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.
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.
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