Saying Goodbye to Uganda for a Season

Well my journey here in Africa is coming to a close in just a few days.  It has been an amazing experience and I know these last 14 months have helped shape me into the woman I was created to be!

I am sad to leave this wonderful place and these precious people but I am excited for this season home to be with friends and family. Please be praying for me as I transition back home and settle back into America. I am excited to carry this fire that God has given me, back home to everyone around me. I know He is going to do amazing things!

I will be coming back to Uganda sometime in the New Year but I am going to miss the day to day interaction with the people and all relationships I have built this past year. I am especially going to miss the children yelling my name and waving as I drive by in the village.

I wish I could tell all the incredible things that God has done this past year but there is so much to share. I have seen countless of healing's, miracles and the power of God displayed in many lives but my favorite has been the transformation in hearts because of love.  I have seen the children and the elderly’s lives impacted simply because of the power of love. As we have given our time, our love and sharing how valued they are to God. It has brought immense transformation in their hearts!

I think the greatest thing for me, has also been encountering the love of God in ways I had never experienced before. When you have a radical love encounter with your father in heaven and you discover his outrageous love, you will never be the same! This has also been the testimony of the children, elderly and all the teams and interns God has sent here. It has truly been an amazing experience!  

Thank you so much for being a huge part of my journey with God. All of you, who have prayed, financially supported, loved and encouraged me. I can’t thank you enough! Together we are shaping history and it is so exciting! So for now, I say goodbye to Uganda for a season but I look forward to what He has in store for me in these next few months. 

Here are a few of my favorite photos from this past year below...

Our Amazing Ugandan Staff

Cranes Soccer Game

Hope Kids Encountering God's Presence

Powerful Crusade with Chris Overstreet

Boys from Kitooke SNTH

My Sweet friend Brenda

Kaliti Say No to Hunger

Our lovely hospitality team

Older kids at Kitooke Say No to Hunger

Younger kids at Kitooke Say No to Hunger

Amazing YWAM team 

What’s Next?... Oh, My God is So Good!

Muli mutiya! (Hello everyone)

I am doing so well!! I hope and pray you all are also! I just wanted to give you an update of all that has been happening in my life and our adventures here in Uganda. Can you believe I have been in Uganda now for 10 months?! It’s amazing how time goes so fast and how God does SO much in a short time... He is so good!

Well, I wanted to share with you what God has for me in this next season... I feel God is leading me back home for a short period. My heart is to come back and forth to Uganda and stay a few months at a time. I have fallen in love with the people here and it will be hard being away from them for too long. I am planning on coming back home in late August, after our Crusade. I only have about 4 more months left and I am going to make the most of them!

I want to say THANK YOU to each one of you who have invested their time in prayer or their resources to support me. I couldn’t have done any of this without you! I have continued to feel your love and support while being here and it has been so encouraging! I am truly so thankful!

For those that are interested, there is an opportunity for you to help sow financially into the work God has called me to do. I currently need to raise money for my plane ticket, visa and expenses. If you would like to help in any way, you can click here to donate directly to my fund. You can also send in a check (with my name on the memo line) to Show Mercy International Po Box 607 Albany, OR 97321.  All donations are tax deductible.

Once again, I am so grateful for all your love and support! Together we are changing lives and advancing God’s kingdom! It is exciting living for him!

I also wanted to share my heart of all that God has done in me and in these past 10 months but I know many of you are busy. So if you are interested, you can read more below…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~God is doing AMAZING things in my life. Here is a bit of the journey God has been taking me on and how in these past 10 months it has come together. It has been a process but God is so faithful to complete the work he begins in us!

I feel I have completely transformed into a new person! I have come alive and the real Brittany has been awakened! It is amazing how you can know things in your head but not really know them in your heart. God has been writing his truths upon my heart and suddenly it all “clicked”…  I found my identity in God.

I had a love encounter that transformed my way of thinking and I finally discovered and understood who I am in Christ-that I am His daughter and He loves me know matter what I do or don’t do. He can never love me more or any less, his nature is to love me outrageously all the time! I’ve learned that it is out of relationship with Him and not out of performance.

My identity was based on what I did, or what God did through me. I have seen God do amazing signs and wonders through me and that’s how I knew God- when I preform he loves me and when I don’t then he doesn’t love me. I knew all of that wasn’t true in my head but when the truth was written on my heart it totally transformed me. I am now so secure in his love, that I don’t care about what people think about me-only what He thinks of me. I am now confident in who God is in me. When you encounter His love it changes you forever!

This all may seem pretty basic for many and crazy to think that this is where I was at. Especially all those that know I have been walking with God since I was little but I’m a testimony of how God can use you powerfully no matter what you know! haha

The way I encountered God was opposite to the way many know him. Some have yet to even experience him the way that I have.  I knew God out of experiences, miracles, signs, wonders and his presence but I didn’t have a strong foundation or fully understand what the finished work on the cross really meant.

I came from being young and doing ministry fulltime-operating out of gifting and trusting God to show up and move. He always did powerfully! Even so, I didn’t fully have a revelation of what He did on the cross for me and what his grace was. I would read the bible and have it in my head but never really understood that it was more than just nice stories that happened a long time ago. So the Lord began to give me a hunger for the word and understanding and revelation of the cross and the pure gospel. It has changed my life!

This whole experience has definitely been a journey and I have discovered so much while being here- having the time to set myself apart and learn and grow with him. I have learned that producing fruit doesn’t happen overnight, it really does take time and abiding in Him. My whole journey with God has been a process but I finally feel and see the work that God started a long ago. developing in my life and it is so exciting!

God is truly shaping me into the fullness of what I am created to be. I am being stretched and challenged but ultimately I am growing as a daughter, a leader and a well-rounded person. . In this pursuit I've discovered more of myself and God then I could ever imagine. Living life with Jesus is so rewarding and exciting!

What do these have in common? Medical Clinic, Rabbits and Orphans

What We've Been Up To! 2013 has been an incredible year already. Not only have we hosted two different teams, we've been building our SMI Outreach Team here at Field of Dreams. We currently have 19 Ugandan staff working at Field of Dreams that are helping with all aspects of the ministry.. This doesn't include all of the team working out at Hope Children's Home and Alpha Omega school! Building a Team Because we are expanding our outreach into the villages and city and our team is growing by leaps and bounds, we built more team/staff housing. There are now 10 large bedrooms, 6 bathing rooms, kitchen and dining room. Here are some of the photos of those buildings. Picture of our amazing staff are coming soon. (they are all over the base and out in the village, so we will have to round them up for a picture) Staff Housing  Agricultural Projects  We have also been working steadily on our agricultural project. Our AG team has cleared away some of the Field of Dreams property and has planted over 1700 tomato plants, cabbages and green peppers. SMI Garden  We are also at the beginning stages of our rabbit project. Rabbits are a great source of meat. They also reproduce quickly and are a great development project which will help our neighbors to produce their own source of food and income. We are working towards providing more of the food for our Say No to Hunger programs, village outreach, Pastor's monthly gatherings as well as Hope Children's Home. You can stay updated on our progress atwww.facebook.com/showmercy. Even if you don't have a facebook account, you can still view the updates on that site. It is the easiest place for us to post pictures to from Uganda. (The internet speed is like a turtle. Thankfully it has been pretty consistent - except when the power is out).      Health Center The Show Mercy Health Center is also making progress. We have hired a clinical officer, Faith, and she has been working hard to get the clinic supplies in order as well as working with the government to get the clinic registered in the right ways. We had thought the clinic would be open sooner than it is, but we have come to realize our timing is not always HIS timing. A health inspector is coming to check out the clinic today, so hopefully we will be opening our doors in the coming weeks. (seems we've been saying that a lot lately! Join us in prayer so we can truly see it happen). Front of the Health Center Water Tap (for village), Health Center and FOD Entrance Health Center Lab Examining Room  Faith - SMI Clinical Officer Elderly Outreach The SMI outreach team has begun to visit and help the elderly widows around the villages surrounding Field of Dreams. These men and women are so precious. Some have neighbors who live nearby to help care for them, but others have absolutely no one. There aren't any elderly care facilities around us, so to be in a position to help these people is such a blessing and honor. We will be sending out an update on this outreach as well. We know your hearts will be touched! Thanks for making it possible for our team to go out and be love to these elderly neighbors. Team went to the well to get water for the elderly. This is quite a laborious task. Quite often the elderly go without water because of the weight of the water cans and the distance to the well. Our neighbor Regina. She is blind and lame (for now) Regina's sister, Brenda. Lori Salley's Dad, Glenn, helped to install a water catch system for the sisters. Say No to Hunger We just launched another Say No To Hunger program in a village right by Field of Dreams. Last Saturday was the first gathering of these 34 orphans. The majority of these children are muslim, so it is a joy to get to spend time with them, pray together and share stories from the Bible. All three of our SN2H programs have a very special friend visiting this month. His name is Eddie the Elephant. The children had fun as we tried to make the sound of an elephant (You should try it. It isn't as easy as you think. What you hear in your head isn't always the sound that comes out of your mouth. My elephant sounded more like a horse the first time around. At least it made the kids laugh) We will share more about Eddie and this amazing program in another post. Here are a few of the children who are new to our program and who are in need of your sponsorship. New Kids at our Say No to Hunger Program The Fabulous Meal! (look at that pineapple - it is so so sweet!) These kids were HUNGRY Sponsor a Child Today       Click the child's image to read more. New Interns Our new interns have been arriving this month. We are excited to have them join us for 3 months. They will be helping us to do our weekly outreaches. SMI is currently focused on these areas of outreach for March: village schools, weekly prison ministry, hospital and medical clinic, Say No to Hunger, monthly youth gathering, elderly ministry, monthly pastor gatherings as well as our projects at the Field of Dreams. Awaken to Love 2013 Don't forget to sign up for Awaken to Love 2013. Your life will be radically transformed.    Click the image to find out more! We want to say THANK YOU for all of your generous support and for being a voice for Show Mercy and the people we are working with. We are seeing amazing transformation take place and it's because YOU are partnering with us Mobilize, Inspire and Empower - that's the mission and together we are making it possible. More updates soon.

Miracles in Uganda!

 

Greetings from Uganda! Here are some photos and an update of some of the things I have been up too this past month. God is doing amazing things and is releasing his love and healing to so many. It is so exciting partnering with him and seeing his love poured out!   Below you can read more of what God has been doing!

 

 

Twice a week we have been going to the Wakiso Clinic and praying for the sick. God has been showing up and healing people instantly. In the picture below we prayed for a little girl named Latisha. She had a very high fever and was so hot, she was sick with Malaria.

 

We spent sometime sitting and praying with her and by the time we left, she was up laughing and moving around and her temperature had completely gone down! Later on we saw her being released from the clinic!!

 





 

Also, at the clinic we met some ladies outside the materity ward that were bringing their babies for checkup. (Below are some of the new born babies)  We started talking to the women and told them that Jesus loved them and gave them a few gifts for their babies. When we asked if we could pray for them, the lady pictured below said "eh Jesus doesn't love me!" and I began sharing with her how much he loved her and asked if I could pray for her to recieve him as her savior and she said Yes! I prayed with her and afterwards she said she felt God's peace around her!  So awesome!

 

This lady is a born again Christian but had married a muslim man. He didn't allow her to go to church but she also didn't have to pray at the mosque. We got to pray and encourage her, as well as pray that her husband would find Jesus too. You could see hope begin to fill her heart as we prayed. It was so exciting to see God meet his children right where they needed him the most! 

 

 

This is Brenda. She is a very sweet elderly woman. We have been visiting her twice a week to help fetch water and bring encouragement to her. Right now her life is very difficult she is caring for her sister that is lame and is struggling to do all her chores since she is so old. So fetching water for her is a huge help. Let me say that fetching water is not a simple task...especially where she lives. We have to hike down a very long hill and carry a 20 liter jerry can (approx 40lbs) back up the hill. It is not an easy task! haha though, I must say I am becoming quite strong and good at it!!   

Brenda told us the other day, that since we have been coming and praying for her, her reoccuring sickness hasn't come back. Praise God!

 



 

We also visited a lady named Catherine. She is also very old and is struggling to care for her grandchildren. We decided this time to fill up a jerry can of water at our well and take it for her instead of hiking for it.

Catherine also struggled with really bad pain in her knees making it hard for her to walk and do her chores. I said that is not ok! So I told her I was going to pray for her and that next time I saw her, she was going to be healed and I would dance and praise God with her for what He has done. When we were leaving, she walked us to our car and she told us that she had no pain and hadn't felt this good in a long time!! I was so excited I grabbed her hands and started dancing with her!!

 

 

 

This is Elijah, he has elephantitis in his legs. We went and visited him and he told us that he was in pain and was so hopeless. We shared with him about the love of Jesus and we asked him if he wanted Jesus in his life and he said yes! So we prayed and encouraged him that God is going to radically change his life! Later, we brought him a Luganda bible and he was so excited! He told me that he was going to read it all the time and the next time he saw me, he would share with me all that he read! 

 

God is SO good!! His love is continually being poured out on his people! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support as we reach out in love to God's precious people! Together we are advancing God's Kingdom! It is exciting to be alive!