Kapelebyong--AMAZING MUST SEE

Check out this AMAZING video that Dan Smoker made after their trip to Uganda. This was from Kapelebyong, where they visited on Sunday.

If you'd like to be a part of what HopeChest is doing in Uganda. . .you could always sponsor me in the half marathon!!!!! Click HERE to donate. . make sure you write "Half Marathon-Brandi" in the notes section!

Greg's blog Uganda Day 5

Uganda Day 5

Today we went to church at Kapelabyong, which is also in the Teso region of Uganda. Apparently they knew that we were coming as every local leader was there, including the region’s member of parliament (aka MP) who came to greet us. These people are some of the folks who benefited from the Feed the Forgotten campaign a few months back. It was really a blessing to me to go to visit with them and meet some of the people who we had been praying for.
Vince Giordano from Children’s HopeChest was asked to preach and shared a powerful message from Psalm 91. The message was very timely and I believe that his words brought hope to all those were there. After the sermon Vince invited people who would like prayer to come down and our team along with the local pastors prayed for those in need. It was a very cool experience! There was a language barrier but somehow it all worked. Nate a Pastor at Vintage 21 in Raleigh, NC was asked to dedicate a baby, which quickly turned into 7 babies, it was a special moment and something we all will remember for a long time.
I had the opportunity to pray for a women named Grace. She was brought to me by the local pastor and because she didn’t speak English he asked on her behalf for me to pray as she had been diagnosed with a tumor and didn’t have the ~$350 needed to pay for the surgery to remove the tumor. I really felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit and began to seek more information. I knew that we had the money to pay for the surgery but I wanted to be sure that we had all the information. I prayed for her and asked the translator to remember her so that we would be able to locate her after church. Church ended and I went to find Grace. Joseph our country director and David the country sponsorship coordinator spoke with her, and after consulting with her husband and pastor decided that we would pay to have her and her family come to Soroti to see the doctor in town and asses the need. I am anxious to hear the diagnosis.
At every site we have seen the needs have been great, however this was one of the worst that I have ever seen. Through dollars that you gave we were able to provide food for 40 days for 170 orphans . I promise you it was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Passing out food to children (some as young as 3) and having to tell them that we could only give them 7 kilos was heartbreaking! I am not sure what to do with the pain and struggles that these children live with. Thankfully we had enough to provide all of the most vulnerable children food, and we were even able to provide for several child headed households. Their stories are particularly hard and my prayer is that God will provide hope to the hopeless and provide wisdom as we look for sustainable solutions for these children.
We spent the evening at Joseph house with his family and David’s family it was wonderful to be with them to have some great Ugandan food and just enjoy being together. They are special people and have a heart for the orphans of Uganda.

Uganda Day 4

Isn’t it just like God to take what you are learning and give you the opportunity to apply it almost immediately? That’s how I feel about the day we’ve had. Today we went to a remote village in the TESO region of Uganda called Nagariam, this is an area that has been devastated by drought, famine and violence. They live in constant fear that the Karamojong (a nomadic tribe that is considered primitive) will attack their village murder the men and rape the women and children. HIV/AIDS is also a tremendous burden on these people and has caused an orphan crisis of epidemic proportions.
Well back to my opening statement…last night our devotions were on compassion which literally means to suffer with (from the latin Cum and Passio), and I used the example of the Good Samaritan to outline my thoughts. Well fast forward to lunch time today and we arrive at Nargarium and almost immediately our team spreads out and begins to explore the village and talk to people. Two of the guys on our team happened on a scene unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced. As they entered the village they saw an old woman laying in the dirt with open sores on her feet, filthy, desperate and wanting to die. To complicate matter a younger women (who we later determined was her daughter in law) was screaming hateful things at her as she lay there waiting to die. People walked by as if nothing was wrong with this scenario but the guys from our team couldn’t.
They returned and got the two ladies on our team, unsure of how, or even if we would be able to help. They headed back to her hut to see how they could help. This presented a unique opportunity and an uncanny parallel to the parable of the Good Samaritan. Those who should have helped didn’t and a stranger in the land stepped up to the task.
The ladies were able to clean her up as she hadn’t been bathed in over two weeks, they dressed the open sores on her feet and hands and if just for a moment relieved her pain. They saw a huge transformation in her demeanor, she went from asking to die to smiling and thanking them for helping her. What a powerful moment in their lives, they lived out the passage where Christ says whatever you have done to the least of these you have done unto me also. It is still difficult to process and I believe that it will take quite some time to work through.
The remainder of the day was great, this is a place in great need and we were able to do a few basic things that will have a dramatic and long term impact. First we were able to help bridge the gap between now and when the site will be sponsored by providing 80 days of food for ~300 people...literally the dollars that you gave saved lives. Secondly we were able to repair one of their three wells (all three were not working). The village of 4957 people have clean water once again. Thank you Lord for your provision for the people of Nagariam.
I am excited to see what God has in store for us, and I am thankful to be a part of partnering churches with orphan communities here in Uganda.
More to come…

Video - Day 4

Child Sponsorship Changing My Life

Uganda Day Three

Today was a very special day for me and a testament to the impact of child sponsorship. Today was the day that I got to meet Mauwa Nayikoba our sponsored child at Nabukalu Home of

Champions. Let me first preface what I am about to write by saying that I am not an overly emotional guy (big surprise to those of you who

know me), but the act of child sponsorship has truly changed my heart and I must say that I have grown to love Mauwa, prior to ever meeting her.

When Brandi met Mauwa on our first trip to Uganda, I was very sick and had to stay at behind at the Executive Hotel (which is a story for another time, let’s just say that I vowed never to go back). Mauwa’s father had died some time ago and her mother had just died a few weeks before. Mauwa is very shy by nature and Brandi spotted her sitting off by herself. Brandi has been given the gift of compassion and went over to her and put her arm around her. This was all that was needed to unearth the pain and the grief that this 13 year old little girl was feeling…she openly wept and Brandi’s heart broke for this child who was now all alone in the world.

Jamin, my good friend and the pastor of Summit Church, Naples was on that first trip to Uganda with us and his church decided to sponsor the Home of Champions. Their sponsorship Sunday was March 19^th and Brandi and I decided that we would go down to Naples to be a part of their launch weekend. As we sat at Jamin and Vicky’s home organizing sponsorship packets Brandi came across Mauwa packet and she looked at me and without saying a word I knew that we would be sponsoring Mauwa.

As a child sponsor with Children’s HopeChest you are encouraged to live relationship with your sponsored child and the primary means of relationship is through letter writing. I made a commitment to take this responsibility very seriously, so I scheduled into every Monday morning’s calendar 15 min. to write Mauwa and I have been consistent, I have written to her every week since we accepted her into our family. Through this process I have grown to love her and the 15 minutes I spend writing her and sharing my week, a Bible story and memory verse are one of the highlights of my week!

Well today it came full circle and I had the opportunity to meet her face to face. Brandi had prepared me for the fact that she is very shy, so it was no surprise to me when a timid 13 year old approached and me and kneeled and bowed her head (a traditional greeting for girls when they meet men). I stood her up and hugged her and God allowed me to see a small piece of the heart he has for all His children. She has been so wounded and is so beaten down but there is a God who loves her and is committed to her far more than she can ever know, and that God that cares for and protects her is the same God who loves and protects me. The small sacrifice that we as a family make (which honestly is no sacrifice at all if I really boil it down) is meaningless in light of the sacrifice that our heavenly father has made on our behalf.

Mauwa knows that she is loved. My commitment is to continue to be a point of consistency in her life where there is no other earthly consistency. Lord, thank you for allowing Greg, Brandi, Brayden, Davis and Gracie to be a part of the redemptive love and compassion you show to Mauwa. Thank you for the leadership of Children’s HopeChest and the vision they have to follow the call of James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless it is this: to look after orphans and widows in their time of distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” and even more their desire to see every man, women and child impacted and changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It has been a great day…I feel incredibly blessed, and am grateful that I have the opportunity to play a small part in the things that He cares about.

On a separate note it was also a day of personal growth…I returned to Executive Hotel, a place that I vowed never to go, and still harbor significant resent for. But I overcame and even visited the scene of the crime. And, in a show of good faith I did visit the restroom and this time it was a MUCH better experience J

****For those of you who don’t know the story be glad, but let’s just say that it involves a squatter toilet, the worst food poising of my life, and no running water…UGHH

Uganda VIDEO!

Amy posted this on her blog! Oh HOW FUN!!! It made me cry happy tears. . .I LOVED seeing my friends experience the joy of Rapha! Wait till you watch it. . bet it'll make you SMILE!

An Orphan's Faith

This post is from Ben Savage. . you know, Amy's hubby! I love the team that God has in Uganda right now with Greg and after reading a tweet from Ben earlier yesterday, I asked him if he'd write out more of his story. . here are his thoughts. . be challenged and encouraged.

"Today I walked into a world unlike any other that I have experienced.
I arrived two days ago with a team from Children’s HopeChest to visit
orphan communities in the hopes of creating connections between our
world of plenty and their world of want. As we drove through the
towns, I witnessed a bizarre mixture of beauty, despair and hope. The
landscape was truly astounding. There were many imaginative and
hardworking people who had used what little resources that could
muster to create businesses that were showing signs of success. The
next sight I would see would be a child naked, in a ramshackle mud hut
with no one to care for them.

In this strange stew of images we pulled into Rapha Community School,
a community that is sponsored by a church in Florida through
Children’s HopeChest. We were greeted by 150 children in white shirts
and orange smocks. The children were not exactly what I expected.
True, their situation was more dire than any I’ve seen, but the
children shone like the sun. Their smiles were bright and filled with
pride and dignity. The children greeted us individually and thanked
us for coming. I only wish my children acted this respectfully.
After we toured the community, we were escorted to their schoolroom.
The room consisted of a small map of the world, a few old posters and
rough hewn benches.

The children sang a welcome to us. They danced and recited Gods words
to us. I was challenged and changed by all of this. And then there
was Sarah, who read Matthew 6 aloud. Sarah, who, from all earthly
perspectives should be disabled with despair for her future spoke of
faith. She is an orphan who has depended on God to deliver food,
shelter and all other earthly needs. She had suffered loss and pain
that people in my community would have spent countless dollars on
therapy to recover from, but today Sarah spoke to me of faith. She
read

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will

eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at
the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to
his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field
grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God
clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of
little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What
shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all
these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of
its own.” Matthew 6:25-34

To hear a lovely child of God with a gleaming face recite those words
to me was the high point and most devastating moment for me. The
thought that Sarah, who has good reason to worry about tomorrow would
unassumingly speak those challenging words to us fairly contented and
well fed Americans destroyed me. That we worry more about the news
from Hollywood than the desperation found around the world was nothing
short of life changing. While our culture is so consumed with anxiety
and fear, here was little Sarah exemplifying faith and courage. She
read the words but I could see that she felt them too and that she
felt them deeply.

I have always loved that passage and thought about it as a cute
phrasing of my simple faith. But today I heard it as a life mantra
that was spoken from the core of this small framed girl. It was the
throwing down of the gauntlet. And the question that confronts me now
as I sit in my Ugandan hotel and Sarah sleeps in her mud hut is “What
will I do to respond?” I have been blessed - not so much that I am
rich in my own community necessarily, but I am insanely rich in a
global context. I have also been exposed to enough of the
difficulties that these communities face that I can no longer hide
behind ignorance. Do I truly believe that these children are more
valuable than my cable television? I am the “I want my MTV”
generation. As Africa burns I live in comfort and ease while I CAN
make a difference in the lives of others but will I choose to? What
sacrifice have I been willing to make to help fulfill God’s promise of
care to others? I will live differently from this day forward.
Have mercy on me God, though I truly don’t deserve it. I have for too
long ignored your call to love those who are broken and abused. Help
me capture and hold onto the conviction, sorrow, and joy reflected in
Sarah’s eyes today. And thank you for showing me a picture of your
heart through these broken but not forgotten children in Rapha. I am
devastated and changed. Thank you, sweet Lord."

Uganda Day 2

Uganda Day2

Wow full day, that was really great! Morning started out the guest house in Kampala, I was up very early (I even beat the cooks to the kitchen). I guess when you combine a short bed and poor sleep habits you don’t get to sleep. Oh well, life goes on.

We headed to the bank to change money, didn’t get as great a rate as the dollar has decreased in value since May…we got 1963UGS to $1USD which by the way when you are changing close to $10k is a lot of bills...it was (and is) a bit disconcerting carrying around ~18,000,000 UGS. I feel like I’m loaded! Maybe I’ll pour the money out on the bed and roll around in it. I’ve always wanted to do that J

We went to Rapha which was great, it really felt like we were going home, as Tom Davis said Rapha is a part of Westwood Church. It was great to see Arthur, he sends his greetings to Westwood Church and Pastor Jon.

As many of you know Rapha is the community that our church sponsors and in addition to being a foster care/orphanage they are also a school. They serve approximately 200 additional children above and beyond the 50 sponsored by Westwood. During Brandi’s visit in May we were able to build a kitchen for Rapha and additionally we raised funds to feed the ~200 kids lunch for an entire semester. Well the funds have run out and the food Is nearly gone so as a group we decided to buy posha and beans for all the children for the next 40 days. They were so excited and it really is an amazing thing that God allows us to bless others in this way. Know that the financial sacrifice that you made is feeding people….beautiful children born into poverty, without a hope and future, and you get to be God’s hands and feet .

From there we went Katie’s and were able just to hang out with her and her girls. She is well but is recovering from Typhoid. She is such a neat girl and truly has a heart and passion for the people of Uganda…she shared her story with the group which was first time that many of our team heard it. She is such a blessing to me and a challenge as I consider the blessings that I have been given and the way I try so desperately to hold on to the things that really don’t matter.

I have enjoyed the last two days but I know that the sites that are ahead of us will be much more difficult and I look forward to seeing the way that God will use us.

For Brandi, I wish you were here, I know that it is a struggle for you not to and I love that about you. I love you very much!

Greg's First UG post!

yep, I'm letting Greg take over my blog again. . but this time he's being serious! He is in Uganda right now! He's leading a trip of some of our amazing friends and some cool new people he's just meeting. I should have a new blog post every day or so from him or someone else on the trip! Read on. . and be praying! (not just for their trip, but for my aching heart while they are there and I am not!)

Day One- Travel Today started well, I woke up at the Weir’s home in Houston bright and early thanks to Bob Mudd J Bob called to pray with me prior to getting on a flight to Alabama . In Bob’s defense he thought that I had an early flight. Really appreciate his heart and his commitment to the work of HopeChest. Had a great morning, even got a quick workout in. Russ worked from home for the morning and after a parting trip to Chick-fil-a we headed to the Houston airport. Really easy and very fast trip through check in and security (which made for a lot of free time at the gate). One minor hitch to remember for future trips, they wouldn’t allow my back pack to qualify as a personal item so I had to check my carry on. After a little pleading with them they checked it for free. They wanted to charge me $150 but after explaining to them that the two checked bags were full of donations they agreed to check the 3rd. The flight to Amsterdam was fine, had an exit row seat but very little/no sleep. The couple sitting next to me were one of those couples, very nice, but listened to their earphones the entire trip, and talked all night (at a level loud enough to be heard over the earphones) Brandi will be proud of me, I fought the urge to say something and for the first time, won. Arrived in Amsterdam and met up with most of the team. Really excited about the team we have …it should be good. We have folks from all over the country and it is a very diverse group of people, but the cool thing is that they are passionate about God’s work and are committed to engaging the local church in ministry to the orphan. I am sitting on the flight to Uganda right now, we should arrive around 8:30 pm and we’ll spend the night at a guesthouse near Kampala. Tomorrow will be good… heading to Rapha (pictures will follow) and then to visit our friend Katie Davis. I know that there isn’t much content to the post…sorry… I’ve been sitting on a plane and there’s not much exciting about that. I promise you that the future posts will be better, even if I have to get someone else to write them. J I got word from our country director Joseph that it has been raining which is a huge blessing as Uganda has had a drought for the majority of the year. There are tens of thousands of people facing starvation as the lack of rain directly impacts the food supply. Praise God for the rain it is needed, the problem is that it may make some of the roads impassable which may require some flexibility on our parts. God has a plan and a purpose for this trip and I am confident that it will all work out. We would greatly appreciate your prayers. More to come… can’t wait to get to Rapha. Oh and by the way I am really tired! Day One continued We arrived at the guest house…it is very nice, and we had a great dinner at ~11:00pm followed by an hour of organizing our physical donations as well as cash donations…praise God we received hundreds of pairs of underwear, thousands of pencils, a suitcase full of vitamins, balls, clothes, and toys. God also provided just short of $10,000 for us to meet needs on the ground! We got some pictures of us organizing the donations and as soon as I get high speed internet we will upload some.