Would you partner with us?

In light of our recent decision to go on our first missions trip to Africa as a couple in June of next year, we also have the humbling realization that we can not make it there on our own. We need help! We need financial and prayer support from our friends and family members. 

It is never easy to ask our loved ones for finances, in fact, I consider it painful and humbling. But I also know that it is an opportunity for our loved ones to "partner with us". 

This is a journey that we can walk through together. We get to share the impact and the ministry with everyone who supports us. So when we go to Africa, we know that we did not get there on our own but by the support of all who love us back home. That means, that any positive change and influence that we have over in Africa is of a result of those who have chosen to enable us to go. So any impact that we have is not just our impact but your impact, your influence!!!

So would you consider joining us on this adventure as we go to Africa? 

Would you be willing to give so that we can minister to and love the orphans
we will be in contact with?

What we need: 
Both Curtis and I each need to raise about $3,400. 
We have already invest $400 of our own money towards the trip and wanted to make sure that we made an investment of our own money first before asking others to invest as well. 

How to give:
There are 2 main ways that you can give financially -

1) you can write us a personal check and send it to our address
     203 N Carroll St. #20
     Thurmont, MD 21788

2) you can give online at visitingorphans.org for a tax-deductable donation. 
     Be sure to select "Hyman Team - May/June Uganda & Kenya"
     Also be sure to select that you would like to donate to a team member or ministry name. Then type either  Curtis Dooley or Katie Dooley in the space provided. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Click here to donate: www.visitingorphans.org 

What you will receive:
It is our desire that you are blessed when giving to our mission trip. So for all who give financially we will mail you a follow up newsletter updating you on our trip, what we learned, who we met, what we did and more!

give $50 or more!
- and you will also receive a CD of pictures from our trip

give $100 or more!
- and you will receive a newsletter and video DVD of our trip.

Our contact information:
Katie - Katiedooley87@gmail.com
Curtis - Curtismdooley@gmail.com

Thank you for considering to partner with us on this journey!!

- Katie & Curtis Dooley 

We're going to Africa!

Where:
Jinja, Uganda and then western Kenya

When:
May 31st- June 14th

With Who:
Visiting Orphans - you can learn more about them at visitingorphans.org

What will we do:
We will be visiting a number of orphanages in each location throughout the trip. We will be loving on children, doing activities with them, learning about there lives, cultures and the orphanages they are living in. We will also seek to be a blessing in anyway that we can including but not limited to emotional encouragement and support, any work that needs done around the orphanage, helping with meals, and just to be an all around blessing to the people there. Once we know more about specific activities we will be doing then I will make sure to update our blog!

Why:
For our first year of marriage Curtis & I really wanted to just "lay low" in terms of ministry and mission work. We wanted to take time to just focus on setting a strong foundation for our marriage and relationship. Yet, even through we have not been very involved in outreach, we have been talking, praying and considering what we would do together as a couple. Both of us have had done extensive overseas mission work before getting married, both of us love Africa and both of us love working with young people. For me, I especially love caring for babies and young children. For him, he especially loves working with the middle and high school age group. So what do we do?

Well, I began to look back at the 19 months total that I spent in Tanzania/Kenya between 2008-2010 and I asked myself... What was the most fulfilling ministry that I was involved in? When did I experience the most joy in pouring out my life and serving others? When did I have the most passion and love in my heart?

And I remembered... It was when I was taking care of this little boy...

This name is Abdallah and we met on Christmas Day 2008. Our team was doing an outreach at the local orphanage and that night I met this sweet little boy. He was brought to the orphanage because he was abandoned at the local hospital by his mother and the nurses practically forgot about him. He was not being fed or taken care of at all and I was horrified at the condition of his health. He had absolutely no fat on his body whatsoever. He was completely skin and bones. I knew that if he did not get the love and care that he needed then he would die. Even though the orphanage was doing the best they could to care of him, my heart was moved to do my part as well. So I decided to visit him everyday for as long as I could. 

When I first began feeding him with the bottle he would throw it all up. His stomach was rejecting the milk because he was not used to being fed that much. So I sat there, holding him for hours, putting small drops of milk in his mouth at a time until he had stomached a couple of ounces of milk. After a couple of weeks of working with him, he finally was able to drink from a bottle. He got some meat back on his bones and was beginning to look like a normal baby once again, (which was when these pictures were taken).

During these couple of weeks I absolutely fell in love with him. I would have dreams about him at night and would miss him during the day when I was not with him. My heart longed to hold him and care for him! I do believe that I loved him like I would my own son during those couple of weeks. But one day I went to visit him at the orphanage and he was gone. They took him away ... maybe because I was a Christian and he was a Muslim boy and they did not want me influencing him or adopting him. I don't know, but I never saw him again after that.

Though I did move on,

I never forgot him. 

Yes, God's purpose in all of this was so that I could help him get back to health but I also believe God wanted to use Abdallah to influence my life as well and to give me a heart for orphans in Africa.

So with Curtis' heart for youth, my heart for orphans and both of our heart's for Africa, we have decided to take a first step forward in our ministry together by going on this mission trip. We are considering this our "vision trip". We want to be with orphans, be in Africa, see how orphanages are being run, see what works and what doesn't work, and then pray to see how we will get involved long-term for years to come.

This is the beginning of our story...

Here are some pictures of Curtis on his trip to Zambia & Zimbabwe in 2007.

On this trip he worked with an organization called "Every Orphans Hope"