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