LAST DAYS TO BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!

Just a reminder...ONLY three more days of the buy one get one free sale! 

 

**Buy any shirt and get a white LUO shirt free with your order!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ONE for ONE

Check out www.tomsshoes.com/LUO

For every pair of TOMS you purchase through THIS link, TOMS will donate $5 to LUO.  If we sell 500 pairs of TOMS, we get 500 pairs to give to the children in Nicaragua and South Africa....what a FANTASTIC last minute gift idea :)

The Journey...to Murray, KY

Last weekend, Gavin and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Murray, KY and get to know the amazing people at the Journey church.  

In April of 2008, LUO had a booth at the Orange Conference...there, we sold canvases that were hand painted by the children at our partnership in Jeffrey's Bay.  They cost $250 and provide nutrition, education, medical care and Biblical curriculum for a child for one year.  Matt and Jennifer Johnson of Murray, KY purchased one of those canvases!  Through a series of events that seriously only God could have worked out, Gavin and I ended up meeting the couple for coffee in Murray.  

Matt is the lead Pastor at the Journey Church and we had the opportunity to hear him and his wife's hearts for their church and the community that it is a part of.  The Journey meets on the campus of Murray State University and their congregation is mostly comprised of college students so when they told us that as a body of believers they wanted to raise the money to fully support our second partnership in Nicaragua for one year...we were dumbfounded!

All four of us realized that the task of raising $35,000.00 in a BAD economy at a church full of young families and college students seemed impossible but we all hit the ground running.  Gavin and I headed to Nicaragua to make 150 new canvases to be sold at the church and Matt and Jennifer went back to the leadership at their church and told them about our new goal!  Immediately, the leadership and everyone at the church was so excited!  By the time Gavin and I arrived on December 6 to tell the congregation about our new partnership...we were floored and amazed by what God had already done through this small, faithful, and very BOLD community!  

By the time got there, Murray State's entire college campus was working to help set these children free!  The track team, the basketball team, all of the Greek organization...campus ministries...and all of the wonderful families at the church have gotten on board to get these canvases sold and these children supported!  The church is working to sell 150 canvases at $200 to support all of the children at our Nicaraguan partnership for one year.  It is REALLY amazing to be able to see the body of Christ in this community coming together to change a community thousands of miles away.  We are SO thankful to be able to see Jesus work in the hearts of these people as he shows them how to love mercy, walk humbly and do justly! 

 

Jeffrey's Bay

I know it has taken me a while to write about our trip...it seems to take me a while to process everything that goes on...whenever we go back to South Africa.  It is such a mix of emotions.  Jeffrey's Bay is one of mine and Gavin's favorite places in the world, it feels like home.  We are so blessed to have such a great community of friends and it is always so much fun to get to see them again. But, each and every time that we go back, the contrast of environment shocks me to the core.  I know the circumstances, I know the city, I know the people but it still shocks me.  To the left of the main road in J' Bay- the most beautiful homes you have ever seen.  Perfect white beaches, the world best waves, amazing restaurants.  To the right of that same road- desperation. poverty. incredible brokenness.  There are tiny shacks as far as the eye can see, children being abused and neglected everywhere you turn.  Children starving when there is a grocery store the size of any Kroger less than a mile away.  Talk about injustice that is hard to understand.  So, it is hard for me to put our trips in to words.  

On this trip we were so blessed to be accompanied by 7 amazing girls.  Jill, Amber, Jessica, Christy and Stephanie from Atlanta, Jess from Nashville, and Lisa from Kansas.  Each girl came to South Africa with an amazing open heart and a great desire to help the children at Ithemba.  Each day, we went to Ithemba and served and loved on the precious children.  We painted and gave Ithemba a "makeover."  We shared meals with the teachers and got to experience their culture through dance and art.  The trip was really amazing...bellow I will include another journal entry from our time there:  I think it better describes the raw emotion that I was feeling during the time.  

This world is fallen. It is dark. It is hard. It seems so hopeless at times. Being here in

 South Africa, working with the children at Ithemba really brings this forward. This week

I fell in love- head over heals in love with two little girls- twins named Sussa and Doeffie.

They are PRECIOUS, beautiful, innocent, yet their innocents is constantly being stolen.

These babies are four years old and they have spent their lives being raped by their step

brother and their own father. Looking in their precious eyes, you can see the reality

of Satan's work- you can see the depravity of man through the pain in their eyes. And

THIS is motivation- a CLEAR calling from God to FIGHT and help bring His Kingdom to

earth- an undeniable call to BE Jesus to these girls. That is what Ithemba is doing for them-

fighting their circumstances- fighting for their freedom- loving them like Jesus and putting

His joy back in to their lives.

Being here, experiencing this has made me realize just how BIG the love of God is and how

much HE LOVES US. Yes, the world is dark but He is the brightest light that you can

imagine. Yes, the world is fallen but He is redeemed us- He has offered us HOPE when all

seems hopeless. He is light and He is love. In the middle of the township, He breaks through

the darkness through giving people like Ria (the woman that started Ithemba) a vision to bring

a small piece of His love right to the middle of the hell that is the township. We as humans

have messed up so much yet He loves us enough to birth His dreams and His vision in people

and empower them with His love to accomplish His purposes because HE LOVES US SO MUCH!

La Chureca

To say that we are excited about our second official partnership just doesn't seem to do it justice...but I can't really describe the emotions behind it all.  It was an exciting journey that lead us to a wonderful new part

nership: 

Gavin and I got married on September 6th (YAY!) and headed straight to our honeymoon in Costa Rica...We decided that since we were already in Central America, we should see where God leads us, and look for a second partnership orphanage...G

od VERY clearly lead us to Managua, Nicaragua...straight to the city dump, La Chureca and to an amazing organization with two children's rescue homes, one for boys, and one for girls.  Below is my journal entry from the day that we left Managua:

Managua is unbelievable- the dump, "La Chureca" is home to nearly 2,000 people- living, eating and breathing in trash- girls being prostituted at the age of seven for first pick of the best trash.  Babies crawling around, naked in piles of smelling, burning, rotting trash...and this is life...this is their reality...a reality that is so hard for me to comprehend.  Being in Managua opened my eyes to see boys and girls as young as five, knee deep in garbage, holding a long sharp pole, rummaging through rotten food, used toilet paper, coffee grounds, glass, car parts hoping just to make $1.00 a day.  $1.00 to please their parents and avoid a beating...although a beating is the least of the little girls worries.  Each day they must wake up with the fear and the probable reality of being sold as prostitutes, by their own family members to the garbage truck drivers.  The girls are raped and then their "sellers" are given prime dibs on the GARBAGE.  Girls innocents sold and destroyed...for trash- and it happens multiple times a day- these girls NEED a refuge, these boys NEED a place of safety away from the beatings.  That is the goal of Casa Havilah and Casa Roble.  They are a positive influence, a place of solice, of hope, of love, of healing.  An answer to the desperate silent cries heard all over the dump of Managua.  A cry that we as LUO feel compelled to answer by supporting these houses of hope. 

Casa Havilah and Casa Roble and run by a truly incredible missionary family from Talahasee, FL.  Gavin and I have had the opportunity to spend time with them and get to know their hearts.  The entire family has dedicated their lives to improving the lives of the children in Nicaragua and telling them about the love of Jesus...but this family dosen't have to tell them, the truly LIVE the love of our savior day in and day out, joyfully giving their all to these children.