It was early in 2010. On a Saturday night, I had a dream about two small African children, unloved, unclean and unfed. One was a boy, no more than 9 or 10, who was lame and couldn't walk. The other was a little girl who had severe burns to her face... she was ashamed of the way she looked and was outcast. In this dream, they reached their tiny hands out to me... they begged me, with tears streaming down their faces, to help them. They called me Mama. I held my arms out of them and they ran into my embrace. I held them tight until my arms hurt. Then, as dreams do, they faded away... but the image of them stuck in my mind.
The next morning, I was at church when a lady named Mercy stood infront of the congregation and told about how she went back to her home in Ethiopia, to do some missions work. She mentioned a small boy, who was 9, named Michael Peter, who had Polio, thus having problems with his legs, stopping him from walking. I was totally surprised by this and spoke to Mercy at length after the service about Michael and what I could do to help.
To keep a long story short, Michael was sponsored by someone in our Church and is now receiving physical therapy for his condition.... However, this started something moving in my spirit that I could not keep still. So, I started looking into short term missions. At the time, I had a sponsor child in the Dominican Republic, so my search began there... but it soon moved to Africa. Uganda was a very common result in my searches... and as I read about it's history, it stuck on my heart. I found Loving One by One Ministries, quite by accident... and when I watched the video about how Sherry began her ministry, I took a hold of her heart and her vision. I signed up to go on a team with my Dad.
A few days before leaving, I started to have doubts. I started not wanting to go at all, I would cry myself to sleep and wish I hadn't done it. This was definitely something designed to stop me from going and doing what God had planned. Once I arrived in Uganda, I remembered why I had originally felt called to come. One look at those children will change your life. One hand in yours, one smile, one "I love you" uttered from their lips will dive straight into your heart.
I will always love Uganda and it's people. I will always feel like a part of me is there. I have new additions to my family, now. I am so blessed to have met them and spent time with them.
Oh Uganda, may God uphold thee. We lay our future in thy hands. United free for liberty, together will always stand.
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