Pictures from our Trip!

At our Murchison on our safari trip with our Empower a Child guide and tour guide! We got out of the safari van to look at the hippos in the Nile.
Here is Brittany jump roping with some wonderful kids. It is just one skinny rope, but the kids love it! And so did we :)

Ashley was asked to take this baby home with her!

Our Journey Begins...

Greetings from Uganda!

After a 22 hour flight, we made it to Uganda! The flight was long, but we were pumped to get there. When we got off the flight, the Empower a Child staff were there to greet us (they were so sweet and excited to see us). Our first hour in Africa composed of an interesting bus ride... lets just say the roads are not paved, and no stop lights, and people drive everywhere (i mean crazy). When we got to the Empower a Child house, all of the other volunteers were there to greet us. And what a small world we live in... half of the volunteers are from Texas and have similar friends with people who graduated with Charissa. By the way, we are staying in a suburb of Kampala called Ntinda. 

DAY 1

Our first day (on Tuesday) we got up around 7 am, and started off the day with devotions and praise and worship (in Luganda) with the rest of the group. We got to divide into pairs, and pray over our struggles and concerns of our life. After the morning devotions, we all split up to go to a primary school. Ashley and Brittany went to Victory (a primary school) where they played games, sang songs, taught the kids about respecting their teachers (the focus this week is on trying to encourage all the kids to stay in school), and told them how God is our ultimate teacher. Anna and Charissa went to Mengo (another primary school) that was the size of one small room with holes in the ground and the roof was flying open. We shared the same teachings as Ashley and Brittany. We also did praise and worship with the kids, as well as colored. The most amazing thing about visiting with the kids was although they had little, they were so happy. When we arrived to the schools, they ran out and greeted us with hugs, and called us "Muzungus" which means "White Person"... it was so adorable! 

In the afternoon we visited a secondary school called Harvard College (which is a high school). Anna and Ashley had the opportunity to pray for these kids. We all encouraged them to stay in school and pursue their dreams (a lot of them said doctors, accountants, pilots, nurses, a model, teachers, a rapper, etc.) 

When we returned back to the house, we were EXHAUSTED, but the good Lord gave us dish duty :) And its not like at home where you can put it in the dishwasher, and its only a few plates. We cleaned dishes for 30 people (twice, lunch and dinner), with buckets of COLD water, 1 bar of soap, and dirty dish towels... BUT, we had a blast doing it! It was interesting experience...

DAY 2

Today we visited a Children's hospital, called Kataelwa Children's Hospital. These kids were injured from birth defects, war, accidents, etc. We visited with them, sang songs, danced, colored, and did a skit on Daniel 3, about the fiery furnace. (Today is "Martyrs day" in Uganda, by the way...) We all wanted to take all the children home with us!

We were also able to visit Good Choice primary school, where we did manual labor, such as cleaning the rooms, picking up trash outside, mopping the floors, playing games (jump rope, soccer, tag).

After that we challenged East High School (a Muslim school) to a basketball game, where I am pretty sure we lost. But we did put up a good fight. Anna and Charissa also played a little pick-up volleyball, and Ashley (of course) went to the soccer field and ran about a million laps. By the way, Brittany is a BALLER at basketball! 

Tomorrow we will be visiting a babies home, and this weekend we go on our SAFARI! So, we might be MIA till next week. 

So, overall, we are having an amazing experience. Thanks to you all of you guys who have supported us for this trip, it is a once in a life time opportunity. Love you all!

-Anna, Ashley, Brittany and Charissa

This was at the Children's hospital (his name is Precious) - such a sweet little                    boy. His legs were bo-legged, and he had casts on them to help straighten them. He                                 also had little crutches. What a gift from God.

This is Anna at the Children's hospital. This little boy fell asleep in

her arms while she was holding him! He was about one years old and had a 

cast on his right leg.  He was beautiful and she loved laughing with him!

IN UGANDA

The girls are in Uganda!
They raised all the money thanks to so many of you!

Stay tuned for info and pictures!

Ted

The big day is almost here

Just a few days and Ashley, Anna, Brittany and Charissa will be leaving for Uganda!
This past week has been great. We had a phenomenal success at the Fund raising Dinner - raised over $1185.00.

The girls were so close and still needed $1400.00 to reach the total for the trip. I made a plea and an angel appeared and donated the total amount! What can I say - God is good!

The girls will leave on Sunday May 31st and will do their best to keep everyone updated and posted as to the progress of the trip!

Here are a few pics of the last week!

Everyone enjoying a great
Spaghetti Dinner

Yummy Desserts

After Dinner at Three Forks


Girls with their Mission Uganda T-Shirts!









1 John 3;18 -
translated into the Dialect of the
Ugandan Village areas the girls
will be working in!

Spaghetti Dinner May 20th -5:30PM

Cooking of Dinner at Your Home is NOT ALLOWED on Wednesday, May 20th!

Please join us for a Spaghetti Dinner Wednesday night, May 20th, at 5:30PM at

THREE FORKS BAPTIST
1922 US Hwy 421 S
Boone, NC 28607

Find it Here

Food, Fun, Kids games and all proceeds will go to support the
Empower A Child Mission Uganda Trip on May 31st!

Leave the cooking to us!
Please come enjoy some great food!

God is good!

Here is another update!

Yesterday we received another $100 donation via the website with PayPal and an additional $300 was donated through one of the girls!

That puts us a $5600.00.
Thank you everyone!

Keep us in your prayers!

Anna, Ashley, Charissa, Brittany

Another $700

We have another $700 that has be given to the trip!

$5200.00 accounted for!

Only $8800.00 to go!

Almost 1/2 way!

Thank you all!
Anna, Charissa, Ashley and Brittany

God is Good!

The funds for the trip just keep on rolling in!


We are now at $4400.00!


Only $9600.00 to go!


Thank you everyone!

Ted

New Website Will is up!

We have a new website and it is up and running!

www.EmpowerAChildMission.com

We also have a Church (Three Forks Baptist in Boone) that will take our donations to provide all donors a Tax Letter!
Yeah.

The process for sending donations will be on the website under the Donations Page!
www.empowerachildmission.com/Donations.html

We can take Checks or any Credit /Debit Card!..
God is Good!

Thanks
Ted Henry

First Donations Received

We got our first two donations via Pay Pal today... Yeah!! We are rolling now.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We are working to secure a local church to be the official sponsoring church so we can give Tax Receipts for donations. I am meeting with a church on Monday! We will keep you posted.... but please don't let that stop you from giving to the cause.

There are many ways that you can assist us on the trip and we will keep you all informed as we go along. The primary funds required are
1. To pay Empower A Child for each of the girls and
2. The funds for travel.

The dollar amount seems large to us but we know it is small to the Lord and are faithful we will get all the girls require and more.

Have you registered on iGive.com?

All you have to do is go to www.SupportOurTrip.com to register.
It's free to register and when you shop at any of the over 700 online stores not only will iGive.com donate a small percentage of the purchase they will also give us $5.00!

More to come later!
Thanks

Mission Uganda - Empower A Child - Brittany

Meet Brittany Bolick
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!” -Isaiah 6:8

I am a senior at Charleston Southern University in Charleston, South Carolina. I will be graduating in May with a degree in Physical Education. I am currently doing my student teaching at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

I was born and raised in Boone, North Carolina. There I was taught the importance of a personal relationship with the Lord and sharing the love of Christ with those around me. All of my life I was involved in sports, pursuing a life long dream of one day playing in college. That dream has come and gone and now the Lord has laid on my heart a dream, a vision, and a hope for Africa.

While in college I recognized a passion the Lord had placed in my heart, a passion to work with children and young teenagers in sport related ministries. The Lord gave me the talent and ability to play sports and has sense given me the opportunity to use this talent to further his kingdom. How humbled I feel when I look into a classroom full of hurting students and realize that the Lord is using me to reach those that need his love most of all.

In the end my dream for this trip is simple; my dream is to share the love of Christ with those that are blinded by the harshness of the world. For a small child living in Africa the world is insensible and life is never easy, but my vision is to show them that the love of Christ is pure and simple. We as Christians are called to go out to all the world and share the gospel, going out may be in your neighborhood, town, state, or country, but I feel the Lord has called me to the go out amongst the children of Africa.

Africa has been a dream; my dream for years and now the Lord has opened a door to allow this dream to become a reality. A dream by definition is said to be “exceptionally gratifying, excellent, or beautiful.” That basic definition encompasses my vision and hope for my trip to Africa and with the Lord as my guide this trip will be nothing less than “exceptionally gratifying, excellent, and beautiful.”

My prayer is that the hearts and minds of these children will be open to hearing and receiving the gift of eternal life. The question is not whether a mark is left but how big that mark will be. We are going there with pure hearts to simply share the message of Christ with those that are lost and searching for the answer. I believe in my heart that it is the Lord’s will for us to go to Africa and I have faith that because of that this trip will impact lives, including our own, beyond what we ever hoped or imagined.

As it says in Isaiah 55:11, “so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” The impact of the cross can never be measured, so we may never know the true size of the mark that will be left, however, lives including my own will forever be changed. I would like to thank you in advance for all your prayers and support.

The power of prayer is inconceivable and knowing we are connected in that power is an amazing thought. Although you may not be there with us in the flesh, your thoughts and prayers will be with us every step of our journey. I look forward to sharing stories about joys and sorrows we meet along the way because in the end it is your continued support that helped make this trip a possibility.

In Him,

Brittany Bolick

Mission Uganda - Empower A Child - Anna

Meet Anna Baker

I am officially an Appalachian State University Alumni! I graduated in May 2008 with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Education (K-12) and a minor in sociology. I completed my internship with Western Youth Network in the summer of 2008.

Western Youth Network is a local non profit organization who serves high risk youth of the high country through after school, prevention, project venture and mentoring programs. My experience was so positive I decided to stay for another year as an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, where I mentor a 15 year old girl, plan events, instruct a girls and boys group on health issues and recruit volunteers to become mentors.

Working with youth has always been a passion of mine. After an alternative spring break trip to a remote fishing community in Jamaica, where I volunteered at Sandy Banks Primary School, I found myself thinking where to next? Missions had been in my heart for a long time and it was after that trip that I realized what God had in store for me. He wants me to spread his love to others through education, friendship, scripture and laughter.

Proverbs 19:21, comes to mind when I think about my last years in college “Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” I prayed for an opportunity to arise, with college and a four year college running career coming to an end, I was eager to start my life after school and fulfill God’s call on my heart. I was in the middle of a couple of opportunities but none of the mission trips seemed to work out.

God led me to stay at Western Youth Network and at first I was angry, why did none of those trips work out? I now know why. The experiences I have with working with the children and especially with the girl I mentor, are amazing and have taught me a lot about myself and who God wants me to be.

Continuing to pray for another mission trip opportunity, Charissa came to Ashley and me one night and showed us Empower-a-Child’s website and their short term mission opportunities. Immediately I understood why God was telling me to wait, be patient and the right opportunity will arise (and with your best friends of course)!

I am so excited to see what God has planned for us through leading us on our journey ahead! I pray that God will help me be an example of his love and to share with the children and people of Uganda what he has done in my life. That I may be able to help them through struggles, challenges or difficulties that face them everyday.

If I could leave one thing in Africa, it would be Love. My dream is to share God’s unconditional love with the families and children that I meet and give them hope that one day we will all hold hands where struggles and challenges will be no longer.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

Thank you very much for your prayers and support.

In Him,
Anna

Mission Uganda - Empower A Child - Ashley

Meet Ashley Norris

“Your talent is God’s gift to you and what you decide to do with it is your gift back to Him.”
I found this quote when I was a junior in high school and it has stuck with me. I used to think that my God-given talent was the ability to run. Indeed, that has been both a gift and a blessing. Throughout high school and during college I participated in cross-country and track. However, my running career is almost complete. I now realize that my true talent is my ability to work with children. The joy I experience with them is unexplainable.

I am a senior at Appalachian State University and will graduate at the beginning of May. College has been such a growth experience and I have discovered a lot about myself. When choosing my major I felt drawn to elementary education, and I have not regretted that decision. I am currently student teaching second graders and am in love with all of them. I feel that I was given a childlike personality and I am forever a child at heart; I fit right in.

When making my plans for the summer—whether to apply for a teaching position, attend graduate school or to just take a normal senior beach trip—I found myself wanting to do something that would not only make a difference to someone else but that would also benefit me in my spiritual walk with the Lord. I, along with three other girls, found an organization called Empower a Child.

This outreach organization attempts to meet children’s needs, both spiritually and physically. One of their goals is to educate and reinforce children’s skills, showing them the importance of an education. More importantly, however, they spread and share God’s love with these children in any way possible. After much prayer the four of us felt led to commit to this organization. In June, we will be spending two weeks at an orphanage in Uganda.

Our hope is that through our actions we can exhibit God's love to the children. We realize the trip is quite expensive, but feel the experience will be life-changing, for the children as well as for us. I believe we are all given a talent and I feel led to use my talent for God's mission.

Ashley Norris

Mission Uganda - Empower A Child - Charissa

Meet Charissa Clearman
Phil 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

As a collegiate volleyball player, this verse really spoke to me as I endured physical and emotional battles. The strongest I will ever be is through Christ, and by trusting in his strength and his plan, I can do all things, including serving over in Uganda.

I am senior at Appalachian State University, and I will be graduating with a degree in communications (public relations) with a specialization in nonprofits. My freshmen year of college I worked with an organization called, "Invisible Children", and participated in several events. This organization is where I found my passion for Africa.

God instilled in my heart a love for children, and a desire to seek and pray for Africa. As my college years went by, I did not stick with Invisible Children due to school obligations but my heart continued to long for those in Africa.

My sophomore year, there was a position open to go on a missions trip to Africa with a local church. I received an email about it, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity that God had set before me to travel to Africa. However, being a college athlete meant a lot of obligations during the summer, which conflicted with the opportunity to Africa. I was beside myself, and so discouraged, and questioned if God really wanted me to serve in Africa, or if it was more of my selfish desires.

I honestly do not know what to expect when I go over there, but I know that God knows. I pray that God will give me the strength to minister to these kids.

When I leave, I hope that I do not necessarily leave a mark, but God does. I want to be able to bring kids to Christ, and see that miracle in front of my eyes. I want to be able to be a friend to a child who is struggling, and needs love. If I am able to touch one child, all of the time and effort will have been worthwhile.

Blessings
Charissa

Welcome To Mission Uganda with Empower A Child

Join us here to learn about four daring young women who have answered a call to travel half way around the globe to show the love of Christ to the children of Uganda!

Here you will gain insight into the individual and collective passions that bring a person to saying, "Here I am Lord, use me as your hands and feet to share your love in the deepest corners of the world."

You will introduce you to each of these inspired young women, their diverse backgrounds, and personalities so you might learn more about what drives their hearts and soul to "step out" of the norm and embark on such a journey.

The two week long Mission trip in early June of 2009 will be one of great personal sacrifice and full of the dangers traveling to and working in a Third world country bring.

We are diligently seeking individuals and organizations who feel the call to assist the group with the financial requirements (large or small) and with prayer for the journey.

If you have personally traveled and done mission work in a third world country, you know only too well what these four young women are facing.

If you have not, I can only share that words cannot adequately describe the challenges they will face, the blessings they will take and receive and the changes that will be made in their hearts from the experience.

Travel and work in this type of Mission Field is certainly not a calling for everyone but, for those who are called life is not complete until the call is answered.

The financial burdens of a journey of this magnitude are great and in this economy raising the $3500.00 each to accomplish this work is even greater.

As you read the stories and visit the website, I would ask that you prayerfully consider what your part might be in sending these young women out to do the work they are called to do. Your financial considerations large or small are greatly appreciated.

We have set up a PayPal account to take donations. We are currently working on securing a church to receive donations that might require a receipt for tax purposes but at this time do not have such.

Empower-A-Child is a 501C(3) organization but they are not set up to be custodians to receive and disperse donations for people going on the trips to Uganda. We hope this will not deter you in your willingness to donate.

If you have any question please feel free to contact me at my office (828) 295-7270.

Blessings in His Name.

Ted Henry
Abundant Life Resources, Inc