Katie Davis Missionary in Uganda free essay sample

Katie Davis People tell me I am brave. People tell me I am strong. People tell me good job. Well here is the truth of it. I am really not that brave, I am not really that strong, and I am not doing anything spectacular. I am just doing what God called me to do as a follower of Him. Feed His sheep, do unto the least of His people. These words from Katie Davis speak volumes of this young womans heart for the people of Uganda. In December of 2006, 18 year-old Katie Davis from Brentwood, Tennessee, traveled to Uganda on a missions trip she did when she was on her schools winter break. She was immediately captivated with the people and the culture. Completely impacted and changed, she decided to go to Uganda and follow her heart and passion for the Lord. Despite the criticism Davis received from even her family and friends in Nashville, TN, she followed her calling. She decided not to go to college and to pursue ministry full-time and in the summer of 2007, Katie returned to Uganda to teach Kindergarten at an orphanage. As she walked the children home, she was shocked to see the sheer number of school-aged children sitting idly on the side of the road or working in the fields.She learned there were very few government-run public schools in Uganda, and none in the area where she was working. Most schools in Uganda are privately run and therefore require school fees for attendance, making impoverished children unable to afford an education. God laid it on Katies hear to start a child sponsorship program, matching orphaned and vulnerable children who are unable to afford schooling with sponsors anywhere in the world. Sponsors pay $300 per year to send one child to school, providing school supplies, 3 hot meals each day, spiritual discipleship, medical care.Originally planning to have 40 children in the program, Katie had signed up 150 by January 2008. Today the program sponsors over 400 children. Shortly thereafter, Katie established a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization called Amazima Ministries International. The organization seeks to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the people of Uganda who need it most. In the Lugandan language, Amazima means truth. Also, Katie became a mother for the first time in January of 2008 to three orphaned girls. Katie also reached out to the Karimojong people of the Masese community.The poorest of the poor, and losing their children to malnutrition and starvation at an astounding rate, she noticed their desperate need for nutritious food. She started a feeding program to the community, nourishing over 1,800 children Monday through Friday. This allows the children to attend school and therefore not go to the street to beg. Also, provided is medical care, Bible study, general health training. As friendships developed with the Karimojong people, Katie wanted to help the women in the village provide for their families. With the help of a friend, she initiated a self-sustaining vocational program to empower these women to make unique Ugandan magazine bead necklaces. They are also taught money management skills. The necklaces made by the Karimojong women are purchased and sold in the United States. More than just the ministry that she started with helping enable women to provide for themselves, Katie has today adopted 13 young Ugandan girls into her home. The first year that Katie went to Uganda after high school, she was faced with the blessing of renting a house that the Lord apparently had bigger plans for her for.She originally told the landlord that the house was too big and she wanted to look elsewhere, but the landlord enlisted and kept lowering the price for her. She said it got to a point where it would have been the same price to live in a smaller house for the same price, and also, she felt the Lord impressing on her heart to except this offer. So she moved into the house and wasnt even close to expecting what would happen shortly after. Sometime shortly after moving into the house, there was a house in Katies neighborhood that had collapsed and left three young Ugandan children without a home.She found out from other sources that these children had been living by themselves because their father had passed away a few years ago. Katie could not get her mind wrapped around the fact that they didnt have anyone taking care of them and that they were just taking care of themselves. So in her words, They dont have a home, and I have a house, so they can come stay with me. So it started out that she was just allowing them to stay at her house and she was feeding them and taking care of them. The Lord broke her heart for these kids though. In one year she had had 8 children living with her in her house in Uganda.After the one year was up of her volunteering, she came back to the United States. She had previously planned on it only being a year long trip and she wanted to honor her father and mother and do what she had committed to. But inside she says that she felt as if that was so wrong to leave. It started to become so apparent to her that Uganda was not a year, Uganda was what God was calling her to for her life. She also said that she felt like when she came back to the United States that she started to get distracted because of all these things that were around opposed to Uganda where she felt as if her only choice was to rely on the Lord.This mad her very uncomfortable while she was back in the US. She decided that the Lord was undoubtedly calling her to Uganda and so she went back. Shortly after returning, she added on to her already abundant household with two more little girls, making that 13 girls that Katie fosters today. She hopes to adopt, but the legal age to adopt in Uganda is 25. Her house is very open to the community and anyone knows if they need assistance that they can get medical care, or prayer at her house. She also home schools her kids everyday along with caring for her community that the Lord brings to her doorstep.Her testimony is one that is overflowing with her absolute adoration of Jesus Christ. It is so apparent in her life that she is overwhelmed with hope and joy of what is to come. In her interview with David Platt at his church at Brook Hill, she talks about how people always tell her that she is lucky that she found what God is calling her to for the rest of her life. Her response, however, is I didnt find it, I just read it in the Bible. For a 22-year-old woman from Tennessee, these are words that represent a transformed life that cannot be explained by anything else than her love for her Savior.