Church with Pastor Samuel and then Off to Kenya!~

This morning was a bittersweet morning.  We had spent a week in Uganda and it was time for us to move onto Kenya.  I had such a great time in Uganda…I met so many great people and so many children stole my heart—Especially one Little Boy!:)  I knew we had to move on with our agenda and that it was time to go to Kenya…But it still just felt weird that our time in Uganda was coming to an end.  I was getting used to Uganda and loved everything about this country, but I was also excited to know that we still had a whole other country to go love orphans in! 

So this morning, we woke up early…had breakfast…loaded our entire luggage…and we were headed to church with Pastor Samuel and to visit the children through Return Ministries.  I was very excited about this because I was sort of curious to see what church in Africa consisted of and how they worshiped God.  Below are a few pictures from our church service.  

After the church service we had time to go shopping at their little store that they had set up.  This was such a cute and neat little shop!  It had a ton of Acacia Beads, bracelets, shirts, dresses, skits and a TON of other Africa souvenirs!  There is where Shelby and I bought our Mzungo t-shirts, along with 2 skirts and I bought a dress! :)

Here are some pictures of Pastoer Samuels two little kids--Israel and Pearl. These kids were so stinking precious and SO happy! :) Ahh...and yes, look at little Pearl. Don't you just want to SQUEEZE her? We all commented on how she was the sweetest...AND fattest little baby in Africa! :)  And when you are "fat" in Africa that is a GREAT thing! :) It made us all smile!!

After we did our shopping Pastor Samuel’s wife made us a meal—which was very good! Then we had time to just hang out with the children for a while before we had to catch our flight to Kenya.  All of these children were SOOO sweet.  There were just a TON of them and as always, they all seemed so content and well behaved! 

The picture below is a very common view for Mzungos! All the children would run up, wrap their arms around our legs and look up at us like this...Oh My--Melt My HEART!:)

I stood and talked with these kids for a long time.  They had so many questions about America. They told me how they want so badly to come to America and that they hope one day they will be blessed enough to come here—This broke my heart, because really…Unless someone specifically from America helps and reaches out to them…I don’t think they will ever make it to America.  The cost is just too expensive…But it was so great to see the light and hope that they had in their eyes.  We talked about if it was God’s will…He would provide and He would help get them there. 

The older girl in the white shirt on the left—holding the little girl, was who I talked the most to.  Her English was so GREAT and her faith was unbelievable.  She told me she would be praying for me when I went back to America and she said she prays that I’ll come back to visit her.  Are you kidding me--These children are the ones that need MY prayers and they tell me they are going to pray for me!! ...I also asked her about her family…She had 3 or 4 younger siblings whom she helped care for.  It was just so weird to me as I was standing there because she really did look and act so much older than what she was!!  I could tell that she had been a motherly figure to her siblings for a very long time just by her actions and words.  I told her that my sister was here too—I pointed to Shelby and she thought that was SO neat!!  Below is one of the many older kids I saw that were having to look after their younger siblings.

It was so hot out this day and these precious kids looked so tired…They sat in the shade while the littlest one rested.  These kids shouldn’t have to grow up this fast—They should be able to enjoy being a kid and act like they are a kid!!! ….All they want is a mommy and a daddy…This is all they truly yearn for…As Katie Davis said in her video that I posted on my last blog… “Jesus does not ASK that we care for the less fortunate—He DEMANDS it!!”  Really, friends, we ALL need to step up and do our part.  There is such a HUGE orphan crisis in today’s world…We can no longer pretend and act like the world is one big happy place full of rainbows and butterflies…These children…Children that I have met in person…children that I know the names of…Children that I have touched with my own hands…Children that I have LOVED with my OWN HEART….are HURTING.  They are BROKEN…They feel ALONE… They feel HOPELESS—Day after day they wonder and wonder….Will life ever get easier for them?  Could they really end up with their forever families?  Doesn’t anyone care about them?  Doesn’t anyone know that they need food and water…and LOVE?  …………….Can’t anyone hear their broken cry? I have met them and I know them and I truly do LOVE THEM ALL.  I know that might sound crazy—But they are all my younger brothers and sisters in Christ and I don’t plan on just going over to Africa to visit for 2 weeks and then that’s it—No, I hope and pray that I can continue to help them with whatever God puts on my heart.  Before going on the trip I strongly felt that God was leading and guiding me to go in this direction…And so I listened and I followed His ways.  After returning back to America I still feel like God is working at my heart and that He isn’t finished with me yet…So I will continue to pray and continue to listen.  I just want SO badly to help these children.  They are NOT INVISIBLE—They didn’t have a say or a choice on where they were going to live. They were simply born in this country and so they have to deal with these issues and problems—Issues and problems that NO ONE should have to deal with…let alone young, lonely and precious children.  Let’s STEP UP and make a DECISION to DO SOMETHING…To MOVE and to TAKE ACTION that can literally SAVE A LIFE!    

These twins were a year and a half--But they were SO TINY!!!  Oh my goodness, just tiny! I couldn't get over it...And I have a feeling that this mom is all alone to care and provide for them both. 

 Below, Shelby and I are on the plane headed to Kenya! This flight was only about 2 hours and compared to riding on a 12 hour flight--It felt like 10 MINUTES!! :) It went by SO fast!

You may be wondering how you can help these lonely and precious children…so I’d like to share with you ways that I believe you can truly make a difference.  I know I have shared these ideas before—But I feel like they are so important so I’d like to share them again…. First, PRAY. Pray for these children—Prayer is SO POWERFUL and really does make a difference. Second, DONATE.  Find a Christian-based organization to donate to that will take your money and send it DIRECTLY to these children!  Need specific ideas? Contact me and I can share more with you—But any of these organizations are GREAT ministries that are living out God’s Word and are making a difference in the lives of children and orphans in need.  I would encourage you to youtube/google any or all of these ministries to learn more about them: Katie Davis’s Ministry—Amazima  http://www.amazima.org/  Visiting Orphans—The organization from Tennessee that I went to Africa with…here is their website: http://www.visitingorphans.org/  147 Million Orphans—Two Stay at Home Moms created this organization after going through the adoption process and seeing how much of a NEED these orphans are in! They also partner with Katie Davis! Here is their website: http://www.147millionorphans.com/ ….Fiwagoh Orphange & School—One location we went to in Kenya—I’ll be sharing more details about this! Here is their website: http://www.fiwagoh.org/ …His Little Feet—A choir and ministry that supports the orphans and children in Haiti—I just ordered their CD Yesterday! :) Here is their website: http://www.hislittlefeet.org/ My Father’s House in Uganda started by Rebecca Sorenson. Her website is: http://myfathershouseintl.org/   Ordinary Hero—Another non-profit organization that helps children and orphans around the world—they have a great website, store and blog to follow as well! http://www.ordinaryhero.org/  These are just a few and some of my favorites!! :)  Just contact me if you want to learn more about one of these specific organizations or just take a look at their websites!! :)  I strongly encourage you to  take a look into them and see what they are doing to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ!  You will find many ways that you can help support them!  Next, I’d encourage you to sign up for a mission trip where you can see for yourself how great this orphan crisis is and how many children are in need of food…water…medicine and love!  Seriously, think about it!! I hope to go on many, many MORE trips to LOVE on ORPHANS—Maybe it’d work out to go on a trip together?! No matter what--If you go on a trip I can say with confidence that it WILL change your life forever! Check out Visiting Orphans for trip dates and locations—Maybe one will spark interest to you! Here is their website again: www.visitingorphans.org  Lastly, …and this is a BIG one...but such an IMPORTANT one! ….Are you ready? …ADOPT!  Yes—Adopt!!  Do you know HOW many kids would LOVE to have you be their mommy and daddy?  Who would love to feel your LOVE and COMPASSION for them?  Who would love to have you be their FOREVER FAMILY? You can do it—Why can’t you do it?  And please don’t say you don’t have money to do it—I’ve heard that excuse way too many times…There are SO many organizations out there that are willing to help and support you...there are fundraisers you can do…In America, we are SO SPOILED and we have WAY TO MUCH!  We spend our money way to carelessly...If we just started to cut back and pray about what we spend our money on--I strongly feel like we'd be able to save a lot more money for a much BIGGER purpose! Plus—It’s GODS MONEY anyway.  He WILL provide! Do you know how I know this?  Because HE DID IT FOR ME!  Shelby and I were on a very tight budget before we signed up for this trip and I started to doubt myself thinking I couldn’t do it…I could never find, earn or come up with the money—especially both of us!  I had too many expenses at the time...We didn’t have the money—But YET, God DID…and we ended up getting EXACTLY what we needed just before we left!  Put your Faith in HIM—Don’t let this world bring you down…don’t be negative…Don't give in to useless spending...Just BELIEVE and put your TRUST in HIM—The ONE who CREATED HEAVEN & EARTH! Surely He WILL PROVIDE FOR YOU!

I’d like to leave you with a quote that Katie Davis shared on Facebook the other day and I pray that you let it soak into your heart and that you make a decision to live by this quote.  It’s a quote that I think about each and every day—Which is why I am not letting money stand in my way of helping to change the world for God’s Precious Children…

“There will never be a day when I stand before God and He says, ‘I wish you would have kept more for yourself.’ I’m confident that God will take care of me.” —David Platt

The Source of the Nile & Amazima!~

Before heading out this morning, our team had the opportunity to take a boat ride and go on a tour of the source of the Nile River.  I was super excited about this because who would have thought that I’d have the chance to visit—(let alone go on a boat ride) the world’s longest river!!!  It was such a fun and neat experience! I loved it!:) 

After our boat ride our team went to Amazima Ministries to spend time with Katie Davis and the many children in her feeding program.  I was so excited to see Katie and to see what her life was like in person…Prior to our trip I had read Katie’s story and had seen pictures through her blog at: www.amazima.org   Her blog is so great, so I would really encourage you to check it out and get to know more about Katie and her ministry.  She also has a personal blog, which is where I’ve done most of my reading from and you can find this blog at:  www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com She is such an inspiring girl and as a heart to change the world by loving and reaching out to God’s precious children.  So, knowing that I was going to finally meet her and be able to spend time with all of the precious children she cares for was SUCH an honor for me!  She truly IS CHANGING the WORLD to all of the orphans and children that come into her life!!!  Also, let me add that she is around 23 years old—I think that’s what she had told us when we were visiting her—Not sure when her birthday is but I do know she is 23 years old…Ummm, that’s how old I AM!  The start of her journey began when she was a senior in high school!! WOW! :)  I’m so proud of her for following her heart and for doing God’s will at such a young age!!  Please fake just a few minutes to watch this video below.  This will give you such a great idea of what Katie is all about and it will also give you a little introduction to her book that’s coming out soon, Kisses from Katie. I am SO EXCITED to purchase this!!!

Here are some pictures of our time with Katie and her children.  She has a feeding program that she does and these children come from all over to get fed just one meal—They may walk many miles…for just ONE meal—They would do ANYTHING…for one good, healthy, solid meal.  While here in America we over eat constantly—Why do you need to stuff our faces?  Why can’t we be thankful and eat just the right amount of food and portion size?  Why do we have to always order more than we need and THROW AWAY perfectly good tasting food?!?  While these children STARVE….and ACHE with HUNGER?? WHY….I don’t understand and I don’t get it!  When Katie feeds these children as many as 300-400 children arrive to receive her food and to receive her unconditional LOVE.  As Katie states in her video… “As someone who calls themselves a Christian, it is very apparent that you are to love the Lord with all your heart and you are to love your neighbor as yourself…And like myself doesn’t want to be starving—And so I don’t want other people in the world to be starving.” How POWERFUL is that statement? WOW! Go Katie!!:)  If you watched the video you would also see that she is a mother of 14 beautiful girls—How wonderful and remarkable is THAT!!!

As soon as we got there we did worship with the children.  It was really so incredible!  There were SO many children and they were ALL so respectful and content with listening to a little bible story and with singing worship songs.  Ahh..this was really another one of my favorite times!!  Plus, it helped that I had sweet little Jane sitting and cuddling on my lap the whole time! :)  If you look at Katie’s personal blog and go back quite a few stories by clicking on “Read Older Posts” you will be able to read and learn more about Jane.

Picture Below: All of the children waiting in line patiently--And I'm in the back with little miss Jane! :)  

 Picture Below: They prepare, package & fill a ton of bags w/ food for the children to bring back to their families in the village.

All of these kids continue to amaze me with how well they listen and how respectful they are!

The next two pictures are pictures of Jenny feeding & serving all of these children.  She is from Alabama & was just such a fun girl to have on our team.  She is also a photographer so she has so many awesome pictures from our time in Africa--All of the pictures with the black outline are pictures she snapped!:) But these next 2 pictures I took of her while she was helping to feed these children--SO cool!!! 

These next pictures show the wonderful playgound Katie was able to provide for these children!  She had received a very high donation from someone back in the U.S. that said something a long these lines--"Please use this money for something fun...something the kids will enjoy!"  So, they built a playground!!! :) I was SO in love with this and couldn't help but smile at the JOY that I saw in all of the children from being able to act like a kid and play on the playgound.  It was GREAT!!!



Below is a picture of Shelby with Katie & one of her little daughters!  Katie was just leaving for the afternoon to go bring her home to take a little nap! :)

Today was so wonderful to finally meet Katie! It was just so awesome to me being able to see everything in person!  I pray and encourage you all to go out and purchase Kisses from Katie! I know a lot of—if not all the proceeds from the book will go to her Amazima Ministries!  What a simple and fun way to help support and build-up her ministry!!

Day 6--The Women of Karamajong

Today was such a touching day for me. We went to visit with the women of the Karamagian village.  I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect there, but I was just blown away by all of the wonderful women I met!  These women are known as the “Least of the Least”…they are so poor…and literally have NOTHING. Their houses are made of mud and sticks—MUD AND STICKS!!  As a child my sisters and I would go outside and build tree houses similar to this for fun and to play pretend.  But these women LIVE LIKE THIS!!!  They have no other option…No other choice! 

                                                                     Bathroom....

The same mud that we drive on here in Africa is the same mud that are the walls of their houses!  If you stop and just think about it….it seriously just breaks your heart!! … Why someone has to live like this??  WHY…Why God? But yet, when we got to their village…I was blown away by their kindness…blown away by their hearts…and realized that although they physically don’t have much—Spiritually they have A LOT!  They live…I mean really LIVE for God each and every day!  They have such serving hearts and are grateful for the little that they do have.  Oh how they were SO HAPPY when we came!  They just loved having us there and were so excited to have “white” people…(“muzungos” as they call us) in their village!  We got there and they showed us some of the necklaces, bracelets, bowls and rugs that they made.  Honestly, these women are SO crafty and creative!  Their items that they made are SO beautiful!!  And don’t worry—we made sure we bought a bunch of these items to help support them!!!  I think we actually bought everything they had!!! Plus, all of their stuff is so awesome and unique! :) I got an Acacia Necklace, a mat/rug, a purse, and a little bowl. 

After this we did introductions where they got to learn a little bit about us and we got to hear their stories.  We then sang them songs to them to help encourage and bring hope to them…We sang this song at the prisons and at all of the other locations we went to!  Here are the lyrics.  This song is SO BEAUTIFUL and SO TOUCHING…It brings tears to my eyes every time we sing this song…because this song is so fitting for everyone…but especially these people!! It goes like this:

“I will pray…In Jesus name…and believe…that things will change….I will pray…In Jesus name…and Believe…that things will change…for I know Jesus hears me when I pray…so I won’t worry or be afraid…I will Pray…In Jesus name…and believe…things will change…I will pray—In Jesus name.” 

We had a translator explain to them what we were singing and they all just smiled and clapped…you could tell they were all very moved by this, as were all of us! After singing we were able to show them how we make friendship bracelets…They were all excited to learn something new so that they had new items they could sell in the markets.  It is also just so crazy how these women pick up on this stuff!!  They seriously are SO TALENTED and have so many wonderful gifts!  We were able to leave a ton of fabric and string with them so THANK YOU ALL for who helped donate this!!! :)  They couldn’t believe it when we told them this big bag was for them!! They were truly so thankful and appreciative! 



A Mud House!!:)

One thing that I also wanted to share with you was how the children in the village reacted when we first go to the village.  Throughout the trip we were so used to having the children RUN UP TO US and SMILE!! AND CLAP!!! AND WAVE!!! AND CHEER!!!  They were always SO excited to see Muzungos!! It was seriously like we were famous or something because EVERYWHERE we went we were the ONLY white people!  And, when people saw us—They would either look a little confused and seemed to wonder what we were doing there?!?? Or, they would get SO EXCITED and HAPPY!!!  --Especially the children, they were ALWAYS happy!! I have told this to so many people but when we would ride through the towns and the markets it was seriously like a parade!  We would have our windows open and we would be waving and smiling and handing out silly bands, candy and gum to as many children as we could!! AND, this is the sad part—When we would give them ONE little silly band…they would hold it in their hands and look up at us with the BIGGEST SMILE on their face!!!!  Oh my goodness you guys—One silly band!?  How little and cheap is that and it meant the WORLD to them!! Oh, how I loved seeing their faces light up like that!! :) Anyways, wherever we went the kids literally came running towards us with excitement!   So, when we got to this village we were just assuming that these children would be like all of the rest..And we started going up to them—super friendly of course! Smiling, saying hi to them and being as warm and welcoming as we could…When all of a sudden they started screaming and crying and ran away!!  They were SO frightened—It was so sad!  I seriously could have cried…I felt SO bad.  Here I was thinking, “They’re going to come running up to us and give us hugs and hang on us the whole time!”  Which I LOVED (and I miss so much now that I’m back in America!) but instead it was the complete opposite.  Our team leader Diana saw that we all felt so bad and she did a good job at calming us down and reminded us that this was probably the very FIRST time they had seen white people and how we must have looked SO different to them.  However, for the most part, the longer we stayed and the more they saw how we were helping and getting along great with the older women, they started to warm up to us.  Some kids we okay with coming up to us and getting a Silly Band from us…While others stayed back and watched.  One little boy that came up to me and got a Silly Band went back to his friends and was all excited about what I gave him.  He was showing them and he started nudging them towards us…Basically telling them that it was okay…that we were nice…and that we would give them a special little gift.  But, there were still a few kids that didn’t want anything to do with us, so that little boy came up and got a couple to bring back to them.  Once he handed it to them their unsure—sort of scolded looks turned into great BIG SMILES!:)  It was so fun for me to just observe them and watch their reactions!! 

 After spending time in this village we went to another school where we played for a little while with all of the children.  It was SO CUTE!!  We arrived and were waiting outside in the open grass…when all of a sudden the children got let out and came RUNNING and were CHEERING and LAUGHING as they came to us.  They were SO excited to have people come and spend time with them.  Really—This is all they want!  Just our time…love…devotion…and support!  Why can’t we do this??...This is what God has called us to do…We have MORE than enough here in America.  Yes, right now our economy isn’t all that great—But to so many countries throughout the world we are still SO SPOILED ROTTEN!!  So why can’t we do this?  …James 1:27 states what we’re supposed to be doing clearly…so why the hesitation?  Why the doubt?  Why the excuses?  When the Bible—GOD’S WORD boldly explains how we are to live and look after orphans.  Yes, we are to care for them…Yes, we are to help widows…Yes, we are supposed to not give into the ways of this life and the ways of this world…We are not supposed to be corrupted or spoiled in everything that this world offers and throws at us.  Please do something—ANYTHING that will help these children and widows in need.  I strongly believe with my whole heart that if we can RISE UP as the body of Christ we CAN—And we WILL make a HUGE difference!  Who is with me? :)  Who will follow and live up to what God has called each and every one of us to do? I pray so badly that you will do something—whatever it is that you can, and so do these orphans around the world…because they do desperately need you!

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted (clean) from the world.” —James 1:27