Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 1/24/2010
Re-posting Melanie's blog below "Stories from Uganda" since she did such a great job storytelling...enjoy!
I just recently finished a book about stories. It left me daydreaming about the stories I will tell my children or grandchildren. My mind then wondered to all the stories I have been collecting on the World Race and, specifically, those from this month in Lira, Uganda. This has been my favorite location, by far! Nothing compares to Africa - to the beauty, the faith of these people, the hospitatity, the joy, etc - I have loved it here and am grieving the fact that I must leave on Monday for Niarobi!
One my favorite days involves my dear friend, Brandy. As squad leader, she gets to travel amongst different teams and, to my joy, was with my team for the first two weeks of January. She sponsors a child, Gladys, through Compassion International and knew that Gladys was somewhere in Uganda. Since our race route changes so often, she was hesitant to tell the Compassion offices that she was coming (for fear of plans changing) and didn't really have much hope of seeing Gladys.
When we got to the orientation meeting with our host pastor, he explained that one of the Compassion projects was run out of this church and it contains 280 children. So Brandy, not really expecting anything, mentions the name of her sponsor child to the pastor. The pastor said that the family name was from this region and asked Brandy to go online and find more information. It turned out that Gladys is from the very district we were staying in!! She was in a different village, but it was only a few miles away. Brandy then very quickly started to fill out the paperwork and we began to pray that things could be speedily processed so she could meet Gladys. Praise the Lord, all was cleared in under a week! So Brandy, Dan, and myself crammed into a tiny Toyota and headed to Autibaton.
I am so grateful that I was able to share this with Brandy and that God wrote that memory into my story. Seeing Brandy and Gladys introduced was one of my favorite World Race moments. However, it was topped later, when, just before it was time to leave, Gladys brought out a huge Rooster, bound by the feet, and presented it to Brandy. They also presented her with this branch full of banana-like fruit. I will never forget the look on Brandy's face when Gladys came out with a crowing Rooster and handed it to her! It was funny in the moment (and still is!) but once we started to reflect on the significance, it is incredible.
The family is very poor and they had to sacrifice much to give these gifts. Gladys is one of four children and lives in a tiny hut with her parents. Though her family has little earthy posessions, she is considered very lucky because both of her parents are living many have lost parents to HIV/Aids or to the conflict that recently tormented Northern Uganda. Also, she is blessed by the Compassion program that provides food, school fees, and Christian education.
(Allow me to put in a small plug here for Compassion and World Vision. Both of these organizations, and I'm sure many others, are doing incredible work in the lives of children around the world....if you don't already sponsor a child, I suggest you pray about adopting a child! And if you do have a sponsor child, be sure to write letters and send pictures Gladys, and other children I have met here, cherish these items! Ok, I will get off my soap box now!)
Later that afternoon, we were scheduled to attend a small group. We debated just going back to our house because well, what were we going to do with a live rooster?! But, I had a feeling that the cell group was important so we came up with a plan to lock the Rooster in the church and come back for it after (thankfully, the pastor ended up taking it home for us!).
So Brandy, Hope and I headed to another adventure and had no idea what to expect. What we were met with, we could not have imagined! The 'small group' consisted of about 150 people, 100 of which were children! And, we were not just attending, we were the 'honored guests!' The children had music and skits ready for us! Also, they served us tea and biscuits (which is hard when you are the only one eating in an impoverished village and all the children are looking at you....but you can't not eat and offend....talk about being between a rock and a hard place!). The evening demonstrates how loving and hospitable this culture is. They humbled me and my view of the body of Christ and how God calls us to love one another.
And, to top it off, we were expected to provide the testimonies and the Word of God! Now, after three weeks in Africa, we are coming to expect that if we attend anything, we will be teaching! But this day, we weren't prepared. Hope saved the day with an awesome message and Brandy shared about her day with Gladys. It was an incredibly humbling, strange, fun and memorable evening! And was certainly a nice way to top off an already interesting day!
This is just one day of stories out of many from our time in Lira... stay tuned for more!
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 1/21/2010
There was a mattress hanging from the ceiling and bags of feed lining the aisle. Smuggled goods, or at least what we assumed to be, were stuffed under our seats and there were far more people on board than places to sit.
Welcome to the African bus system.
Since that maiden voyage, I've ridden alongside live chickens and in-between everything but the kitchen sink...and realized that it's not likely smuggled goods, but legitimate freight in transit.
I was sitting in the very back, between Michelle who snagged the window seat and a grandmother who had more grandbabies than places to put them. With many hours in front and more dust behind, we set off cross-country...very bumpy country.
All the jarring took a turn for the worse when the grandmother to my left began to get sick on her lap.
Michelle hung her head out the window to my right.
I was stuck in the middle...with puke.
To say my negative thoughts got the best of me is an understatement...when in His perfect timing...God interrupted my thoughts...
"What if she was Gladys' grandmother?"
Gladys is a 6 year old child that I sponsor through Compassion, who lives somewhere in Uganda. (exact location unknown at the time)
Clearly this was not her grandmother...but a pit in my stomach immediately formed nonetheless. I pictured myself walking into Gladys' village and being introduced to her grandmother...who I'd recognize from the bus. How would she remember me? Did I act arrogant and annoyed? Or had I acted with compassion?
Did I live what I preached?
Immediately humbled...I scrounged up a sick bag for her and kept her stocked with tissue and wet wipes the rest of the trip.
When a name becomes attached to a face...things get personal. When you get close enough to allow the faces of poverty...HIV...and hunger to be felt...to be real...to be known...
it changes everything.
Maybe the appropriate question would be...what if it was Jesus?
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me.' Matthew 25:42-45
One such face also became a name...introducing Mercy... :)
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 1/18/2010
As I looked around the Turkish Christmas Eve celebration, I took in the diversity of the crowd who had joined us in spending the holidays so many miles from home. From the Finnish pastor...and the exiled church leader from Uzbekistan...to our new Nigerian and Ghanaian friends...
And it made me question...why...Why have we taken the journey...abandon the familiar...and pursued the unknown.
I just finished reading a must read - The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns (CEO of World Vision) where he tells of a pastor in Cambodia who was suspicious of World Vision's work in their community, convinced that they had their own hidden agenda.
"Why
would these strangers help us?" He thought.
"One day I decided to confront them, and I went to the World Vision leader and demanded to know why they were here. His answer took me by surprise. He said, 'We are followers of Jesus Christ, and we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are here to show you that God loves you.' (Stearns p. 71)
I loved the straightforwardness of his response. Often times we seem to hem haw around about our motivations, skeptical of how they will be received. But at the end of the day, I know I am here because Jesus gave me a new heart, a heart that beats like His.
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and given them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19
We hit the ground in Kenya...but two teams immediately headed to Uganda to serve for the month. I have spent the month between those two teams, serving in Lira and Gulu.
The devastation that occurred in this region of Northern Uganda was captured in the Invisible Children documentaries. We have learned not to ask IF someone was affected by the rebel attacks, but HOW -- because it is a safe assumption that ALL have suffered.
With much left to rebuild -- their faith is contagious as they praise God for four years of peace and hope for a future.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations...Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. Isaiah 61:4, 7
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 12/29/2009
Just before I came on the race...God took me down a road...I chose to follow out of nothing more than radical obedience..
...and it utterly shattered my heart.
When it was said and done, I wasn't so much hurt by my circumstances...as I was by God.
But in the depths of my soul, I knew better than to question His motives...while I could see nothing of His plan.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
So I chose to trust...to continue to follow...despite my logic, emotion and circumstance.
Why?
I wish I had a more holy answer...but quite frankly...because I was too far in. Really. Nearly 3 years ago, I bet the farm on Jesus...and I'll be gosh darned if I don't see this thing through. :)
"If you give God the right to yourself, he will make a holy experiment out of you. God's experiments always succeed." - Oswald Chambers
But that didn't mean it was easy.
I guess nobody told me that it would be.
But several months and 5 countries later...I'm beginning to understand His purpose, the necessity of heartbreak and the glory of His plan.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:29-32
When the pieces began to come back together, I asked God..."How would you use a small town girl with small town dreams in the Kingdom of God?"
And here is what He told me...
You let her dreams fail her.
You let her heart break.
You show her a broken world
and introduce her to a plan of redemption.
You let her wrestle -- the world against the truth
and let her come out with a limp.
And then you let her walk with it...
because it is in that limp she'll find compassion on the world.
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 12/21/2009
Our race route has been unique from many of the other races...front-loaded by European countries, Westernized cities and arguably easy living conditions. But would it be fair to make the argument that this has actually been more difficult in many ways on the racers than had we been immediately thrown into the slums of Africa? As I mentally begin to prepare for Kenya next month I'm not sure if this statement is actually true...but our Westernized route has certainly brought it's own set of challenges nonetheless.
Some days I think it would be "easy" to find purpose when you are living among the starving and dieing surrounded by such need. But purpose can seemingly evade us on the busy streets of Istanbul where every modern convenience is accessible and every need, albeit material, is met.
It's made many of us wrestle with purpose. Purpose this trip...purpose of our lives...purpose of the Gospel. But wrestle as we may...it seems the match always ends up the same way. Jesus wins.
I'm forced to remember the day the lights came on for me in faith. The day I actually came to a genuine understanding of having a personal relationship with Christ and the depths of it's impact on my life...realizing in that moment...this changes everything. I was completely awestruck with revelation and gratitude.
Yet I wasn't physically starving.
But I was dying.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
I live in a right relationship with God today because a few of my John Deere co-workers decided to make their every day lives their mission field. And while it may not have changed the AIDS crisis in Africa...it changed me.
God doesn't play favorites. Not from the orphans in the slums of Africa to the Muslims on the busy streets of Turkey and every farm girl in Illinois in-between. He desires them all.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
I don't have to be well versed...highly educated...or even have the ability to argue theology...I just have to be available to carry the message...the rest is up to Him...All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
(pic by Dan - pondering the deeper things in Ephesus theater) :)
Perhaps the greatest lesson living West...in the East...has been to make ourselves available when it doesn't seem to matter...who knows...but that it just might matter most.
"I know your heart beats for the poor Brandy, and I know you're ready for Africa. But I have this guy from the skater crowd in Turkey and I've been trying to get his attention for quite awhile now. If you'd go to Africa by means of the Middle East, I will orchestrate all of the million details needed for your encounter with him...which will ultimately draw him closer to me...I just need you to show up. Will you go?"
Sometimes I wish His marching orders were so clear. :) But...it all worked out just the same.
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 11/22/2009
In my new role, I've had the opportunity to be more intentional about sitting across from a few of my squad mates and revisiting why we came on this pilgrimage. We discussed the 'bait and switch' that so evidently occurred. The age old story of every surprised believer who sets out on their first short-term mission trip to save the nations...and discovers their own salvation. Most of us on this journey had already experienced this revelation through previous missions and therefore thought we would rise to the occasion of global salvation. And truthfully, we have discovered the amazing joy of bringing His Kingdom to so many unsuspecting places. But...we have also been forced to rediscover ourselves.
When you are taken out of everything familiar...and stripped from every modern comfort...
...from hot showers to sometimes not having showers at all
...from a closet full of clothes to wearing the same shirt 5 days in a row
...from radical independence to never going anywhere alone
...from friends & family to 40 complete strangers
...from an abundance of food choices to eating whatever is in budget and shows hope of making you full
...you stop sweating the small stuff...and realize how many of our daily worries should never cause worry at all. You realize that at the end of the day it is still people who actually matter...not what they can do for you. And you realize that a month spent in a country may not change a nation, but you witness it change a life.
After cleaning Grandmother's house yesterday morning (the pastor's mother who lives next to the apartment we currently call home), I spent the evening with the pastor's 13 year old daughter watching the movie 13 going on 30. As we curl up on bean bags in her room, and her mother brings us popcorn (consider this a high luxury evening!) - I took in the joy and innocence of being 13 again...before the world begins to tell you that you are less than who you were created. The time when you had hopes and dreams that knew no boundaries and believed you could become whatever you set out to be. It continued to grow a burden inside me to mentor young girls...to help them discover who they were created to be...deliver them from their deepest fear...and set them free.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
- Marianne Williamson
(taking being 13 a little too far!)
Thank you for your prayers and support of this journey and a special thanks to everyone who helped send this squad to the field! It's not just an adventure to 'get out of our system' but a lifestyle of high generosity and compassion we've traveled around the world to put 'in our system.' :) With a thankful heart...
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."- Colossians 3:15
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 11/8/2009
November = Israel!
After a 3-day debrief in Istanbul, Turkey, where the squad enjoyed a time of fellowship and changes - we set off towards the promised land.
The changes included new leadership and team member placements:
Squad Leaders - Aaron and Caroline (both have finished races before) will be heading home at the end of the month, as their season of leadership on-the-field concludes
Dan Snyder and myself were appointed to take their place.
Don (teammate) was raised as the new Team Leader of my old team, Proclaim i61 - which had a couple members swap as they morphed into their new identity - Team Olur (Turkish word for possible)
The other teams also experienced changes with some new members and leaders as our blogs will soon reflect.
The changes were laced with joys and sorrows - as we left the comforts of the familiar...once again...and journeyed toward the excitement of the unknown.
gBut if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household (squad), we will serve the LORD.h- Joshua 24:15 @
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 10/29/2009
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:3
"Since when were missionaries expected to sing?"
It's a question we've all pondered this past month as we've repeatedly taken our places behind the mic. Whether visiting churches in gypsy villages or within the city limits...the question rarely fails to come with expectation..."Will you sing?"
We are a team of 7...
...with two strong-armed men
...and five grace-filled women
...with strength enough for the heaviest of manual labor
...yet gentle enough to cradle an orphan in our arms
..with ONE beautifully gifted vocalist
...and six suffering from a fear of microphones. J
"Good news" I say with a smile..."We're singing again tonight!"
And so we scramble to choose a culturally appropriate song...and usher Shannon towards the mic...in hopes her melody will drown our own. But as the words from Amazing Grace flow from our lips and the congregation joins in their native tongue...the Lord whispers..."My grace translates."
Not knowing the history of our choir debut...one of our Bulgarian contacts sat us down to encourage us...
"Never think you are not making a difference, no matter what you are asked to do or how small your ministry seems. You may not think your presence is making a difference...but it was a group of missionaries...just like you...who I heard sing in front of my church as a little girl...and they changed my life forever. They loved God with all of their hearts...and I decided right then..."I want to love God like that."
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me...
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 10/21/2009
Through God ordained contacts and appointments, we showed up in a Bulgarian village ...to meet the mayor and help build a park. It wasn't through a church...or done with a hidden agenda...but simply because the opportunity had presented itself...as a place to serve...outside ordinary.
But outside ordinary...landed us inside headlines.
As the holes were dug...and trees were planted...people came. Out of their homes...into the streets...peaking from their windows...
Whispers...
Inquiries...
Commotion...
We kept planting.
"They don't understand why you would do this -- why you would travel around the world to help others -- why you would build their park, when they dont even help build it themselves."
And as I'm riding on a donkey-led wagon full of shrubs...through the village streets and townsfolk...drawing the attention of a parade...I was over swept by the revelation..."This is a small glimpse of what it must have been like when Jesus entered a town...crowds followed."
(myself pictured top left with Kendra & Ashlee on the front of wagon)
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Mark 3:7-10
Posted in General Posts by Brandy Chaffer on 10/19/2009
Team Fuel and Team Proclaim i61 (my team) have reunited once again in Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria after serving separately for a brief stint in Sofia.
Before entering the city limits, Proclaim i61 took the scenic route by means of a three day detour to Dobromirka where we helped renovate the property of a future women's shelter, owned by Mission Possible.
With visions of chainsaws and backhoes dancing in our heads...we set out to destruct the forest, blocking the prospective amphitheatre. When the backhoe failed to arrive...we got to work with the hand tools provided...leading to perhaps one of the most entertaining days of service yet...
But as we hang our hats in a secluded hostel in Veliko Trunovo, homesickness hangs so heavily in the air...you could cut it with a knife. This coming from a girl who never gets homesick.
Yesterday during the church service, our group of fourteen serenaded the congregation to the melody of "Mighty to Save"...as they joined in perfect Bulgarian. I did so with tears streaming down my face...as the lyrics seemed afresh upon my soul. This coming from a girl who doesn't sing.
There's something painful...yet beautiful about following Jesus...as we worry about our tomorrows...and He comforts our todays...
"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."- Psalm 37:4
8 beds, 14 people...sure beats the reverse in the country song...as we sleep double in our single beds. J
When we got to the orientation meeting with our host pastor, he explained that one of the Compassion projects was run out of this church and it contains 280 children. So Brandy, not really expecting anything, mentions the name of her sponsor child to the pastor. The pastor said that the family name was from this region and asked Brandy to go online and find more information. It turned out that Gladys is from the very district we were staying in!! She was in a different village, but it was only a few miles away. Brandy then very quickly started to fill out the paperwork and we began to pray that things could be speedily processed so she could meet Gladys. Praise the Lord, all was cleared in under a week! So Brandy, Dan, and myself crammed into a tiny Toyota and headed to Autibaton.
So Brandy, Hope and I headed to another adventure and had no idea what to expect. What we were met with, we could not have imagined! The 'small group' consisted of about 150 people, 100 of which were children! And, we were not just attending, we were the 'honored guests!' The children had music and skits ready for us! Also, they served us tea and biscuits (which is hard when you are the only one eating in an impoverished village and all the children are looking at you....but you can't not eat and offend....talk about being between a rock and a hard place!). The evening demonstrates how loving and hospitable this culture is. They humbled me and my view of the body of Christ and how God calls us to love one another. 
