Legacies & Miracles, Inc. is a non-profit corporation with a heart to make a difference in the next generation for Christ both in the U.S. & abroad. Our mission is to come alongside the vision Pastor Patrick and his wife Suzan had from the beginning to build up a self-sufficient, Christ-honoring, well-educated community that will multiply out and bless other people. We do this by contributing financially towards education, food, and the facilities necessary to create a healthy community. While this financial support is necessary in the beginning, our ultimate goal is to develop a self-sustaining and financially independent community that will be a blessing for generations to come.

We build the vision through prayer and mission trips. We know that God is in every detail of our ministry. He is the one changing hearts and lives, growing our church plants, providing rain, and convicting hearts to give. It is for his glory that we have this ministry, and it is through the power of prayer that it is sustained. We have maintain a deep relationship with the Namayemba community, and each year we send a mission team of students and adults who have a passion to step outside of their comfort zone, serve, and grow their worldview.

Meet Patrick and Jennifer Hembree, the founders and leaders of Legacies and Miracles. In April of 2013, Patrick Hembree embarked on a mission trip with his son’s school to distribute food to 15 different orphanages in Uganda. Before the mission trip, Pat and Jen had been praying that God would do something so great on this trip that only he could get the credit for it. The moment Pat stepped out of the bus in Namayemba to meet Pastor Patrick Bwire and his wife Suzan, he could feel God’s presence. A divine connection happened between the two Patricks that day as they connected in their faith and their heart for Kingdom work. The mission team even reorganized their plans and returned to Namayemba a second time so Pastor Patrick could join them. At this time, Pastor Patrick was just beginning a church, school, and orphanage there. About 100 orphans and children were being taught in mud-hut classrooms and under large trees in this small village. Hunger and poverty were pervasive, and Pat came home from that trip with a God-given desire to make a difference with Pastor Patrick and the ministry he had begun.

Meanwhile, God was working on Jennifer’s heart. Pat wanted her to come with him to Uganda, but she was resistant and wanted raise money here while he went there. But in November of 2014, God brought Jen to the end of herself while in the hospital for a month due to severe stomach pain. One night her blood pressure plummeted dangerous low, and she almost went into cardiac arrest. Pat prayed with her through the night and read Psalm 145 to her. The next morning, Jen was too weak to get out of bed. She looked down and her stomach was huge. The doctor walked in, and she whispered, "What's happening to me?"

The doctor replied, "You know those children you see on T. V. from Africa with bloated stomachs, that's what's happening to you! Your body is starving to death!"

The doctor ordered her to be fed intravenously. By that afternoon, her pain was gone, and her stomach was no longer bloated. Little did she know God used this trial to fill her heart with compassion for the people of Uganda who knew hunger pains all too well. God opened Jen’s heart to get out of her comfort zone and finally go to Uganda in 2015.

Legacies and Miracles is an organization that was birthed out of deep friendship and a shared vision to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a hurting community. Pat and Jen started this ministry simply by responding to God’s prompting to meet the needs of the Namaymba community. So much has been accomplished since the beginning of this ministry in 2015. Now Pastor Patrick is pastoring Namayemba Christian Township Church and has has successfully started several church plants in the surrounding community. This church runs Namayemba Christian School for more than 550 students from infancy to primary 7 (7th grade) and supports over 90 orphans who live in dormitories at the school. Our ministry has helped to provide two classroom buildings, a boys’ and girls’ dormitory, a large multipurpose building, a kitchen, a water pump, fencing for protection, farm land, a chicken coop, cows and goats, a teachers’ house, and hearty school meals for the children. We have also built buildings for three church plants and look forward to building 5 more, as well as other solid christian schools. We are currently in the process of building a large library which will be filled with books, and computers. Eventually we hope to build a high school, a trade school, a medical clinic, and a guest house.