With Week 1 kick off a little over a week away, Camp LIFE is fast approaching!  Please be in prayer for the kids in your group and yourself as God prepares both of you for what He has in store this summer.  Here are some important updates and reminders:

- Camp LIFE t-shirts and supplies have been mailed to all Ambassadors outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  We ask that all Dallas/Fort Worth area Ambassadors please come by the office to pick up their t-shirts and supplies by Wednesday, May 27th. Contact Sommer or Rebecca to schedule a pick up.

-Every Ambassador should receive (or should have already received):

o   Their Camp LIFE t-shirt order

o   A Camp LIFE 2009 binder

o   An Evangecube

o   4 luggage tags (per person)

o   A bracelet

o   A Camp LIFE Song CD

If you have not received ALL of your Camp LIFE supplies by Monday, May 25, please let us know so that we can get you your missing items.

-Every Ambassador should receive a binder and must bring it to Zambia (Alumni, please use this binder even if you still have the one from last year).

-It is VERY IMPORTANT to use your LUGGAGE TAGS as these will help identify your bags in Zambia.  You should use one for each checked bag and one for your carry-on.

-Read the Evangecube message and instructions (located inside your Evangecube) and be able to present this message.  (Who knows, you may even have a chance to share it before you get to Zambia!)

-PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!  Pray that God will use YOU this summer to communicate HIS love for the orphans and vulnerable children of Zambia.  Pray also that He would reveal His indescribable love for YOU in a way that you have never experienced before.  We sense that God is up to something BIG and life-changing and anticipate that this will be a summer unlike any other.  Get ready!

The story below was written by Natalie Barnett. Natalie went to Camp LIFE 2008 and Gift is one of “her girls” that has forever found a place in Natalie’s heart.

Gift Phiri’s Story

Gift Phiri is a gentle-spirited and soft spoken 17 year-old Zambian girl that I was blessed to meet last summer at Camp LIFE. On first meeting Gift, her appearance did not hide her deprivation or circumstance in life; her sunken stature and down-turned eyes made it clear that her burdens were more than she could bare alone. I immediately wanted to hold her in my arms!

When I was able to share time with her and talk about her life situation, she explained to me the little that she seemed to know about the condition of her fragile heart. She told me that because it was enlarged and had moved, she was unable to do much physical activity; speaking for too long was even difficult.

Throughout the week of camp, she desolately and quietly watched the others dance and play games while she had to sit out. Watching this was almost more than my heart could handle. When she handed me a stack of cryptic medical records, trying to soak the tears that filled her eyes with a sponge she keeps in her pocket, I was burdened by her hopelessness and silent desperation. I touched her delicate hand, unable to hold back my own tears and prayers, and it was then that I knew I was being called as an advocate for this precious Gift!

The Need

God is so faithful and already providing a way for Gift. She is currently being sponsored in Family Legacy’s Father’s Heart Program and living in a LifeWay home. She is receiving monthly injections to help her with her heart condition. This means she is getting the proper nutrition, education, and care she needs. Not only have her living conditions improved, but her spirit has as well.

Later, after further tests and examinations, doctors were able to tell us she has a damaged mitral valve that is leaking and thickening, which causes the opening to close. While her heart is enlarged, it is managing to work well enough for now with the appropriate drugs, but this will not last. In order to have a chance to live, Gift needs to have mitral valve replacement surgery. Currently efforts are being made to ensure and arrange the most efficient and beneficial way to provide Gift with the necessary medical treatment, but we still need the funds. It is expected that all of this will cost at a minimum $10,000 and probably much more.

The Solution

Pray and Join the cause. Join us and Gift in praying for healing and resources.

Donate. We are so blessed here in this country. By making a tax deductible donation, you can help ensure Gift gets the medical attention she needs. Each of us has a chance to offer Gift a better life, show the love of Christ to Gift, and become a witness to her community. I am asking for your help to share the love of Christ to someone less fortunate. Will you send a tax-deductible “Gift to Gift” for her surgery today? You can donate online by clicking here and selecting Gift Phiri’s Heart Surgery. You can also write a check made out to Family Legacy and have Gift’s Heart Surgery written in the memo field. Checks can be mailed to:

Family Legacy Missions
5005 West Royal Lane Suite 252
Irving, TX 75063

Thank you so much for your help and for being a blessing, and for your continuing prayers for Gift.

They can if Shawnee Ingrum has anything to do with it.  Shawnee is an Orphan Ambassador who came with us to Zambia last summer with her family for the first time.  This summer will be their 2nd trip.  Shawnee owns Heaven Sent Children’s Boutique in the Coppell/Lewisville area in Dallas and has a deep passion for the orphans of Zambia.  She read on our blog about two high schools in the Klein ISD whose student councils sold t-shirts to raise money for the Tree of Life Childrens Village.  These high school students were able to raise $5,000 and that really inspired Shawnee.  She decided to design a t-shirt that she is now selling in her store with 100% of the proceeds going to help build the Tree of Life Children’s Village.

Heaven Sent Children’s Boutique is selling these exclusive “Hope” t-shirts for $15 each. To get your shirt go by:

Heaven Sent Children’s Boutique
420 E. Round Grove Rd #113
Lewisville, TX 75067

You can even order a shirt by calling them at (972) 459-9400 or sending an email. They will ship them you for an additional $5.
Orders will be taken through Friday, May 8th.

Thanks, Shawnee, for loving the orphans of Zambia the way you do!

Below is an excerpt from a press release that is going out to the Dallas area media this week.  We hope that many of you will join us for this exciting event.  The larger the crowd, the better chance there is for media coverage.  We hope to expose many new people to our ministry as well as increase our Father’s Heart child sponsorship.   Invite your friends, and come join Family Legacy on the UTA campus next Wednesday night.

Press Release -

During her team’s upcoming head-to-head battle with Lamar University on Feb. 25, University of Texas at Arlington women’s basketball coach Samantha Morrow is opting to go toe-to-toe instead.

The Lady Mavericks head coach will patrol the sidelines at Texas Hall in her bare feet in an effort to raise awareness for impoverished children around the world. Morrow is teaming up with Samaritan’s Feet and Family Legacy to go “Barefoot for a Cause” during her squad’s 7 p.m. game against the Lady Cardinals.

To participate in this campaign, UTA students and fans are encouraged to bring new child-sized athletic shoes and monetary donations to cover shipping for Samaritan’s Feet and Family Legacy which will be collected upon entry to the game. To further support the cause, they are encouraged to join Morrow in going shoeless during the game.  Fans will have the chance to sponsor Zambian orphans through Family Legacy’s Father’s Heart Child Sponsorship program.

“The partnership between Samaritan’s Feet and Family Legacy is something I want to be a part of,” Morrow said. “I am lucky to have the things I have … others aren’t so fortunate. I hope this brings more awareness to the needs of these children. Anything we can do, we should!”

The UTA coach is joining basketball coaches around the country who are helping to shed a more visible spotlight on the plight of individuals in need of shoes to protect their feet from injury, infections, and disease. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, three hundred AAU, high school, and college coaches pledged to coach one game barefoot this season in order to drive donations of shoes from fans and corporations alike. According to statistics, approximately 300 million people around the world are without a pair of shoes.

Through its Shoes of Hope distribution program, Samaritan’s Feet’s goal is to provide shoes for 10 million people over the next 10 years. Family Legacy Missions will take the shoes collected along with thousands more to Zambia this summer and place them on the feet of the orphans.

Family Legacy Missions International is very excited about partnering with UTA, Coach Morrow, and Samaritan’s Feet.   As an organization, Samaritan’s Feet has been able to bring awareness of the issue of extreme poverty throughout the world.  Their focus on putting new shoes on the feet of the world’s poorest children parallels with Family Legacy’s mission of serving the needs of the Zambian AIDS orphans. With the help of Samaritan’s Feet, and through efforts such as UTA’s ‘Barefoot for a Cause,’ we will be able to put shoes on more than 28,000 Zambian orphans this year.

Morrow and other coaches are following in the footsteps of IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) head men’s basketball coach Ron Hunter, who in January 2008 was the first to coach a game barefoot. Hunter’s goal-to raise 40,000 pairs of athletic shoes to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death-was surpassed almost three-fold. More than 100,000 pairs of shoes were donated during the game and as a result of the publicity that followed.

Family Legacy hopes to rally more Dallas-area coaches to the cause this coming year by expanding the campaign to schools and teams throughout the Metroplex.  Our desire is that next year we can do it again in conjunction with the coaches nationwide and have many local high school coaches join Coach Morrow and coach a game in their bare feet.

When: Wednesday, February 25, 2009; 7 p.m.

Where: Texas Hall, UT Arlington Campus