Source of the Nile

On July 23rd, 2010 Our Visiting Orphans team took a short excursion while we were in Jinja Uganda. Departing from the Kingfisher Lodge and Resort, we boarded a small boat, and were treated to a tour of the source of the White Nile and the surrounding beauty of the area.

Amazima Ministries

On July 24th, 2010 our Visiting Orphans team spent the afternoon at Katie Davis' Amazima Ministries feeding program.

It's a Girl Thing!

*disclaimer #1- I TOTALLY stole the title of this post from another blogger, but I thought it was perfect, and I'm pretty sure she won't care one bit- since she is the one who started the project!

**disclaimer #2- I mean it. This really is about "girl stuff," as in monthly girl stuff, so squeamish boys may want to pass this post on to your wife. ;)

DID YOU KNOW?

In Africa, the school dropout rate of girls is 40% once they hit puberty.
Any guesses why?

We all have complained about the inconvenience of our "monthly visitor."

Imagine, if you will though, not being able to run to Wally World or the local drugstore when you were greeted by the start of your monthly cycle. I can tell you from being in Africa- those kinds of places don't exist there.

And, imagine, if you can even stand to, having to roll up newspaper scraps to make tampons. Or using an old clothing garment that you just rinsed and re-used, even if it was still wet. Then imagine the pain and humiliation of getting infections from doing so. Then being accused of having STDs or being unfaithful and abused because you are trying to take care of hygiene the only way you can.

BUT...If a girl has access to "fem prods" as I not-so-affectionately call them,

get this- the drop out rate drops to only 8%! That's a HUGE difference. And think of the emotional, psychological, and physical effect it has on these girls as well!

Most of you know how excited we are about all the kids from Korah Dump getting to start school in a few weeks. Many of them are girls faced with this very difficult struggle.

So, what can we do to help them?

Maintaining a monthly shipment of disposable products is simply not feasible, so as part of a project started by the wonderful folks at Wiphan I am going to have a PAD PARTY to help provide re-usable pads for EVERY girl going to school from Korah, as well as the widows served by the Wiphan organization. Yes, ladies- we (and that includes anyone who wants to help!) are going to MAKE washable sanitary napkins and holders for these beautiful ladies!

I don't have a date set yet, but will be posting more information on this VERY SOON. We will need LOTS of fabric, machines and even sergers, so if you have one and can help PLEASE email me! Also, if you think the sewing isn't for you, come help us cut out the patterns, or just come hang out with us and be an encouragement while we work!

I mean, C'mon! Did you EVER think there would be a time in your life when you could get EXCITED about sanitary napkins and be spreading the love of Christ all at the same time?!

Isn't God great?

Uganda Here We Come!

Carrie and I have graciously accepted the call to lead a Visiting Orphans team to Uganda in 2011!  This trip is going to be an AMAZING opportunity to serve in a way that will change lives!  Are you ready to join the team? We are now officially listed on the Visiting Orphans website here:  2011 Trips (Africa)

We've set up a page on the blog dedicated to the Uganda 2011 trip where you can always come to see details and information about the trip.

Our first task will be to build up a team of about 25 people.

Here are some details:

When?	July 22 - August 2, 2011
What?	This team will stay at Canaan's Children Home in Jinja, Uganda. While there they will minister to the children at Canaan's and at Amazima ministries.  They will also spend a couple of nights in Kampala working with the children at My Father's House and Return Uganda ministries.
Who?	We are looking for approximately 25 people.  WE NEED MEN ON OUR TEAM!
How?	Your application and funding all go directly through Visiting Orphans, who makes a vast majority of the arrangements. Of course, we will assist you if needed every step of the way!  Apply Now!
How Much?	The cost per person is $3000 - $3200  (cost varies dependent on flights). This covers airfare, room, board and meals. DO NOT let the cost deter you from serving! Carrie and I had to raise 100% of the funds on our first trip and God provided in AMAZING ways!  We can help you with fundraising ideas, too!!

We are beyond excited and honored to get to lead this team!  We can't wait to see the amazing team that God assembles for this awesome trip!

If you have ANY questions at all -- don't hesitate to contact us and ask LOTS of questions!  We understand! We had TONS of questions!  You can email us at missions@giveshareserve.org

The Clear Road Ahead!

Big news ahead! Be sure to read through to the end of this post!!
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The dust is still settling from our mission trip to Africa but for the most part we’ve returned to our lives. One thing however has not changed in the slightest; our passion for missions, our heart for Africa and our desire to serve God and all of his people.

Even before discovering the mission opportunity with Visiting Orphans, Carrie and I both had this overwhelming desire to serve in a way that made a significant difference. We were ready to step out of our comfort zone for whatever God put before us. So we prayed that God would make his plan obvious to us. God tested us by seeing how far we would really step outside our comfort zone by showing us Africa.

Now we find ourselves back from Africa, and our desire has grown! We have prayed everyday, just as we did before, for God to keep the road ahead clear for us to see where we are needed next. Carrie and I have felt so overwhelmingly pulled to return at some point to Africa but completely torn between the Korah dump in Ethiopia, and Uganda. But also like before, we didn’t know what that looked like when you stood it up next to God’s plans.

One thing that I have prayed for is a chance to enable others to step outside their comfort zone by serving in the mission field. God has answered, again, with another giant test of faith.

On Monday, I was contacted by the director of Visiting Orphans. She said she had a need on a couple of upcoming missions and she asked if Carrie and I would be willing to lead a team to Uganda in 2011!! Wow! WOW! WOW!!

Talk about moving mountains!! Remember, I was the guy who 8 months ago said he would never go on a mission trip because they weren’t for me. But now – How could I possibly say no?! To get a second chance to serve in a place and to people I instantly fell in love with and a first chance to lead others in service in a place that will likely change them in profound ways…how do you say no when God stands in an open doorway and says, “come in.”?

We are going back to Africa! Specifically, Uganda this time. More details will quickly follow as we learn more about the mission. The only thing we know for sure right now is that the trip will be July 22nd through Aug 1st 2011.

Are you ready to serve? Want to join our team? Stay tuned!!

Amani Baby Cottage

On July 23rd we visited Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja Uganda. Sadly we didn't get to spend nearly enough time playing with the little ones here! We arrived right at lunch time and of course...nap time was next. The cottage was very well organized, well run and the kids were very cute!

Canaan Children's Home

The majority of time while we were in Uganda, we lived at the guest bunk houses at Canaan Children's home. Because we lived where the kids lived, we were able to build some amazing bonds and friendships that will last forever! Here is a video compilation of our time there.

Comparing Korah

We have shared a little bit about Korah in Ethiopia. The dump community. The place that stole our hearts! I found this website that allowed you to see geographic size comparisons. So I wanted to compare Korah with some local landmarks to get a better sense of where we were.

Writing about Korah vs. showing you exactly what I mean will knock your socks off.

Just to give you an idea, the population at Korah is about the same as it is here in Edmond, Oklahoma, roughly 90,000. The population of Edmond covers about 85 square miles. Korah covers less then 2 square miles.

Do you want to see how Korah compares to your town? Click here

This is Korah (My outline might be too big too!)

It's a quarter of the size of Oak Tree Country Club

Roughly the size of UCO

Slightly smaller then the Oklahoma State Fair

About the same size of Bricktown

WAY smaller the Oklahoma University

Traditional Ethiopian Dancing

While we were in Addis Ababa, we ate dinner at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant. The food was amazingly good but the musicians and dancers were ever better! These dancers could move their bodies in ways that are unbelievable until you see it. Take a look...

My Father's House & Royal Hope Academy

On Wednesday July 21 our Visiting Orphans team visited Rebecca Sorensen's ministry, My Father's House and Royal Hope Academy.  Sadly we didn't get to spend nearly enough time playing and visiting with the kids, but we did get stuck in the church because of a torrential downpour and weren't allowed to leave. So we ended up spending more time with them than we were supposed to.

We walked away feeling like we had been blessed greater by the experience then anyone else.  The kids treated us to some wonderful singing and dancing.

You can read more about Rebecca Sorensen and her ministry at www.myfathershouseintl.org

Return Ministries International

We finally got some MUCH need upgrades in our internet connection at home today, so I'm finally able to start posting more videos.

This one was actually posted last week on our YouTube Channel.  As I am slowly getting through the mountains of video we took I will be posting simple compilations of each of the ministries we visited.

This video is the compilation of the first ministry we visited, Return Ministries International, in Kampala Uganda.

If you want to learn more about Return Ministries and what Pastor Samuel is doing with his ministry or to find out how you can help you can visit their website www.returnministriesuganda.org

Hamlin Fistula Hospital

I will try to write more about our visit to the hospital soon, but for now,

here are some images I was able to capture there.

Lunch at Korah

Okay, I'll give every reader fair warning on this post. This is video is pretty graphic and might be upsetting to some viewers.

We had an opportunity to purchase some fresh meat before we visited Project 61 at Korah.  I'll leave it at that, the video explains the rest....

Boda-Boda Ride!

In a recent post, I talked about Boda-Bodas, the motorcycle taxis. Here are some clips of we few brave souls who went for a ride! Good times.

The Adungu

One of the stops on our tour of the Canaan Children's Home farm. The second half of the tour was to the livestock pasture.  We met this man who was one of the farmers. I don't recall learning his name but he played his handmade Adungu.

Interesting Cultural Differences

Despite a trip to Africa, I wouldn't consider myself an international traveler. However one trip is more then enough to offer some insight into some interesting cultural differences.  I'll caution you now; this conversation is going to sink into potty talk. I’ll keep it clean as long as possible.

Boda-Boda

In my limited personal experience traveling abroad, and from what I’ve seen in pictures and on television, the mode of taxi around the world is either by automobile or some form of rickshaw. In Uganda, if you hail a taxi, you get a motorcycle. Or what they call a Boda-Boda.  They are EVERYWHERE. It seemed like there were at least a dozen of Boda-Bodas on every corner just waiting on customers. And when I say everywhere I mean it. Whether you are in the bustling city of Kampala or in a quiet village setting, there was a Boda-Boda everywhere you looked.  And everyone rode, and sometimes, everyone rode one Boda-Boda at the same time.  It was a surreal sight to see the Boda-Boda driver, then dad behind him, and mom (riding side-saddle) behind dad, and their infant child squished in between them, all piled onto a tiny little motorcycle.  Carrie and I were fortunate to experience a ride when we rode a short distance from the Canaan school back to the Canaan compound. It was fun.

Mzungu!

You know you were being noticed by the locals, especially the kids when you hear, "Mzungu!" Literally translated it means “White Person”.  It became an endearing term that I think collectively we started to expect after a while and honestly it was almost strange to go to Ethiopia and not hear it anymore.  It was pretty neat to see these little kids faces light up when we walked by and they would yell Mzungu with giant smiles!  It kind of became that thing that helped get the day off to a good start!  Cultural difference? Perhaps not, but there is definitely a distinction when in some countries where foreigners might not be looked upon so highly, and at best are ignored.


Okay, I’ve run out of clean material; sorry you’ve been warned…

Short Calls vs. Long Calls

When nature calls the most PC way distinguish, if absolutely needed in the States, is point out number 1 or number 2.  In Africa, and as I understand it, in a lot of the rest of the world, you’re either on a short call or long call. Aptly named depending on whether or not your “call” is quick or not.  Our team got disturbingly comfortable with these terms as soon as we learned them. In no time flat, there wasn’t an ounce of shame between us.

Bathroom Procedures
Luckily, for the vast majority of our trip we were lucky to have western style commodes available to us.  However, in a great number of the places we visited, the only toilets available were what were affectionately coined: “squatty potties”.  While these aren’t uncommon around the world, they came as quite a shock to many in our party. I was one of the fortunate ones who for some reason didn’t get the opportunity to use one.  Carrie on the other hand can testify that in Uganda, there are separate squatty potties for short and long calls!

I’ve saved the best worst for last. Adopting the short call and long call term was easy.  Using a squatty potty took a few tries to get used to but was doable. I’m speaking for myself, but I’m pretty sure the one toilet procedure that none of us really got used to was the flush. Or more accurately, what didn’t get flushed.  Toilet paper does not get flushed! There was a small trash can next to every toilet. Thankfully these cans were emptied daily.  This might not be a horrific thing until you realize that bathrooms were shared.

Looking back, it’s no wonder all of us on the team have become the best of friends. When you don’t have a choice but to throw your expectations of comfort, along with a small bit of your dignity, out the window, bonding will happen whether you want it or not!

Reality

Ok, so it finally happened. After 2 days of walking around like a confused, somber, cry at the drop of a pin crazy person, God shook some sense into me. And he did it in the words of a good friend. (thanks, Joan. You rock, friend...really.)

As I sat on the couch, holding back tears and telling her over the phone how miserable I was driving around town or shopping at the store, and how I looked at all the "stuff" in my house and felt disgusted and guilty, and how stupid everything here seemed she stopped me.

She said, point blank, "God didn't send you to Africa to come home and feel nothing but conviction and guilt for the blessings he has given you here or to be depressed. Satan is the one who wants you to feel that way- he doesn't want you to get over the sadness and do anything about it."

She might as well have slapped me over the head with a Bible and said, "snap out of it!" I love when God does that. Really, I do.

Because since I have been back, I haven't felt like doing anything. I haven't felt like getting myself dressed and made up, or like cleaning up messes, or truth be told - like playing with the kids. Obviously, I can't sit curled up in a fetal position all day, so I have been forcing myself to do what HAS to be done. It sounds horrible to say that I have forced myself to do things with my own children, but it's the truth. And it has nothing to do with how much I love them.

Honestly, what it boils down to is that I haven't felt like feeling - because I know when I start feeling, I will have to face everything I experienced in Africa. And I'm scared of what that will bring. I don't know if I can handle the rawness of what is inside me. I don't know what to do next. I don't know how far God expects Joe and I to go to serve him and help the people we have come to love in Africa.

The next words out of Joan's mouth were Jeremiah 33:2-3, " Thus says the Lord who made the earth. The Lord who formed it to establish it - the Lord is his name. Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known."

Goosebump moment.

He wants us to know. He wants us to feel. HE gives us the desires of our heart. That doesn't mean he gives us OUR desires, it means HE gives us the desires. The desires of our heart are HIS desires for us that will become our desires when we really open ourselves to depending on him, and trust him with everything we have. As our pastor has said many times (and something I am now holding fast to), God wants us to know his will for us more than we want to know his will for us. We just have to pray and ask him. Then we have to be ready to actually do it. Whatever it is, and wherever it is.

So today I am ripping off the bandaid that has covered my brokenness. I am letting all the emotions flow freely. It is a raw wound, and it is ugly. In the coming days and weeks I will be blogging about our experiences. I will try my best, however futile, to give you a glimpse of the experiences God gave us. If you see me and ask me about the trip, know that I will probably weep. Know that I am not the same Carrie that you chatted with 3 weeks ago. Know that Joe and I are both completely different people than we were, with a different perspective. Even we couldn't have foreseen this - despite all the words of preparation we received.

But that is why God sent us to Africa.

He didn't send us to help the rich. He didn't send us to hold the prosperous. He didn't send us to love the adored.

He sent us to help the poor, hold the forgotten and love the unloveable.

And we did, with his hands and his heart.

We experienced the most pure joy and hope we never could have imagined existed. And we were taught what total dependance on God really looks like. And we became forever broken and wrecked for him in the process.

And after all, isn't that the point?

A Few Videos From the Trip

What now?

After having spent 14 days in Uganda and Ethiopia, pouring your heart out on kids, some living in destitute conditions and other having abandoned or worse, the daunting question at hand is … what now?

Now that we are back and have some time to start processing through all the experiences and mental images still fresh in our minds, the "what now" question is easy to answer. The answer is that we're going to help save the world. It's easy to be gung ho at this stage. We want to tell everyone we know and one everyone we don't know, too. We're motivated to the point where were want to enable our peers, our church and even our country.

While I pray that the desire to motivate and enable others never ever fades, I have to be realistic for just a second. As we start sifting through the mountains of photos and videos from the trip, it's easy to see how daunting the task is already going to be. Carrie and I experienced every single photo and every single video, there is already something different between looking at a picture and remembering the experience. Even for us, three day out, a picture doesn't strike the same emotional chord as it did in person. One of the things Carrie and I discussed that might be a challenge when we talk to people about our trip is trying to overcome the understanding gap between what is seen in pictures and video and what it is like in real life.

Uganda was beautiful. The vegetation was lush and it seems like every tree and bush had gorgeous, blooming flowers. Addis Ababa was an amazing and bustling city with something interesting to see everywhere you looked. These are the things that are easy to relate to. Pictures and video do these things justice because they are simply what they are. Expressing the lives of people on the other hand, is something else all together. Carrie said it best by saying that everyone has seen the commercials and pictures of the starving and sick African kids and they might have had an impact on you. But until you see the 3 year old girl lying on the floor that is little more then flesh and bone and you hear her moaning in pain because she is dying from malnutrition, you cannot comprehend how real it is, and all the pictures and video in the world are worthless.

So I ask myself the question again. What now? The mission trip is over but the mission is so very far from over. Carrie and I are indescribably convicted to act on and be part of a solution for orphans. Adopting? Moving there to serve until the job is done - Or staying here and being a voice for those in need?

What that means, we're still not quite sure. But the answer to the question for us is easy. The answer is something, anything and everything we can do to tell everyone willing to hear about the tremendous opportunity to make a difference for God's people. And until the picture becomes clearer on what we need to do next, we will continue to be that voice.

What to expect from us in the near future: You can expect to see many posts here as we retell out experiences, pictures and video galore. What we really want to do is visit with everyone and anyone interested in hearing about the trip and our impact first hand. Call us, email us or just ask and we'd love to have you over for some good Ethiopian coffee! There are countless kids who need sponsors. We are going to start working on getting sponsorship information on our site from the many orphanages and programs we worked with. It is amazing how little it costs to provide a child with not only and education, but a place to live, three meals a day, health care, and most importantly, an opportunity to feel love.

We are praying that people will feel convicted enough to want to just listen. We know that no matter what we say it's not the same as experiencing it. But perhaps our experience and desire to serve will be a catalyst for at least one person out there. It only takes one person to make a difference in one life, and one life is much better then none.

Africa Through My Lens...Part 1

Getting back to "reality" hasn't felt very real. No matter how hard I try, words don't come to mind to describe how I feel- a rare, and unsettling occurrence for me that quite honestly, I don't know how to handle. So, I pray.

Lots.

And I eat ice cream and yogurt. It's all I am really allowed to eat because I managed to burn the lining of my esophagus and stomach last week while enjoying traditional Ethiopian cuisine. I know. Only me. Trust me though, if eating ice cream were always this painful, I would never do so. ;)

For now, this is all I can present to help you see what we saw. Hopefully God will give me the words to accompany the images soon. Or show me what else I need to do.

Click the image to see the gallery