Thank you for visiting our website/blog. I (Phillips) am writing you to let you know that my daughter Savannah and I have been accepted by our church, Common Ground Christian Church Midtown (CGM) in Indianapolis, to join a team going on a missions trip to Uganda in June 2024. We are excited for this opportunity to experience God’s presence in a different culture and country as well as serve at a ministry we will be working closely with.
Why a mission trip to Uganda? CGM has been working in Uganda since 2012 and sending volunteers, mission trip teams, and short term and long term missionaries to serve alongside various partners for over 12 years. We are going as a team to encounter God in a new way as we join with Him in what He is doing in helping restore Northern Uganda and address the orphan crisis and devastation that has resulted following decades of civil war. The focus of the trip will be to come alongside our mission partner on the ground in Uganda, PATH Ministries International; we'll be serving and utilizing the skills and giftings of our team at their main project site just outside of Lira, Uganda called Otino Waa Children's Village. Otino Waa is an orphanage in northern Uganda that began in 2003 as an effort to rescue 78 orphans who were being targeted by the Lord’s Resistance Army to be abducted. Over the years, it has grown to a population of almost 300 children. Primary and Secondary schools, a Medical & Dental Clinic, 8 circles of homes, and a café are located on site. Below are website links for more information about PATH Ministries International including information about the orphan care ministry (including their residential and community based orphan care models) and other work they do that our team will be primarily interacting with. https://pathinternational.co/our-work/ https://pathinternational.co/uganda/
What led Savannah to be a part of this trip? When I first heard about this mission trip, I knew almost immediately that I wanted to go. Mission trips have always been appealing to me: not only do you get the opportunity to experience other cultures while on the trip, but you are also provided with the opportunity to interact with people from that culture and serve alongside them. Could there be any better way to be introduced to another culture? This deep love that I have for exploring other cultures and partnering with locals to lift up their community is what drew me to this opportunity - probably naively - without any immediate fears or doubts. However, as I begin more in-depth preparation for this mission trip, I find that I am most nervous about getting to know the people on our team. My excitement about experiencing a new culture and meeting new people in Uganda trumps any - what I would consider - “normal” fears about the trip, such as getting sick or ending up in a dangerous situation. I am mainly nervous about interacting with the people on our team because despite being in my church’s youth group, I have not gotten very close with anyone my age in the church. However, because I believe that travel and shared experiences help deepen relationships, I am cautiously hopeful that this trip will help me to develop stronger relationships with my peers from church despite my anxiety around the issue. On a similar note, I am also looking forward to seeing how this trip will shape me in ways I do not even expect. In the summer of 2022, I went on a week-long mission trip to Toronto, Canada with my youth group. Going into the trip, I did not have any clear goals or visions as for what I wanted to take away from the experience, yet I still find myself being impacted by my experiences in Toronto on a regular basis today. Thus, as I begin to prepare for this mission trip to Uganda, I am nervously excited to see how my experience leading up to, during, and after the mission trip will impact my perspective on the world.
What lead Phillips to want to be part of this trip? I’ve been reading about how our brains are designed to promote preservation and safety of our selves (which I believe is God’s design) while comparing that to the words of Jesus in John 15:1-4 especially verses 1-2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” When Savannah expressed a desire to go on this missions trip, my wife thought it would be meaningful for one of us to attend with Savannah and I automatically assumed my wife would go. I have never been on a missions trip before, I thought of all the logistical challenges of going, and it became clear to me to “pursue purpose vs avoid hardship” with an openness to how God might prune me by my stepping outside my very measured routines and way of living to rely on and trust in God. Some other reasons that I am excited to go on this trip include: I want to learn about God and His church/people/work in a different cultural setting, I want to have the shared experience with my daughter, I think I would be drawn towards the stories and backgrounds of the Ugandan people, I have a heart towards restoring hope in those who have experienced trauma and I want to learn about how this is being done in this specific setting, and I think I will learn a lot being led by our trip leaders including the Hurry family who previously lived and worked in Uganda at Otino Waa Children’s Village (our family used to pray for them while they were missionaries in Uganda years ago).
Here are some details about the trip
We will be leaving on June 6, 2024 and returning on June 16, 2024.
We will be attending a church service alongside an estimated 700 Ugandans, including children from Otino Waa Children’s Village.
Depending on the needs of Otino Waa Children’s Village and surrounding communities and the skills and interests of our team members, we anticipate being able to serve and help out the community in whatever ways we can to be determined during the planning phase of our trip.
We will be required to receive different immunization shots (yikes!).
Towards the end of the trip, we will take a safari at Murchison Falls National Park and do a boat ride down the Nile River.
There is a 7 hour time zone change between Indianapolis and Uganda.
How you can partner with us on this trip We are grateful to be part of this team representing CGM whose mission statement is to “call people of all ages to be formed in the image of Jesus, so we can love our neighbors in Indianapolis and around the world.” We'd be very grateful if you can support use through prayer and/or donating financially to our trip. The total cost of the trip is estimated to be around $3500 per person or $7000 for both Savannah and I. Though the trip doesn't leave until June 6, 2024, we have to buy plane tickets and make other preparations now, so we are requesting your prayer and financial support as the Lord leads you. The trip is funded entirely by donations and by those going on the trip. If you are interested and able to give financially, suggested amounts are $50, $100, or $150, but of course any amount is more than welcome. Below is information on options on how to give if you feel led to do so.
We sincerely covet your prayers as another important means of support and below are some specific prayers. Please pray that:
The missions involvement of the group will grow beyond their participation in the trip.
Logistics of the trip would be met (financial needs, purchasing airline tickets, immunization shots, preparations to be away from home).
God would keep us safe in our travels and activities as well as care for our families at home.
We would be an encouragement and help to the children and staff at Otino Waa Children’s Village and others we interact with during the trip.
We are thankful for your consideration of supporting us on this trip. The following are options for financial giving if you feel led to do so (see the next page).
Cash & Checks You may give toward individual trip accounts by cash or check by doing the following: 1) Write a check payable to “Common Ground Christian Church.” For IRS purposes, the memo line needs to be blank for the donation to be tax deductible. Checks that are turned in with a team member name in the memo line will be applied to the designated account, but will not be considered tax-deductible. 2) Include a post-it note or note indicating which account you prefer the money be designated for. Example: Uganda/Phillips Hwang or Uganda/Savannah Hwang 3) You may mail the donations directly to us, and we will track the donations, compile the checks, and send them to Common Ground Church. Please email us at philnkris@gmail.com and we will send you our address (feel free to send donations to our address if you happen to know it). 4) If you are local and want to physically give us a donation, please place your donation in an envelope and mark on the envelope “Uganda/Phillips Hwang” or “Uganda/Savannah Hwang.” We will track, compile, and send donations to Common Ground Church.
Online You may give toward individual trip accounts online by doing the following: 1) Navigate to the following link: https://cground-midtown.churchcenter.com/giving 2) Once on the page, select “Missions - Uganda Trip” from the drop-down list (see image below). 3) After submitting the donation online, please send an email to both the church (give@cground.org) and our personal email account (philnkris@gmail.com) letting both know how much was given and who it was for.
We appreciate your time in reading about our Uganda trip and we also appreciate any potential support you can offer in our opportunity to go on this exciting mission trip with our church.
We will be updating this website via the Uganda 2024 Blog page with information about our trip as we prepare for, go on, and return from Uganda.