And so it begins...

We are off on our adventure. Chris and I are currently sitting at Denver International Airport awaiting our flight to London. We should be boarding at any time now.

Our most eventful moment so far was when Chris dropped his personal pan pizza on the airport floor....yep, slid right out of the cardboard and onto the carpet (crust down thank goodness) Another passenger walking by yelled, "5 second rule!"  Then Chris went on to eat his pizza...he said he trusts God to take care of the germs. I was horrified but I guess my husband has more faith than me in the germ arena. :-)

Anyway, we are off. Please pray for us as we leave. We are excited to go but leave with heavy hearts as our community here is suffering so greatly from the wildfires. Both sets of our parents have been evacuated. My parents are awaiting news of whether their home stills stands. Please continue to pray for all those involved in this tragedy.

We love you and will miss you but are looking forward to sharing our adventures with you.

The Haywoods

Everything is possible with God

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."  Mark 10:27

ALL THINGS are possible with God.

As of last Wednesday evening, we needed $1300 to come from somewhere before Friday at noon to be able to get our plane tickets to Uganda. Guess what?  It came in.

Every prayer we have prayed so far since setting our hearts to follow God on this adventure has been answered. At 11:45 on Friday we still needed around $900 and stopped for a moment to look at each other and figure out what to do. Do we commit to the tickets and trust God to bring in the remainder of the money before our check got to the travel agent, or do we give up and not go to Uganda?

My husband said, "God has gotten us this far, He's not going to stop now. Let's go for it." So, I sent the email that said, "Book the tickets." Within 3 hours after that email thrown out in faith, $900 came in and then a little bit more came in so that we would have enough for our malaria medicine. God is providing.

Chris had prayed that morning as we were driving, "God, give us this day our daily bread, please provide for us so that we can do what you have asked.  Let manna fall from Heaven Lord!"  We kind of laughed as he proclaimed the manna part, but then a friend of ours pointed something out to us. When the Israelites prayed for manna, God did provide the manna, but He only provided what was needed for that day. They were not allowed to save it or store it. The manna fell down from Heaven and they used it for that day. It is funny because that is what has happened to us. Every day that we are on the edge of our seats wondering if we will have enough, here comes our manna for the day to provide for what we need in that very moment. God is good.

As we have been preparing there are so many emotions that assault us every day, and sometimes even in the middle of the night I am awakened with the reality that we are going to be in Uganda for 5 months. Sometimes we are filled with excitement and then other moments panic tries to overwhelm us. But I keep thinking that this is what must have happened to some of the people in the Bible that stepped out in faith when God asked them to.

We've been thinking about those known as the people of great faith that are listed in Hebrews 11 and the priests who stepped out into the raging river (Joshua 3:14-17) after Joshua told them that God would stop the water once their feet hit the water. We read about these people and think, "Wow, to have that kind of faith."

I think a challenge for all of us though is to remember that they were just people like you and me. It says in James 5:17 that Elijah, who was known to be this amazing prophet and man of prayer and faith, was "a man just like us." (NIV1984)

We like to ponder if the priests in Joshua who were carrying the ark and then had to take their first step into a river that was at flood stage may have looked at each other like, "Are you kidding me with this?"  I know Chris and I have as we've stepped out when God has asked us to. The greatest thing we all need to remember about all these stories though is that they were people just like you and me. Ordinary people serving an extra ordinary God.

I love how in the verses right before the priests are called to step into the river, Joshua tells the people that God is going to do what He is going to do so that "you will know that the living God is among you..." (Joshua 3:10)

We have lived in amazement and awe this past week at the demonstration of God's hand in our lives. We pray that our blog and the stories of answered prayer that God is giving us encourage your heart and help you to see that the living God is among us all, even today.

I have felt the presence of God this week in a way I haven't in a long time. I will be going throughout my day so busy with details and yet over my shoulder or deep within my heart I can feel the peace of His presence pass by me and give me a little nudge letting me know He is near.

We continue to grow in our excitement as we take each new step into this Haywood journey of faith with God. Thank you again to all who were the answer to our prayers this past week. We couldn't be walking this path without you and your own obedience to what God asked you to do.

With love and awe-filled gratefulness,

Aimee and Chris

We prepare and we run through sprinklers...

These are 2 of 4 of the huts that house the students who attend the Institute for Childcare and Family.

Today was a good day here in Colorado, but it was very hot!  Maybe God was trying to prepare us for the warmer weather in Uganda. ;) Really though, we had fun today. My brother and family were here visiting and as usual, we had a wonderful time with family. I ran through the sprinklers, got soaked, and was protected by my nephews as we navigated and jumped through the spraying water that was surely after us. It was a sweet time.

As Chris and I prepare to leave for Uganda in a few weeks for a 5 month period, times like today have taken on even more of a special feel. What a gift family is. There is nothing like the sound of a child's belly laugh and the smiles on our adult faces as we watch personalities peek out and express themselves. Joy. It's joy, plain and simple, to sit back and look at my parents, at my brother and his wife, their three children, and my husband sitting around laughing, stepping over toys, and just sharing food and time together. 

Leaving for 5 months to go to another country with a very different culture is not an easy decision. A friend of mine said earlier tonight, "When you're called, you have to answer." So true. He and I talked about how times like this in life can be difficult because there can be fear and there can be doubt, but it is better to feel the fear and doubt for a moment as you run towards the goal, then to feel the kind of fear and doubt that comes from a life that has left paths unwalked and unexplored. So often too these paths are difficult to walk. Many times there is some sort of sacrifice involved. 

Chris and I are feeling the reality of that and we have been for awhile as we've talked to God about Uganda. We are going to miss our families. We are going to miss you who are reading this. Most importantly though, we don't want to miss God. He's asked us to go to Uganda for awhile to see what His heart has done there and is doing there. Although we have experienced that in some way on our previous missions there, we believe that there is a deeper work that He wants to do in us, for us, and then through us wherever He decides to put us more permanently. 

Please pray for us. Pray for us that we are able in every way to follow God where He asks us to go. Pray for the home that we will be assigned as we go to New Hope Uganda. Pray that every need we still have will be supplied in ways that bring God the glory that He so deserves from us as we live a life unexpected and extraordinary.

Until we go, I think at least one more run through the sprinklers is in order. 

With heavy, but very full hearts....

Chris and Aimee

How This Haywood Adventure Began...

Dear friends and family,                                                                                                                                                                               

As many of you already know, we both became unemployed over the last half a year and have been asking God what the next step is for us as the months have gone on and on. We have been unable to find positions for employment here and have been really wondering what God had in mind for us.

About two months ago, a man at our church prayed a simple prayer for guidance and provision over us. Upon arriving back at our townhome, Chris looked at me and asked me if I had sensed or heard anything in my heart as the man was praying. I had not. I asked him what he heard and he looked at me and said, “Uganda. Uganda. Uganda.”

Chris said when he said the word Uganda 3 times my eyes got as big as saucers. Let me tell you why. A couple weeks prior to that, I had met with one of my dear friends that I had not spent time with in quite awhile. We were excited to catch up and during that time she asked if Chris and I had ever thought about going to the Institute for Childcare and Family in Uganda. Now just to remind you, Chris has been to Uganda twice on missions trips with our church and I have been once. I briefly explained that yes, Chris had mentioned the last time we were there that he knew God would bring him back someday to attend the Institute.  She continued to say she thought it’d be a great idea for us both to attend the school because we both have many giftings that the staff there could help draw out and therefore equip us to be released into full-time ministry somewhere. She encouraged me to mention it to Chris. Well, I didn’t.

I partially forgot, I was mostly afraid, and thirdly I didn’t want to plant that idea myself. I kind of wanted God to tell Chris because that would be a huge change for us to move to Uganda for 5 months or more and leave everything and everyone behind.  Plus, Uganda was not even anywhere on our radar of what to do next. So, I didn’t tell him. About a week passed, and I was in the shower and I heard a whisper in my head saying, “You didn’t tell Chris about the Institute in Uganda.” I sighed and looked at my husband outside standing in our bedroom getting ready for the day and then continued to wash my hair. Then another week passed and that is when the man I mentioned earlier prayed for us at church.

God is so good to us in our weakness. I think God knew I wouldn’t tell Chris and then when Chris told me that he heard Uganda 3 times, I heard God tell me, “Don’t worry, I told him myself and now you know that this is from me.”  In that moment, I knew we were going back to Uganda. Just to make myself sure, I asked Chris, “Ok, you heard Uganda 3 times, what exactly did you hear about Uganda?”  He said, “I think we are supposed to go to the Institute for Childcare and Family.”  Yes, ok, I heard that God!  Thank you very much.

That evening we decided to set our hearts to pray about when and how we would go as well as asking God for further confirmation because of the huge life change this would be for us and our families. We decided not to tell anyone about this until God confirmed it again.

A few days later we went to dinner with one of our Pastors and his wife. This dinner was planned well before we had heard Uganda. They asked us if we had gotten any direction from the Lord and Chris began to share that as someone was praying for us he heard a word 3 times. Chris had not said what word, and wasn’t going to, when our Pastor said, “Uganda. Uganda. Uganda.”  I almost spit my soda in his wife’s face. They laughed and then realized that we both were looking shocked across the table and they said, “What? That was the word?!”  So yes, that was crazy and so awesome.  They were thrilled and thought it the perfectly normal next step for us.

Another set of friends came to our home a few nights later for dinner and as they sat down, we mentioned that we had something to tell them so they could pray. The woman said, “What, are you going back to Africa or something?!”  She was joking but again, we heard God and they too were thrilled for us when we shared.

The next weekend, we saw a man twice in one day that we had never met before. Once at a meeting in the morning and the second time in the evening at church. At the evening meeting, a Pastor’s wife asked us where we felt God was leading and if they could all be praying for anything for us. At this point we felt we had our confirmation so Chris shared that we felt we were going back to Uganda. The man Chris had been talking to earlier looked surprised and asked Chris if he was wearing the same shirt he had been wearing earlier in the day and Chris said yes. Chris had a blank blue t-shirt on but the man said that earlier that morning he had seen Uganda in bold letters across Chris’ chest and thought Chris must be pretty proud of Uganda for some reason to wear a shirt like that. That was a little weird, but maybe it was thrown in for extra measure from God saying, “Yes, it’s me and you heard me.”

So, we thought we were going to go to Uganda in January and I had enrolled in and EMT course here for the summer, but this weekend that all changed when we received an email from Uganda saying that if we can get there, we can come in July. After speaking with our Pastors and asking their opinion, they said we should go for it. At the moment we have no jobs and no children and this is an opportunity not to be passed up.  We are very excited but at the same time it is hard to know we will be leaving family and friends for such an extended period of time. But, we know that we are stepping into the next thing God has asked of us and following the path He lays out in front of you is always worth it and the best choice in our opinion!

We had our plans, but God then added some of His own, so we thank God for the provision and adventure that is to come.   I’ll write as often as I can…love you all! I'll leave you with Proverbs 16:9.

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.