Hello, my name is Gordon Deno. I will be fifty years old this year. I will be accompanying the students and the other adults from Wilson Praise and Worship on the Uganda trip. In my work, I have been blessed to have traveled to many places around the country and assist with many types of situations. This is the first trip I will be taking out of the country, and, while I have been involved in some very large disaster situations, I fully believe that this will be the most important mission that I have ever been involved in.
I am honored that my Heavenly Father has opened this door for me. While my friends who have made this trip in the past have relayed their experiences to me, I know that I cannot fully appreciate the circumstances and conditions these children deal with daily until I am there myself. I fully believe that the training and experience that I have has prepared me for this mission. I am honored to have been included by my Christian family and I am honored that the parents of our students have entrusted their children to me and the other adults for this trip.
My prayer for this trip is, safety for all during the trip and the work that we have before us and that the experience will continue to cause me to grow in my Christian walk and that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will be visible in my words and deeds. I pray that our group will be a positive influence on the people that we will be helping. I also pray that through my words and deeds, I will be able to help strengthen the Christian walk of the students who will be with us.
Please keep us in your prayers!
Hi there :) My name is Emily Carter and I am nineteen years old. I have been
attending Wilson Praise and Worship for a little while, and have fallen in
love with it. When Pastor Saxon invited me to join him and the Dive youth
group to go to Uganda I was kind of apprehensive. I have never been out of
the country, and until this opportunity came, I didn’t really give it much
thought. The thought of going to Africa amazes me and fills me up with joy.
Being able to minister to young orphans humbles my heart and shows me how
blessed I really am. There are not many chances to travel so far and do such
great things for Christ, and I cannot wait to be on my way to Africa.
My name is Megan Perry, I'm 17yrs old. This trip to Uganda will be my first time traveling outside of the country. I'm really excited about going and spreading God's word but I'm also very nervous. It will be my first time flying. Before I was presented with this opportunity I wasn't really sure what my purpose in life was and what God wanted me to accomplish in life. To be honest my life felt kinda empty. Now I have something to look forward to and I can help others come to know the lord's amazing love for all people. I have a great passion for helping people and now I can actually do that. I have always wanted to help make a difference and now I have that opportunity. I feel very lucky to have such a great opportunity to go to Uganda. This trip is always on my mind, I don't think i have stopped thinking about it since it was first mentioned to me. I know it will be a tough trip but it will be worth it. I think this trip will bring everyone a lot closer together. I couldn't be going with a better group of people. I'm glad I get to experience it with my friends.
Hey my name is Caleb Lewis and in about two months I will be going on a mission’s trip with my youth group. I’ve never been away this far before but I’m excited to go. This will be a trip that I go and come back changed. There is no way I can go and see what I’m going to see and come back the same. And if you think about it, that’s what it’s all about.
Life is hard and it often feels like we are in a battle. And we are going to a place where it is a battle just to survive and live with hope. So we are taking our army over to help fight the battle. We are leading armies and teaching others so they can lead their own army. If you can’t come please give or pray that God will do great things.
Hey there :) . My name is Jessica Hocutt and I am 19 years old. I have been at Wilson Praise and Worship for about 5 years now and it truely is home for me. When Pastor Saxon began to talk about the trip I had all different kinds of emotions running through me. Being a part of this youth group in itself has been amazing and now I get to take a trip with 8 other students whom I love. I am super stoked to be going to Uganda but on the other hand, I am nervous too. This is not just a cookie cutter trip. We are going over there with the intent to change lives but also have our lives changed and thats something powerful.We as young people have the chance to spread the word of god with others in a different country and thats pretty awesome. We are doing something that not everyone will have the chance to do and WE WILL change lives. God is doing such as amazing work in our youth group. We are a team and not everyone is able to go but we know that they are all behind us supporting us every step of the way. This isnt going to be any easy trip. We are having to prepare ourselves mentally and emotionally and honestly we need all the support and pray we can get. Talking about it is just getting me more excited, I can not wait to share this experience with the other 8 students going. It truely is going to be LIFE CHANGING!
My Name is Dillon Van Pate. I am 16 years old. This trip to Uganda will be my first time traveling out of the country. I am very excited about going and yet I am also very nervous about all of the things I will see. We as the Dive really need to prepare for this trip mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Even though I am very young I feel the Lord wanting to work through my peers and I, to take us places that many people do not usually get the chance to act on. I am glad I’m going with people that I trust and respect and look up to. Pastor Saxon and Pastor Cliff have wonderful ways in seeing whom this trip can really help to bring out and show those people the real world. I’m very glad that I am one of those very few. Megan Perry, my best friend, will be going along with us. Megan and I have wanted to help serve the Lord like this for a while now and we finally have a chance; Caleb Lewis, who I have the greatest respect for as a friend and peer, will be going as well. Caleb has a different way to look at life and I am glad I surround myself with him and Pastor Saxon and Pastor Cliff. I cannot even explain all of the things that go through my mind when I think that I have the opportunity of a lifetime to go to Uganda, Africa! It amazes me that God can pick the person from little ole Wilson, NC to travel across the world to help not only save people but show them Gods love and power! I will be sure to post more information on how I am preparing for this trip as the time gets closer.
I guess to start off I should introduce myself. I'm Caroline Hathaway and I am 16 years old. My family and I started going to Wilson Praise & Worship a little over a year ago and honestly I do believe it was one of the biggest blessings to us all. A blessing to me individually especially because of this huge opportunity that arose just a couple months ago. This trip has got me so excited. I'm excited about what God has in-store for my family at WPW and I as we prepare to take a trip of a lifetime. Worrying is definitely something I'm sure we all are doing at this point and our nerves can sometimes get the best of us. But I am beyond anxious to see how we as the Dive can really reach out and make a difference all the way over there in Uganda and then here as well in Wilson, NC. Right now all I know is it is the one thing that is constantly on my mind. I suppose we all will have a little more to say as this trip gets closer and closer. But oh my word, I didn't realize it was that soon! Look at that meter to the right! 65 days should be enough for all of us to prepare our hearts, minds, eyes, and ears for what we are going to encounter. Oh, and for all of you who know of that amazing song by Leeland and Brandon Heath ("Follow You"), that is officially my theme song for this mission! :)
My name is Dominic Hocutt, I'm 16 years old, and the trip to Kampala, Uganda will be my first time traveling outside of the country. I'm actually pretty excited about going on this trip but also equally nervous because it kinda scares me that I'm going to a completely different country. I'm extremely relieved that I'm going with good friends though, including my best friend Caleb Lewis and my other great friend Caroline Hathaway. I think all together there will be about seven teenagers and a couple adults going on the trip. My hopes for this trip are that it opens my eyes up to the world around me more and that in some way I change the life of at least one person over there. I've only been to a couple other states and I hear what happens in other countries through the news but from what I've heard you never really know what its like over there until you've experienced first hand. I've been doing some research about Uganda through the internet and I don't think much of what I'm reading will help me. Honestly most of it is about the environment over there, like how they have the most birds in the world and how they're one of two countries in the world that have mountain gorillas. Which is interesting but I don't think we'll be studying birds or gorillas while we're over there. The most knowledgeable things I think I've learned is to always shake with your right hand and always eat the food they offer you, thanks to a friend named Vitu from Malawi. We're actually going to help this orphanage which our entire church has been helping over I think the past two years. We gave them the money to build a well which I think was an amazing thing to be able to do. So now we're going in person to help some more which I think is also amazing. I'm not all that excited about getting all the shots to go though. I think we have to get shots for yellow fever, hepatitis, tetanus and maybe some others. Caleb doesn't like needles so it ought be entertaining when he gets his shots. I'll be blogging as we get things done for the trip so stay in touch.
In 2008 Wilson Praise and Worship began an divinly orchastrated relationship with a pastor form Uganda. Pastor Vincent came and shared his heart as well as the gospel with our church.
His testimony and heart were amazing, not to mention his faith. As he prayed for our people it was evident that he believed that God could do anything. During that trip he prayed for our own Pastor Cliff and his wife Lisa. They had been trying for sometime to concieve a child and with each attempt came heartbreak and frustration. Not long after Pastor Vincent had visited and prayed for Pastor Cliff and Lisa they concieved and gave birth to the beatiful Mary Abigail.
In May of 2009 a team from Wilson Praise and Worship traveled to Uganda to find out how we could partner with Pastor Vincent and serve the people of Uganda. Pastor Vincent operated a Orphanage that was very much in need of support. Not long before our arrival in the country two of the students had died from contaminated water. As a church we resolved to partner with Pastor Vincent and orphange.
Upon return to the United states, Pastor Cliff asked our church to give. WPW rose to the occasion and gave and raise enough to buy food and install a well with fresh, clean drinking water.
Now the students of WPW, "The Dive," will be traveling to Uganda in June. For most, this will be their first missions trip. For all, this will be life changing!
