Africa Bound

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to Africa! It's real now. Nothing is holding me back!

I just purchased my plane ticket. I will be leaving the States on August 25th and arriving in Uganda on August 27. I will return on December 14!!! I really cannot contain my excitement! I have been holding back the news of my change of plans until it was official, but now it is!

I will be working with an organization called Empower a Child that does work with orphaned and vulnerable children in Kampala, Uganda. As excited as I was to be working with Sanyu Babies Home, I think God has divinely orchestrated all of my plans and preparation for this trip. And.... Empower a Child works with Sanyu Babies Home! So I'll still be able to volunteer there.

As I prepare to leave would you partner with me in prayer over a few things?

1. I still have endometriosis and will be having a small procedure done on July 20th to try to relieve some of my pain and then will meet with my doctor about further treatment early in August.

2. There are still funds needed for my trip. If you would like to help financially, you can donate through paypal by clicking the donate button to the right. If you are unable to help, please pray that God would fill the need.

3. A trip of this magnitude is a huge step for me and I want to be totally prepared. Would you pray that God would prepare my heart and mind for all I will encounter there, as well as, prepare me to leave my home for an extended period of time?

Thank you for your prayers and support!

until all have heard,

lauren michelle gross

Fighting for Joy

These past couple of months have been filled with emotion, fear, trepidation, questioning, and many more things. For the past 2, almost 3 months now have been some of the hardest of my life.While trying to prepare for taking one of the biggest steps of my life... going to Uganda for 5 months, the enemy has been on the offense attacking me in more ways than I care to count.

3 months ago I started struggling with abdominal pain. I prayed, my family prayed, my church prayed, people all around the world prayed for healing, for understanding, for treatment. It didn't come. So, after returning from a trip up and down the East Coast I began to seek medical help. Test after test. Doctor visit after doctor visit. medication after medication. An ER visit. No answer for what was causing me so much pain. 

Last week I saw a different doctor and finally got an answer... endometriosis. I began to do research on what this meant, what the treatment is and what the implications are. As I read I got scared. All I've ever wanted to be is a mom and reading about infertility caused by endometriosis scares me. 

I having been fighting for Joy. not happiness, joy. Something that doesn't go away when I'm in pain, when I'm afraid, or any other thing that I've felt over the last few months. If the joy of the Lord is my strength, then I need joy, because I need strength to get through this. 

Over the next  2 or 3 weeks, I will see 2 more doctors and have countless more tests and procedures done, but through all of it I will fight for Joy. I wrote the following over a week ago, but it's still true...

"Right now more than anything i would love to wallow in self pity and complain about my day... but Jesus is still on the throne, I know God's promises for my life, I know that He has a plan for everything, I know that if God is for me then nothing can stand against me, I know the healer and He knows me. I know the enemy has come to kill, steal, and destroy; but God has given me life and life more abundantly. I rejoice and rest in Him and I believe He will bring answers and healing in His perfect timing. I am going to bed in the arms of my Savior and nothing can touch me while I'm there."

until all have heard,

lauren michelle gross 

Change is coming.

It's official. I'm headed back to Uganda.

Many of you know my heart for this nation and especially the orphans, and following God's leading, I'm going back.

While some things are still up in the air, I can tell you my plans (even though I am prepared for God to change my plans at any and every moment.)

I plan to head to Uganda toward the end of July and stay there for 5 months, until the middle of December. I am going to work with Sanyu Babies Home in Kampala for the majority of my stay. They house 50 precious babies under the age of 2. I plan to help them with some administrative stuff and some web design, but mostly, just love on those babies.

You may ask... Where's the money coming from? The answer is: I don't know where the $7000 may be coming from. But if this is what God has called me to, He can most certainly spare $7000.

What will I do when I get back? I have no idea. I hope God completely wrecks my thoughts and plans and completely replaces them with His unimaginable will.

I know these months will probably be some of the hardest of my life, but I never planned to play it safe or to fit into a cookie cutter mold of a Christian. When I told Him I was willing to do anything, I meant it. When I told Him I wanted to something so big it's destined to fail without Him, He took the challenge.

I covet your prayers as I enter this season of life, for direction, for funds, and for reckless abandon for Him.

until all have heard,
lauren michelle gross

Haven of Hope

Today I'm gonna talk about an amazing woman and the 30+ kids she cares for...

Nelly runs Haven of Hope. A home for abandoned kids, most of them very  young. When we were there, she had 36 kids, I think 12 of them under the age of 2. She had a 3 week old named precious who  lived up to the name in every way! These precious children are very fortunate to be where they are, because God has placed them with Nelly, a Godly woman who loves them with all she has. 

While she struggles financially, she just cannot turn away children. She told us while we were there that sometimes she turns off her phone so that she can't be called and offered another baby, because she will always say yes. Her heart is amazing and I am believing that God is going to bless her amazingly because of the work she is doing.

Our team found out last week that she had her water turned off and wasn't going to be able to pay her rent. While a member of our team is busy building a website for her so that she can have outside help coming in, she has nothing now. We have sent some money, but we don't want this to be a problem again next month. If you would like to know how to give, please email or facebook me.


Whatever you do for the least of these....


until all have heard,


lauren michelle 

FIwagoh Mission Home

I know I've been back for over a month now and haven't posted anything about my trip... so I will try over the next week to share as much as I possibly can. To be honest, I am still processing so much and don't know how long it will take me before I even remember what all happened in my 12 days in Africa. I will try to do this ministry by ministry, and I know that I will never fully be able to express the impact that these places and people made in my life. (there are only about 7 other people who understand this...)

Fiwagoh is located in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. You would never expect and orphanage to sit on the edge of a beautiful lake, surrounded by mountains. The beauty of the place contrasted by how meagerly these 180 children live is staggering. They frequently can't afford food, they wear the same clothes day after day, they have almost no toys, and very little adult supervision. With all those things being said, these are some amazingly blessed and rich kids. What they lack in material possessions, they make up for in Godly love.


Fiwagoh is run by Pastor Benson and his wife. They are amazing, Godly, humble individuals who pour themselves out daily for 180 kids. I am so in awe of the people I met that live sacrificially for "the least of these."

"My girls" at Fiwagoh were Poline, Teresa, and Virginia. If you've never been to a 3rd world country, kids just attach themselves to you and they are yours for as long as you are there. They sing with you, beg you to take pictures of them, and stand outside your door every time you go to your room. One thing I loved about Fiwagoh was them singing hymns. When they sing, they do so with  all that is within them. It's a staggering sound when you hear them all together. And for the first half of the song I would swear that they were singing in Swahili some song I had never heard, and then I would realize they were singing an old hymn I'd known all my life, AND IN ENGLISH! It's astounding. 

It is such a sweet place, full of sweet and honest children. Days are spent playing 'what time is it Mr. Fox?' and soccer. I miss this sweet place...


until all have heard,
lauren michelle gross

Almost home

Sitting in the DC airport trying to think over all that has happened over the past few weeks. Kenya seems like a lifetime ago and yet I can still hear their little voices.

Poline and jackline at Fiwago leading me to the lake, singing hymns the whole way. 

Precious at haven of hope looking at me through her completely trusting 3 month old eyes.

Daniel learning through the men on our team what it means to be a Godly man and seeing his heart break for his unsaved wife.

At return in Uganda having Babra cling to me as if no one had ever given her the time of day.

Working with 60feet at M2 and seeing kids in a hopeless situation crying out to God despite it all.

Going to the baby cottage and picking up 2 month old Alice. To the women who work there she is just one crying voice among many. But I see a life worth saving. She is precious to me and more than anything I longed to take her away from that place, to give her the love and affection she deserves. Not to see her in pain because no one saw the hair wrapped around her finger that was cutting off the circulation to 3 fingers and I'm positive it would have caused permanent damage. My heart breaks to know she lays there day after day only picked up to be fed and changed.

Going to M3 with 60feet and seeing the most hopeless situation I have ever encountered. A special needs girl urinate all over herself and to see no one care. To know she is in a place where her needs will never be met and she might never escape.

Traveling to Canaan to be greeted with the most joyful children. Spending days with Esther, Jane, Sarah, Patience, Topiska, and so many others. It gave me so much hope for what one person who cares can do.

Going to visit the Karamajong and having the least if the least present us with gifts. The most humbling thing I have ever experienced.

Going to Serving His Children and holding a 2 year old who weighed 10 lbs because of malnutrition and see mothers who simply didn't care.

And finally at Amazima seeing children so grateful for 1 bowl of food.

These are the things I don't understand as I sit in American luxury. What do you do looking into the face if such a huge need? How do you fight through the tears and rejoin normal life?!

until all have heard,
lauren michelle gross

Not enough words to express...

As I sit outside on a beautiful night in Uganda, I cannot find any words to describe what I have seen and done in the past week and a half.

I have seen hundreds if not thousands of hurting children in Africa. From the best to the worst and I am asking God what is my part? How do I put my drop in the bucket of the orphan crisis around the world?

And yet I am reminded that my God is faithful and just. He know what He us doing and He will always show me my part (even if it is only one step at a time.)

But for now I will tell you that my heart is overflowing with love for these kids and these people. When I return I will post some of the details of what I have done and what God has done in me.

until all have heard
lauren michelle gross