Jesus Worldwide: Uganda

From Katie: I’m really excited to have Kristie, a high school student, share about her second trip to Uganda. If you want to share your story, send me an email at KatieAxelson{at}gmail{dot}com. Thanks! <>< Katie

We went to Uganda with an organization called Sozo children. The word sozo is a Greek word that means to save both physically and spiritually. That is Sozo’s intent with the orphans they bring into their houses. They currently have three homes. House One is where I was staying for the majority of the trip, and it has 23 kids ages 6 to 13. Now you have a little background info on what we were doing I’m going to tell you about a little girl named Mercy.

Mercy

She was so cute, really small, probably 5 or 6 years old, and super, super crazy!! The first full day we had there our team went to the school where all the Sozo kids go to have a field day. We did one for the younger kids in the morning and then went back to House One for lunch. After lunch we were going to go back to school for a fun day with the older kids. However some of the younger kids were already home from school and our team leader gave us the option of staying at the house to play with the 4 or 5 kids that were there. I decided I would stay back to kind of get a head start on building relationships with them. Mercy was one of these.

From the very first time we met, she was jumping on me, giving me raspberries on my stomach, biting me, blowing in my face, and literally wrestling me to the ground. One of my teammates (another high school girl) and I were joking about how she was glad she wouldn’t have to put up with this crazzzyyyy child all week and I was not looking forward to it. But as God would have it–that crazy, rambunctious child changed my life, and from that very first hour and a half we spent together we connected. At the end of the trip my close friend on the team and I were discussing how Mercy and I were actually really similar and that’s probably why we connected so well.

Kristie and Mercy

This little girl was so full of joy and life and love and every single bit of that poured into my life! I never thought going into this trip that I could be impacted by a little child so greatly. One day she found a little dead beetle and brought it to me, playing along with her little game, I screamed and ran away and she chased me for a good 30 min. and not even kidding she could have gone on for hours! She would say, “I have a sweetie for you!” Then pretend she was going to give you a kiss but actually blow in your face. Every time she did, which was like every 10 minutes, she would just die from laughter. Her laugh was so sweet.

It was so cool to be able to see first-hand the ministry of Sozo. They bring these kids out of awful situations and show them the hope and JOY that comes from Christ. These kids have a faith that you wouldn’t believe and worship like I’ve never seen before!

The second Saturday we were there, most of the team was leaving and those of us who weren’t were all moving to House Two for the remaining three days. That meant I was going to have to leave the house and the kids I had grown so close to and fell so in love with! So as you can imagine that Friday, the last night there, was so hard for me.

Every night I would go in to the girls room tuck them all in and kiss them on their forehead, but that Friday, Mercy and a few other little girls were all sitting on a top bunk writing and drawing so I climbed up there with them. As I looked down at their beautiful brown faces, I couldn’t hold in the tears and they just rolled down my face. Mercy looked up at me in shock and said, “Auntie! Why are you sad?”

Isn’t she precious?

I explained to them that I was sad because I love them so much and I was going to have to leave them and I wanted to stay so badly. I was trying so hard not to make it about me and MY emotions but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop the tears. Mercy crawled in my lap and gave me a hug, another little girl wiped my tears, and the other one rubbed my arm. I never would have thought that the encouragement of little girls would help me get through it. The next day when we said goodbye was really hard but even harder was that Sunday when we saw them all again at church! We kept saying goodbye, then we’d see them again and have to say goodbye AGAIN! It was really rough.

That Monday, the day before we were leaving, we had to go back to House One to do some cleaning. They told us we were going to be there at lunch so there was a chance that we would see the little ones again. I really didn’t want to see Mercy again, not because I didn’t want to see her, but because I didn’t want to say goodbye for the third time! But I didn’t have a choice, I had to go.

So we were cleaning, and Mercy and the others came home. When she saw me I wasn’t greeted with the usual running and jumping into my arms but rather a really puzzled look. We said hello and talked for a little but when it came time to say goodbye AGAIN, she came to me and asked if I was going back to America. I told her I was leaving the next day and she just kind of looked down and walked away. She came back a few minutes later and instead of her crazy smile and laughter she ran to me sobbing. I picked her up and held her as tightly as I could and she just cried on my shoulder for the next few minutes. Through my own tears I was thinking.

The whole week our team was talking about how there was so much need in this country but we can’t fix it all, but if we could change JUST ONE child’s life, we could make a difference. As I stood there holding my crying little Mercy, I realized she had been my one. It’s easy for anyone around me to see that these kids have changed my life and impacted me in a crazy way. It was encouraging to know that my time in Uganda had not been in vain and that I had impacted this child’s life just as much as she had impacted mine. I was able to come and invest in her, encourage her, and show her she is loved!

Little ball of energy

Teams go in and out of the Sozo house all the time and so many people push her to the side because they just can’t handle her craziness. But God used craziness in my life to connect with her. Through her tears she told me I couldn’t leave and that I had to stay. As much as I wanted to listen to her, I couldn’t, but I told her I would be coming back! I had to come back!

Prior to this trip I thought I would close the Uganda chapter in my life but the little “sweetie” giving, joyful, insane Mercy, along with many others opened my eyes to see that God is not done using me there! I continue to pray for them, that others will just keep pouring into their lives and that they will grow up to be strong Christian leaders in their country, the beautiful country of Uganda that I love so much!

Mercy and Kristie

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