Caroline's Promise News

I met a little boy at church on our last day in Uganda. We danced together to the music that preceded the service and then sat down to listen to a concert. I put my arm around this little boy and he sat as close to me as possible. After a while, in the spirit of our previous dancing fun, I removed my arm so that I could clap to the music, hoping he’d join me. Instead, he immediately grabbed my hand and wrapped my arm around him again. This happened several times, until I finally stopped trying to move my arm. This sweet little boy just wanted someone to hold him, to show him love, to make a connection with him. I had to leave that church service early to catch my flight back home, but before I left I made sure that that little boy knew that I loved him and that God loved him – the hands of Jesus reaching down to hug one of “the least of these.” Being the hands and feet of Jesus does not stop now that I’m back from Uganda, however. There are still people in need, both around the worl...

What a beautiful day! Starting with our boat ride across Lake Victoria and the short fun ride on “boda bodas” which is similar to (dirt bikes/motorcycles) on village paths. We led VBS with songs of worship with the kids and teachers. Chuck and I led the story of Esther and God’s plans for her and her people and how God directed her path for a great plan. David led the children in learning the Creation Story. The bottom line was - God made everything, including you. It is good! By the end of the lesson the kids were eagerly calling out “The bottom line¨. You should have seen the kids worshipping in song. It was worship for us! Our timeframe was to leave Bethany by 1:30; we had plans back at the guest house, but God had other plans! As we were preparing to leave and get in the boat, dark clouds began to roll in. We gathered under a meeting shelter by Lake Victoria to wait out the storm. We know God’s plans are certainly better than ours! What started out as a delay, turned into our own...

Greetings to our dear friends and family in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ! I can only say that God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit is alive and well here in Uganda. The nine of us have had the opportunity to experience and grow in ways that only God can afford. We are being stretched and pulled and tested and torn in ways that only by the Grace of God will we survive. There are children here going hungry; one child we met is in the third stage of malaria…do we understand all of these experiences we have seen? No! What we have come to understand is that God’s hand is at work. We are all aware that much of what we are experiencing will never be understood. We have come to realize that it is the act of obedience of being here that we are afforded the opportunity to see, hear, taste, smell and touch Jesus in a new way. In Galatians 6: 9 we read about how we should “not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good.” Acts of giving aren’t like pebbles dropped in a pool that make...

We awoke early for devotions, an awesome breakfast prepared by our hosts and a spirit-filled learning opportunity with Pastor Peter from Gaba Community Church. It seems the Lord is continuing to impress upon each of our team members the burden of how we can empower the believers here to continue the ministry at Mercy Orphanage long after the “westerners” are gone. There are so many immediate needs of the children such as basic medical care, food on a daily basis and safety that need to be addressed – not to mention the long term needs. While our hearts were broken yesterday (Day 1) we were also immensely blessed to be led in worship by the children. YES, by the starving, malnourished, sick, orphaned children who, with the voices of angels, were praising the name of the living God as if they had every amenity and luxury one could afford and not a care in the world. As I sat there and held a boy (burning with fever, who had fallen asleep in my arms), I wept with a br...

Finally after all the preparation and hard work, our team made it to our destination: Uganda. Despite travel fatigue and jet lag, we are so thankful that God not only protected us, but also all our baggage. God is good. Our hosts’ Patrick and Sarah kindly greeted us with warm hearts at the airport and brought us to what we would call a top-notch guest house. After a long night of unpacking and then re-packing all the shoes, VBS supplies, and medical supplies we needed for Mercy Orphanage, we all crawled into our mosquito net sheltered beds and got as much rest as possible for our first day of VBS. The next morning when we were driving toward Mercy, we prayed to God to prepare us for whatever we were about to see. We realized very quickly when we arrived at the orphanage, that God didn’t want us to be “prepared”, but He wanted our hearts to be broken by seeing the rawness of His suffering children. Our hearts broke immediately, for the tiny child...

Our Uganda Short Term Mission Team departs from Charlotte today for a week of ministry to orphans.  Please pray for their safety, health, ministry and their families they are leaving behind.  We are excited about the way God has brought this team together and look forward to hearing how God uses them to reclaim hope for these precious children!  Be sure to subscribe to this blog to receive updates as they come - or check back often! Thank you for partnering with this team through prayer support.

The experiences from my previous post were just a few of the ways God taught me that He is faithful. He will provide. If you know me, you know that I can handle a lot. But honestly, when I left for Uganda I was feeling like I needed to make some changes in my life. I had let the ministry become my number one priority. God and I had some talks that week and He showed me that I couldn't keep going at that pace. It's one thing to know that you need to slow down - it's another thing to feel like you actually can when the "to do" list seems like it's a mile long. When we arrived back in the states I turned my cell phone on and began checking emails. The very first one that I read was from a friend, volunteering to take over the Caroline's Promise blog! Yet, another reminder that God will provide all that we need. I'm not starving. I have a home, an incredible family and friends who love me. I have access to all the education I could ever want. My "need...

"It was great! God taught me that He is faithful and will provide for ALL of my needs!" He taught me through my experiences: 1. While we were visiting a site in the Soroti District I had the privelege of meeting a 70 year old Grandmother and her little grandson. She shared how her daughter, his mother had died when he was four months old. She barely had enough food to feed the other grandchildren she was caring for. She cried out to God, "Lord - will you give me milk so that I can nurse this child?" And God did! As I processed the trip it was if God was saying, "Lisa - if I can give milk to a 70 year old grandmother, can't I surely take care of all of your needs?" Wow! 2. This trip was difficult for me on several levels. Not the trip itself, but my personal life leading up to departure was really taking a toll on me. I was beyond burnout and my family was paying the price. One night while I was in Uganda I was talking to David on the phone and we got...

One of the most important things we can do when we take a short term mission trip is to debrief. Caroline's Promise has taken material from Kingdom Builders and adadpted it to fit our teams. On one of our last days of the trip we spend some time praising God and praying for the debriefing process. We find a place where we can be alone and we go through the following process: 1. We list our most memorable experiences from the trip in no specific order 2. We rate them and highlight the top 3 or 4 3. Ask God what He was trying to show us or teach us through those experiences. 4. Narrow it down to one lesson 5. Answer the question, "So you went on a mission trip, how was it?" with one sentence. We've found that when team members come back they have a hard time putting into words what they experienced and what they learned. The average person doesn't really want to see all 1500 of your pictures and although they ask you how your trip was - they really don't want t...

We left the guest house in Kampala very early this morning - 6:30am and drove to Soroti. It was a long drive, but good to see a different part of the country. We met Joseph, Country Director for Children's Hope Chest and Beatrice who is an incredible woman! Beatrice lost her husband in 1999 and started a ministry to widows. Her program now includes 20,000 widows. Joseph and Children's Hope Chest are working with Beatrice to meet the needs of widows in this area. It's estimated that 50,000 people are on the verge of starvation in this district. We heard the stories of the kids, many who are double orphans. Children taking care of younger siblings. These kids have been living on mangos and many go several days without a meal. We were able to provide rice and beans to about 300 kids. We were amazed that these kids were able to eat these huge plates of food! I had the privilege of hearing some of their stories and will post video when we return home. Most of them j...

Today (Tuesday) we visited Mercy Children's Home in Kampala. Our friend, Patrick kept telling us that there was a lot of "need" at this home. He was correct. I think it was by far the worse conditions I've seen in an established home. I could write on an on about my feelings - and those of the team. Sadness, anger, frustration. There were about 50 kids - most of whom were there today because they don't have the money to pay their school fees. Their electricity has been turned off. I was shown the kitchen and quickly realized that they have some flour and some beans. No firewood, no cooking oil. It was lunchtime and the kids had not had a meal. Amanda quickly jumped in with her balloon animals which were a hit! I was so proud of the team as they met with individual children to hear their story. Audrey quickly made friends witha 12 year old, Priscilla. As soon as we walked up Priscilla grabbed Audrey's hand and didn't leave her side. Before ...

We had a great suprise on Monday! We visited the Gaba Church's ministries - African Renwal Ministries. These guys do incredible ministry with the people of Uganda. A special treat was a boat trip across Lake Victoria. For those of you have been to Guatemala with us - it would remind you of Lake Atitlan - minus the volcanoes:) Once on the other side we were met by 8 guys on dirt bikes! My boys would have been so excited! We rode for about 20 minutes and ended up at Bethany Village What a beautiful place! A school and homes where widows care for 10-15 orphans. Most of the kids were in school but we were blessed to spend a few hours with some of the kids. They treated us to a special song and dance and were eager to tell us "their story." Every story is different......but they all have similar themes.....pain, loss, sadness, hope through Christ.

Uganda Blog Long flights, little sleep and new friends. Sunday May 24, 2009 Well, my suspicions were confirmed! Travel to Africa is not for the wimpy. We left Charlotte Saturday morning and arrived in Kampala, Uganda on Sunday night. Uganda is 7 hours ahead of North Carolina, by the way. Everything went well – if you don’t include the fact that most of us didn’t sleep well. It seems that even the best “sleeping drugs” didn’t work. We met a lot of people in Amsterdam who are ministering in Uganda. I sat next to the CFO of World Vision on that flight and we met several men from across the US who work on power lines. They’re headed to Sudan for 3 weeks to install power lines. How cool! We talked to a Ugandan woman who runs an orphanage in Kampala. Just last week 2 twin babies were delivered to her door step. Their mother had died during child birth. The most interesting was a group from Florida State University. They took a class last semester on social justice and human traff...

I admit, I'm a horrible blogger. Life gets busy and this blog falls to the bottom of the list. I wanted you to know that a team of seven will depart for Uganda, Africa today. Our purpose is to identify orphan projects that Caroline's Promise can support. Will you pray with us? We'd love for God to make it crystal clear. You could pray for our families too! It's hard, leaving them for so long. You could check in on them if you want:) I hope to post regularly and give you the opportunity to journey with us. You are a huge part of this vision trip through your prayers and your support. Thank you! Oh! One really exciting thing: we will be able to visit our lastest grant family. They are in Uganda right now - finalizing their adoption of their baby girl. Be sure to check back this week as we hope to catch up with them! One last thing: I was reminded this morning of why we do what we do. In Ephesians 1 we learn that God adopted us! Can you imagine? When I sto...