Team Five Morris

I have been grumpy, annoyed and irritable the past few weeks so I haven't been inspired to share my wretchedness with you all.  For some reason Dan and I are in another culture funk.  I thought we had finally overcome it but here we are being tossed about again.  Life has been hard the past month.  It may have something to do with an African man who has a personal vendetta against us but I think it goes deeper than that.  Aside from the daily irritations of our water and power going out I have been dealing with a neighbor who burns plastic right next to our fence causing us to gag.  I asked her to stop and she refused to even speak to me.  So I lost it and took our hose and sprayed her burn pile over the fence to stop the smoke.  She didn't appreciate that so much.  I realized I had kind of come to the end of my rope that day.  Dan and I talked in the middle of the night about how bad we suck.  Here we are to minister to the Ugandan people and yet our irritation with them is so great that I can hardly stand to speak a kind word to them. 

On top of that we are desperately trying to get our NGO liscenced so we are have legal status here in Uganda and don't get deported.  All of these stresses were also wearing on our family and affecting our parenting.  So THANK GOD that God convicted Dan and I both at the same time to change.  We have commited to holding eachother accountable as we pray for love for these people. 

Please be in prayer for us as we enter our sixth month.  Pray for our NGO papers to come through quickly, pray for our family to be unified, pray for love to abound in our hearts, pray for refreshment in the Lord and pray for our patience.  I know this difficult time will pass and I don't want to be ashamed of how I handled it.  Thank you for standing with us as always in prayers and support. 

I haven't driven in six months.  Kampala is the most chaotic city to drive in that I have ever seen.  I swore I would never drive here once I saw the traffic.  This last weekend I finally drove about four blocks.  The car was a rental as ours was in the shop and I'm not sure I am ready to handle the Defender!  The car is a right hand drive car that you shift with your left.  I managed to drive the four blocks without hitting anything or anyone.  Dan was so impressed he had me drive home too. 

Today I ventured out on the big roads with real traffic.  It was nerve wracking but I managed to drive us all the way to the internet cafe dodging cars, pedestrians, goats, motorcycles and taxis.  I even parked between the two yellow lines.  Oh yes, be impressed.

This may or may not start my entrance into driving like a big girl here in Kampala.  For now I am happy to have my personal chauffeur and the occasional motorcycle taxi ride. 

I am not nealy tech savvy enough to download pictures to this website so here is a link to our facebook page where you can view the most recent ones.  You can view this link even if you aren't on facebook. 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=23611&id=1432497979&l=a2c8139dac

Hope you enjoy them and please let me know if the link doesn't work. 

So here we are in the month of June.  At home in Montana that means sunshine and trips to the lake.  In Uganda that means the sun is still shining like it does everyday.  I am missing the seasons already but really if you have to live in a seasonless place...a warm one is better than one that is perpetually cold right?  (Who knew that constant sunshine could get old?)

Some interesting updates...we have officially pulled the kids out of the school that we had them in.  After meeting with some American moms who started a homeschool group we decided that bringing them home for schooling would be more beneficial to them.  So we are on the second week of homeschooling and for the first time I am actually enjoying it!  We will be starting with the homeschool group in August.  The group has a bible study for the kids and the moms and then the moms take turns teaching things like art, music, history and science.  I can't wait.

Another new thing we are working on is starting an NGO.  That is a Non Governmental Organization for those of you who don't know.  This is a lengthy process with some cost involved for attorney fees but in the end we will have a legal status to live and do ministry in Uganda.  As of right now we are just tourists and aren't allowed to do any sort of work and even volunteer work is questionable.  By the end of summer (in America of course since we have no seasons here...) we will officially be an NGO.  Pray for a quick turn around of our paper work and for the funds to be provided to pay our lawyer for his help.

One of our interns went home last week after fulfilling his four months in Uganda.  While we miss him we have a new rooster that we named after him to keep his memory alive.  His name is Obbie Todd.  Our other two interns go back to the Ukraine in early July.  I try not to think about it too much since they have become part of the family.  Hopefully they will return in the fall after fundraising in Ukraine.  They both hope to return and stay for a year.  We pray God brings the funding they need so we can continue to work with them.

For now we are kind of bored.  We are in limbo while we try to get our NGO paperwork in.  I guess this is kind of our summer but it is so different from what we are used to in the states.  We hope that all of you our dear friends and family are enjoying your summer holidays and getting a tan!  Please continue to pray for us in the coming months as we will have a large short term group coming at the end of July for medical missions.  And praise God that my parents are only 10 weeks away from coming to visit!  Love to all!