waterfalls that are huge, fast, and a ton of water going by every second.

Photos of the Day.

Please read the Blog below for a bit more...

We are at the Field of Dreams.

A neighbor farming the fields, pregnant and with child on back.

The drilling equipment.

Praying for Water and the Equipment.

Field of Dreams and the Hospital

Monday 6/23

Oryotya (Hello)!

Randy and I spent the morning in different places, as he went to see the land (Field of Dreams) Show Mercy has purchased and is now digging a well on. When we got to the land, it looked very tropical and very green. Neighbors had planted potatoes, and kava. There were pineapples, sugar cane, avocados, and half a dozen things growing, I didn’t know what they were. We met the well drillers and I will be amazed when they get water out of that hole. See the photo of the drilling equipment and you will know what I mean. We met with the local “County” official and were trying to work out some better access “deals”, we will have to wait and see how that works out. We will continue to pray for better access. Overall the 25 acres are beautiful and buildable. I can’t wait what God is going to do here.

I (Alisa), on the other hand went to the government’s children’s cancer hospital with Lori and Heather another team member. It is the heart of Show Mercy to partner with the cancer center and aid them in whatever way they can. This was the initial visit to begin to build a relationship with them. As we met with the head nurse and asked her what they needed she said quite simply “everything”. As we walked the small ward we saw so many unspeakable things. It was heartbreaking to see all the suffering. There were two children to one bed and many more children on the ground outside sleeping on mats. We were able to pray for one of the nurses, Gertrude who asked us to pray God would give her courage. She has been working there for 4 years and they are understaffed, don’t have enough meds and it is so hard to go on. We are hoping to send a team out later this week to hand out toys and soap packages to the kids and encourage them in any way we can.

After leaving the Hospital our small team headed back to Hope. It was very quiet when we arrived because the children were still in school and the other team was still out visiting the land. As school was let out three boys found me and gave me my first Luganda language lesson. They were so sweet and patient. They told me I will have an exam on Wednesday so I had better study. I asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up and they told me:
Silage – Pilot
Ronald – Business Man
Moses – Pastor
I pray God uses them all.

The team soon arrived back and we all had lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging with the kids, having a medical clinic, playing games, etc. We also organized soaps, shampoos and lotions into zip lock bags that can be given out at hospitals, or given to widows and teachers in the village. A big thank you to Melanie Russell for her donation!!

At one point I started to look for Randy and it seemed he was nowhere. I finally found him in one of the classrooms, giving a math lesson. Randy was totally in his element with a captive audience. It was so fun. The kids were learning and having a wonderful time.

Instead of eating at the hotel tonight we went to Fang Fang’s Chinese Restaurant. It was a real treat; great food, artistically displayed! Another great day, it is so good to be a servant of a GOOD GOD!!

Sunday, Truly The Lord’s Day

Sunday 6/22/08
Today was truly the Lord’s Day in all of our hearts. The morning started out with everyone sharing, at our morning meeting, of their experiences yesterday. It was so exciting to hear how the Lord had moved in all the activities we were involved with. It turns out 6 people in Ganda Village were saved yesterday and many more people than that were blessed. After our meeting, we were off to the village again where we split into teams and preached in 4 different churches. Randy and I were assigned the church that meets at Hope Children Home. The service lasted about 3 hours and was filled with joy, healings and celebration. Both Randy and I were asked to share and the people were so gracious in accepting our words of love to them.

When church was over we gathered the whole team together and went to a prison to preach to the prisoners. No pictures were allowed there so I will have to try to describe the time we had with the prisoners. As we walked into the prison yard there were about 126 men sitting on a concrete porch of the prison. The men were sitting shoulder to shoulder, packed in pretty tight, and three rows deep. We were all standing across from them and the service began. We started by singing Amazing Grace in English, followed by Pastor Simon and his team singing it in their native language as we hummed in harmony. The men in this prison Pastor Simon told us are “treated no better than donkeys.” They are forced to do very hard labor, eat spoiled maze for food, no blankets, no clothes other than what they were arrested in, sleep on the concrete floors, rejected by friends and family, abused, and they are truly forgotten. The message that was spoken to them was of love and not condemnation. Several of our team spoke and also the Ugandan team, some of whom have experienced prison themselves. As our teams shared, I watched the faces of the men. They started out hard and cold and as time went on, they began to soften and I could see in their eyes they were thinking “Could this be true? Could it be that God really loves me, that He doesn’t condemn me? That today I can accept Jesus and be free?” It was very powerful and by the time Pastor asked if there were some who wanted to turn their lives over to the Lord 30-40 men accepted Jesus as their savior!! It was so moving I cannot do an adequate job describing what went on. All I can say is God was present and His love abounded in that place. After that, our whole team prayed for the sick and passed out bread rolls and soap. There was such a sweet presence there in this cold hard place. Their hands were so gentle, as we held them in prayer and they were so accepting of the love offered them by these strange white people who loved them in the name of Jesus. Soon it was time to say goodbye to our new brothers in the Lord. They wanted so badly to have Bibles, but none of them read English and we only had English Bibles. My prayer tonight is that the Lord provides His word for them and that it falls on fertile ground. Will you hold them up in pray

er as well, those of you who are Christians? Will you pray with me that the Lord will put a few B

ibles in that place to give them hope and that God will grow their faith as they abide in Him?

Tonight we find that we are very tired but we wouldn’t have changed a single thing about today.


The photo is of the dirt road we traveled for a hour and a half to get to the prison. This is one of the better stretches.

One More Day in Paradise

Saturday 6/21/08

Today was another amazing day in “paradise”. I say the word paradise not because we are living in luxury but because the Lord has so filled our days with Himself that we are overwhelmed with His joy. This morning we were told it was time to move into full gear. The first few days we were able to just hang out and get to know the kids, but now it was time to go to work. There were lots of things to do. Some took kids to the field to play, others organized things we had brought into bags for each individual child, a medical crew looked over each little one and treated the issues they found and still other teams went into the village to get to know the people there. In the village our team was met with openness and the Lord worked to heal one woman who could not walk. That same woman is now a new sister in Christ. Several other people accepted the Lord today! As we arrived back at the hotel each one of us was tired but joyful as we considered all the Lord had done today.

I (Randy) had a banner picture day today. We hope you enjoy this photography and can see as we do the beauty of these people we are serving. I keep looking into the eyes of these children, and behind the dirty clothes, bare feet and rag-a-muffin look, there lies a beautiful individual. I have been blessed to see these kids and love they have for one another. When a younger one cries, the older ones (10 or 12 yr. old) stops doing what they are doing, to pick them up and comfort them. This is His action of love at work.

Cooking for 200+ is no small task!

Simple Pleasures- Washboards-A Gift Well Received

Mission Accomplished!!

Friday 6/20
I want you to meet my new friend Olivet. I met him as I was sitting on the porch of Hope Children’s home today. Olivet is a little boy about 3-4 years old. He walked out the front door crying with tears rolling down his cheeks. At first I thought he was sick, so I felt his head to see if he had a fever. One of my friends Nancy went to see if she could find some Tylenol to help him out. But before she returned, I was able to find another older child who acted as an interpreter and found Olivet’s brother. As his brother talked to him we found out the problem was that Olivet didn’t want to go home to yet; instead he wanted to stay at Hope with all the other kids. Needless to say we let him stay.

About 100 children live at Hope and another 100+ just go to school there and then go home. Olivet is one of the ones who has parents and a home to go to. The rest of the afternoon I held him on my lap and cuddled him as I have my own little ones in years gone by. When I got up, he went with me, clinging to me as if I was his Mama. Soon his tears stopped, still no smile, but about 2 hours later with the help of a little “sweet” (that’s what they call hard candy),Olivet finally smiled (YEAH!!). Mission accomplished! When the bell rang for the older kids to go home, Olivet was finally ready to go and he went merrily on his way.

When I got back I relayed the story to Randy who said “I guess even in Uganda we still have the Party House.” For those of you who haven’t been over to our home yet, it is known by most children who visit as “The Party House”. Many a child has been known to cry or hide as their parents try to take them home. It always blesses us when children want to stay because we believe it is the presence of the Lord that really draws the children and makes them feel loved and cared for.

2 Corinthians 1:3 – Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

"This is Africa" Update

I got internet access today, so there are some new photos.

Here is the road or better the trail that our 30 passenger bus went up

She’s my Muzungu

Th 6/19/2008
I met many children today at Hope, but the one I would like to share about today is Winnie. She came up to me (Alisa) first thing, grabbed my hand and was at my side most of the day, she braided my hair putting flowers in the braids and when we were suppose to go to a different area she would come to find me and take me there. She spoke a little English, but I don’t think she cared to talk much. She just wanted someone to hold her, smile at her and have as her own. As other little ones would come up to me she would tell them (in her own language), no, she is my Muzungu (white person). Later on in the day she got a piece of paper, drew a picture for me and told me she loved me. It touched my heart so much to see that it took so little to make one little girl feel loved and special. Later, I found out that she is one of the newer children. She came to the home in September. Both her parents have died and a man who had taken her and a few other children in could no longer care for them so Show Mercy took them in. What a blessing it is to be a part of what God is doing here.

Welcome Home!!

Th 6/19

Randy and I have anticipated this day for a long time (over 8 or 9 months) and it didn’t disappoint us. The long ride from Kampala to Ganda Village was interesting to say the least. The Ugandan people have their own creative way of getting around. Whether by foot, bike, boda boda (scooter), car or in our case a tour van they have a transportation language that includes honking, staking your ground and other givens hard for the foreign mind to understand. After driving on terrain we would not consider roads in the US we finally pulled into our destination “Hope Children’s Home.”

Because of the love God has shared with these once orphaned children through Show Mercy the greeting we received was nothing short of a Welcome Home celebration! They greeted our team of 26 as though we were family; big smiles, warm hugs and as many children as each one of us had fingers for. While at the home today we hugged kids, played games, ate lunch and hung out together. Even though an onlooker might have thought it was complete chaos going on, if I had to describe what I felt most it would be peace.

James 1:27 says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”.

One thing our Pastor likes to tell his flock quite often is “Holiness is happiness”. In other words if you follow God’s ways and His plan for your life you will be happy.

Today was a very happy day here in Uganda.