My New Class with the Hope Kids

We just started a new program with some of our children from Hope Children's Home! While the children have been on holiday I put together a class for the younger children ages 6-9. These past few weeks I have been going out to Hope three times a week. I have 13 children in my class the majority of them are boys so they are definitely a handful at times. Each day, we have been singing songs, doing crafts, coloring and learning scriptures from the bible.

It has been so much fun meeting with these kids each week by building relationships with them and getting to teach them the bible. It has been challenging at times but I feel like God has given me a strategy to be able to really invest into each one. I have always thought it would be so fun to be a preschool to second grade teacher and who would of thought I would be in Africa fulfilling one of my dreams. I am already starting to see the children's hearts soften and it is so exciting to get to be a part of each of their lives.

Also, it has been a lot of fun taking public transport to get to Hope. It is definitely quite the experience! From my house we take a boda (motorcycle taxi) to the end of the dirt road, then catch a taxi into the town of Nansana then we walk about a mile to get to Hope. Then we do the same thing on the way home. (sometimes you have to take several taxi's and maybe do a little more walking haha)

The taxi's are an experience in its self! They cram so many people in one taxi that most of the time you have random people sitting on your lap! Also depending on where you are sitting you have to keep getting in and out of the taxi to let people off! This is one of many of the fun experiences you get to have while in Uganda! :)

Below are a few photos of the kids in my class...they are so precious!

God Makes All Things Work Together for Good!

About a month ago, our team and I went to the hospital to go pray for the sick. When we arrived, our driver dropped us off and went to go park the bus. On the way down the hill, the top of the bus hit an electrical wire. We heard a loud bang and the wire had ripped off one of the buildings. We all watched as our driver climbed on top of the bus to unhook the wire and then then continued to go park.

The team and I went ahead and ministered to several people in the hospital. We saw God touch many people by his love! When it was time for us to go, I called our driver to come pick us up and I see him down the hill talking to a police officer.  I go down to go see what the problem was and the officer was very rude and was making a big deal out of the situation then it really was. Come to find out, the officer held our driver the whole time we were ministering in the hospital.

The officer sternly told me that he would not allow our driver to drive us home and he wanted him to spend the night in “the cells”. I was definitely not going to let that happen! Then all of a sudden this boldness rose up inside of me and I knew I couldn’t just stand back and watch this go on! So I get in the officer’s face (because he wasn’t listening to me haha) and I begin to explain to him what happened and that I have a team of 21 people that need to get home! I also told him we were not leaving without our driver and that he was going to work with me! Long story short, I asked to speak to the head guy and he took us to the police station.

When we arrived in the office, there was a woman and three men who had asked us to come in and explain what had happened. My driver began to explain to them and they ignored him and started to accuse him of things.  So I stepped up once again. They replied and said “this does not concern you!” I said “It sure does concern me, I have a team of 21 people waiting to get home and you will not let our driver go!” I told them “we will take care of whatever needs to be done so we can be on our way”. They were being extremely difficult and took our driver away again and to view the damages.

So here I am sitting in the office with one of my team mates, with these angry officials as we’re waiting for our driver. The situation wasn’t getting any better and it looked like we were not going anywhere for a while.  So I thought why not release the love of Jesus to these people while we wait. So we began to make conversation with them. I started asking them about their job and thanked them for their service and hard work. Then we began to ask them if they knew Jesus and if they were born again and I shared with them why I am a Christian. It was awesome! Come to find out they all were born again so I got to pray with each one and encourage them!  

Afterwards, their countenance totally changed and they were now working with us to get this whole situation resolved. They were so thankful to have met us and one of the officers said “Don’t go! We’re talking about the Kingdom of God!” It was so amazing to see each of their hearts begin to soften as we were praying. After being in that office for about two hours, we got everything resolved and they thanked us for everything and let us go!

It was so awesome to see God take a stressful situation and turn it around for his Glory! God is always speaking and is always moving. You never know who you are going to meet and who God will bring in your path!  It is so exciting flowing with the Holy Spirit and releasing His love and in turn seeing hearts changed!

Begin to be expectant for God to use and flow through you to bring life and encouragement into someone’s life throughout your day! J

Saying Goodbye to Justine and Discovering More of God

A few weeks ago I experienced something that I had always wanted to experience but never imagined it would be so hard…

I had the pleasure of getting to know a sweet little girl named Justine who was a part of our “Say No to Hunger” feeding program here in Uganda. She was 7 years old and was being cared for by one of the local pastors in the village.

A few weeks ago, Justine had become very sick and contracted measles. We stopped by her home a few times to bring her medicine and make sure she was doing okay. One of the last days we visited, it seemed Justine was doing much better.  She was smiling and was out of bed.  Later that evening, we received a phone call telling us that Justine had passed away. We were so shocked to hear this awful news!

Right away, we decided to go pray and lay hands on Justine’s body so that she would be raised from the dead! I had never prayed for a dead person before but I had total faith in Jesus to do such a miracle! I have always wanted the opportunity to pray for someone and see Jesus raise them up. I was honored to get to be apart and believe together for Justine’s miracle.

We gathered a few people to pray with us and when we arrived at Justine’s home it was total chaos! Everyone was screaming and crying. We had everyone get out of the house, we gathered around Justine where she was lying on a mat and began to command life back into her body! We also had a nurse with us who gave her CPR for over an hour trying to resuscitate her. 

Sometime after, we began to sing and worship Jesus and the atmosphere changed. A supernatural peace came into the house and you could feel the presence of God. We prayed and worshipped for a few hours and then we knew that was all we could do. We did our part and the rest was up to God!  

Even though I didn’t understand and didn’t see Justine rise up, it caused me to have a greater confidence in who God is- a loving and compassionate father despite our circumstance!  The enemy was trying to bring thoughts of doubt and unbelief but through this whole experience, I discovered who I have living inside of me! Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe!!  

Also, the scripture Philippians 4:13 “I can do ALL things THROUGH Christ, who gives me strength” became so alive to me! I have known it in my head but now I know it in my heart! I feel empowered! I feel like I can do anything (like change the world) and God is right behind me backing me up!

I know someday I will see the dead raised and I’m going to pray every chance I get!! I am so happy that Justine is in heaven with Jesus! Her life on this earth wasn’t the greatest… She was an orphan living among poverty but now she is in heaven experiencing the fullness of love and joy!!

I am so thankful for this opportunity to get to love and serve these precious people! It is because of you, that I can be the hands and feet of Jesus to the lost and hurting people of Uganda. I am so thankful for each of you, for all your prayers and support!

Please consider partnering with us and help make a greater impact in someone’s life! Visit www.showmercy.org to see how you can get involved!

My Life in Uganda

Hey Everyone,

I posted a bunch of photos on my facebook of all that we have been doing as well as what my life has been like this past month! To view them please Click here. I will post more updates soon! :)

Katonda Aque Omukisa!! (God bless you)

Brittany

Hearts Awakened to Love

God is doing so many amazing things here in Uganda. Our team is so great! I am so sorry I haven't posted any new updates we have been so busy with our outreaches and loving on the people here. 

I just wanted to give you a few highlights of some of the things we have been doing. Please"like" the Show Mercy facebook fan page as well as click on this link to read and subscribe to Show Mercy's email updates, so you can stay connected.

Here are a Few Highlights...

• We visited both the village Muslim school and Christian school and had a "field day" where we played games and did re-lay races with the kids. They had so much fun and were so excited to have us there.

• We visited a mental hospital and a few people give their lives to Jesus and a Muslim lady did as well!! We got to pray and encourage many of them and just release God's love and peace into their lives. It was a really intense experience but God is so good and touched many hearts!

• We  visited a hospital and prayed for the sick and we had a few more people give their hearts to Jesus. It was so awesome to get to bring a little hope and encouragement to so many families that were struggling physically.

• We visited some of the elderly in the village and helped them wash clothes, fetch water from the well, sweep their property, "slash" there grass with a machete and sort beans. It was a fun to experience some of the daily chores they have to attend too.

• We had about 15 girls from Hope Children's Home come to the Field of Dreams where we made sugar cookies, sang and danced. It was a lot of fun spending one on one time with the older girls.

• We just returned from a 2 day Safari at Murchison Falls where we saw, elephants,giraffe, buffalo, hippos, wort hogs, water bucks, and a lion. We also had a hippo grazing through our camp grounds. The safari was a really fun experience and the falls were beautiful.

The team has just a few days left. God is doing amazing things in their heart and their lives and I know they will go back home changed!

It is so exciting doing God's work and helping to bring change in the world around us! Stay tuned, I will post more photos and stories soon!

Abundant blessings!!