This world would not be the same without flowers. They make life so much more beautiful. I recently learned in science that wild flowers don’t need someone to plant them, but they can self-produce. Wild flowers don’t even require anyone to water them; all they need to grow is God’s gardening skills.

So many times I think that I am needed. I think, “So many people are going to hell. I need to do something and help. This world needs me. My friends need me. God needs me.” This last month my family has been going through 1 Corinthians. This morning we read 1 Corinthians 3:5-7:

“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” 

Who am I? I’m just the child who was given the privilege to plant and water the seed, but God is the real amazing one. He takes the souls of helpless slaves of sin, and He frees them and makes them His children and lavishes them with His grace. He clothes them in His righteousness and cleanses them with His blood that He shed on our behalf.

If God chooses to use the ministry of Compassion in Action to lead some lost sinners to Himself then may God be praised. If He chooses to not use us at all, then may God be praised. He is the only one who deserves glory… for everything!

If my brothers and I finished building a kitchen, and we display our building to the happy new owners and they say, “Wow, that’s such a great hammer you have; it did such a great job getting those nails in the board!”, it would be weird because we did all the work, and we used our muscles and energy to use the hammer to hit the nail in. The hammer was just a tool. And that’s what we are: The hammers in God’s hand. He is using us to build His Church.

My prayer is that we would use every opportunity given to us to be used by God for His work, and that it would all be for His glory, not our own.

“According to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that in with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:20-21

A Hunger For God's Word

Kiberenge, the village where we have a Compassion in Action (CIA) Bible study, has a mixture of Muslims and Catholics. I had no idea 2 years ago when we first started this Bible study how hungry these kids really were. Every week around 30-40 kids would come and attentively listen to Bible stories about David, Abraham, and Jonah. They wanted to know about God, but until we came, no one would teach them. This last week, my brothers and I decided to start a Bible study called Quest for Truth for Kids (based on Quest for Truth by my dad which I edited for kids) so that the kids could have a clear view of the gospel. Zeek teaches the younger kids (ages 1-11) Bible stories and I teach the older kids (ages 12-15) Quest for Truth for Kids. After church today, Zeek and I hopped on my new moped (that a sweet family bought for me!) and started our journey to Kiberenge.

The first lesson of Quest for Truth is called “What is religion?”. After explaining that religion is anyone’s belief about God, we got into an in-depth discussion about religion. Out of the twelve kids, 6 were Catholics, 2 were Muslims and three were “Christians”. I started asking questions about all of their religions. After asking all of the kids which religion was going to heaven their answer was simply: all of them. “But,” I asked, “What does the Pope and the Koran say? Do they say that all religions will go to heaven?”

“No,” a Catholic girl answered, “only Catholics.”

The Muslim kids both responded in the same way regarding the Koran. The poor misled kids told themselves that everyone was going to heaven because they didn’t know which religion was true.

Then I asked them all, “So who is right? Is Islam the true religion, Catholicism or is Christianity?” None of them answered. “Who here is assured 100% that your religion is true? Who has no doubt in your mind?” All of the kids looked at the ground. After asking them each individually, no one could assure me that theirs was true. They all just replied with a simple, “I don’t know.”

“Then how do we know what the right religion is?” a boy asked me.

“We can’t know,” said a Catholic girl, “unless someone went to heaven and asked God and then came back to tell us.” All of the kids nodded in agreement.

“Can I tell you guys a secret?” I asked. All of the kids gathered around closer. “Did you know that thousands of years ago God gave us a letter telling us the truth about himself? He wanted us to know him! And know the right religion!”

“Where is it?” they all asked excitedly. I replied by explaining that the next 15 weeks we are going to study a book that will show us that letter from God and tell us what the true religion is. We don’t have to die to know what the truth is

, because it was made available to us through His Word. I wish that you all could have seen the joy on these kids’ faces when they heard that God has given us the truth about Himself. They had no idea! Until 2 years ago, no one had ever told them that the Bible is the Word of God, and it didn’t seem to even click until this afternoon. They had never read it for themselves and had never heard the good news of how God loved them and gave His life for them.

Please pray for us as we teach these kids the good news of the Gospel, and pray that God would prepare their hearts to accept it.

Rehema's Story

Hey Everyone,

My name is Rehema, and I live in the village of Kiberenge with my mom, jjajja (grandma), my aunt, 8 cousins, and 7 siblings. I am ten years old. I met everyone from Compassion in Action almost two years ago when they started a kids’ Bible club at my house. I have loved learning the Bible, singing songs, memorizing verses, playing games, and eating candy every Sunday afternoon. Last month after CIA had finished teaching us about God’s power over the Egyptians with Moses and the Red Sea, CIA asked my mom if I could go to school at Legacy Christian Academy at Sufficiency of Scripture Ministries in Kubamitwe, a village almost 5 miles away from where I live. The school that I was going to was a Muslim school funded by the government. Many kids in my school don’t even graduate from 7^th grade, because our school can’t afford good teachers, and without good teachers it is very difficult for us to pass the national exam that allows us to go to high school. When my mom said that I could go to Legacy, I couldn’t help but run up and hug each of the members of CIA, trying to express my gratitude for giving me a hopeful future. The next month, I went to Master Solomon Kavuma for an interview, and I was accepted!

           

Even though I have to go back to 1^st grade (I was previously in 3^rd), I don’t really care because I know that going back will help me in the long run. I am so excited to have this opportunity. God is truly taking care of me!

Gratefully,

Rehema

(Adapted from Rehema’s personal testimony)

Rehema

Rehema started her first day of school at Legacy, on February 2^nd, but we need your help to send her to school. Due to the distance and her inability to safely ride a bicycle, CIA is hiring a motorcycle taxi for her to come to and from school. If anyone would be willing to sponsor Rehema’s transportation ($50 per month), or even contribute to a portion of her transportation, please contact me at elisa@sosministries.com. Thanks!

Rehema (second to the left) and her sisters and cousins

Rehema's house where over 15 people live

Rehema's old school

Compassion in Action is for Jesus

Here in Kubamitwe, lots of compassion has been put into action! In August I returned from America where I was hanging out with Emma for a couple months. A few hours after I got back to Uganda, the Lakeside Bible Church and Believer’s Fellowship team arrived. The next week, the youth on the team and CIA Uganda (my brothers, Bekah and I) built two kitchens for two families. When we went to the second family’s house to start building, the lady was flat out drunk. She even asked us to take a picture of her and her pig… What? Anyway, it was quite an experience. It was particularly hard for me because I was shocked that instead of thanking us when we went to help her, she would greet us in a drunken stupor. Honestly, I got really angry with her. Then I had to remember why we build kitchens and serve our community. Is it so that we can help them? Is it so that they will know that we love them? Well, kind of. But those aren’t the main reasons. We do CIA projects because that’s what Jesus would do if He were in our place. He served regardless of whether or not the people came back and thanked him. He loved to the point of death. We love and serve our community because we want to be like Jesus. Jesus is our model, Lord and friend. Because we love him, we will keep loving and serving even if the people hate us. And maybe, through our love, they can come to love Jesus too.

Since then, just this last week we built a kitchen for our friends that live relatively close to us. They had to cook in a little hut without walls and basically no roof. The roof was made many years ago out of grass and at one point worked well, but over the years, has become primarily useless. I don’t think that we have ever built a kitchen for more thankful recipients.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Keep praying that God would draw people to himself through CIA’s love toward them, and that He would be glorified in it all.

The Old Kitchen Next to The New

Their Old  Kitchen

  

We're Back!

Hi everyone! Sorry that we haven’t written anything for a while. My brothers and I were on furlough with our mom and dad and just came back from the States in August.  While we were there, the children at Arcadia Bible Church donated enough money for the goat milk project for the baby whose mom has AIDS. Just this weekend, my brothers, Mrs. Deerberger, and I (with donations from Mrs. Augusta’s 5th Grade class) built a kitchen for a sweet old lady at our church, who is lame. We will post pictures soon!

In other news, our Bible study in Kibelenge (A Muslim village a few miles away from us) is going really well! The kids are super eager to learn and have memorized over ten verses of the Bible.  We are totally encouraged.  Within the next week we will be inviting a family from our village to our house to eat dinner with us, sponsored by another sweet donor. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. They are making a huge difference in our community. We will be sure to keep you updated!

-Elisa Hurley