Contributions

For those of you who have been wondering how you can make a contribution you can either a: make a check payable to Mitchell and I or b: for a tax deductible contribution you can make a check payable to Harvest Fellowship and leave the subject line blank. Either way you can mail the checks to 15323 Antler Creek SATX 78248.

Thanks to everyone who has been so willing to help Mitchell and I go be the hands and feet.

My Center

It is so crazy how fast time passes! Mitchell and I have been frantically working on moving out of our apartment and into storage. It doesn't seem like that big of a task until I realized that we not only had to pack for Uganda and put everything else in storage, we also needed clothes out for winter and for April when we get back, i.e. we have stuff everywhere!

Robin has been telling me very exciting things about the orphanage and the children there and my friend Whitney sewed me an awesome baby sling to carry the children around the compound in!

The prayers that we have been surrounded by have been absolutely wonderful. Any "logical" person would be slightly frightened or worried about leaving the comforts of home for three months to a place that they have never been, yet I sit on the title page of a new chapter in my life calmly. The placid feelings within me don't seem to match the tumultuous waves that one would think should accompany such an endeavor. Praise be to God who is my center, my shepherd, and my everything.

Please continue to pray that plans go smoothly, we already had to change our flights back home, and that God shows us what to do next.

Thanks for your prayers!

So many of you heard about the new strains on the trip. (If not read the previous post). Thank you to all the prayer warriors out there. God has already laid out the "new", more price efficient path (I say new because it is new to me... but He knew all along).

Praise God!

New Strains... Need your prayers

Last night I got an email from Robin, the woman who lives in Entebbe and just started the orphanage. It seems that the more affordable housing option that Mitchell and I were hoping for may not be available during the time that we are there. The prices that we would be paying for the new options are four times more per month. Needless to say this has me a little bit worried.

Pray that God eases my nerves. I know that this is His plan and that He will provide us with a path and a method to get down that path. Pray that somehow the guest house option (the more affordable option) becomes available. Pray that God reminds me of His always present provision in my life.

Thank you in advance for your prayers!

Really God... YOU want to use me

As I have been packing for Mitchell and my weekend trip to Dallas to talk to Cristo Viene's youth about our upcoming trip to Uganda and all of the need that is there I have been listening to the Mwangaza children's choir. Mwangaza is Swahili for "shining light" and that is what their voices are, pure and innocent light that holds the hope for the future of Uganda.

I started crying thinking, "Why do I get to go be your hands and feet God? Are you sure that I am the one that you want to use? I fail you all the time. There are others that are better suited for this." Yet from within me I hear that still small voice saying, "Don't you trust me Cassidy? I chose you to do this. I have a plan for you. I have known since before you were born that I would send you to my children across the world. I have been preparing you for this since you were born"

What a humbling experience to be chosen by God! He must love me so much. And you want to know a not so secret secret? He loves you too. He is especially fond of you. He has a plan for you that will knock you off your feet because of the magnanimity of what He wants to lay before you.

I will never be good enough to accomplish His will, yet when I live through Him, He will give me more than enough to share His love. And that is what we need, the pure undefiled love that comes directly from the Father.

Ants in my Pants

I am so wiggly. I can't stay still. I am always making lists of things we need, things we don't need, things we need to get, what we need to pack, all for Africa. I guess it is kind of a waste of time but, in a weird way I kind of feel helpless. I feel like I should already be there. I should be caring for the orphans, and walking down to the market to run errands.

I find myself already starting to dress the way I will need to while in Africa (long skirts and covered shoulders) and needless to say I am getting some funny looks when I go some where in a floor length tie die skirt with a pashmina wrapped around my shoulders, but I don't even care.

I need to get there! January 16th can't come soon enough.

Thank you for all the prayers from everyone. I used to think that I could separate myself from the past and from people in it but I have realized that everyone I come in contact with, even that guy at the gas station 2 years ago that asked if I was okay, has shaped me, changed me, and molded me.

Some changes to "me" were definitely good, others were good disguised as pain. It is so crazy what God does to make us the people that He can use to better the world. I hope that he uses Mitchell and I in awesome ways to help shape the future of Uganda.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane Don't know when I'll be back again!

Mitchell and I have purchased our tickets for Uganda. We will be leaving January 16th and then leaving flying from DFW to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Entebbe. On April 16th we will leave Entebbe fly to Amsterdam then back to DFW. I am so excited.

This week we are starting to send out fundraising letters. Please pray that God uses our family and friends to get us where He wants us to go.

It is so strange because two years ago I would have never thought that my heart would be in Africa. I went to mission trips in Mexico and I speak Spanish I thought my heart would always feel connected there. But now I here of riots in Kampala and my heart aches, I hear of abandon children and I feel like I need to get there to take care of God's precious children. I believe that God is raising up a generation in Africa that will be able to lessen the heartache. He is raising up a generation of leaders who won't live on handouts and that will better themselves and their community. He is raising up people who will look past the pain of the past and hope in the future by setting up farms that can sustain thousands of people. He is raising a generation of believers that will help educate others on what it means to live a safe life in Christ.

Now is the time that this orphan continent needs your prayers and your help.