The road to Uganda....

On January 23rd, Cathy Clark & myself will be boarding a plane to Uganda.  I can hardly believe this is happening!  I wanted to take a moment to share with you how this came about.

The truth is, I think Uganda was on my heart long before I ever stepped foot on Ethiopian soil.  When people found out I would be going to Ethiopia, I can't tell you how many times I heard "how many children will you be bringing home" and often my response was "I don't think my future child will be from Ethiopia....I think it will be from Uganda."  I will probably never be able to pin point the exact where, when or how Uganda was placed on my heart....but I know that it was.

Approximately 9 months ago, 2 gentlemen visited our church.  They were both from Uganda.  The noticed our "Hope in Ethiopia" shirts and also our jewelry.  We shared with them the story of the ministry and the beads.  They informed us that they had a group of women in Uganda called "Women of Destiny" who made the paper beads.  Obviously, we were intrigued.  After the message in church, our Pastor invited Richard to come up to the stage and pray.  As Richard began praying, the tears began to flow.  I was sitting next to Cathy and she grabbed my hand.  We both sat there with tears flowing and our hands tightly clenched.  I think somewhere, deep down in our souls we knew that one day we'd be in Uganda together.

This was no chance meeting.  The Women of Destiny has become our primary bead supplier for our Tesfa jewelry collection.   God opened up an amazing opportunity for us to visit these Women.  We will get to learn the bead making process.  We will learn about how these beads have helped them sustain their families.  We will also get to see how one church in Uganda is living out Matthew 25:40...The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Would you please be in prayer for us as we embark on this journey?  Please pray that we will have eyes to see what God would have us see, ears to hear what God would have us hear and most importantly hearts to love like Jesus.

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see 

~Brandon Heath