Muli mutya!

Muli mutya! Hello everyone. My name is Kevin and I am getting more excited about this trip each day. I must be honest and say my first feelings about this trip were ones of fear and anxiety. I know the things I am going to see and experience in Uganda are going to be like no other experiences I've ever had. I have seen and been in the midst of many extreme, horrific and scary situations in my line of work. But what awaits us in Uganda I know will break my heart. And my heart needs to be broken. My prayer is and has been for a while now that God will crush me - the selfish me, the greedy me, the apathetic me, the intrinsically lazy me, the spoiled American me, the foolish me, the wasteful me, the impatient me, the uncaring me. The me who has a totally screwed up worldview and a totally screwed up Kingdomview. I know I need to be brought to a place where where God can reach me and show me where He wants me to be and the part I am to play in furthering His kingdom in my short time here on earth.

I am so weak. But God is so good, faithful and strong.

My other prayer is that God, through our team, will meet a specific need that is being prayed for by Christian brothers and sisters in Uganda right now. I don't know what it is, but God laid it on my heart tonight as I drove to church that a specific need is being prayed for in Uganda. I asked God to please allow our team to meet and fulfill that need (however big or small) for the sole reason that He would be glorified and faith would be strengthened on both sides of the globe. I prayed that we would refuse to accept any responsibility or praise for what is done but that it would be directed only to Him. Oh to be His hands and feet!

Isaiah 52:7 "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"

My God reigns! I can serve Him! I can be His ambassador! Me! Wow that's crazy but so simple. God wants to use us. Why has that been so hard to get through my thick skull? He wants to use us right here where we are - right now. We don't need to trek the globe to serve Him. Use me today Lord!

Like I said, my excitement increases as the time draws closer and as I listen for His voice.

Tomorrow, on April Fools' Day, I am gonna try to be a "fool for Christ" and pay good money to get poked full of holes so I don't catch the bubonic plague in Africa! It will be the sweetest pain I've ever experienced!

My Hope is in the Lord.
Kevin

I'm Elicia!

My intro's going to be a little shorter, but I'm the second youngest member of our team at 20 and am a junior at Simpson University studying Outdoor Leadership, (I want to work at a camp full time someday). I have done short term missions trips within the U.S. before, but never anything of this magnitude. This past fall I was trying to put a trip together to go to Nicaragua with a team from my school, but it didn't work and when I started praying about this trip I understood why.

Working with kids has always been one of my passions and as much as I'm scared to go work with all the orphans we'll be meeting I know God will use it to wreck me, in the best possible way. As we're preparing for the trip I ask for prayer that I continue to focus on God through the heartbreaking things that I'm going to see. For me not to get a super hero complex and think I can do all these things to help people, but continue to rely on God to protect all the people and children we come into contact with. Also just that God continues to refine in me a heart of service.

Thank you all so much for your prayers.

Hello!

So this is how excited (times about 47......million) I am to be a part of this team! And to be going on THIS trip. God's timing is absolutely perfect!

Hello! My name is Lashae. I am 17 and will be the youngest person on our team. This makes me laugh because I am the oldest of 5 kids in my family but will be the "baby" on the trip.

Anyways...I have dreamed of doing "missions" for most of my life. Someday I hope to go to India but right now (and for almost the past year) I have had no bigger dream than to go to Uganda and serve orphans, widows and the poorest of the poor! One of the greatest parts about this trip, is that I get to go with my dad and uncle. I am so excited to share this experience with the the two men I look up to most.

On this trip there will be many "firsts" for me: I have never travelled outside of the western part of the U.S. I have never been away from home for more than a week. Never have I been on a plane for more than 3 hours. Nor have I had to wear a skirt for more than one day in a row. To be honest I haven't seen poverty in the least (helping at a soup kitchen is as close as I've been). And so many, many other things that I can't even imagine will all be very, very new to me.

But I am so very ready. I'm excited and I am willing to let God use me however He wants. My prayer is, that going to a place and doing things so different from what I have ever experienced, that I will be able to go with fresh eyes and a fresh heart and see it in a way no one else on the team will. I pray (and I hope you will pray with me) that my heart will be broken and my mind will be blown, but in the best way possible. I want Christ to show me His heart for this place and its people and that I wont be crushed but that I will be empowered and fueled by the Holy Spirit to move forward and make a difference. A big part of this trip for me is to get my feet wet and see what it is I can do, what needs to be done and what God would have me do in the future. This is a big step for me and I am totally stoked!

Uganda 2010 is going to be a journey, an adventure and truly LIFE-changing. Because we serve a God who loves to change lives, and already in the past year my life has RADICALLY changed, all because of Christ and much of it has been in waiting and preparation for this trip.

So I want to thank you who are praying for us and encouraging us as we embark on a wonderful adventure for Jesus. It's gonna be grand.

32 days to take off!

Wow! 32 days? It's hard to believe we leave so soon! But departure is coming. Faster than I can even begin to imagine. We, (the team going to Uganda), created this blog for all of you praying for us to find out what to pray for and learn about us while we prepare for our trip and are in Uganda. The plan is that we will all put a little intro up about who we are, why we feel called to go on this trip, and what we specifically need prayer for. Then while we're in country one of us will try to write a new post everyday with updates on what's been happening with us that day and, again, what we need prayer for.

So thank you for all of your support, we're all excited to see how God is going to use us through this experience and how he is going to teach us to grow through it. Please begin praying now for God to truly prepare our hearts and the hearts of those that we come in contact with in Uganda and as we get ready to leave.

We have been going through 40 days of prayer as we prepare for our trip and I want to share today's passage with you. The prayer for today is for unity among the team, prayer warriors, and all those involved. The verse is Romans 15:5-6 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.