Last year I made the decision to go with my church on their annual mission trip to Uganda, Africa in February 2015. My church, Epikos Church, sponsors a Christian school and orphanage in Ntandi, Uganda where 52 orphans live and are direct recipients of our efforts. Epikos Church has committed to helping them since 2009 and has raised thousands of dollars to help support the needs of the orphans and students at the on-site school where over 500 students attend. We have partnered with the local leaders over the years to meet the needs of this orphanage/school community. For additional information on Epikos Church and the projects we've helped with please click on the following link: http://www.epikoschurch.com/about-us/world-missions/uganda/index.html I'm extremely proud to be apart of this work and contribute on this trip. Many of you know my passion is to serve others and the world around me. I believe I'm living part of my purpose by going on this mission trip. This year our project focus is as follows: - Life Plan roll out for orphans: My church community has committed to financially supporting each orphans aspirations after they finish school. This means helping them attend university, becoming a farmer, efficient in a trade or the like. This is truly amazing! - Interviewing each orphan - Building and organizing an on-site library - Creating an email address for all secondary orphans - Buying and distributing supplies and gifts - Having evening story and worship time with the orphans - Meet with Ntandi mayor to plan village working days (community outreach) - Play with the kids with sports, games and activities (fingers crossed: U-Jam fitness :D ) - Field trip with children - Supplying the children with Bibles and futbols (aka soccer balls) At this time, I believe we're still praying and working on having medical personnel and a contractor on our team. Last year, we were able to administer medicine and dental examinations for the children! This year we hope to do something similar and help maintain the grounds and building projects with a general contractor. (Please let me know if you fall into these categories and feel moved to come with us!) Our team leaves Portland, OR on February 22 and will return on March 08, 2015. We are going to be in Uganda for 2 weeks and as you can imagine with everything we plan to do, it will go by so fast! The experience and opportunity that will impact these children and community will be so worth it and priceless! This trip is fast approaching as our team prepares to leave with two suitcases each. One suitcase will be of personal items and the second will be supplies that will be left behind in Uganda! Our team traveling is approximately 15 people (including two 13 year old girls). Some may be wondering how I can go in full confidence on this trip considering the local and nearby crisis. Well when traveling there is always risk but I believe the risk that these children and communities are in are far much greater than my 'first world' concerns or hesitations. The leaders in my group have been traveling to this part of the world for a few years now and we will be escorted by a Ugandan local friend. They have experienced the local culture and understand the importance of our safety. I trust my team and the God we represent. As you can imagine, there is a cost associated for my travel and airfare. At this time, I'm fundraising for $3,000 US to accommodate these expenses. Anything additionally fund raised will be directly donated to Epikos Church Uganda Mission Fund. If you would like to contribute to my efforts you may send money through Paypal to: mueller.meg@gmail.com If you'd like to send money in another form, please private message me. Please know that I do not expect your money. More importantly, you've been included to this event page to pray and/or think positively for myself, the Epikos Church team and the children's lives we're going to impact. I cannot express enough through words how excited and determined I am to go and experience this part of the world! Seriously, it's nothing short of amazing! :D Thanks so much for your love and support as I continue to journey in this life and create my own path. It's really important to me that I continue to be brave and do what I feel called to do by positively impacting the world around me! <3