Team Kabale

Almost 3 years ago Leslie and I were officially accepted as Global Teams missionaries.  Kevin Higgins, our director, coach, and friend, said at the end of our acceptance phone call, "Would you guys pray about whether there is someone you could invite to join you?  We are Global Teams, after all, and we would like to send you out with at team."

After we hung up the phone, Leslie and looked at each other and essentially said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  Back in her college days at UT Austin (Hook 'em!), Leslie and her sister roomed with a girl named Wendy Deyo.  The three of them grew in Christ together, and Wendy was a woman of tender -- and often radical -- passion.  (Leslie tells the story of Wendy banging on her door at 3am during the month of Ramadan demanding that she get up and pray with her.)  Wendy went off to Eastern Europe as a missionary and ESL teacher, where she met Aaron Morrow.  They returned to the States and married, and then Aaron pursued medicine so they could return to the mission field as medical missionaries.

Leslie and Wendy kept up over the years, so we knew the Morrows were done with medical school and had been preparing to go overseas.  We gave them a call one Friday and said, "This may be a bit crazy, but what would y'all think about going to Uganda with us?"  It just so happened they had just finished a week of fasting and prayer with regard to their next steps, since Aaron had finished his residency plus work in a local clinic that had paid off their school debts.  They took a bit more time to pray, and then said yes!

The Morrows (Aaron, Wendy, Micah (8), Emma Shae (5), and Mallory (3)) were living in Waco, TX when we first began pulling together as a team through Skype sessions and phone calls.  They spent the past fall in Liverpool, England so Aaron could take an intensive course in tropical medicine.  (Ask Wendy to talk to you in Scouse.)  They returned to Houston at the end of December.  Within the next several weeks they raised their remaining support, and were ready to leave for Uganda at the end of January.  Medical issues, however, have required them to stay Stateside a few more months.

One gift of this forced delay is that at last we get to spend face-to-face time together as a team before we leave for Uganda.  The Morrows spent the past 5 days with us at my parents' place in Sunnyvale.  While we searched for a place for them to live, we also got extensive team-building time simply by living together, going to the rodeo, watching movies, praying, and beginning to talk through our vision, goals and strategies.

(Wendy and Aaron)

(The Girls: Georgia, Emma Shae, Mallory, Lucy.  Julia is napping.)

 

(The Boys: Micah and Jesse)

God has provided a place for them 20 minutes away from our house.  We called a lot of people and churches, waited, prayed, and wondered.  Then, First Baptist Church in Garland graciously opened up one of their missionary homes to the Morrows, so they now have a great place to live, and we can continue building our team for the next couple of months.

Hmmmm...as I scan back through this post, I'm realizing that it's not quite communicating one of the important points.  Our Father has been weaving together circumstances and relationships to ensure that our families are well prepared and cared for in Uganda, and in doing so he's ensuring that the community of Kabale will be well served by an increasingly healthy team.  We planned very little of what has occurred -- team members whose gifts complement ours and whose kids will be great friends for our kids, and extended time together in the Dallas area, for example -- yet the Jesus we all love has indeed worked all things together for our good, and for the good of the people of Kabale.

("African Weaving" by Rachele Unter)