In 2013 Pat Hembree took his son Chase to Uganda on a mission trip where the two would work at 15 orphanages. One orphanage in particular gave Pat the feeling that Christ was in this place – so much so he and Chase came home ready to focus their ministry on this specific area of Uganda.

Two years later, the Hembree family, including wife and mom Jennifer, returned to Uganda and immediately felt the need for a school and home for the children who were living and learning in mud huts.

Still, Jennifer was led to do more. She asked what the biggest struggle was for the children. The answer, overwhelmingly, was starvation. All the children ate was posho, which is ground up corn with some added water and even dirt. The children at the orphanage were so hungry, but the posho was all they had. The Lord used the Hembrees to change that!

The family started Legacie & Miracles, Inc., proclaiming the Gospel for God’s Purpose & Glory. As the Hembrees surpass a decade of this mission, there is an abundance to celebrate! The once mud hut orphanage now has school buildings and dorms for the students, creating safe havens for them to learn and live. The school just added a home for babies which brings the number of children, infant to 7th grade, to nearly 400! Most children live at the orphanage, but some do walk from their homes to attend school. The children, who once slept on dirt floors, now have beds. The ministry has built homes for the hard-working teachers as well as 11 churches in the surrounding areas.

When Jennifer turned her focus within the ministry to nutrition, she started with the parable of pumpkin. She told of how God created us and shared the Gospel with the people of Uganda. She then helped plant pumpkin seeds. The school now has a garden of pumpkins, watermelons, potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocado, banana groves, and newly added carrots. The ministries that followed include agricultural, latrine, electricity (solar panel donation), pharmacy, worship (guitar, singing), library, and sewing. Not only do these ministries now exist for this Christian school and its surrounding area, other ministry volunteers travel to the area to share their skills, training the Uganda people to be “self-sustaining and develop a livelihood.” An example of this is nurses who train the women in the community how to assist with childbirth.

This is all done by faith, people hear of a need and are willing to give monetarily or physically. The Hembree family’s prayer has always been that “God would do something so great, only he would get the credit for it,” explains Jennifer.

The next trip to Uganda is in November. The goals are for Next Generation Discipleship.

“We love to develop leaders,” says Jennifer.

 This mission work has transformed so many people in Uganda and here. It impacts those who go; people come back changed. Volunteers see what it takes to live everyday just to meet basic needs, such as getting water from the well.

As Jennifer and I were coming to the end of our interview, she mentioned the need for educational teacher resources – teaching books, classroom wall decorations and children’s books for the school and library. As a teacher, I felt led to help make this happen for this Ugandan school, so I will be helping lead this effort.

 Just another “God story” as Jennifer would say.

By Delaney T. Kirby