Autumn falls

Hello everyone.  I hope that you are all well.  We are doing great and have really been enjoying living in Ballina. It's been over three and a half months already.  I guess that we have well and truly had our last days of summer for this year and have entered into autumn.  It is really cold and really wet but we are thankful for His blessings everyday.  The sun rises a bit later and we have been able to witness it most mornings.  It is a lovely time of the year.

A lot has happened in our lives in the past month or so.  Church started about 5 weeks ago and it has been lovely getting to know each other and spend time with one another.  Church is long on a Sunday.  We don't get started until about 2 but it goes on until around 7pm.   We meet for a meal, have a chat or play some sports and then we have our time of worship and word.  We have enjoyed being a part of something that is at the beginning of it's life.  Simon has been helping out with the worship and Sarai has been helping out with teaching the kids.  We have had between 5 and 12 people attend (not including kids) and we meet in a house.  You can be praying that the Lord provides a new house as the house that we meet in will no longer be available soon.  The guys who lived there have been told to move as the house was reprocessed by the bank.  Pray that the Lord provides a new home for Brendan, Carinne and the 4 kids.

Simon had a couple of job interviews this month and was offered a part-time job in Ballina.  This is a massive answer to prayer because we have had little or no income in the past few months.  Thanks to all who prayed and who gave and be encouraged by this answered prayer.  We continue to probe other ideas that will bring in enough income for us to live and be established here but we are very encouraged as we see His hand at work.  Simon started on Tuesday.

We have had a lot of visitors too.  All of Simon's family were able to visit as well as a couple of good friends from our home church in Northern Ireland.  We are expecting another couple from the North at the end of October as well as our good friends Phillip and Alisha Brummett from Texas.  They will be visiting us as they pray and seek the Lord's will for the next stage in their ministry.  They are praying about the possibility of moving to Ireland.  Please pray for guidance and wisdom in their decision making.  It is great to have people stay with us and experience life in Ballina.  It really is much different to Panama or even to Northern Ireland.

Ethan is loving school!  He comes home and doesn't tell us anything about his day but he is just loving getting to know other kids his age.  It is a blessing to see him enjoying it and growing through it.  Naomi is walking, a lot!  She never stops.  She had her first birthday at the beginning of October and her grandparents could come to it as well as some friends from the area.

We hope to get travelling North this month but a lot depends on Simon's work schedule.  Simon will be at Lisburn Christian Fellowship this Saturday for the Father Heart conference but he will only be there for the day.

Thanks again for all of the prayers as well the financial gifts.  It is wonderful to know that we have friends and family all over the world who pray for us on a daily basis.

Blessings!

Simon, Sarai, Ethan and Naomi Morrow

One small step at a time.

So, we have well and truly settled into Ballina.  We've been here for more than 7 weeks and now feel at home.  God is good!

Naomi has been taking her first steps!  As I am sure you can imagine she is falling over a lot.  She takes one step and...bang!  But she continues to get up and try again.  She has her parents to help and guide her.  She will, in no time, be walking and then running.  We feel as though this is symbolic of our experience in moving to Mayo.  We have been taking baby steps and at times, we have been falling.  It may take a while but we know that we have our heavenly father who protects and guides us and has a plan for everything that has happened and for everything that is going to happen.  We believe that we will start to walk and eventually we will be running.

Since we last wrote, the football classes have started in Millview.   A group of around 6 people have been going in for 3 weeks now and it has been a great time.  We have had a good number of kids and feel as though there is a deeper relationship developing between us and them.  We are praying about the long term though.  Do we want to be involved in Millview for a longer period and if so, doing what?  Please pray that the Lord will reveal His plan for us in Millview and that we would be sensitive to hear His voice.

Sarai continues to meet with mothers in the area and with local Christian friends.  She had the chance to meet with a pastor's wife from Venezuela.  She is living in Westport and Sarai has met with her a couple of times.  A great opportunity to speak in Spanish and to get to know a new friend.

Simon has met with a few local Christian guys from the different churches.  They have met once, just to hang out.  He feels as though this is a chance to get the 20's and 30's involved with what God is doing here.  The plan is just to get together and play sports or board-games or just have a meal.  Pray that this can develop into something that continues to bring the church together in unity.

Once again we have seen God's provision in ways previously unimaginable to us.  God is faithful!  We know that.  We want to thank everyone who has supported us in prayer, finances or through calling or emailing us.  It is of great encouragement to see this happen.  We have gone from not having to having everything we need for each day.  Another way that the Lord has provided this month is through giving us a car.  We will be receiving a car on loan for around 6 months.  This is an answer to a prayer that we have been praying for a while.  As for sarai's immigration status goes, she is now only 1 step away from receiving her permanent residency visa.  She should be sorted out within this next month.

Please continue to pray for us as well as emailing and calling.

Blessings,

Simon, Sarai, Ethan and Naomi Morrow

We're here.

A lot has happened since the last blog update.  Simon was in Gran Canaria leading the worship at a conference and he also passed his driving test.  But the biggest and most obvious thing to have happened to us since we last wrote was our move.  We are here!  We are now living in Ballina.  We have been here for a month already and we are starting to settle in as if we have been here forever.  It feels like home especially now that we have internet.  Updating a blog without internet is not the same!  Until now we have been taking time to settle in.  Getting to know the town, getting to know some people and just learning how to live in this place.  The house is a real blessing.  The close proximity to Ballina is great and we are very thankful for it.  It has been time well spent because, as I mentioned before, we do feel as though we have settled in.  Sarai has made some friends and has been going to a mother and toddlers group and meeting with some local ladies.  This is a great way for Sarai to create relationships with ladies in the area. 

We have been attending Healing Waters Community Church.  It´s great to be part of a body of believers but we feel as though we are part of a much bigger body of believers here in the area.  There is a real heart for unity within the churches and the idea of a church without walls is what we are seeing.  The church in Ballina is working together to reach 1 common goal.  To see the Kingdom of God established in Mayo.  We are part of a group of leaders from the 4 churches in which we pray together for County Mayo.  God is doing something special here and we feel privileged to be a part of this.  

This next month Simon will be working with some guys from 3 different churches in a local housing community in the town.  He will be giving football classes with the boys and girls each Friday night with the hope of starting something more permanent in the estate.  Pray that this will go well and that the Lord will move in this community.  The estate is called Millview.   

We need to mention God's faithfulness in our lives too.  We have always seen His provision of every need and there has been no change in that in this past month.  Every need has been met and that can only be because of Him!  Continue to pray that He will provide for us.

Please also pray for the things mentioned above and continue to pray for us and our ministry in Ballina.  We also ask that you would pray for our friends Phillip and Alisha Brummett,  They feel the call of God to the UK/Ireland and they are hoping to take a trip to Ballina in November from Texas.  Pray that God will make clear His plan for their lives and that he would provide for the trip over.  We thank you for your prayers.  It is a vital part of what we are doing here.

We will update this blog every month now that we have internet.  If you would like to receive an email informing you of a new post you can become a member and follow us be email!  

Simon, Sarai, Ethan and Naomi Morrow

Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland!

Beyond our expectations!


The time is passing by quickly.  We have a month, almost to the day, until we make our move out West.  This time last month we had no idea of how things were going to look for us down there.  We had no house, we didn’t know the area very well and we didn’t know the locals.  Things have changed a bit.  Let me tell you how.

We have made about 6 trips down South since just before the turn of the year.  Our 3 most recent trips have occurred within the past month and a bit.  In fact, we just returned yesterday from our latest trip both full of energy and zapped of energy.  It was quite an intense visit as we bussed it down and back again.  Long trip.  We got to spend time with some local people as well as with ‘blow-ins’ already in the area working with them.  However our main objective was to see what our options were as far as housing goes.  We were not planning on returning North with a house.  That is what happened though,  The Lord led us to a nice house about 5 mins walk from Ballna town centre.  Sarai fell in love with it.  It is fully furnished and they even asked us what else we wanted them to buy before we moved!  We then received part of the deposit which was enough to hold the house for us until we move.  This is a real answer to prayer!  We now feel as though the move is real.  This is going to happen within a month and we are ready.  Full of energy to get started and full of expectations of what He will do in and through us in Ballina/North County Mayo.  One thing that has become very clear to us is the need for relationships.  We will be going to live with and serve this people and we trust that by doing that the doors will open.

Before the move Simon, along with 2 other men from our church in Lisburn, will be heading out to Gran Canaria to lead the worship at a church conference.  He goes on the 13th June and returns on the 17th. 

We are also hoping to be involved in an STS leadership and practitioner workshop between the 24th and 29th of June in Lisburn.  This is the same course that we took at the end of last year in Derry, County Derry in which we were taught a new technique in teaching the Word of God through simple story telling. 

The last main thing on the agenda is Simon’s driving test.  He has his test on the 20th June.  We have been 9 months off the road.  We are ready to be mobile again!!!!  Pray that he passes it!

Please pray for all of these things, as well as for provision of a car.  It is a necessity to have a car in that part of the world.  Pray also for a safe trip and move.  Pray that the kids will find their place in Ballina and that He would open doors for us to start our ministry there in a way that is effective in that area.  That we would be sensitive to His voice and walk in His will!

In His love,

Simon, Sarai, Ethan and Naomi Morrow
Dromara Co. Down (soon to be Ballina, Co. Mayo)