When they're not in home-school or having fun swimming and snorkeling, the Mory kids participate in church ministries including the church worship team, the jail team, or the dump team, and helping with kids' classes; they also help on the ministry's farm, feeding the pigs, chickens, and other animals.

Juli Mory wrote the following reports about her kids:

Josiah Mory
Josiah is 15 now (as of Feb. 27th) and he is in LOVE! . . . but with pleasure we can say "in love with God" . . . and how we hope it stays! If he's not doing schoolwork, there's a 99% chance you'll find Josiah doing one of two things:

1. WORSHIP. he first amazed us with his abilities at playing the harmonica (an instrument that I never especially loved hearing until Josiah learned to play it so well); then the bass guitar where he lets go and inspires us all to freely worship; and now the electric guitar, which he's recently added to his repertoire. Some very good friends of ours just sent Josiah a shirt that, according to him, sums up his feelings well, saying, "CREATED TO WORSHIP — I PLAY FOR AN AUDIENCE OF ONE!"

2. SOO BAHK DO. Soo Bahk Do is a Korean martial art form that is a mixture of several arts, but mostly Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Josiah — the only one of our four children that said, "Do I have to?" — has become so accomplished in only nine months time that he has been asked to assist in leading the Soo Bahk Do class for the kids from our children's home, and he was also asked to begin a training course for becoming an instructor.

The best part is that Josiah seeks to use what he is learning as an opportunity to witness to those around him and has quite a reputation of good character and high morals amongst the other students and teachers inviting many of them to church and sharing God's love with them. He hopes, one day, to use what he's learned to draw young people so that he might have an opening to reach them with the Gospel, too. Josiah, like most young teens, enjoys basketball (a favorite pastime here in the Philippines), plus he enjoys scuba diving when the opportunity arises, and he still loves to read especially when it concerns U.S. or world history. We are praying with him, and ask your prayers, too, for what the future holds — college (and which one?), ministry, military, the U.S., Philippines, or whatever it is that God has in store for him. That is certainly what we desire and would appreciate your prayers, too.

Jamie Mory

Jamie sings with the worship team on Sunday mornings. She is also becoming quite adept on the piano and guitar.

Jamie turned 12 last October and is a fluctuating mix of maturity and our little girl all wrapped up into one. She delights in playing the piano for as many hours in a given day as we'll allow, and she even wrote her first song this last year that has the simple beauty of a heart of worship. She loves to sing as well, and takes a turn at the guitar now and then, at which she plays considerably well, given the little time she works at it. She definitely has her grandparents' gifting of musical ability and a creative spirit that keeps me "taking time to smell the roses".

Jamie's heart is full of giving to those around her. She's always thinking of others, be it her friends or someone in need, and putting them before herself or her own desires. We've recently started an outreach to the children living at the dump and she always looks forward to spending time with the kids and praying for them.

Jacob Mory
Jacob's motto seems to be "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness". He has always been a cheerful one and loves to be out serving others. Much like his father, the wheels in his brain are always spinning in the fastest gear possible and he'd much rather be "doing" than "observing". We constantly ask the Lord to steer Jacob in the right direction, knowing that as he surrenders to His leading, he will surely advance God's Kingdom in a powerful way.

Besides his love for building, electronics, and figuring out "how things work", this year Jacob really found his niche. We had originally thought it was the guitar because his strumming from the very beginning had accomplished players asking how long he'd been taking lessons when he hadn't had any more than a few tips from a friend. It was, however, when we finally got some drums set up, that we knew why we had always said, "Jacob marches to the beat of a different drum." Now realizing that "marching" wasn't the only thing related. Jacob has really grown up a lot this last year — he just turned 11 — but we've seen a maturing taking place in his life that is exciting and fun as we watch him grow into the young man that God wants him to be. Please pray for Jacob that he would stay in a place of "total surrender" to God and use his determination for all that God desires.

Jenna Mory
Jenna's life has changed dramatically this last year, having 16 boys and girls of all ages from the children's home to play with day in and day out (the children's home is next to our house). She absolutely loves all the company and only complains that there are no babies to take care of yet. She's still quite the little "mother", but really has a heart for the children both as a friend, and to make sure all their needs are taken care of. Kind of a "counselor/administrator" role . . . well, one day anyway.

Jenna loves to read and talk!, but especially loves to worship. It's admittedly a struggle within her to follow her big brothers and sister in everything, joining the things they do (like Soo Bahk Do and piano lessons), but really wanting the option to do something that fits her personality (there aren't too many options available here), and something she can claim as hers alone, where she doesn't have to always come 2nd (or 4th actually) to siblings more accomplished because of their age. Please pray for her that, in His timing, God would open just the right doors for her, and that she would be patient until then, seeing the gifts and abilities He has already given her.

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Island Impact's e-mail address is john@islandimpact.org.
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