Morley Update 2010 #5

Everyone,
Cali Mera - Kent and I start taking Greek classes tonight so I thought I had better get in practice. It was a busy and productive week. Our usual schedule is Tea House on Monday, Men's Showers on Tuesday, Give Aways, Team Projects, Prayer Days and Team Fellowships on Wednesday, Language Specific Meal on Thursday, Women's showers and Refugee Hospitality in our home on Friday. We then have Saturday off and Sunday attend Greek church in the morning and Kent usually attends Persian Fellowship in the evening. Because more Greek churches are wanting to get involved and because most Greeks can only volunteer on Saturdays we decided that once a month we would take Wednesday as our day off and do another event on Saturday so we could use Greek volunteers. This was our week to have Wednesday off.
Thursday was a Farsi speaking meal and we were a bit lower in numbers for adults although it seemed like we had LOTS of kids. "S" one of the refugee men who is a Christian spoke. He talked about the story in Luke where there is a storm and Jesus is sleeping and the disciples are afraid but when they wake Jesus he calms the storm. He related this to how refugees face many problems and are even afraid but that Jesus is there and if we call on Him, He can calm our fears.

Friday we had "Z" and "S" and their families over for dinner. "Z" is a single mom with twin girls a year and a half and two boys 8 and 11. "S" has three children two girls about 8 and 5 and a boy about 3. Her husband "M" is kind of shy and doesn't come to many events so I was very happy that he joined us for dinner. Both "Z" and "S" are getting better at English so it was a fun evening. Mom, I gave the twin girls two of the hats you knitted and they were a big hit. I also had two pairs of shoes that I could not wear, one that was new and the other in really good shape. I had mentioned them to "Z" the other day and she said to Tasha that morning "My shoes hurt - I am going to ask Myrna about those shoes she has" I got them out and they both fit her. I also had some new socks and gave her and "S" each a couple of pairs. "S" has very small feet and she put on three pairs of socks and then put on one of the pairs of shoes and said - "Look very good" We all started laughing because she looked like she had these very fat legs. When they left three hours later my house looked like a cyclone had hit it with toys and crumbs and dishes everywhere. I love it!

Saturday we had another Farsi meal but this time we had about 10 Greek teenagers from a youth group to help. We were filled to overflowing that day with people and kids everywhere. We did a puppet show on The Sower and The Seed and Kent spoke afterward with our friend Sahar translating. The kids loved the puppet show and even sat quietly while Kent talked (I think they were waiting for more puppets to come out).

On Saturday night we welcomed a new roommate into our home for the time being. One of our team mates is dating a Moroccan man named "Y". They would like to get married but there are several complicating circumstances. "Y" doesn't have proper papers and has the further complication of having aplastic anemia. He is responding well to medication but may need a bone marrow transplant. Because of this their lawyer has advised them not to "rock the boat" and try to change his papers because it might mean that Greece would no longer cover his medical expenses. "Y" is a great guy and helps out, especially with Arabic speaking events as he is one of the few Christian Arabic speakers we know. He and several other Christian men had been living in our Nest in the "Timothy House" but when the Nest closed they needed to find other places to live. He has been unable to find work recently (a BIG problem for most refugees) and his temporary housing was coming to an end. His plan was to just find a place in an abandoned building for a while until he could find work and afford to get into something better. We decided to have him live with us for a month or so until he could find something. Please pray for "Y". Pray for his health. He is trying to see if his sister in Morocco would be a match for the transplant and if so if the government would give her permission to travel here for the procedure. Also pray for him to find work and a long term place to live. Pray that the Lord will provide a way for our team mate and him to be married when the time is right. This is also a good time to mention again that if you would like to contribute to getting our Nest (housing) ministry started again you can donate by the same method you would use to give to us designating it "For the Nest - Athens" - see instructions at the bottom of the page.
I would also ask you to pray for Kent's health. As you know he was sick last week and missed several days of work. He had a bad sore throat, a cough and was very tired. He went back to work on Thursday but began having a sharp pain in his side whenever he took a deep breath or coughed. That lasted a day or so. He is still going to work but is tired all the time - Sunday he took two naps and still went to bed at the usual time. He said his chest just feels kind of heavy. I believe that he most likely has walking pneumonia as it matches his symptoms and on the internet it says that most people get over it without antibiotics but that he may be quite tired for some time. Please pray that he will shake whatever it is or that if he needs to see a doctor we will know that. I am also having quite a bit of lower back pain so would appreciate prayers for that. As I mentioned at the first of my letter we are starting Greek classes tonight. We will attend class on Tuesday and Thursday nights until mid April. This may mean cutting back on some ministry for the time being in order to study but in the long run it will make our ministry much more effective. Please pray that our "old" minds will pick up and retain what we are learning and that we will be wise in the use of our time and not get overwhelmed.
Thank you for your partnership with us. It is so nice to know that many of you will faithfully lift up these prayer requests to the Lord. Just a reminder that Kent and I each now have a blog - mine so far is mostly just my update but if you haven't checked out Kent's you should. He had done some wonderful and creative things with his photography and some of his poems. He has a gift and is enjoying this creative outlet. To go to his blog click on this link http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com

Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@juno.com
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