My Daughter is Going to Africa

It has been a whirlwind the last several days in our home.  An exciting opportunity has come up for our 16 year old daughter, Celeste, and we have been in super-sonic action mode since. 

Celeste will be traveling to Africa in the coming months to visit and minister to the orphans.  We've been filling out paperwork, raising support funds, reading material, and working out passport details.  I'll let you read all about it in a portion of Celeste's letter below.  If you feel so inclined to offer support, contact me via the contact tab for details.  We would be grateful if you would keep Celeste, the team, and the children in prayer as they prepare for the trip.  Thank you!


Dear Family and Friends,

I am so excited to share with you an opportunity God has given me to love and care for the children of Africa.  Soon, I will be traveling to Ethiopia and Uganda to show the love of God to orphans. There, I will get to help feed the children in several orphanages and minister to them in many ways. I will also get to visit the Fistula hospital, and reach out to children who live and work at the city dump in Korah.

Why do I want to do this? Over the past year or so, we've been connected to Africa through several of our friends. Friends who adopted from Ethiopia, and friends who have gone on mission trips in other parts of Africa. God has used these friends to give me a heart to pray for the orphans. Recently, my mom had us all watch several documentaries about various countries in Africa. Some were about the Genocide, some were about spreading awareness of the orphan crisis, and some were about medical conditions such as Fistula. I also viewed a trailer to a book called 'Kisses From Katie" that shares the story of the young woman who started Amazima Ministries. 

Over the past couple of weeks, my parents have discussed the possibility of me going to Africa "some day" as part of a mission trip. I said I would love to go! While we were learning more about the Amazima ministry recently, we came across Visiting Orphans, a ministry that sends teams out to 13 different countries to visit orphans. As we looked at their upcoming trips, we saw that there was a team going to two of the places that I had seen in the documentaries. Amazima (in Uganda) and the Fistula hospital (in Ethiopia). I could not believe it. The team will also be visiting 2-3 orphanages in Addis where our friends adopted their daughter. It's likely that I will get to go to that same orphanage. Isn't that amazing? God has placed the perfect trip in front of me and there's nothing I want more than to go and love on these kids.

I ask you to pray. As excited as I am, I am also a little scared. This will be my first big trip away, and there will be a lot to learn. But I am ready. Please pray for the team, travel safety, and especially for the people we meet, that they would feel loved and needs would be met. Please pray that I would be able to raise the money needed to go.

Thank you so much!

Celeste