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*** 2020 Update*** 

Our itinerary changed quite a bit upon arrival but God is good! We had a blast on the mission trip in 2019. We were able to visit each widow and plant many fruit trees on the new land. We did sightseeing in Jinja, Uganda at the Nile River and Lake Victoria. I wouldn't trade it for the world. That trip was once in a lifetime and one I'll never forget. 

Here is a video - Enjoy! 

WELCOME! It seems like it has been a long time since we have been working with Ronald and the children at the Lords Mercy Foundation. Some of you were with us from the beginning, in 2017, when Ronald had literally nothing for the children except the clothes on their backs, and was barely able to provide them with food. We have come a long way since that point, thanks to the generosity of givers like you. Now, we have purchased new land in order that an orphanage may be built, and the children will have a permanent home. When they grow up and age out of that home, then new children will come in and take their places. The Lords Mercy Foundation will always be a safe home for orphaned children in Uganda, who have gone through the desperation of losing their parents, and oftentimes other family members as well. 

MY STORY:

As many of you know, I went to Uganda on a mission trip in 2017 with my church. I did not meet Ronald and the children during that trip, but rather met him shortly after I got back to America. Uganda changed my life so completely that I fell in love with it and didn't want to return to the states. I cried on the way to the airport, I cried on the plane ride home, and I cried once I returned, for weeks. The only reason I wanted to come back was because of my daughter. I wanted to scoop her up and take her back to move to Africa with me, but I know her home is here. A part of me was really left in Uganda, and when you get there and experience it, you will see for yourself as well. I was in such a state of sadness being back here that I began searching for something that would bring me happiness, which was only looking at things from Africa. My heart had always been geared towards orphans, ever since I had a rough upbringing as a child. Therefore, I decided I would look for an orphanage in Africa to connect with, in order to fill a hole in my own life. It was then that I met Ronald, and the story begins from there. 

ITINERARY:

THE DATES FOR OUR TRIP WILL BE JULY 26 THROUGH AUGUST 4TH. Depending on what part of the United States or world you are in, your flight will be different than the others. 

This is a rough draft of our itinerary for your early reference. We have included some sightseeing and other tourist attractions while we are there. After all, you only get to go to Africa once in a lifetime! (usually) :) Some things may be edited later on, some things may be affected by weather, etc., but below is the basic schedule that we will be using for the 2019 mission trip: 

1. Arrival in Entebbe, Uganda on July 27th. Since we have volunteers flying in from all over the world, people may want to stay in certain other countries for their connecting flights. For example, if you have family in England or Canada, you may want to book a connecting flight through there, so you can stay with them overnight and return to the airport the next day. Therefore, the best thing would be for each person to book their own flight (with whichever connecting flights they like) and then just plan to arrive in Entebbe, Uganda on the 27th. We will all plan to stay in a hotel in Entebbe that night, as flights will be arriving at different times during the day. (Entebbe is an international hub, for politicians and such, so they have many hotels and restaurants; it is more of a small city.) Then, once the whole group arrives, we can get a good night's sleep in Entebbe, then all head out together in the morning on the 28th in our rented bus with Ronald. It will take 4 to 5 hours to get to the orphanage in Kamuli from Entebbe. 

2. Visit and Build in Kamuli, Uganda on July 28th. THIS IS THE DAY WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!! Our babies will be waiting for us. After all the time you spent seeing the pictures of our children on Facebook, now you will finally get to see them in real life. Imagine the hugs, jumping and excitement that will be covered over you! We will spend the day with the children. The women will visit with some of the widows. The men will head over to see the new land. Any medical professionals will perform checkups on the children and the widows this day. Any volunteers who are farmers will assist the widows with farming techniques, as they grow food for the children to eat. We will enjoy the day, learning about the orphanage and the wonderful individuals there, and building relationships. We will stay at a hotel in Kamuli this evening. 

3. Building/Construction on July 29th. The men will head into town to buy the bricks, cement, and other materials needed for construction. Ronald will select workers and hire them to do the main construction of the orphanage, and we will help along side them, doing what they direct us to do. (See the homework assignment for details on this.) There will be 1 pink building for the girls dormitory and 1 blue building for the boys dormitory. I would like for the women to visit with the rest of the widows this day if we could not before. We will also be meeting with the teachers of the children's school and the pastor of their church (Kiwungu Christian Church). Volunteers that are teachers will be able to meet with the local teachers and discuss helpful teaching strategies, and share helpful resources you may use. We will find out what the needs are for the school and the church so we can better assist the community. We will stay in our hotel in Kamuli this night. 

New Building Design:

4. Travel to Rwanda on July 30th. Ronald will come with us. Rwanda is the country in Africa underneath Uganda. Therefore, we will be crossing into our second country while on the road. We will rise early this day and head off to Kigali, Rwanda on our bus to view the Kigali Genocide Memorial. If you do not know about the historical genocide that occurred here in 1994, I encourage you to read about it. Here is a website with more information: https://www.kgm.rw/. I guarantee it will be an experience to stay with you for a lifetime. Kigali is a modern city, much like cities we have here. Kigali is a large modern city with many hotels and accomodations. A hotel in Kigali, Rwanda will be our stay for this night.  

5. Travel to Democratic Republic of Congo on July 31st. We will be driving a few hours over the country line between Rwanda and the DRC into our third country to arrive in the city of Goma. The city of Goma, in eastern Congo, is the best starting point for visits to Virunga. Goma is a dusty but vibrant frontier town on Lake Kivu, just across the Rwandan border. Goma is located in the Virunga National Park and is also home to the only Mountain Gorilla Orphanage in the world, which takes in baby mountain gorillas whose parents were killed by poachers. The DRC, Rwanda and Uganda are the last 3 countries in the world that host natural wildlife, such as mountain gorillas, in their natural habitat. While here, we will be staying near Mount Nyiragongo, an active volcano known for it's visible bed of lava down below if you are able to climb it's 11,000 foot plus peak. (We do not plan on doing this but the option is there if you would like to.) However, even if you can't see the lava, the locals say the night sky keeps a red glow from the reflection of it in the sky. We will be staying at a small villa at the base of the mountains this night. 

6. Wildlife Safari in the Virunga National Park on August 1st. Virunga National Park stretches throughout the length of the borders of the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda. Virunga lies in the western part of the East Africa Rift system on the Albertine Rift. Here, two parts of the African Plate — the Nubian Plate to the west and the Somali Plate to the east — are separating. (To learn more about the park, see this website: https://virunga.org/) On this day, we will take a safari through the park to encounter the natural wildlife, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, gorillas, hippos, crocodiles, okapis, birds, etc. We will conclude our last night in the DRC at the same villa in Goma as the night before. 

7. Travel back to Uganda on August 2nd. We will rise early once again and head back on the road with our bus to cross the country line into Uganda and return to the orphanage in Kamuli, with sightseeing on the bus during the day. We will see the children again upon arrival, check on the progress of the building of the new orphanage and help as needed. We will stay at our same hotel in Kamuli that night. 

8. Leave Uganda and fly back home on August 3rd. We will say our goodbyes to our new family (with tears) and return back on the way to our everyday lives. This will be a time of reflection (and I'm sure exhaustion) for all of us. 

HOMEWORK:

Last but not least, the most important mental prep-work you can do before ANY mission trip is know why you are going. Of course we are going to see the children and help build the orphanage, but that's exactly it, we are going to HELP build the orphanage, we are not going to ride in as knights in shining armor and take over. We are going to work along side the workers and let them guide us as needed. Take some time this week and next week to read and reflect over the homework assignment, the book entitled "When Helping Hurts," available on Amazon, to mentally prepare you for this mission trip. 

As you read the book, here are some questions to ponder.

1. What do you think about the mzungu's interactions with the character Grace?

2. Do you see things from a different perspective now than you did before?

3. What do you think the difference will be if we were to go into Uganda planning on directing them what to do and taking over the building construction of the orphanage versus if the locals are building the orphanage and we ask them how we can help build? What if there are 5 men who need work to feed their families but cannot find any, and they had the opportunity to earn a living for their wives and children, putting food on their tables by constructing buildings, but we muzungu's came in and wanted to do the work for them, taking away their chance to earn money for their families? 

One of our goals for this trip is to visit with the teachers of the local schools and the pastor of the local church to find out directly from them what their needs are, and to ask them how we can help them meet their needs. Pastors and Teachers know the families in the local community; they live with them and interact with them all throughout the year, so they will know what the urgent needs of the local community are, and it is better for us to help through them, than to just arrive somewhere with handouts, because anybody will take handouts, whether they need the items or not. 

Some ways that we at Lord's Mercy Foundation (LMF) are actively helping instead of hurting, are we bought young piglets last year for them to grow up, mate, and produce piglets for Ronald to sell for income to care for the children and meet their needs. We also purchased goats last year for the same purpose. The pigs have just reached maturity to begin reproducing and the goats are already pregnant. A third thing we did to help instead of hurt is purchase a small plot of land designated for farming. Food will be grown for consumption on our own land, so we at LMF will not be as dependent upon the local markets as we have been before. You can see examples of these projects on our website:

https://spiritualfamily.net/groups/profile/6726/lords-mercy-foundation?fbclid=IwAR0QWznYtEMZGnLmgQT6R2QW96h9MJiraMG4wW35VY9L7zktqcIGv_ZvcZk. 

It takes time for these projects to get going but you can see we are well underway. Once we have built the new orphanage, Ronald will move the pigs and goats over to the new land and we will build a chicken coop on there and begin purchasing chickens. Right now, the foundation's growth is in early stages and still needs our support for things such as school fees, clothes, shoes, medical care, etc. However, our ultimate goal is to get LMF to be able to sustain itself without help from muzungu's, all on their own, by making their own income and food. When we have accomplished that, we will be able to help others do the same. 

3 Good Reasons WHY we go on a Mission Trip: 

1. We go to encourage our missionary partners on the field (Romans 1:11-12). 
2. We go to confirm one's calling. You will gain new perspective and will have the opportunity to develop your cross-cultural abilities. 
3. We go to develop Christian character and to be stretched spiritually, culturally and relationally. 

Mission trips are: 

a) Windows through which to see the world and God's vision for it in new ways. 
b) Mirrors in which to see our church, our culture, and ourselves more clearly. 
c) Doorways through which we enter into deeper fellowship with God and our neighbors. 
d) Voices through which we may hear God's call to us. It has been said that mission team members are...
e) Bridges between those they visit and their congregation, between God's activity in one part of the world and God's activity in their own. 

Ephesians 4 says "Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism: one God and Father of all, and through all, and in you all. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into HIm who is the head - Christ - from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of the their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4 : 1 - 6, 11 - 24) 

Let us all try to identify ourselves as the latter example in the above passage instead of the former. Let us strive in our daily lives to be more like Christ, renewing our hearts and minds to think like Him, act like Him, and be like Him. In that, we will help the needy and also lead others to do the same by example. But be ready! Spiritual attacks will come whenever you try to further the kingdom of God. While you are planning this mission trip, you WILL be attacked spiritually. Bad things will happen to you, that is because the enemy does not want you furthering the kingdom of God. The enemy likes you comfortable with mediocrity, not helping others and not leading others to do the same. With you stepping out to help the less fortunate and be salt and light in this world, you will attract the enemy's attention and be subject more to his attacks. After all, you don't shoot a dead body, because it's already dead. Therefore I say to you, Be Ready! Read Ephesians chapter 6 to prepare yourself for spiritual warfare. Learn how to defend yourself against the attacks when things go wrong. 

Philippians 2 says "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind; let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And, being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in Heaven and of those on Earth, and of those under the Earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." (Philippians 2 : 3 - 11, 13 - 16) 

So, as we prepare for meeting Ronald and the children at the orphanage, let us be mindful that as well as physical preparations, we also will be undertaking spiritual preparations to get us ready for this next step in our journey of life. PRAY alone in your quiet time with God about what your role is on this trip and ask him to help guide you along the way. Once we return from Africa, our lives will be completely changed, our minds will not be in the same places they were when we left them here, as they are now. We will have grown, and my hope for you is that when you return from Africa, you will come back as leaders yourselves, helping others to grow in the betterment of the world as we live in it; to not only return to your normal lives, but to harvest the seeds that will have been planted in you in Africa, seeds of change and of action, seeds that will grow into large trees of new people that you have not met yet being changed by your stories, and growing up to help others.

SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONAL READING: 

Wikipedia links on the 3 countries we are visiting: 

Rwanda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwanda 
Uganda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda 
Democratic Republic of Congo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo 

The DRC is known worldwide for its rich earth resources, as well as civil wars further in the country with many rebel groups controlling the mines in which the minerals are dug and produced for corporations in first world countries. From late 2008 forward, the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) had increasingly been mandated to support FARDC operations against armed groups as a means of contributing to the protection of civilians. With around 2,000 magistrates appointed in 2013, MONUSCO has rebuilt, refurbished or equipped 57 court and prosecution facilities in the eastern DRC, and provided training on court management and record-keeping to over 1,000 judicial staff. By March 2018, United Nations efforts in support of the Congolese authorities had resulted in the prosecution of over 1,200 accused, of whom 963 were convicted. United Nations assistance has included the rehabilitation of 29 prisons. In support of the Government’s efforts to decongest prisons and make them safer, more secure and humane, MONUSCO organized training for 1,546 prison personnel, including 375 women. To read more, see here: https://monusco.unmissions.org/en/strengthening-rule-law-and-protection-civilians-democratic-republic-congo. 

CONCLUSION:

If you are interested in joining us on this once in a lifetime opportunity, please contact Wantanda Ronald at the Lord's Mercy Foundation for more information on how to become involved. 

Sincerely, 

Marissa Bodden 

Lord's Mercy Foundation