7-30-13
There are still a few small puddles on the ground this morning, so it must have rained good during the night too. Yay!
After Breakfast at the school, we drove through Kachungwa proper, past a government school to visit two church plants that have started out of Kachungwa. We saw lots of banana groves, some cassava, and a little corn. They also grow potatoes, avocados, mangos, papaya, guava and tomatoes around. Sugar cane grows wild. They plant eucaliptus and a few varieties of pine for wood/ scaffolding.
We passed through the Gorode Trading Center where they have a government headquarters and a tiny clinic into Kigando sub-county. We passed a valley full of water that was a government water project. They also do environmental projects. We saw some mud huts with thatching for roof and a section of wall that was just dried banana leaves. Half of our group went to Dyangoma church plant and the rest, including me, went to Melembe. Melembe means peace. There was a small coffee plot near it. The church is a 25x10 ft. mud and stick building. They have started a school there called Cornerstone School. They have 1 real tiny building as a classroom. The school is only P-1 to 3 for now, but we saw a nice group of kids there. Brandon and a few others went to pray at the pastors house, which was 1/4 mile down a foot path to a true mud hut village. Afterwards we had a church service where Brandon preached on the greatest commandment, loving God and the second, loving your neighbor. They did some songs and dances for us. Francis Mecunda, who is the elected chairman for the community, was there and talked to us a bit about the needs of the area; water and a clinic. The closest one is about 10 miles away. Please pray for these two communities.
We ate lunch at Kachungwa and were off to Bagezza Seed Secondary School, which is a government school and one they visited last year. Ashley and Isaac gave their testimonies and Pastors Ken and Sylver spoke. Isaac and Ralph also sang a few songs with guitar. Over 100 kids came forward, but some of those just wanted prayer, etc. Then was tea and dinner back at the hotel.
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday
7-29-13
Praise the living God!
I slept 3 hours last night, but I just read my Bible by headlamp.
We left Town View Hotel at 8:30 and were at breakfast in Kachungwa by 9:30. Sunday School started at 10 and we were all asked to take an age group and teach. Todd and Shari Davis, Brandon and I taught 13-15 year olds. God gave me a lesson about 3 months ago about being a pot. God makes us as a potter does, so that we can be useful to Him. Sometimes he allows us to be baked in the fire to make us stronger, but He watches us and doesn't leave us alone to shatter. He also wants us to choose to put good things into our pot, not rotten fruit, which will corrupt us and take our minds and hearts off of God and His purposes for us. I think they understood most of it, with an interpreter. They sang some songs and asked some questions about a America and I drew a picture of Oregon on the chalkboard for them with Portland, Salem and Canby on it. They think it's funny we have pets.
At 11 church proper started. Ken preached on faith and told them of how we came to be connected to their community. We then had a graduation ceremony for a beautician and 3 seamstresses. They received sewing machines and scissors/mirror to help them start up a business.
Then there was lunch and a parenting seminar. The church was full of parents and they had a few traditional dances that have to do with marriage. There was a question about legal action to make a child go to school. Not knowing Ugandan law, we could only encourage the father to pray with the child and urge them to get the education so they don't continue in poverty. The other question was about the younger generation getting more rebellious and promiscuous (sounds familiar). And we talked about teaching your children from early on what's right and how to love God. There was a big emphasis on love and spending time with their kids.
After that we gave out the gifts we brought. We really missed Rose, the social worker who usually organizes these parts who is on maternity leave, but we got the job done. Then we went back to the hotel and I dozed into my dinner.
PS. It rained for the first time in 3 months as we left Kachungwa. PTL and keep praying!
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
Praise the living God!
I slept 3 hours last night, but I just read my Bible by headlamp.
We left Town View Hotel at 8:30 and were at breakfast in Kachungwa by 9:30. Sunday School started at 10 and we were all asked to take an age group and teach. Todd and Shari Davis, Brandon and I taught 13-15 year olds. God gave me a lesson about 3 months ago about being a pot. God makes us as a potter does, so that we can be useful to Him. Sometimes he allows us to be baked in the fire to make us stronger, but He watches us and doesn't leave us alone to shatter. He also wants us to choose to put good things into our pot, not rotten fruit, which will corrupt us and take our minds and hearts off of God and His purposes for us. I think they understood most of it, with an interpreter. They sang some songs and asked some questions about a America and I drew a picture of Oregon on the chalkboard for them with Portland, Salem and Canby on it. They think it's funny we have pets.
At 11 church proper started. Ken preached on faith and told them of how we came to be connected to their community. We then had a graduation ceremony for a beautician and 3 seamstresses. They received sewing machines and scissors/mirror to help them start up a business.
Then there was lunch and a parenting seminar. The church was full of parents and they had a few traditional dances that have to do with marriage. There was a question about legal action to make a child go to school. Not knowing Ugandan law, we could only encourage the father to pray with the child and urge them to get the education so they don't continue in poverty. The other question was about the younger generation getting more rebellious and promiscuous (sounds familiar). And we talked about teaching your children from early on what's right and how to love God. There was a big emphasis on love and spending time with their kids.
After that we gave out the gifts we brought. We really missed Rose, the social worker who usually organizes these parts who is on maternity leave, but we got the job done. Then we went back to the hotel and I dozed into my dinner.
PS. It rained for the first time in 3 months as we left Kachungwa. PTL and keep praying!
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
Sunday, July 28, 2013
On Top of the World
{This is a little old since I have been unable to get Wifi}
We made it to Uganda! All of the luggage arrived with no issues (we had 31 bags total which took quite a while to locate all of them) and we had no problems getting visas, through customs, etc. We were greeted SO warmly by none other than our very own Ashley Davis, Alex and others from Alex’s church. When we spotted each other it was a grand reunion full of hugs and laughter. I couldn’t wait to give Ashley and Alex a huge hug, it’s been far too long since I’ve seen the both of them. As I’m sitting here on my little net covered bed, thinking about our first day in Uganda I am slightly at a lost for words. Trying to form the right words to describe how I feel is nearly impossible. I definitely have been looking forward to this day for weeks, months, no more like years. The joy, peace, and shear contentment I feel in my heart is overpowering. This whole process; the getting ready, the traveling, the stepping foot off the plane, the meeting and loving on the people here feels as natural as breathing to me. It’s been less than one day and I’m sure with all my heart that Uganda and I will have a future. Not sure how just yet but I can’t wait to find out. God you are great!
Before I dive into what is has been like and what we’ve been doing I wanted to share with you a little bit about our traveling. We had absolutely no internet until we got back in the airport in Dubai.
Written 07/25/2013
Two days, three plane rides, over 9000 miles travelled. Portland to Seattle to Dubai and finally to Uganda. It can easily be said that the 14 hour flight from Seattle to Dubai was the most tiring, and hardest. We happily walked off the plane, stretching our legs after such a long flight. Happy to have a place to rest our heads. I know for me personally I didn’t sleep much the night before we left and on the plane ride but made up for that in Dubai. Most of all we were stoked to be one step closer to being in Uganda. In the short time since we left home God has given us more than enough, showed us great opportunities to talk to people around us about what God is doing in and through the lives of our team. I wanted to share with you an experience I had on our first flight to Seattle.
When boarding our first flight to Seattle, the fifteen of us found ourselves sitting all throughout the plane. None of us had seats together, it was as if we were flying solo. When I have flown before the people I sit next to are usually not all that social. Consumed with their music and are in their own little world. I do that myself most of the time but it is nice when you get lucky and get to sit next to a complete stranger who ends up being a great conversationalist. I think that is fun, meeting new people. Learning about their life, their beliefs, their ideas, thoughts, interests, you name it. Not long after I found my seat I was joined by such a character. We hit it off right away, asking simple questions about each other and the reason for traveling. Once I explained what our team is traveling for, of course he became more interested; allowing our conversation to dive deeper about our trip, what we are doing, life in general, and God. I wish I could go into great detail but it was a 30 minute conversation that couldn’t have been better. Walking away, handing him the link to this blog and going our own separate ways I couldn’t help to smile. Knowing God put this guy right in my path. It’s so easy to tune out the world like most people do when flying, but I always think about the great experiences you might miss.
Our route from Seattle. Not the route I thought but I’ve never flown over the North Pole and Russia before.
I will try and upload more photos tomorrow night. This is all I have for now.
FIRST DAY IN UGANDA!
What a day this has been. We’ve been in Uganda for less than a day and we’ve already done so much. First things first we stopped to get some food. We were all pretty hungry. We then drove over to the ARM headquarters to tour the ARM office and see a little bit of the amazing program they have going on. I was able to meet a couple of the high school girls as they were heading out of their devotion assembly. So many children flooding the walkways, all of which wanted you to smile back at them and wave. Many times I would notice all they want is to be noticed by you. Children will be franticly waving and only when you smile and wave back would they break out their beautiful smiles and laughter. I can’t wait to meet more of the kids and teens; getting to know them some more and loving on them! After dropping our stuff off at the house we were staying at for the night we went to Loving Hearts Orphan Home, where Ashley has been spending quite a bit of time the past few weeks. I’m not ready to describe that experience yet.
I love children. Holding and loving on babies (newborn-toddler) is something I love to do. I did get to hold several of the babies and soaked up every minute of it. Seeing them; their smiles, personalities, and happiness to be held by you melted my heart. This experience was a little bitter sweet for me. Not going to sugar coat it. On one hand you have these adorable, bouncy, happy, and some sleeping babies that make you smile and can’t wait to love on them. On the other…such sadness, heart wrenching really. Walking into this home of babies that have been abandoned, alone, one even survived being stabbed by her mother; breaks my heart. It makes me want to hold and love on them even more. They need it so much!! There is one girl I love so much, Rebecca!! What a personality she has. Rebecca stole my heart a little bit. I want to go see her again!
Thank you all for your support, prayers, and love! Please keep us in your prayers as we are heading to Kachungwa tomorrow. Pray for safe travels and open hearts and minds as we meet with people, children, leaders, etc.
Love in Christ,
Melanie
We made it to Uganda! All of the luggage arrived with no issues (we had 31 bags total which took quite a while to locate all of them) and we had no problems getting visas, through customs, etc. We were greeted SO warmly by none other than our very own Ashley Davis, Alex and others from Alex’s church. When we spotted each other it was a grand reunion full of hugs and laughter. I couldn’t wait to give Ashley and Alex a huge hug, it’s been far too long since I’ve seen the both of them. As I’m sitting here on my little net covered bed, thinking about our first day in Uganda I am slightly at a lost for words. Trying to form the right words to describe how I feel is nearly impossible. I definitely have been looking forward to this day for weeks, months, no more like years. The joy, peace, and shear contentment I feel in my heart is overpowering. This whole process; the getting ready, the traveling, the stepping foot off the plane, the meeting and loving on the people here feels as natural as breathing to me. It’s been less than one day and I’m sure with all my heart that Uganda and I will have a future. Not sure how just yet but I can’t wait to find out. God you are great!
Before I dive into what is has been like and what we’ve been doing I wanted to share with you a little bit about our traveling. We had absolutely no internet until we got back in the airport in Dubai.
Written 07/25/2013
Two days, three plane rides, over 9000 miles travelled. Portland to Seattle to Dubai and finally to Uganda. It can easily be said that the 14 hour flight from Seattle to Dubai was the most tiring, and hardest. We happily walked off the plane, stretching our legs after such a long flight. Happy to have a place to rest our heads. I know for me personally I didn’t sleep much the night before we left and on the plane ride but made up for that in Dubai. Most of all we were stoked to be one step closer to being in Uganda. In the short time since we left home God has given us more than enough, showed us great opportunities to talk to people around us about what God is doing in and through the lives of our team. I wanted to share with you an experience I had on our first flight to Seattle.
When boarding our first flight to Seattle, the fifteen of us found ourselves sitting all throughout the plane. None of us had seats together, it was as if we were flying solo. When I have flown before the people I sit next to are usually not all that social. Consumed with their music and are in their own little world. I do that myself most of the time but it is nice when you get lucky and get to sit next to a complete stranger who ends up being a great conversationalist. I think that is fun, meeting new people. Learning about their life, their beliefs, their ideas, thoughts, interests, you name it. Not long after I found my seat I was joined by such a character. We hit it off right away, asking simple questions about each other and the reason for traveling. Once I explained what our team is traveling for, of course he became more interested; allowing our conversation to dive deeper about our trip, what we are doing, life in general, and God. I wish I could go into great detail but it was a 30 minute conversation that couldn’t have been better. Walking away, handing him the link to this blog and going our own separate ways I couldn’t help to smile. Knowing God put this guy right in my path. It’s so easy to tune out the world like most people do when flying, but I always think about the great experiences you might miss.
Our route from Seattle. Not the route I thought but I’ve never flown over the North Pole and Russia before.
I will try and upload more photos tomorrow night. This is all I have for now.
FIRST DAY IN UGANDA!
What a day this has been. We’ve been in Uganda for less than a day and we’ve already done so much. First things first we stopped to get some food. We were all pretty hungry. We then drove over to the ARM headquarters to tour the ARM office and see a little bit of the amazing program they have going on. I was able to meet a couple of the high school girls as they were heading out of their devotion assembly. So many children flooding the walkways, all of which wanted you to smile back at them and wave. Many times I would notice all they want is to be noticed by you. Children will be franticly waving and only when you smile and wave back would they break out their beautiful smiles and laughter. I can’t wait to meet more of the kids and teens; getting to know them some more and loving on them! After dropping our stuff off at the house we were staying at for the night we went to Loving Hearts Orphan Home, where Ashley has been spending quite a bit of time the past few weeks. I’m not ready to describe that experience yet.
I love children. Holding and loving on babies (newborn-toddler) is something I love to do. I did get to hold several of the babies and soaked up every minute of it. Seeing them; their smiles, personalities, and happiness to be held by you melted my heart. This experience was a little bitter sweet for me. Not going to sugar coat it. On one hand you have these adorable, bouncy, happy, and some sleeping babies that make you smile and can’t wait to love on them. On the other…such sadness, heart wrenching really. Walking into this home of babies that have been abandoned, alone, one even survived being stabbed by her mother; breaks my heart. It makes me want to hold and love on them even more. They need it so much!! There is one girl I love so much, Rebecca!! What a personality she has. Rebecca stole my heart a little bit. I want to go see her again!
Thank you all for your support, prayers, and love! Please keep us in your prayers as we are heading to Kachungwa tomorrow. Pray for safe travels and open hearts and minds as we meet with people, children, leaders, etc.
Love in Christ,
Melanie
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Overwhelmed by Gratefullness
7-28-13
The people of Kachungwa really know how to show how grateful they are for Gods' blessings!
We drove from Adonai House to Mubende, which is a bigger town than I expected. It's bigger than Canby, but a tiny dot on the map. The Town View Hotel lives up to it's name! It has a courtyard, an eating place, and lots of stairs to drag your suitcases up. I'm glad the stairs are pretty symmetrical at least!
After dropping off our luggage, we went straight out to Kachungwa. The drive is about 45 minutes from the hotel. It is located off the main paved road, off the main dirt road, and off the secondary, etc., etc. dirt roads. There are signs posted for all the schools here, and at the "Grace Christian School" sign, we were greeted by so many singing kids in green uniforms. It was pretty overwhelming! They all wanted to touch us through the windows as they ran straight through bushes with the bus until we reached the school grounds. It was a very festival atmosphere and mothers were ululating while the kids cheered.
The school buildings are near the top of a hill and look small on the outside, but the classrooms are actually close to our classroom sizes. There is a new building being built between the two school wings and the church, which will eventually be a pre-school/nursery/early education building, but it has no roof yet. I think everyone eventually found their sponsored children and we all hugged pretty much every mother/grandmother there. They are so sweet! I was immediately given a pink bead necklace and earrings by a mother upon exiting the bus.
We had introductions, ate a lunch, received a report on the school with goals for the future. There are over 500 kids at the school now. I don't know how they fit them all into about 7 classrooms. There was a fun surprise Birthday celebration for Shari, set up by Alex. She was so embarrassed!
After that was some time to visit more. One of my girls pulled me around the campus showing me the swings and trying to introduce me to some of her 18 relatives. This was difficult since they speak quietly, the music from the church was blaring, and she writes better English than she speaks it.
I got to have a quick discussion with a P-6 teacher as we were leaving. Didas Twine (twin-ay, not the string) took my hand and we talked about the school year. He also asked me about our nights. He explained that they have 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. He wanted to know how our nights changed length. He seems very intelligent and (I think) understood right away. That was fun! I never thought I'd teach a teacher something. I hope we can have other conversations.
Please pray for a few things here. It is very dry and the only reason they have water right now is because of the rain catching tank that was installed. There is also a banana blight going around and that is a staple. Sunday we start preaching/teaching. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to intercede and cause real understanding from us and them. We are doing a parenting class as well...enough said!
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
The people of Kachungwa really know how to show how grateful they are for Gods' blessings!
We drove from Adonai House to Mubende, which is a bigger town than I expected. It's bigger than Canby, but a tiny dot on the map. The Town View Hotel lives up to it's name! It has a courtyard, an eating place, and lots of stairs to drag your suitcases up. I'm glad the stairs are pretty symmetrical at least!
After dropping off our luggage, we went straight out to Kachungwa. The drive is about 45 minutes from the hotel. It is located off the main paved road, off the main dirt road, and off the secondary, etc., etc. dirt roads. There are signs posted for all the schools here, and at the "Grace Christian School" sign, we were greeted by so many singing kids in green uniforms. It was pretty overwhelming! They all wanted to touch us through the windows as they ran straight through bushes with the bus until we reached the school grounds. It was a very festival atmosphere and mothers were ululating while the kids cheered.
The school buildings are near the top of a hill and look small on the outside, but the classrooms are actually close to our classroom sizes. There is a new building being built between the two school wings and the church, which will eventually be a pre-school/nursery/early education building, but it has no roof yet. I think everyone eventually found their sponsored children and we all hugged pretty much every mother/grandmother there. They are so sweet! I was immediately given a pink bead necklace and earrings by a mother upon exiting the bus.
We had introductions, ate a lunch, received a report on the school with goals for the future. There are over 500 kids at the school now. I don't know how they fit them all into about 7 classrooms. There was a fun surprise Birthday celebration for Shari, set up by Alex. She was so embarrassed!
After that was some time to visit more. One of my girls pulled me around the campus showing me the swings and trying to introduce me to some of her 18 relatives. This was difficult since they speak quietly, the music from the church was blaring, and she writes better English than she speaks it.
I got to have a quick discussion with a P-6 teacher as we were leaving. Didas Twine (twin-ay, not the string) took my hand and we talked about the school year. He also asked me about our nights. He explained that they have 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. He wanted to know how our nights changed length. He seems very intelligent and (I think) understood right away. That was fun! I never thought I'd teach a teacher something. I hope we can have other conversations.
Please pray for a few things here. It is very dry and the only reason they have water right now is because of the rain catching tank that was installed. There is also a banana blight going around and that is a staple. Sunday we start preaching/teaching. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to intercede and cause real understanding from us and them. We are doing a parenting class as well...enough said!
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
Day Two
7-27-13
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Yesterday was a fairly light day. We flew from Dubai to Entebbe with no problems with visas. That was 5-6 hours. Same story with Entebbe airport. We drove through Entebbe and Kampala and had lunch at a deli/meat market.
Our first official thing to do was take a short tour of the ARM headquarters. ARM has a great location right up to a Lake Victoria and lots of room for the kids to play. They are between a primary and secondary (middle and high) school with a chapel on the ground floor, which was in session. Everything was tidy and organized. Our tour guide was Anita. She was a sponsored child herself and has been very helpful.
Side-note: School runs very long here. The kids get up early to run/walk a mile or more to get there and the secondary schools last until about 5PM. They also have a totally different schedule than our schools. They have farming year round, if there's water, and so they have year round school. Feb. to May, July to Sept., and Oct. to just before Christmas. June, some of Sept. and January are holidays.
After the tour of ARM, we stopped at Loving Hearts Babies Home for a short time to hold babies. It was very clean, with about 7 rotating employees to care for the little ones. Ashley Davis has been volunteering here when she's not in Luzira. I held a 3 month old named Corrine, who was very aware and cooing. Ashley said that they've never had to turn out a child for getting too old. Most are adopted by Mazungu (white folks). Praise the Lord for providing them homes!
After the babies, we went to Adonai House, which is beautiful and secure, for dinner and sleep. We all needed that!
Today... Kachungwa!
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Yesterday was a fairly light day. We flew from Dubai to Entebbe with no problems with visas. That was 5-6 hours. Same story with Entebbe airport. We drove through Entebbe and Kampala and had lunch at a deli/meat market.
Our first official thing to do was take a short tour of the ARM headquarters. ARM has a great location right up to a Lake Victoria and lots of room for the kids to play. They are between a primary and secondary (middle and high) school with a chapel on the ground floor, which was in session. Everything was tidy and organized. Our tour guide was Anita. She was a sponsored child herself and has been very helpful.
Side-note: School runs very long here. The kids get up early to run/walk a mile or more to get there and the secondary schools last until about 5PM. They also have a totally different schedule than our schools. They have farming year round, if there's water, and so they have year round school. Feb. to May, July to Sept., and Oct. to just before Christmas. June, some of Sept. and January are holidays.
After the tour of ARM, we stopped at Loving Hearts Babies Home for a short time to hold babies. It was very clean, with about 7 rotating employees to care for the little ones. Ashley Davis has been volunteering here when she's not in Luzira. I held a 3 month old named Corrine, who was very aware and cooing. Ashley said that they've never had to turn out a child for getting too old. Most are adopted by Mazungu (white folks). Praise the Lord for providing them homes!
After the babies, we went to Adonai House, which is beautiful and secure, for dinner and sleep. We all needed that!
Today... Kachungwa!
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
The Adventure Begins!
7-26-13
God is so Good!
Our day started uneventfully; check in, check bags, sit for a LONG time, but God is watching over us. The plane rides to Seattle and Dubai were very smooth and we had a safe landing. We were delayed slightly on the tarmac of Dubai with smoking brakes. Apparently, there was a hydraulic leak onto them which got hot on landing. A quick squirt of water, to be safe, and we were on our way.
There were a lot of people on the plane we were able to talk to about where we were going and what we were doing. They were all supportive.
We spent the night in a hotel for Emirates passengers and employees, which was nice. Emirates Air is a really nice airline! The service was great and the workers genuinely friendly.
PS. Sorry for the delay, but we are having Wi-Fi issues.
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
God is so Good!
Our day started uneventfully; check in, check bags, sit for a LONG time, but God is watching over us. The plane rides to Seattle and Dubai were very smooth and we had a safe landing. We were delayed slightly on the tarmac of Dubai with smoking brakes. Apparently, there was a hydraulic leak onto them which got hot on landing. A quick squirt of water, to be safe, and we were on our way.
There were a lot of people on the plane we were able to talk to about where we were going and what we were doing. They were all supportive.
We spent the night in a hotel for Emirates passengers and employees, which was nice. Emirates Air is a really nice airline! The service was great and the workers genuinely friendly.
PS. Sorry for the delay, but we are having Wi-Fi issues.
Love in Christ, Danelle Chase
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Reflections during the flight to Dubai
Wow, this flight from Seattle to Dubai is a long one. Actually about 14.5 hours. Ken really put it into perspective – we could
drive from Canby to Los Angeles in the same amount of time. I have made the drive to Los Angeles many
times. That drive always includes
several stops, for fuel, food and rest areas.
But on this flight, I am in the center seat between my wife, Danelle and
Isaac Williams. The two rows in front of
ours are where the Peters family is sitting, along with Melanie and Julie. In the two rows behind us sit Ralph, the
Davis’s, Ken and the Dunfee’s. We, along
with the nearly three hundred other people in economy class, are not able to
spend a lot of time standing to stretch our legs and there is certainly no
elbow room.
Even though there are some negatives, Emirates Air has taken
great care of us so far. A top notch
dinner of either grilled chicken or lamb, along with a great dessert. They also gave us a “snack” of personal
pizzas, and have made several trips through the cabin with the drink cart. We each have our own personal monitor in
front of us where we have access to over 1200 different movies and TV shows,
along with video games and a cool map that shows that we are currently flying
over Russia somewhere between St. Petersburg and Moscow at a speed of Mach
0.83, about 560 MPH. Our flight took us
up and over the North Pole. We were able
to look down at glaciers and an iced over Arctic Ocean.
One strange thing is that we have not seen any darkness, no
night time. Since we left Seattle at
about 5:45pm and made it over the North Pole before sunset, we came down the
other side of the earth after sunrise.
Most of us have taken a short nap by now, but no good night’s
sleep. We will sleep well at our hotel
in Dubai tonight, which will actually be a good way to get acclimated to
Uganda’s time zone which is 10 hours ahead of Canby’s.
This flight is certainly a bear, and after we get to Dubai,
we will still have another 5 or 6 hours of flying to get to Uganda. However, I wouldn’t trade it for anything
right now. The opportunity to meet the 5
kids that we sponsor is so exciting. I
am so looking forward to talking to Sam, John, Scovia, Kyalimpa (K.K.) and
Kevin along with their families. I am
looking forward to the hugs and laughter and being able to walk with them hand
in hand as they show us their homes and communities.
I absolutely love how God connected our church family with
Africa Renewal Ministries (ARM). It
actually came at us from two different directions, which intersected about 4
years ago.
Pastor Ken Harvey met a pastor from Africa while at a
convention in Southern California several years ago. They exchanged business cards and prayed with
each other. After the convention they
each went their separate ways.
About 5 years ago, my parents were visiting a church in
Sisters, Oregon and while they were there the church was promoting a child
sponsorship program. They felt a need to
sponsor a child on behalf of their grandkids.
They thought it would be a good opportunity for our kids to have a
“pen-pal” in another country. This
sponsored child, Kennedy, was a part of a program through ARM. At the time, I had never heard of this
organization; I did quite a bit of research on the internet. Our missions’ budget did not have the funds
to support another organization, but I really felt that God was leading us to
do something to support this organization.
I presented it to the missions committee and we decided that even though,
as a committee, we couldn’t put it in the budget, we wanted to ask our church
family to sponsor individual children.
In talking with Johnny Karls, who was the U.S. director of ARM at the
time, we decided it would be best to have our church family sponsor children in
one community. Johnny suggested the
community of Kachungwa, which he had recently visited. Kachungwa is far from the big city of
Kampala, and needed a church to partner with them.
The missions committee felt that it was very important that
the Pastors and Elders of the church be 100% on board as we began to promote
this sponsorship program. I remember
fielding many questions from the Elders and Pastors and ultimately they gave
their blessing. Shortly afterwards we
discovered that Stephanie Newman, who grew up in Canby Christian and was
leading the missions program at a large church in Houston, had been working
with ARM and had taken a couple different trips to Uganda. She gave their program rave reviews and
introduced us to Alex & Faith who were students at Multnomah Bible College
at the time, they also were sponsored children when they were younger.
Within a few weeks, I was standing in front of the
congregation along with Amy (Crites) McCamish and Alex, introducing the child
sponsorship program. I will never forget
the look on Pastor Ken’s face when I stood in front of everybody and announced
that we had set a goal of sponsoring 100 children, a goal that I had not shared
with Ken. However, with the help of Alex
& Faith and through the power of God, we reached that goal about 3 months
later.
Shortly after that our missions’ budget at the church was
increased and our missions committee was tasked with finding a new mission to
support. It was an easy choice that we
would help support ARM and the community of Kachungwa. We also were happy to have Johnny Karls visit
and eventually Pastor Peter, the founder of ARM came and spoke at our
church. This is where the connection was
finally revealed and the way God was working behind the scenes became so
obvious. You see, Pastor Peter was that
African pastor that had exchanged business cards with Ken so many years
ago. The one that shared his ministry
with Ken and had prayed with him for God’s guidance. There is no way to explain the connection
that Canby Christian Church has with ARM, except to acknowledge that God’s hand
was guiding all of it, all for His glory and to expand His kingdom.
I am elated to say that our church family now sponsors
around 180 children in Kachungwa and also Luzira, which is where Alex &
Faith have their church. We also have
raised the funds to build a medical clinic in Kachungwa, which is in the
process of buying the land and they will start construction soon. In addition to this we are able to support
the church in Kachungwa on a monthly basis too.
God is so good and so amazing. I am so happy to lead the missions committee
at our church, which has such a focus and heart to reach the lost, both at home
and around the world. I want to thank
every person that is sponsoring one or more children in Uganda. You are truly making a difference in their
lives, providing them with an education, food, and most importantly the love of
our Savior. I would like to encourage
any of you that are not currently sponsoring a child to prayerfully consider doing
so. I guarantee that you will be blessed
and you will bless a child at the same time.
Brandon Chase
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
I'll Lend You Child
Eleven years ago Tina and I came fairly close to losing our newborn baby girl. Kate was born way too early and did not have very good odds even in one of the best NICU hospitals in Oregon. Her lungs were not supposed to be able to work at that early age and she wasn't physically developed enough to suck, swallow, & breath. After many tests, we were informed by the doctors that God must have big plans for our little girl because the only medical term they had for her was a "miracle". We still had to wait nearly a month for Kate to get up to 4lbs before we could bring her home. Tina and I often talk about how God comforted and calmed us as we went through that chapter of our lives. The peace that He brought us was beyond all understanding. About a year later God blessed us with our second courageous little warrior woman, Kellie. We don't know what God's plans are for our daughters yet, but we know they are special and see God working on them and through them daily. It's an amazing responsibility to consider that God has gifted us with two of his children and entrusted us in their parenting.
A couple of years ago God placed another little girl into our family. Her name is Glorious and she doesn't have parents. In two and half months Kate, Glorious, & Kellie will all be the same age for a week, 11 years old. Glorious is our sponsored little girl from Uganda and in less then a week our family will get to meet Glorious in person.
Tina and I are excited beyond words to be able to go to Uganda but that excitement pales in comparison to the joy and passion that Kate and Kellie have for for this trip and for getting to meet their "sister".
It always brings tears to my eyes but I want to share a poem with you by Edgar Guest. Tina and I read this poem everyday at Emmanuel Hospital hanging on the wall in Kate's NICU and it has touched our hearts in a very special way.
"I'll lend you for a little while,
a child of mine" God said,
"for you to love the while she lives,
and mourn for when she's dead.
It may be two or three short years,
or twenty-two or three,
but will you, till I call her back,
take care of her for me?
She'll bring her charms to gladden you,
and should her stay be brief,
you'll have her lovely memories
as solace for your grief.
I cannot promise she will stay,
since all from earth return,
but there are lessons taught down there
I want this child to learn.
I've looked the wide world over
in my search for teacher's true,
and from the throngs that crowd life's lanes,
I have selected you.
Now will you give her all your love?
Nor think the labor vain?
Nor hate me when I come to call,
to take her back again?"
God fancied he heard the parent's say,
"Dear Lord, thy will be done.
For all the joy the child shall bring,
the risk of grief I'll run.
I'll shelter her with tenderness,
I'll love her while I may,
and for the happiness I've known
forever grateful I'll stay.
But should the angels call for her,
much sooner than I planned,
I'll brave the bitter grief that comes,
and try to understand."
Like I said before, I don't know or always understand God's plans but I do know they are always better than mine. We will really try to keep you all updated during our trip these next two weeks and ask that you pray for all of us.
Jeff, Tina, Kate, & Kellie Peters
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