Galatians 2:10

Dear Friends and Family,

This is my second opportunity to visit the continent of Africa, and I couldn’t feel more blessed! I am so excited to be able to return to Uganda and also to visit Kenya for the first time.

Back in 2009, during my first trip to Uganda, God opened my eyes to an aspect of need that I wasn’t prepared for. While I had seen heart wrenching videos of skeletal babies with descended bellies crouching outside mud huts, I had somehow managed to miss the thought of what those babies would truly be hungry for.

Here in our western society, it’s very easy for us to dwell on the needs that are tangible. Things like food, water and clothes. But what I’ve learned is that the spiritual needs are so much deeper, and also harder for us to think about or help with. Touch, compassion, love, laughter, hope, attention. It’s the lack of these things that starve a soul. These are universal needs, needs that even the wealthiest among us crave, needs that we want to ignore in our neighbors’ everyday. Because to address these needs requires so much more of our hearts than the simple action of putting food on a table, and honestly, we just don’t have that much to give. It takes too much out of us.

Thankfully, I’ve come to realize that I can’t fill those needs. Not for myself, and not for others. So I turn to the One who can, Jesus Christ, and allow Him to meet these needs in my own heart so that I might be an instrument that He uses to meet them in others. I am so thankful to have an opportunity to work with Remember The Poor, who not only strives to meet the physical needs of the poor and hungry, but also the spiritual needs.

So, once again, I am asking for the support of my community to help me fulfill this mission. September 26th - October 10th I will be traveling with Remember the Poor to Kenya and Uganda. We will be bringing love, supplies, support and encouragement to local ministries and sponsorship programs in these countries.

We have two visions for this trip; we will be equipping leaders to equip more leaders and encouraging workers for the harvest, while also gaining new vision of how to start new works and ministries.

In just a little over a week, I will be holding a fundraiser at Cabin Coffee Café. I have just a few short weeks to raise a little over $3,000. We will be holding a raffle with a variety of prizes that will be donated by The Cabin’s neighbors. So stop by anytime on Friday, August 3^rd to buy your raffle tickets! Cabin Coffee has also agreed to donate 10% of all their proceeds for my trip. So please, come and show your support, and get a delicious beverage while you’re at it!

“All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” Galatians 2:10

Thank you and God Bless,

Callie Denny

Is normal really the right word?

I was telling my mom the other day that I finally feel as if things are getting back on track for me. It's like all of the sudden I have a normal life, only my "normal" is not normal at all, and I am so very very thankful for that! I guess what I am trying to say is that things are happening for me again.

"What things?" You might ask. Well, I'll tell you. I am so very excited to say that I have another missions trip in the works! And, actually, I feel a little panic coming on because it's a very SOON trip! September 26th through October 10th I will be in Africa!! Shall we walk down memory lane? Oh, I say let's.

I went to Uganda back in 2009 and I think I truly fell in love with missions for the first time. I'd been to Pueblo, Mexico with my youth group when I was in high school, and while I was very impacted by that trip, I don't think I really understood the implications for my life. Africa was different. From beginning to end, my experiences on that trip changed everything. My worldview, my goals, my dreams, my relationships, my faith,  my confidence, even my personal style...everything was turned upside down, shaken around a little, and then transformed. Since then, I can't get enough of missions. I admit, some of my trips have been hard. So hard, that while in the middle of them all I wanted was to quit and come home, but I thank God for even those "horrible" experiences. I know that God has placed missions in my heart. Nothing in my life has ever compared to serving God on the mission field. I love it and I feel so tremendously blessed that God allows me to serve Him in this way.

This next trip I am going on will be to Kenya and Uganda through a organization called Remember the Poor, and it will be led by my dear friends The Thieles. Can I just say again, I am so excited!! Yet, reality is also kicking in as I look at the calender and think about everything I need to get done. I have less then a month to do all my fundraising (I need about $3,000, YIKES!!), Then throw in two jobs (just started a second one today), a baby-shower (not for me, of course), a trip to Tennessee (hopefully!) and training seminar (if there are still spots left) all in the next two months!!

Yes, life is getting back to normal, and I like it. I really like it.