Team Five Morris

After almost 2 weeks back in the USA I am trying to fit in.  The first clue that we might be a little strange was at the Dulles airport.  Hannah found a drinking fountain and was so excited.  She rushed over to me begging me to use it.  I said go ahead.  She ran off and came back and said kind of sheepishly, "How do I work it?".  She quickly figured it out and her brothers joined her in the "drinking right from the tap" fun times.  Ben decided he could get more water in his mouth quicker if he wrapped his mouth around the whole drinking spout.  Sigh.  We had just shown our lack of cultural savvy. 

Starbucks is a whole other matter.  My first Starbucks was slightly embarrassing.  I nervously stepped up to the counter and the peppy overcaffeineated coffee girl asked what I'd like.  I said, "Uh...a...er...medium coffee?".  She said, "You mean a grande?  What kind of coffee?".  Crap.  Too many choices.  I settled on an iced tea.  But then she wanted to know what flavor and did I want syrup?  I wanted to cry with shame at not being able to remember how to order a stupid coffee.  Yesterday Dan and I went to get a coffee.  I asked for a grande cappaccino, thinking I finally had the lingo down.  The girl says (kind of smugly if you ask me), "How do you want that?"  What?  She sighs at my stupidity and says, "Dry or wet????".  Uh...dry?  So I get the coffee and there is only like an inch of coffee and 8 inches of foam.  I was so annoyed with myself. 

Other things are coming easier.  Like eating.  We have avoided too much processed food since we don't usually have a lot of that in Uganda.  But after resisting for a week we stopped at McDonald's.  Our kids were so happy.  An hour after eating the food Dan had a headache and I felt like I was about to go into a coma.  We ate at our favorite mexican restaurant two days ago.  I inhaled my weight in tortilla chips and salsa and then shared a burrito with Dan.  I wished later that night that someone would put me out of my misery because I was to full.  I have stuck with salads and yogurt since then.  (Greek yogurt with honey and blueberries is the best thing in the world.)

Shopping has also come easy.  With everyone clearing out their summer stuff we are just in time to scoop it up.  I came with empty suitcases and they are gettting dangerously close to being filled. 

All in all we are slowly remembering how to engage with our own culture.  Thanks goodness we have had such good friends and family helping us along the way.  Stay tuned for more adventures of the un-socially skilled Team5Morris.  We are off to Montana next!

We are thankful for the opportunity we have to share and savor the Treasure of Jesus.  We're gaining quite a bit of momentum as we approach Resurrection Day/Easter Season.  For the last month we've been absolutely packed out on our Sunday gatherings at around 60-70 folks with standing room only (we need some more benches). It's a simple service were we serve tea at the end and hang out for about 30-45 min. chatting it up with our 'family', meeting new people and praying together.  We have two Missional Community groups one of which runs at about 25 and the other around 12-15.  Also, we have just begun our Membership class in which we've combined the two MC's on the same night for the next 4wks. **Pray for the gathering to be a great witness and entry point into the community as well as our MC's to produce fruit and commitment to Sojourn

• One of our guys is being sent to Gaba Bible Institute (GBI) for some training in worship leading, while he also attends Uganda Baptist Seminary for theological training.  We have one more possible guy who may begin GBI next term.  These two guys are being looked at for potential leaders at Sojourn in the future **    Pray for  Richard Nsenga and Besweri Wolossi
  

 

• Our Family Development Ministry is moving along quite well with the help of Rosalie Simcoe as our FDM administrator, the partnership with Vintage 21 Church in Raleigh, NC and Wabigalo Primary.  We now have 26 kids in school who either have never been to school or haven't been in several years, with the exception of a few Sojourners.  This makes for a bit of a challenge since the ages range from 8yrs to 16yrs.  Many are teenagers who are still in 'grade school'.  So our students are a bit behind.  The families each have a 'champion' who has helped identify the kids/families and is their point of contact with Sojourn.  They meet with the families weekly to build relationship and opportunity to share the Treasure.  There is no obligation for attendance at Sojourn, only one of cooperation with us.

The Families 'buy in' is to commit to an appointed number of community service hours, aimed at a holistic community approach, every month that will be organized by Sojourn and/or the Local Kampala City Council and Chairmen.  In addition, we will be equipping these families and the community at large with certain job skills. ie: candle, soap and lemongrass tea making. 
We have recently partnered with Katie Borchert from Lifted Uganda to train and empower Ugandans with the skills of sowing.  They have set items to make, which she sells in the US and locally.  Katie basically gives the ladies all the profit after expenses.  We have one of our ladies from Sojourn who will spearhead this work in the hopes she will be a trainer, mentor and discipler to the other families in the FDM.  The goal for this ministry is to be a hand up for them to get on their feet and support their own kids and family. 
**Pray for the families and the champions from Sojourn, that the work would be fruitful and make Jesus famous.  Also for the kids studies to go well and for them to catch up fast.

• We are seeking to move into a support role with the local school through short term teams, school supplies and playground equipment.  Kostia and Rosalie have been allowed to hold a boys and girls bible study for the boarding students as well as our weekly general school program held buy everyone else.  **pray for the teachers and students at Wabigalo Primary.  For good teaching, partnership with us and growing and loving relationship.

 

• Some of the other things happening at Sojourn are a Biblical Interpretation class, Music classes dealing mainly with voice. Loring, Rosalie and Mary started a simple ABC/123 class on Mondays for kids who are not in school to get some basics so as to not fall too far behind. Coming up soon we'll be elbow deep in some community work through Vintage 21 and the Local Chairmen, in June 2011 to build community pit latrines, clearing out drainage lines (really dirty and gross work that nobody wants to do), as well as the possible construction of a playground at the school we're working with.  They'll be partnering with our FDM and Sojourn people.  In addition we'll have a teaching crew from Austin City Life holding a pastors conference at Sojourn in the hopes to build some strong relationships among the pastors in the area. They will also have a contingent coming to engage in some mercy ministry joined with our people in Sojourn and the community.  **Pray for all this stuff to not be 'stuff' but ways into the community to share Jesus, live him out and serve.

• We are still in need of a bunch of cash to purchase the structure we are currently in.  If purchased, it would serve as an excellent multipurpose building that will serve the church, community and overall mission of Sojourn...to be salt and light.  **We had some reports that our building fund letter was spammed and all garbled up.  If you did not receive our email about the building let us know, we'd love to share with you the vision and long term goals for the structure.

There is a lot of awesome stories coming from this work like, little Sojourn communities popping up where people are gathering, hanging out and sharing life together, doing homework etc.  People of Sojourn are becoming more and more generous with their time, money and talents.  Our hope is to have a Family of Brothers and Sisters with our great and and good Father leading us as we learn, love and serve in order to make Jesus famous while giving Him all the glory.  I can't tell you how humbling all this is, it's already gone far beyond my expectations yet leaving much to still do.  We are weak, foolish, nobodies who have had Jesus crash into their lives and change everything.  The Gospel is the power of salvation but it also changes our identity to the core.  Thank you for your generosity in prayer and giving toward us and Sojourn.

**Morris family news:  Aiden, Hannah and Ben are still kickin' it in TaeKwonDo (I'm a bit nervous...I've started sparing with four guys at a time so I can manage them as they get older)
We might be famous in the next year or two...Roger Ross Williams is doing a Documentary in Uganda and we may be in it.  We've done an initial interview with him and hung out for a couple of days.
We are officially finished with our savings.  After selling our house we had a large sum of about 90K.  After our missionary training, plane tickets, set up cost, buying a car, paying off bills and paying for insurance, etc we were left with about 40k.  It's been a good run of almost two and a half years but the 40k is gone.  We've used it to subsidize the church plant, building rent, food and medical attention for others and just about everything else. We've had a little help on the way to stretch it out that long too.  Okay, I'm done with that, just had to get it out.


Please continue to pray for our family and team:

• Pray for Rosalie Simcoe who administrates the FDM
• Pray for Kostia and Vitali who are involved in discipleship groups in two different school as well as a group from Sojourn.
• Pray for the preach/teaching of the Word and the obeying of It.
• Pray for our financial situation so that we can continue to be generous, we're not starving but we can't be all that generous either.

Enjoy Grace,
Dan, Loring, kids and the rest of the team.

Aiden Daniel Morris made his debut in our lives almost 10 years ago.  The first thing I said after an agonizing first labor was, "Are his eyes supposed to be so far apart?".  Don't get me wrong...he was fabulous as all newborns should be to their parents.  But truth be told his eyes were spaced a little farther apart than normal and his head was huge and he was purple and squirming.  His first picture in the hospital made him look like he was from some Arab country...far different from either of his parents.  However, now as he is entering into the world of double digit age he is a marvel to me. 

His huge head (which houses a fabulous huge brain of course) has finally become proportionate to the rest of his growing body.  His lovely big blue eyes are spaced exactly as they should be and have not fallen off the sides of his face like I originally thought they would.  Aiden is funny and sarcastic and LOVES to read anything he can get his hands on.  He is old enough to sit through our community group on Tuesday nights and participate in the conversation.  He can bathe himself, wipe himself, and even cook his own breakfast.  These things endear him to me all the more! 

As I grapple with my own aging process I so enjoy watching him grow and change.  I find myself wanting so badly though to go back and hold his little body again like I used to when he was a baby.  I want him to crawl on my lap with a book and say, "Yook Mommy, yook at dis".  Instead, I content myself to watch him loll on the couch reading through a book in a matter of hours (like mother like son...) or to marvel at his athletic abilities in Taekwondo (obviously gets that from his dad's side...).  He seems just on the brink of discovering harder truths about the world and I grieve for his loss of childhood in the coming years. He is almost to the point of needing deoderant for heaven's sake!  But for now he is all mine.  He is my innocent ten year old (on Saturday) and I love love love that kid! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSS HOG! 

I just wanted to give an update on our current needs.  Our home church, Easthaven Baptist has pledged support starting this month and raising it when we are on the field.  My aunt Lori and uncle Wayne have also pledged support monthly along with my parents which means we are almost half way there on our monthly funding needs.  God continues to surprise us.  In addition we have also had three one-time gifts that are a blessing to us.  Please pray and ask God if you too are called to support us.  We know He is faithful and will bring many to partner with us.