2nd grade here we come!

In the Morgan household, we are gearing up for the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. We know who Austin's 2nd grade teacher will be, we have all of our school supplies bought and ready to go, and a deposit has been made into the lunch account! Sounds like we are pretty prepared, right? Well, actually...I haven't felt all that prepared. Austin is growing up too fast. It was just yesterday he was starting pre-k and overnight he's become a second grader. Each year as the school year begins, while Austin is excited about seeing friends and learning new things, I try to convince myself that school is a good thing! I'd much rather keep him at home, wrapped in a bubble so that I know he's safe. Can any of you relate to that?! I worry about how the "bad kids" will influence him or that there will be a bully in his class that is mean to him. I worry that he won't have the best teacher or that he will misbehave in class. I pretty much worry about every aspect of sending my child into the scary world out there...and yes, I think even elementary school is part of this big scary world!

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him. 

Psalm 127:3

Something I've learned over the last two years that has helped me this time is this: Austin is only on loan to Jeremy and I and while we are responsible for his needs here on Earth, he really belongs to God. Instead of trying to be in control of every potential situation, I pray in advance for Austin's teacher and every aspect of the school year. Rather than worrying about those "bad influences", I pray that Austin will be strong in his faith and will be a witness to his classmates and friends. Instead of worrying about him misbehaving, we try to teach Austin right from wrong and see school as a way to practice what he's learned.

I will put my trust in Him, that is, I and the children God has given me.

Hebrews 2:13

So in a sense, we are ready for the 2011-2012 school year to begin! We are going to enjoy the last week of sleeping in and not having homework, for next week will bring on both routines and homework and hopefully NOT parent-teacher conferences!! 

A Zambia Thank You!

Dear Family & Friends,
I am excited to write and share with you a little of what God did in Zambia this summer! First, I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness to the Father in giving unselfishly and for your prayers. It was a privilege to go to Zambia and I would not have been able to do so without your prayers and financial support. God is so faithful!


During our first week in Zambia, we taught discipleship essentials to 15 young adults. Our goal in teaching this group was to equip them with the tools they need, along with some encouragement, to begin leading small group bible studies and witnessing in the townships and bush. This group of men and women were amazing and through email we know that several small groups have been started since we left Zambia!


After the discipleship training was completed, together we all went to the bush to minister to the people there. We split up into groups and went door to door witnessing and inviting people to come see the Jesus film. Many people came to see the film that evening. There were so many men, women, and children that came that we could not count them all. That evening, about 50 people accepted Christ as their personal savior!

The next week we taught a new believers class at the Chande Orphanage. We had about 60 children, from grades 7-9, that participated in the new believer’s class. We taught some basic principles every new Christian should know and how to build their relationship with Christ. While we were teaching these classes, many children became curious why we were there and that opened the door for us to share the gospel with them. Just from interacting with the children at the orphanage, 15 children accepted Christ that week! On our last day in Zambia, we had the privilege of baptizing 42 precious children!! Because of the generous donations our team members received, we were able to take 100 Bibles to the children there. Their faces lit up when they each saw their names written in the Bibles!


While we were only in Zambia for 10 days, I experienced some wonderful things and saw many things that broke my heart. I met some of the most amazing people! The term “brothers and sisters in Christ” means so much more to me than it ever has before. The people of Zambia are so hungry for Christ. Pictures of the poverty these people experience do not do justice. Above all the poverty they face, they put their full faith in Jesus Christ. The people there are very relational and always have the time to stop and talk, something we are not so great at here in America. They don’t have all the distractions we seem to have here in the U.S. Since I returned home, our family has been trying to simplify our life so that we will have the time to stop and enjoy each other and our friendships more!


There are so many stories and things I’d like to share but there isn’t enough space in this letter! I will blog about experiences and put up pictures over the next few months and I’d love for you to check it out. My blog site is http://www.nacolemorgan.blogspot.com/

Again, I want to thank you for serving with me in Zambia! It was such a privilege and an honor to see first hand all of the amazing things God is doing in Kitwe, Zambia. To see a video with many pictures of our trip go to www.youtube.com and search jnacmorgan. There you will see the Zambia 2011 video!


For the Kingdom,

Nacole Morgan
nacolemorgan@gmail.com

Zambia 2011: Part 1 of ??

It's July 4, 2011 and I'm just now attempting my first blog about Zambia. As I sat down to begin blogging I felt bad that once again I've been a terrible blogger...but really I haven't blogged because I'm still processing everything about the mission! I've still got so much to do and so many thank you's to write to all of those who graciously gave in support of our mission in sharing God's word with the people of Africa. But, many of you have been waiting to hear how things went so here's a small preview!

When leaving the good ole USA I had no idea what to expect as I arrived in Africa! I wondered how much I'd miss Jeremy and the boys, how I'd like the food, where I would sleep, if I would make friends in Zambia, and so much more... I received answers to many of those questions and more! I missed my family something awful, was able to try some new foods, and met some of the most amazing people who I will never forget and will always call friend. During our mission, we taught a discipleship class, new believers class, as well as witnessed in the bush and local townships. To say our mission was a success would be an understatement! Our mission was amazing, fruitful, fulfilling, unforgettable...get the idea?! While these numbers are not exact, here is a good estimate of what we came up with: Around 50 salvations while witnessing at the orphanage, bush, and in the townships and 42 baptisms that took place at the orphanage the day before we left to come home! Most of the baptisms were the children who were in our new believers class we taught at the Chande (orphanage) and had been previously saved at Holiday Bible school in April 2011. However, there were mulitple children that accepted Christ while we were there! While we were playing football (soccer) and/or just being at Chande we got to know many of the students there and through that were able to share Christ with them! Not only did God prepare the ground we walked on and the hearts of the people there, but I learned a lot too. I honestly believe the people in Zambia taught me more than I could have possibly taught them. I love and miss them all so very much and look forward to seeing them again!

This was our witnessing team from the bush.

From left to right: Amber, Evan, Ruth, Nacole, Timothy, Vincent, & Chris P.

This was our new believers class that Chris W and I taught.

This is Sophy! I just love her and had the privilege of assisting in her baptism! I promised her that I would pray for her every day that she will do well in school. She is a strong young lady and I know God has great plans for her!

This is Joyce (left) and Dorthy (right)! This sweet young lady accepted Christ, with her mother by her side, as the baptims were beginning on Thursday morning! What a precious day for this beautiful family.

I have so many stories and things I can't wait to share, but there is so much that I can't get it all in one blog! 

Only 9 days left!!

What a terrible blogger I am. I mean really...I keep saying I'm going to blog at least once a week and then it ends up being over a month in between posts. So, where have I been and what's been going? Over the last few months, my life has been nothing but busyness! I've been preparing with the team to go to Zambia and all of the details that entails as well as working on my alternative teaching certification stuff. Combine those two things with my growing boys and this house is full of things we have to do!

So, our team leaves in only 9 days to head to Zambia, Africa to disciple and witness to others! I'm excited to be going with a wonderful group of people who love the Lord so much. I ask for your prayers during the next 9 days and for the two weeks that we will be gone. I'm having a lot of emotions with the departure date nearing so quickly and I'm quite sure that is normal. Even so, I would love your prayers for peace, strength, and unity among our team. I know for me, as I am trying to prepare and am dealing with all of these emotions I have become very sensitive and Satan is definitely using that for his advantage right now... Other things we'd love for you to pray for is our health before, during, and after the trip, and for safe travels there and back. Please pray that the hearts of the people we will encounter will be ready to hear the Word and that God would use us in such a way that only He will receive the glory! I won't have much internet access while in Zambia, so I'm not expecting to post a blog, but you never know...keep an eye out! If I'm not able to, I plan to journal and blog along the way and will post them when I get back to Texas. Below is a picture of our team...a great looking bunch of folks if I do say so myself!

Back row left to right: Chris Williams, Chris Payne, Joel Tischauser, Jeff Collie, & Chuck Schreiber

Middle: Evan Schreiber

Front row left to right: Chisty Collie, Julie Schreiber, Shelby Tischauser, Nacole Morgan, & Amber Higgins

What else?? Well, tomorrow is the last day I'll have a first grader! As of tomorrow afternoon I'll have a second grader...that is insane! He was just a baby yesterday! Jeremy and I are so proud of all of his accomplishments this year. Austin had exceptional grades all year, and is reading way above his grade level. I love that he reads well and enjoys it! He is his momma's boy! Carson is growing like a weed too! He's always happy and smiling and has such a fun personality!



My cup runneth over!

This Easter was one of the best Easter's I've ever had. As I've been reflecting over the many things that happened over the week leading up to Easter it would have been so easy for this Easter to have been the worst... Last week was a difficult week for me in so many ways. I had my heart broken by someone I love very much. Hurtful, untrue words were spoken that pierced me to the core...I was hurt, broken, and sad. So, how was this the best Easter ever? Oh wow, Good Friday was filled with an intense time of Bible study through Secret Church by David Platt! If you've not experienced that you MUST go check it out. It's available free on the Internet. Anyway, from 6pm to past midnight we studied God's word over the crucifixion, salvation, and the Resurrection. It. Was. Awesome. Then, Saturday we spent the day as a family and headed to church and an Easter egg hunt in Granbury! Amazing worship! Wonderful message! Sunday was filled with family, friends, thankfulness for the cross, and of course food. :) So, you're probably still wondering how it was the BEST Easter if my heart was hurting so bad, right? Well, only through the power of Christ's love and comforting arms was it possible. As I was talking to a friend about my pain, she put a wonderful perspective on what I was going through. She said, look to the cross during this time and see the pain that Jesus went through so that I may have healing from the earthly pain. THE CROSS! Yes! I decided at that moment to give my pain to Jesus, and He graciously took it and that is why this Easter was the best Easter ever. It should have been obvious to me to give my hurts to Jesus, but in the midst of the pain I needed  to be reminded that nothing is too big for God! Instead of dwelling on the pain, I choose to let thankfulness overtake my heart! Thankfulness for my Savior, the cross, my husband, my beautiful boys, health, amazing friends, church, and the list could go on and on!

Funny Easter egg story!

On Sunday afternoon, we had a small Easter egg hunt here at our house with the boys. Saturday evening, we had colored eggs and both Austin and Carson had so much fun. Well, we hid about 20 or so "real eggs" and 40 plastic eggs. Hunting eggs were Austin, Carson, and our good friend's son Christian. Carson and Austin would not pick up the "real eggs"! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen, especially with Carson. He'd pick it up thinking he found an egg and when he realized it was real (and not filled with candy), he'd put it back where he found it!! Something I'll remember forever. :)



Zambia Update

Our mission trip to Zambia is getting closer and closer and the excitement is building! The last time I blogged, we had estimated we needed around $10,000 as a team. Well, our God is SO good. Our leaders took another look at the budget and we were able to reduce our costs by a few hundred dollars each and as of now, we only need just under $3,000! How awesome is that?! We have a garage sale on May 7th, and are working Sonic in Granbury on May 14th in hopes that we will raise enough money to complete our trip! God's provisions for this mission has been amazing!

New Dinosaur tracts found in Glen Rose!

A few weeks ago, Austin and his class were able to take a short field trip to see the new dinosaur tracks in Glen Rose and to help with the dig. He was excited to see the tracks but not thrilled that mom had to get a picture of him...can you tell?!

"Mom, can you hurry so I can dig?"

Digging for fossils with his friend Parker.

Austin and a few of his friends smiling with Mrs. Morris!

One of the newly discovered tracks!

Austin had a lot of fun seeing the tracks, digging for fossils, and learning a little more about archeology! I had a lot of fun watching all the kids and hearing about their plans for the dig. We are all excited to see how many tracks they end up finding. 

Zambia update and some recent pictures!

So much has happened since my last post in February. I had really good intentions of updating my blog every week and well, I guess a weekly post may have been too ambitious! So, I'll update you on how the Zambia fundraiser went back in March and where we are at in preparing for our trip.

Zambia Fun Ride

A video of some of the bikes as they started the fun ride!

The winner!

The proudest grandpa there!

What a cool hat!

 

Saturday March 19th our mission team, along with some amazing volunteers showed up with great anticipation and waited on all the motorcycles to start coming in and registering for our fun ride (also known as a poker run). We ended up having 50 or so bikes and 80 riders! We also had a few vendors outside for some shopping and eating throughout the day. We ended the event with a live biker band concert for everyone and a small intimate time of worship for our team led by a couple on our team. The music was amazing in every way! In fact, everything about Saturday March 19th was amazing. God provided in so many ways that day. We all made some new friends and connections and enjoyed getting to know some of the bikers a little better. Everyone who came out to support our team was generous in their giving. A neat story about God's provision from that day that I'll never forget: We had some unexpected overhead for a few things that we hadn't budgeted for that came out to $600. A member of Stonewater heard about that overhead and wrote a check for the exact amount! So, all the funds we raised from the fun ride was able to go directly to the mission trip! How awesome is that?!

What's going on now?

We are still meeting every Monday as a team to pray, prepare for the curriculum we will be teaching, and fellowship. We only have 9 Monday's left to meet together and prepare! I know it will fly by so fast. We are also working on a few other ideas for another fundraiser to finish helping us raise the money we still need. We have a few fun ideas and I can't wait to share them with you when we have all of the details sorted out! Personally, I'm very close to having my trip funds completed and that is because of the many family and friends who have supported me on this journey. I never imagined that I would have such a wonderful response in the giving that I have received. I am truly grateful to each one of you who have not only given finanically but through your many prayers. While I am in good shape financially, there are others in our group who still have a long ways to go. I am confident that God will provide in His time. If any of you reading this would like to donate to the others on our team who still have a long way to go please email me at nacolemorgan@gmail.com.