Team Five Morris

We just had one of the best teams yet come and visit us.  Our home church in Kalispell Montana sent a group of five friends to minister with us for two weeks.  We looked forward to their arrival greatly as they knew us “before missions”.  Their first full day here was wonderful as we sat around catching up and answering their questions about our life here.  Our home church, Easthaven Baptist, sent along five suitcases filled with gifts for us.  As we unpacked the suitcases and my floor became littered with bags of cheetos, chocolate chips, legos, books and candy we were overwhelmed with the generosity.  You cannot begin to understand how exciting a bag of American junk food is until you aren’t able to it anymore.  In the midst of the outpouring of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and refined sugars there were also letters from people back home.  I cried as I read all the encouraging words.  One friend, a crazy red-head named Jen, sent me a lock of her hair which made me laugh and cry all at the same time.  Though we’ve had other teams bring us things before this was so very personal.  These were handpicked gifts and letters from people who have watched the progression of God’s call in our lives the last nine years. 

One of the five people who came with this team was a four year old girl named Talia.  She is the daughter of our friends Sam and Dawn.  Sam had been here before on our first trip three years ago.  They brought Talia along and Hannah was thrilled!  Talia and Hannah are two years apart yet they were inseparable for most of the time here.  Talia became one of the biggest blessings yet.  Hannah doesn’t have many girlfriends here in Uganda so Talia was a joy to her!  They played dolls, colored endless coloring pages and laughed while they pig snorted in each other’s faces.  I watched Talia for a week as the team hosted an English camp.  Usually the thought of adding another child to my day causes me great anxiety.  However, Talia was one of the easiest kids I’ve ever watched.  She fit in here immediately.

The team along with Dan and our friends Moses and Betty and also John Pipes and his son hosted an English camp to deepen local pastors’ understanding of the English language.  It was more successful than we could have imagined.  About thirty local pastors and neighbors came regularly for six days.  They were split into four groups depending on their English speaking abilities.  Daily they were taught bible studies, conversational English and reading comprehension.  This was our first attempt at anything like this and we see a real future for a program like this. 

Unlike other teams that have come before we had more downtime with this one.  We had a nice day in Jinja viewing the Nile River and Bujagali Falls.  We also spent time shopping for gifts, paying school fees, visiting Easthaven’s child sponsorship program in Nakulabye and of course eating!  Many on the team were introduced to Indian food for the first time.  All of the team ate their fair share of Italian gelato almost daily.  There were numerous cases of lower intestinal tract issues but for the most part the team was healthy, happy and a wonderful blessing to us. 

Their last day was hectic as we ran all over town but we did spend some time in prayer with them.  The team prayed for us and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, although some people claimed it was the Kampala pollution causing their eyes to water.  We sent them on their way tired but happy and all of us were blessed with their time here. 

I started to falter again at the prospect of saying goodbye one more time.  But God quietly reminded me to trust in Him and to lean hard into Him.  Nothing compares to the comfort and satisfaction I have in Him but He still blesses me with such amazing friends and relationships here on earth.  The difference with this team is that they are people praying for us daily, bringing our names before our church regularly, and have known us for years.  They embodied a taste of home for us that we had been longing for. 

EASTHAVEN FRIENDS…you are loved, you are missed and you are all soooooooo we-we ba-ba!!!!  We’ll keep the matoke warm for you until you return!  Webale nyo!  Akwagala nyo!