Uganda day 5

We just realized tomorrow is Thursday! Our time here is going by fast. This morning we visited a baby cottage. No Team has ever visited there before. The woman runnig it said she was doing her best to fulfill a vision she had as a child- to take care of the abandoned and show them Jesus. She is struggling financially to fulfill this, but is still taking care of 13 infants, whose parents did not want them. She is working on her adoption paperwork so that people can adopt from her home. When we asked what she needed she told us diapers, clothes, and baby toys. We gave her a small bag that we had left from donations. Travis and I held Baby Elijah and Baby Somali. They were absolutely precious, and to know that they did t have mommies or daddies broke my heart! As we left we have the woman doing the orphanage enough money to cover the rent for a whole year. She wept. She had not mentioned money to us at all but our team felt led to give to her. After we gAve it she told us that her landlord was threatening to kick her out and that her rent was due tomorrow, but she had prayed about how to pay it because she had NO money! We all cried with her because Gods provision was more han evident in that moment. It was a moment I will never forget. After we left there, we went to pillars of hope ministry and played with the street children there. All they wanted was our touch. We sang and they sang for us. It was beautiful! When we came back we did VBS with the Canaan's kids. We turned rope for a long time and then Travis and I played soccer with some of the younger boys! We even set up a small make shift soccer clinic and did a few dribbling drills with them! We had a ball and they were all smiles. Today I am so thankful for what God is doing in these children's lives. They love hearing about Jesus and they are so happy to sing and dance and play soccer around rocks and flip flops! God is breaking my heart in a way words can't describe. I'm so thankful for these past 5 days and looking forward to tomorrow. We work with the Karamajong tribe.

-Kristen

Uganda days 3 and 4

So we just got Internet thanks to welch here at Canaan's. The past two days have been emotional, fun, and exhausting. We made it to Canaan's last night and I'm telling you when we got off the bus it was like body surfing- the kids were literally picking us up and lifting us out of the bus.They were so excited to see us! They were yelling Muzungus,Muzungus (white people)! We chatted for a bit and then Had dinner. Today we went to the Amani Baby Cottage. I'll post more in depth when I get home, but my heart was truly broken. Some of the kids were orphans and waiting to be adopted. Others simply have parents who can't care for them. I held a sweet boy who was HIV positive in my arms and just wanted him to know how much he was loved! We held and kissed and hugged so many children! They are truly precious in the sight of the Father. After Amani we came back to canaans and did VBS with the little kids. We then spent hours drawing, singing, and playing with the kids. I also helped Auntie Daisy give her 19 house kids a bath! It was the hilight of my day! They were just so sweet and wanted to hold onto every touch, hug, word and kiss! I am amazed the difference the Lord is able to make in these kids lives through a bunch of Muzungus.

Maybe more tomorrow!
Kristen
Disclaimer: I'm typing from an IPhone... Spelling is not the easiest! :)

Uganda day 2

I cannot describe what my heart feels after today! We spent the morning worshiping with Pastor Samuel and Return Ministries. We sang and then fed the kids the rice and beans that we had prepurchased. This is the only meal many of these kids could receive in the next couple days. The kids grabbed my hands, played with my watch, and traced my veins with their fingers. They jumped all over Travis and just wanted him to pick them up And hold them. We did the hokey pokey and played ring a round the rosie. They love the simple things! This afternoon we drove a ways And visited the village of some of the orphans. We delivered the bags so many of you donated to. Pastor Samuels wife told us that the people were ecstatic! The adults clapped when we told them we were giving them vitamins! It was more than humbling to see how the smallest things made them so happy! We are eating dinner now and resting a bit for tomorrow. Some of our luggage still hasn't made it! Please keep praying that we get it for supplies. Thanks do much!
-Kristen

We made it!

We traveled all through the night and have made it to adOnai hotel. Everyone is obviously worn out, but still excited! We have a busy day tomorrow so we are taking the rest of tonight to recOver. Pray for the 10 bags that didn't make it here with us! We really need the medical and craft supplies in those bags! What a beautiful country with beautiful people uganda is!

Pray for US!!!

Pray for Our Team in Uganda this week...March 9-18th

1. Pray for good health and safe travel as we travel to and from Uganda.2. Pray for the families of team members while they are gone.3.Pray for widows and orphans as they will be ministered to.4. Pray that the Gospel will be shared and well-received.5. Pray that needs will be met and God's kingdom will grow.
We are so excited y'all!  We need you to pray for us while we are away! Thanks for your love and know that we appreciate your support! We can't wait to share this journey with you when we return! 
Peace and Love~Kristen

9 days...

Until we leave for Uganda....WOW!!!!!

We have been on this journey for quite some time now and it seems so surreal to me that our trip is in 9 days! That means we leave next week! :) :) :) I wish you could see my face as I type this because I am grinning from ear to ear. I cannot tell you how incredibly blessed we feel that the Lord has called us to this journey. It may only be for a short time, but we know that God has us traveling to Uganda for a purpose- His Kingdom's purpose.

We met our fundraising goal!!! We are so thankful for those who supported our decision to go to Uganda and gave to us financially. We pray many blessings to you in return!  We have also been blown away by the amount of generosity that so many people have shown to us and to the Children of the orphanages we will visit. We have received so many clothes, school supplies, medicines, and dollar donations that I could never show my appreciation enough.  Even my students in my classroom have gotten their parents to donate scissors and glue- its just awesome to see my sweet students reaching out to other children they don't even know! We literally put the word out there for items we needed and within minutes and hours, someone on our team posted to our facebook page that the need was met. That's incredible!

My dear husband asked me tonight if we had any plans for Friday night- I said...um yes...PACKING! and a little house cleaning of course.  We'll be ready after this! :)

I will try to post next week a list of things to pray for each day while we are gone. Your prayers are the most important to us!  I'm also hoping to at least post a couple of times while we are there to keep you updated!!

Thank you for being a blessing in our lives-

Peace and Love~
Kristen

Uganda Update/Needs

 We are so close to meeting our fundraising goal for our trip to Uganda...praise the Lord!

We have begun conference calls with our team every Tuesday night. Pray for these calls as we are planning and discussing the needs of the ministries we are serving.

Travis and I are so excited and as we add things to our "packing corner," the reality of this opportunity becomes more and more real. Thank you for your prayers and your sweet support. I wanted to include in this post some items that our team has determined that we need for the children we will be ministering to. Some of the items are things that we will use for Vacation Bible School and then some are simply donations that the orphanage needs. If you can donate anything, please let me know and I will be happy to pick them up from you! What a blessing we can be to these children, even from here! The simple things mean the most to them!


1. Underwear (children and youth sizes for boys and girls, bras too!)

2. Knee Socks- the kids have to wear them to school. We have found them online at Landsend.com so far, but if you know of another place, please let us know!


3. Twin Sheets (any color)

Recently purchased mattresses!

4. Crayons/ Markers

5. Glue dots

6. Please ask the grocery store for paper bags and then after you unload your groceries, save the bags for us!

Thanks everybody!! :) 

Peace and Love~

Kristen