When you want to truly show love to someone, how do you overcome the barriers formed by years of war and brutal indoctrination?

One woman shares how God reminded her of His mission in the world as she prepares for a mission trip to Cambodia.

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Ever wonder what goes into a new library? Check out this time-elapse video to see how the kid-driven mission team and the community came together to create a space that will invest in the kids in Moca, Dominican Republic, for a long time to come.

We have much to be grateful for... and looking ahead, a lot to look forward to! Do you know how you can take your ministry to the next level in 2012? Check out this timeline to learn more.

As you may have heard in news reports, a large 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines. The epicenter was on Negros Island, to the southwest of Cebu Island, where many Mission of Mercy programs are located.

Our staff reports that the earthquake was “so strong. Everyone went out of the building to an open space. But everyone is alright.” Thankfully, a social worker was present and was able to provide counseling to children who were frightened by the event.

A dental team is also in the Philippines providing dental care to children in our projects. They experienced the trembler and several aftershocks. They will travel to another city tomorrow and ask for prayers for good weather, as much of the travel between islands involves ferry boats.

We have two very different mission teams leaving this weekend.

THE PHILIPPINES

A dental team is traveling to the Philippines to provide much-needed cleanings, exams, and other services to our projects there. This may be the first time some of our children have seen an actual dentist. Please pray for a spirit of trust to form between the team and the community, and for an absence of fear for the little ones getting their first cleaning!

THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

On Sunday, a very special team of elementary and middle-school aged kids (and their parents and grandparents) are leaving for the DR. In response to the need in one of the communities we serve, the team raised funds to build a library.

The project expects to use the space to help children (like the sweet little girl pictured above) study and help their parents learn to read and gain new skills. We are quite excited to share more about their trip with you when they return. In the meantime, please pray for their travel and the work ahead!

More reflections from the Medical Mercy team in India. Although the internet is too intermittant to allow for many pictures, we are grateful to nurse Anne Braudt for the word-pictures she paints. Here are a few haunting glimpses into the clinics and the surrounding environs.

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A new update from the medical team in Orissa, India, who are seeing just why one child matters.

Expect the unexpected. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. It’s never what we think. And that is what the day was like. Not the flow of the clinic, nor the attitude of the team, or the dynamics of seeing another 300 patients today, but it was the patients.

Smaller in stature than yesterday, a little sicker, and their stories that were far from the norm. There were a lot of wonderful ones, children being seen, hugged, sung to and with, prayed with, and played with. That was the majority. The evidence of compassion and love for the children we saw was everywhere.

But like it or not, it is the occasional unexpected encounter or worst case scenario that puts the whole day into perspective. That things happened and whether we like it or not, we are faced with it to deal with. Three children stood out:

One child whose only complaint was that he was depressed. He lives in boarding house for children who are single or double orphans (one or both parents having died). He received news in the manner of a letter addressed to him that his father died recently.

Another child had with him a picture of his parents taken a while back. He was 10 years old. He showed me the picture and asked me if I had seen them or knew anything about them. He hadn’t seen them in 5 years. He woke up one day and they were both gone. He lived in the street until he found a home in the village that we were in. He was taken in by a kind family. I looked at the picture and couldn’t find the words to speak. I simply shook my head no. He shook his head as well as he silently cried. I hugged him and prayed with him. He left, the picture still clutched in his hand.

And the third child 6 years old. I asked her if I could take her picture and if I could show others to witness to her that she was as much a child to be valued and recognized by all. She was hesitant at first, but then said yes. Burned by falling into a pot of boiling water at the age of 3, she survived as you see her here. She told me that she won’t look in the mirror. She is the daughter of a fisherman and his wife, the lowest class of a caste system in this region. Poorer than poor.

She was not a Mission of Mercy sponsored child, but one of the children in the village who came to us for medical care. I realized that if she wasn’t embraced and surrounded by a loving community, she would be lost to the world. Never marrying, being ridiculed, and maybe even worse -- being taken advantage of, or even taking her own life later on.

Mission of Mercy has a vision and mission to care for those children who are less than fortunate, to prove that one child matters. This child is one of them. She is now a Mission of Mercy child, and sponsored. I am humbled to be able to be part of her life from now on.

In all things give thanks,

David

Each mission trip sponsored by Mission of Mercy has a special purpose, and none more so than the Women's Circle of Caring trip to Kenya.

The theme of this year's Circle of Caring trip was LOVE -- and God's love was certainly evident in this experience. To learn more about the trip, watch the video below. And don't forget to check the upcoming Mission Trip list on our website to learn how you can see God's kingdom in a whole new way!

The Kenya Women's Circle of Kenya team safely returned late last night. Their last few days in Kenya were filled with travel, Nairobi traffic, and more walks through communities such as this one, where one brother helped his younger sibling avoid the barbed wire around their home. 

One team member shares, "We want to thank you for your prayers -- they were felt every day as we worked and learned and cried together. The Lord is doing a great work in Kenya and we were blessed to meet and encourage the people who serve Him so diligently."

More posts will follow as the team begins to process their experiences. We are grateful that the Lord brought them back with many tales and photos to share with us.  

Today was a sucessful day for the medical team in Bangladesh. The medicines finally arrived and what's even better is that they were able to get them into the country without paying any fees! Isn't it amazing how God always comes through for his people?

The internet is slow and inconsistent, but Dr. Beyda was able to send us a short update on how today's clinics went.

Six vehicles, 30 people, one and a half hour ride and a river crossing by ferry, is how we started the day today. Chalna is an isolated community that hasn't seen medical care in over 15 years. The children were malnourished, some sickly, but all were laughing and smiling nonetheless. Prayer was the order for the children. 

It was for us as well. A Hindu woman came to Christ, others heard, and wondered if we really were who we said we were. Servants. And we served. 200 medical patients, 19 dental patients (it takes a while to extract teeth; Dr. Bob and Diane were at it constantly). Public health education, dental hygiene, water filtration system training, first aid training, nutritional assessments, medical examinations, and dental work were all being done simultaneously with the team taking on all facets of health intervention and training in a distant remote village in the southern part of Bangladesh. A ballet of sorts, one continuous act, and an encore.

We came to a village and within 6 hours left them with a chance for a better life. A bold, ambitious undertaking, and perhaps a little glorified, but it worked. There is nothing better than the see the smile after something is given freely and taken freely as well, no strings attached. Unconditional love I believe it's called.

In all things give thanks,

David

 Thank you for your prayers for the team so far- keep them coming!

Please keep the Medical Mercy team in your prayers! They are having a very rough start as they begin their work in Bangladesh this week. Dr Beyda shared the following on his blog:

So much for blogging good news. This will be short just to give you an idea of what has happened, what is happening and what will happen. Short synopsis: we left Phoenix for Chicago, picked up the rest of the team, left Chicago for Abu Dhabi, drained the fuel tanks on the plane there due to head winds, stopped in Kuwait to refuel, got to Abu Dhabi late, missed our connecting flight to Dhaka, got a flight to Karachi, Pakistan in order to catch another flight to Dhaka, (or we could of stayed in Kuwait overnight...who wanted to do that-not!), got to Karachi, connecting flight to from Karachi to Dhaka delayed, spent 10 hrs in a transit area in Karachi, finally getting to Dhaka after leaving Phoenix 42 hours earlier, and got all our luggage but none of the 15 boxes of meds and supplies (almost 800 lbs of needed stuff). That's it. Done. Nothing we can do about it.

The team spent the night in Dhaka and left early this morning for a 6 hour drive to the first clinic with the dental stuff, public health education stuff, nutritional assessment stuff, a few pills here and there that team members had in their personal belongings and stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs. They are going to run a clinic as best they can. I on the other hand am still in Dhaka waiting to go back to the airport this afternoon to see if the meds come in on the next flight. If they do, I make an 8 hour drive to the south of Bangladesh to catch up with the team sometime very late tonight. If the meds don't arrive....well, I don't really know what I'm going to do. The troubles we've seen. The anxiety of it all. The unexpected. The not knowing. It is what it is. And with all that I still say, in all things give thanks. 
David 

Another update from Kate on the Women's Circle of Caring Kenya trip:

I don't even know where to begin. After three days of serving alongside the Emarti Maasai, we left for a brief respite in Amboseli State Park.

All I can say is that Kenya is filled with beauty. The people with their instant smiles, their sincere greetings, their love of color (oh, how the Maasai love color!) and then of course the land itself. We truly gloried in God's creation today as we drove south toward Amboseli National Park.

I am glad for this time to reflect because the days have been so full. On the first day of working at Emarti, we focused on the women. It was rainy and cold, but nothing stopped them. The same could be said for the children, some of whom walk several hours to the project.

One thing we were eager to see was Emarti's new beautiful building, which doubles as a church and community center. I was constantly grateful for this provision as we experienced rain and wind and the intense Kenyan sun. To think the children at this project used to meet under a tree!

The second and third day we played with the children. We taught them how to sing "Jesus Loves Me" with sign language; we reemphasized how to brush their teeth, wash their hands, and cough into their "bird wing" (elbow) rather than their hands. We brought puzzles and taught them how to play tic-tac-toe, both of which they loved.

And then there was the parachute. At all times there was a group playing parachute games, and at all times there was an audience. Sometimes little ones, most of the time their mothers clutching their babies and laughing at the evident glee in the children as they whipped the parachute up and down. The Maasai love color, so the parachute was an instant hit.

On the afternoon of our last day there, the community held a special ceremony and gifted us necklaces... but they gave us so much more as they sang over us with tears of joy streaming down their faces. I can't even begin to describe the sound -- all I could think of is that this is a taste of heaven, all voices uplifted and praising God.

There is so much to write but internet is spotty right now. We are doing well. No one has gotten sick, and we are encouraged by what we have seen and done. Thank you for praying for us! Tomorrow we return to Nairobi. I'll try to update more then.

On Sunday we visited a slum community to attend church with the most beautiful people. The church building was a simple structure of corregated metal which got progressively hotter as the service went on. The music was accapela and full of joy, and the sermon was fantastic. The pastor preached in English with Hapi, Mission of Mercy's Kenya director, translating in such an unobtrusive way it felt like call and response. So beautiful.

After that we took a quick tour of New Life Home, which we'll visit again at the end of the week. Having just walked through the slums that morning, watching the nurses tenderly care for the children was so encouraging.

The photo above is of Vincent, a sponsored child who traveled many hours to meet his sponsor. His favorite gift from her by far were these funny glasses. Although his smile took much coaxing, once those glasses appeared the giggles kept coming. We loved having Vincent with us for most of the day -- he was quite the gentleman.

This morning we're packing up to head to Emarti; today we'll work with the women and the two days after that with the children. We have many special things planned, but it's unlikely we'll have internet over the next few days. Thank you for praying for us! It has been a wonderful trip thus far. Please pray that we can communicate God's love despite the language barrier. We are eager to see how the women respond to us, as last year they were moved to tears when they realized the women had returned to visit them. This year we have several women from previous trips -- I am praying that God continues to knit our hearts together!

Kate is a Mission of Mercy staff-member who joined the 3rd annual Women's Circle of Caring trip to Kenya. The team will start the week in Nairobi before venturing south to the Emarti Maasai region. She sends us this update:

Praise God -- we are now in Nairobi with all of our bags safe and sound. This is truly a gift from God because we checked SO MANY BAGS, all of which were filled to the brim with gifts and supplies for the Maasai. I'm quite sure we gave the baggage guy a heart attack when we came rolling in.  

Tonight we sleep and try to reset our internal clocks -- tomorrow we go to church and visit a community where Mission of Mercy ministers. I expect this to be an overwhelming day. The community is in one of Nairobi's slums. This is what I've been both waiting and fearing to see: this is where Mission of Mercy children call home, and having never seen anything like it personally, it may very well horrify me. Just as one part of me wants to be unshockable, the other part of me wants to be moved by what moves the heart of God. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. It's a difficult prayer to pray knowing what may come. I will try to post more later.

Friends, please join us in praying for the Women's Circle of Caring team that departs for Kenya this morning. Many of the women are returning for their second or third trip to work with Mission of Mercy project that serves the Emarti Maasai people.

They have a long travel day ahead of them. Please pray for traveling mercies, that their luggage and supplies will arrive safely in Nairobi, and that they can fully focus on ministering to the Emarti. We can't wait to see what God does in them and through them during this trip! If the internet remains stable, they will try to post updates here on the blog, so check back often!

We anxiously watched as Tropical Storm Emily approached the Dominican Republic and Haiti. And we are praised God as this storm weakened to Tropical Wave, which is weaker than its previous category of Tropical Depression.

Those praises continue as our field staff reported no damage. Some rain fell in the northern parts of the DR and Haiti, but not enough to cause concern. We thank God that our projects can continue to operate normally as they minister to the children and the community.

In this image from August 3, Tropical Storm Emily approaches the DR, Haiti, and after that, Cuba. Image: NOAA

The mission team in Honduras wrapped up their projects in Choluteca and Tegucigalpa and safely returned to the U.S. God has surely knit their hearts together, so we can continue to pray that they can hear God clearly and have the time and space to seek God's face about all they saw, felt, and heard in Honduras.

One of the teams in Honduras boasts FIVE mother-daughter teams... and there's also a husband and wife who brough their two sons on the trip, as well!

One of the mothers wrote that "when you go on a missions trip, you never know who you'll be serving alongside, but you always see God's hand at work in the people He brings together. None of us had any idea there would be other mother-daughter teams along, but we've all been so blessed to be serving the Lord alongside our children."

How do you involve your children when you sponsor a child overseas? Has sponsoring a child helped you teach your own children about God's kingdom and work in the world? Share your answers in the comments below!
 

These are the faces of children in our projects in Honduras.

What do you see when you look at their faces? Do you see hope? Joy? Dignity?

That is the goal of all of our programs in each country we serve, to give each child the opportunity to learn, to feel accepted, to see just how much God loves them. And when given that chance, these children truly transform.

The mission trip participants currently in Honduras are seeing this first hand. One participant from our radio partner WPFF in Wisconsin wrote this:

The difference in the children who are in the program [and those who are not] is like the difference between night and day...it's the difference between hopelessness and HOPE...hope of a happy, healthy life. YOU may be the one to put an end to their family's cycle of poverty that has been in existence for generations.

Over the course of this week, several of our partner radio stations will be asking listeners to sponsor some of the children their friends and fellow listeners are serving. If you came from WPFF, WNLI, KSLT, KLMP, WMSJ, or 97.9 The Point, welcome.

If you came looking for more information about child sponsorship, please explore this blog. But if you want to see the impact of child sponsorship, look no further than these faces. Listen to the experience of others, such as this trip participant from WMSJ:

Today we were reminded that we are all one family and these children in God’s eyes are ours. You wouldn’t believe the joy in the eyes of each child who was able to meet their sponsor. It was hard to hold back the tears as we watched when a child was overcome with joy upon meeting their sponsor for the first time, and the hugs and sheer gratitude they had in knowing that they had a sponsor. It was almost as if they were meeting a long lost family member.

But there was also some sadness as one little girl mistook one of our team members to be her sponsor. When he told her he was not her sponsor, she said to him that the sadness in his eyes reflected the sadness in her heart.

What wisdom in that precious child! Proverbs 27:19 tells us that “As water reflects a face, so one’s life reflects the heart.” What is your life reflecting right now? Did you know you could bring such joy and hope to a child for $34 a month?

"I truly believe that both sides are recieving equally from this experience! The people here have really been blessed with uncomparable humility... I can only pray that some of it rubs off on us!"

-- Tyra, mission team member serving in Choluteca, Honduras 

The radio mission teams in Honduras are going full swing, and here are their first reports from their epic travel day.

And also one of the sweetest meeting-my-sponsor photos we've seen yet!

As jet lag hits, the team will need prayer as they minister to two areas of Honduras.

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