By Alan Sorensen
They're into their sixth month in Havre and loving it.
Now, Pastor Daniel Morgan, his wife, Diane, and their three daughters Danielle, 7, Debbie, 5, Denise, 2 are hosting an open house at their parsonage to show their appreciation to the community.
They also want to show off the work that was done to the interior of the home by their congregation at Havre's First Church of the Nazarene.
"We're just enjoying ourselves no end and we love our house," Daniel Morgan said.
"They put so much work on it, that's why we're having the open house to show it off," Diane Morgan said.
The couple said work on the outside of the house, located in the old Church of the Nazarene at 1405 Seventh Ave., is planned for the coming year.
The open house will run from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and everyone is welcome.
"It's open to all," Diane Morgan said. "Whoever wants to come, drop in."
The Morgans lived most of their lives in central Idaho, most recently in Meridian amid the hustle and bustle of the greater Boise/Nampa area. Daniel is a graduate of Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho.
"It's the fourth fastest growing economy in the United States," Daniel Morgan said.
Havre residents enjoy a slightly less hectic lifestyle than they were accustomed to in Idaho, according to the Morgans.
"I've enjoyed it," Diane said. "It's nice to get used to the small town."
"It's a big adjustment, but we've enjoyed it," Daniel Morgan said. "One of the things I enjoy about it is the hunting and fishing. I wasn't able to do anything while I was in school. It was four years of nothing, basically."
Morgan said he's had no lack of invitations to hunt and fish and is looking forward to ice fishing with friends.
"I tell everyone at home that we live where the deer and the antelope play," he said.
His wife, on the other hand, is just enjoying her new home.
"Actually, I just enjoy being able to stay home with the girls and play," she said.
The couple took over the church following the untimely death of popular pastor Mark Baer. Morgan had just graduated and was sending out resumes to places the family would like to serve.
"I sent out resumes to all the districts I would like to go to," Morgan said. "I thought about the Rocky Mountain District because I like the outdoors."
Morgan said he got an offer from a Seattle church, but that his resume arrived in the Rocky Mountain District office shortly after Baer's death. The timing of the resume appeared to everyone to be a divine intervention.
"Larry Coen, the district superintendent, got our resume a week after Mark passed away," Morgan said. "When we came here, we just knew that this was where we were supposed to go."
"I think it will be a great place to raise the girls," Diane Morgan said.
The new pastor has changed little since arriving.
"We've changed Sunday school to 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., then from 10:30 to 11, we have fellowship time and then the service at 11," Daniel Morgan said.
Sunday evening service and Wednesday evening service remain unchanged 6 p.m. on Sunday and 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
"It's the only church we've been at where it was 6:30 on Wednesday," Daniel Morgan said.
"We have a lot of people from Chinook," Diane said by way of explanation, "who want to get home early to put their kids to bed."
Everyone is invited to visit the Morgans this Saturday, enjoy their spacious upstairs and get a glimpse of the hand-painted murals on their daughters walls.
