Uganda Mission Trip 2010
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Liberty Family,
The following blogs are from Chris Searcy, our Upper School Youth Pastor, who is leading a team of 21 high school students, college alumni, and Liberty staff on our fourth trip to Uganda. The team is working at the same incredible site as they have in the past, at God Cares Primary School and Buyamba Orphanage (www.ugandabuyamba.com). They are continuing to help build a high school for this school that is bursting at the seams in growth, and they need a place for these beautiful children to continue their education. They will also be helping build a playground at their existing primary school. Let’s pray for their safety, strength, and God’s hand to guide them throughout every day and every detail, for His glory!
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5/30/10 6:34 am – The team landed safetly at London Heathrow Airport
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5/30/10 1:45 pm – The team boarded to begin their flight to Kenya
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5/31/10 1:10 am – The team landed safetly in Uganda
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6/1/10 - Well, for all of those that have been praying for us. THANK YOU!!! We have arrived safely and only missing one bag. It was no one’s personal bag, just a bag with some tools, but we won’t need it probably until next week. Here’s the rundown of how our day went down today. We arrived at Entebbe this morning around 9 a.m., loaded up our luggage on a couple vans, and drove straight to the orphanage (about an hour and a half drive) to see the kids, visit the orphanage, and drop off our luggage that is for gifts for the kids. Then, we went back to the hotel to rest for a few hours before dinner. Then, around 5, we met and went to dinner together just up the road from the hotel.
We just got back to the hotel and its about 8:00 p.m. and we are exhausted! Today is our relaxing, adjust to Uganda time day so hopefully we will be all ready to go tomorrow. We have a couple girls that didn’t drink enough water, so their stomach’s are kinda shaky, but they should be fine after some rest tonight (at least that is our prayer so join with us!).
I do want to share something I saw today. After we dropped off the team at the hotel, I went with two of Pastor Dongo’s kids to exchange money in downtown Kampala and buy some bottled water and bananas for us to snack on before dinner. At one point, we were sitting in traffic and I happened to glance over and see a young child, boy or girl I couldn’t tell (most children have shaved heads) , but I think he was a boy. He was sitting, indian style, all alone on the sidewalk with his hands out waiting for someone to bring him money. My heart began to break as I thought about my own two year old and how desperate I would have to be, to even begin to ponder such an act. I asked Ezra, our driver, if he thought this boy had a mom or dad and where they were. He said most likely that the boy’s mom was a young girl, in between 11-13 years old who had no chance for an education except to be a sex slave of some kind or beggar. At the same time he was telling me this, sure enough, a young girl that looked like she was probably old enough to be in 5th or 6th grade walked up patted him on the head and it looked like she took his money from him. He kind of acknowledged her, then kept silent and began holding his two tiny hands out for someone to help him. It’s not hard to hear a story like this and have your heart broken. Today, I was reminded about our Father in heaven and the amount of love He has for all of HIs children of all races, every tribe, tongue, and nation. What a blessing it is for us to be allowed and privileged, to be able to love the fatherless, the broken, and the lonely. It also reminded me that it is God’s love, not mine, that can only bring hope to such a sad, tragic circumstance. Jesus prayed in Luke chapter 8 that we, as God’s people, would be one as He and the Father are one. Please join with me and pray this for our team, for our friendship with the staff members, teachers, and ministers at the church and school, and for our relationships with these beautiful children. We love you and are thankful for you!!!
Chris Searcy
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6/2/10 -
Well today was our first full day at the orphanage, and man what a day!!! Our kids just blew me away with their willingness to serve, love, and pour into the children all day today. I specifically enjoyed getting to watch those who are visiting Uganda for the first time. I have also really been blessed to see our returners running at full sprint to hug the kids that remembered them from a year ago. It is not hard to walk through the children’s “dorms” and see pictures of our kids from years past. They remember names of our kids, their parents, their siblings, and many more details that really paint a wonderful picture of what a blessing God has allowed the past teams to be here. Though we continually hear from the staff what a “blessing” we are, our kids and teams over the last four years, including those tonight after our Tuesday night share time, reveal quite the opposite. The humility, vulnerability, and extravagant, unconditional love that these kids show us are so overwhelming!
As far as tasks, today, all of our guys spent the day going between loving kids and smashing concrete that was holding down an old swing set. We are in the process of taking down their old swing sets that break frequently and installing a new swing set at the Primary (Elementary) school. Our girls played with kids all day, listened to their stories, played games, and danced with them. Needless to say all of us were EXHAUSTED at the end of the day! Pastor Dongo continues to remind us that our greatest mission here is not to build, but to love. What a wonderful picture of Jesus’ life. We are excited about tomorrow because our girls will spend the day assisting teachers and serving them in the classroom. They have a new Headmaster at the school and he is really organized and structured, and wants to use our kids as much as possible, which is such a blessing! Thanks for your prayers, one of our girls Dakotah Lindsay, was sick today so be praying for her as she recovers. This is her fourth year, so she really doesn’t want to spend her day resting (and she is really tough!), but we are praying she is back soon.
Talk to you soon!
Uganda Team
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6/5/10 -
Well, it has been awhile since I have done an update because we have been so busy! God has done some cool things through us as a team. First off, all of the girls have done an amazing job loving on the kids and helping out the teachers. They have been grading papers, helping teach some things, and leading the kids in games, loving on them, and laughing with them non-stop. The guys have also been awesome, having been led by Luke Zimmerman in completing WAY more than we thought we would have at this point. He is staying until August 4th here in Uganda, so we wanted to help him as much as we could before we left. Under his leadership, we have dug 12 holes, and implanted 12 HUGE telephone pole size poles for a kid’s playground at the orphanage. We just found a couple of days ago that we have the awesome opportunity to go white water rafting on the Nile River this coming Wednesday! We are so excited about it! Here are some things to pray for the next few days. We are leading Awana’s today (Saturday) at the school, teaching 8 different classes of Sunday School for the children, preaching in the worship services, and leading a Purity Bible Study with the teenagers on Sunday afternoon. I’m so proud of the kids and all of the leaders and how well they are leading. The people and staff here are always so thankful, appreciative, and excited when we get to come back. Thanks for supporting us!!!
Uganda Team
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6/6/10 -
Liberty Families!
Liberty Christian School exists to raise up a generation of God-seeking, Bible-loving, passionate young people who are educated in every subject field at such a level that they excel in the classroom, in their careers, and in their communities…it is our prayer that they are change agents even more importantly in their homes. The biggest difference between our culture in the United States and here in Uganda is the family. Here, the country has been ravaged by war, disease, and political corruption. The result is an entire generation missing from the population and a generation of over 2 million orphans in Uganda. One of the greatest joys that we receive each year when we visit our friends in Uganda is a renewed sense of passion for our families. You see, at Liberty, we assist families in raising up students to follow Christ through our high level of education…here in Uganda, the teachers don’t just assist parents, they ARE the parents and the only ones that these kids see or think of when they wonder what it looks like to be a man or woman who follows Christ. I hope and pray that whether you are a teacher, parent, or administrator and you are reading this, that you would see the God-given opportunity, blessing, and responsibility that you have to the students and children that God has placed under our care. Trips like this literally show us that God is raising up a generation from every tribe and tongue to lead His people, and share His love and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is LORD!
We have had a great weekend so far. Yesterday we had a great chance to spend the day having great conversations with kids, and we led out in some Bible studies with the children. Again, today (Sunday) we had an awesome time of worship with the people here. . MAN, do they know how to worship!!! Our kids can’t help but smile and look in awe at how passionate they are here to sing to their Father and King. All of our kids have now lead out in teaching either a Bible Study at Awana’s, chapel, or during Sunday School this morning. We are going to be doing some more work at the orphanage this afternoon and getting ready for two days of hard labor at the site where they are building the new high school. God has blessed us with some good health on this trip, and everyone seems to be doing well physically. I am so proud of the way these kids work, the way they love on these children, and their attitudes. We are getting in to the time where it gets harder and harder to be away from spouses, parents, family, and friends so please pray for us to “press on” and to follow Eph. 2:8-10 and finish out the good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do here. We love you, are thankful for you, and will keep you updated as much as we can in the next two days ahead of construction labor at the new high school. The playground is coming along well, Luke Zimmerman is doing an awesome job leading our boys and building a sweet new place for the kids to play.
Thanks for partnering with us in prayer!
Uganda Team
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6/8/10 -
Liberty Family,
What a wonderful couple of days we have had! There have been some trips that we are able to look back and see a HUGE project finished, whether it is the purchase of a new well for the new high school, the building of a dining hall pavilion that seats almost 1,000 children and lets the eat each meal under a roof, the purchase of dozens of bunk beds for these wonderful children, purchasing tiles for the outside of the elementary (primary) school, and any many, many, more construction ministry efforts. However, one of the biggest blessings of this year’s trip is the fruit of the faces of those we have seen everyday. I have loved getting to see the Lord work in the classrooms where our girls have been ministering and helping out the teachers with everyday tasks. Since there is no copy machine, they copy things by hand and the girls have been really loving the teachers by spending their days, in between loving kids during recess, helping teachers out with this and grading papers as well. The guys have been working SO hard and I wanted you parents to know that you should be proud of your kids! I thought it might be kinda cool to do a mission trip report card of each child so you would know how they are doing, so here we go:
Dakotah Lindsay – 4th year here, amazing with kids, servant’s heart and willing to do whatever we ask, she has done a great job helping us lead more this year
Savannah Linday – first time here, you will always find her with kids! I’m so glad she got to come this year.
Mallory Rossmann – 2nd year here, so great with kids, such a hard worker, always positive!
Audrey Deaver- first time here, Miss Smile all the time, “I’ll do anything you ask and love the kids all along the way”
Bailey Harrison - 2nd time here, really has a big heart for the kids that get left behind, she loves on the kids so much, you will even find the young ones fall asleep on her!
Mandi Marsden – Momma Mandi takes care of everyone, she volunteers to teach the kids, and has really led alot this year, she has a heart for the kids BIG TIME
Katie Willis – first time here, such a pure heart, Jesus flows out of everything that she says and does. Sometimes I forgot she is here because she serves, cleans up, and is always there for whatever is needed
Jodee Morgan – first time here but you wouldn’t know it, she works hard, really has a soft heart for these kids and has done a great job helping teachers everyday!
Skylar Ashlock – first time here, but second time to Uganda, this girl was shot out of a cannon once we arrived and hasn’t stopped loving kids since. Kids seem to really trust her and tell her their painful life stories because she is such a good listener!
Claire Cordell – first time here, and really you wouldn’t know it. She sings, dances, and plays with every kid that comes her way, and they come in droves!
Caitlin Flores – first time here, and she really has loved on the unlovely, just as Jesus did. There is a precious girl that most would call annoying, but she has really gotten attached to Caitlin and both have loved on each other this week, its been so cool to watch that!
Cameron Gannon – MISS ENTHUSIASM is on her first trip, and she has been a blast. She is always laughing with kids, cracking jokes with the team, and works so hard loving on kids and with our work projects
Brandi Bookmiller – first time here, she is a teacher at South Hills High School in Fort Worth who came with us this year as a guest and has really served this week, and been a blessing to our girls and us guys leaders also! So glad she came!
Tedi Fain - second time here, and she is another one that always seems to be laughing. Several kids know her by name and remembered her from last year and are still loving all the time they get with Teddi Bear!
Lance and Brock Burroughs – Lance’s 3rd year and Brock’s 2nd year and both of these guys have been rock solid men that have taken a big load off of me this year and helped with leading when I’ve had other errands to run or just needed someone else to help with teaching. Love these men of God!
Bailee and Rylee Brown – both of these guys have blown me away this week. It is their first trip and they have both worked SO hard. Most of the kids think Rylee is the older one because of his maturity (haha) and he is so great one on one with kids and such a hard worker. Bailee is the kid magnet as usual, no matter what trip he is on. They all love him and he is such a spiritual leader with our group and a hard worker as well.
Garrison Walls – first year here and man has he fit right in. He works hard and not only that, he really serves well. He does little things that really make us laugh and make us so glad he came this year. He has connected with so many kids as well.
Luke Zimmerman – 4th year, man this guy is a stud. He is leading our work crew and is at the beginning of a two month commitment to stay here until August. With that being said, if you would like to give anything towards his trip, that will remain open on the website this summer while he serves here. I can’t imagine a trip without him, he defines a servant leader.
Thank you all for your love and prayers. The girls are serving at the school for the last time today (Tuesday) and the guys are working on the new high school getting ready to pour the second floor. Tomorrow we are going to see the Nile River and go rafting, and the team is so excited! I will report back after that and let you know how it goes as we prepare for our final day this Thursday.
With love from Uganda,
Uganda Team
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6/9/10 -
Liberty Family,
Well today was awesome! We got to go white water rafting on the Nile River! We all made it through alive with many awesome stories to tell. We had a few girls that went to the halfway point and decided to turn in, but almost all of the team decided to continue on and finish. We were blown away at God’s amazing power, seen through His creation. We are not excited about tomorrow being our last day here but we are ready to see you! Tonight was a sweet time together as a team, just thanking the Lord for how He blessed us these last two weeks and has been more than faithful. Tomorrow, Thursday, we are going to be spending the morning with the kids at the orphanage and Primary School at God Cares, saying goodbye to them (it’s always very emotional!), eating lunch there, going shopping for some souvenirs in downtown Kampala, then heading the the airport at Entebbe. Our flight leaves at 7:55 p.m. Uganda Time which is at 11:55 a.m. your time I believe. If you are a family member, please refer to your flight itinerary from previous emails for flight information. We cherish and appreciate you so much for being a part of this awesome journey over the past two weeks, and for most of you, even longer than that. We love you and look forward to seeing you soon!!!!
Uganda Team
