Everyone,
Christos Anesti! That is the traditional greeting at Easter in Greece. It means Christ is risen. The reply is Alithos Anesti! Which meany Truly He has risen. Easter is perhaps the biggest holiday in Greece. The stores will be closed for 4 days. At midnight on Easter morning there will be huge displays of fireworks. The city is filled with light and celebration.
We had our Easter outreach for Farsi speakers on Saturday and will have one for Arabic speakers on Thursday. I headed up a puppet show about a Caterpillar who changes into a butterfly. We then have a speaker, a meal and then the kids do a craft. It is a lot of fun.
I spent the last few days whenever I had free time which included staying up until 2:30 am getting a couple of videos done for a team prayer day we are having today. It took me a long time because I had not done this type of thing before and it took me a while to figure it out.
Our Easter plans are to have our friend doctor "S" over on Saturday to see the Jesus film in preparation for Easter. Then we will have some people in on Saturday evening and go to the church down the street at midnight for the lighting of the candles and the fireworks. Then we want to take Dr. "S" with us to the sunrise service on Filopappou hill overlooking the Acropolis. We also want to go to the Easter service at our church. I am sure we will need a nap in the afternoon.
We will not have Greek classes for a week because of the Easter holiday. I need to close and get ready for today. Sorry this is a day late but as you can see we have been busy. We are busy but happy and are so grateful to all of you for allowing us to do this work. We love you - have a wonderful Easter - CHRIST IS RISEN - HE HAS TRULY RISEN!
Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@juno.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To Support:
Online go to: www.iteams.org/give
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks ;}
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Morley Update 2010 #12
Everyone,
After a week of cloudy and pretty cool days I awoke to a blue sky and sunshine today - I had my clothes in the washer by 7:30am and they should dry on the line quickly.
Since I had a good response to my "snapshots" last week, I just want to share a couple of incidents from this week.
On Friday night Kent and I were invited to spend the evening at his friend "H"s house. "H" is a former English student who didn't learn much English but became a Christian. He is a great guy but when we have had him here without an interpreter it is very hard to have a conversation. He told us his sister would also be there who speaks no English and his brother-in-law who also speak VERY little English. I was dreading the evening just feeling it would be awkward and we would end up starring at each other with no way to communicate. God had other plans though. When "H" met us at the metro station, we all got on the bus for the 1/2 hour ride to his house. On the way he made a comment in Greek. I said "xeries ellinika" (do you know Greek) He said "Nai" - yes. I began to ask questions in my halting Greek and amazingly I could understand the answers! When we got to his house we found that his brother-in-law also spoke Greek and we had a wonderful evening filled with laughter and conversation which was a mixture of English, Greek, Farsi and the two Kurdish words Kent knew. I am now looking forward to having them all to our home.
On Saturday Kent and I spent 4-6 hours working on our Greek homework and we both said we were feeling burnt out. We had invited a couple of refugee friends to go to church with us the next day and then come home for dinner. Once again I was not really looking forward to it. I was tired and not feeling like cooking, Kent was beginning to get a cold, and I was really wishing we had nothing on the schedule for the next day. Once again God was at work. The next morning we picked up Dr. "S" our friend from Pakistan who is a new Christian and Mohamed the Tailor who is a Kurdish Christian that we knew from when we were here before. He has been in the Netherlands for over a year and had made a life for himself there but was picked up for no papers and shipped back here where he has nothing. Dr. "S" had never been to church before so asked us to explain what would happen there. We explained the order of the service and since we go to a church that has communion every Sunday we explained about how it symbolized what Jesus did for us on the cross and was a time to pray and remember that. As I sat next to Dr. "S" that day I felt tears welling up as I shared communion for the first time with this new believer. After church Dr. "S" said, "I have no words to tell you what I am feeling. When I went to the Mosque the Imam always was holding himself up as higher than everyone else. Here everyone is alike. At the Mosque the Imam would not allow anyone else to speak. Here many people spoke and prayed. At the Mosque the Imam would be speaking of God who is terrible and angry and wants to punish us. Here you talked of God who loves us. At the Mosque no women would enter. Here there are women and men and children worshiping together. I liked this very much". When we got home Youssef was here also and we all sat down to dinner together. Once again it was an afternoon filled with food, conversation and laughter.
I am so thankful that God takes me where I am at, even when I don't have the best attitude, and still blesses my efforts to be obedient. I was happy yesterday to be able to use my Greek again with a lady from Poland who spoke no English. I was able to find out where she is from, that she has a son, she is living in a church etc. It is very satisfying to see our hard work studying beginning to pay off.
Lastly, I wanted to address a question I have received from several people. There has been a lot on the news about the economic crisis in Greece accompanied by civil unrest. People have asked how that is affecting us. The economic crisis was in part brought on by the HUGE bureaucracy that Greece has. The new government is taking a tough stance on making cuts especially to perks for public employees. They have also raised taxes on several items most notably gas and cigarettes. I had to laugh because I was reading in the Athens News, which is an English newspaper in Greece, an article on the fact that the average person's income would decrease and the cost of living increase. They charted two different hypothetical families comparing their fixed expenses to see the difference between this year and last year. These expenses included, housing, car costs, telecom costs and of course on both of them one of the larger fixed expenses was cigarettes! Only in Greece! Anyway, all this combined has made a lot of people unhappy and Greeks are big on protests. There have always been random strikes and protests throughout the year but now because the government will not give in they are getting more frequent. This is mostly just an inconvenience to us because many of the strikes are transportation strikes. For 24 hours there will be no buses, no metro and often no taxis. That means our team cannot get down to the ARC to do ministry. Last week we had to cancel our Thursday meal because of a strike. It looks like this might continue and we are looking at how to deal with it. Please pray with us about a good solution. There has also been some minor rioting in the form of vandalism but nothing on the scale of the riots last year.
Please continue to pray for our team as we still seem to be battling a lot of illness. Also please hold up our many refugee friends who are in need of work. Kent and I are pressing on in our Greek studies and appreciate prayers for that as well. Thank you so much for all you do to love us and support us - we could not do this without you.
Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@juno.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To Support:
Online go to: www.iteams.org/give
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks ;}
After a week of cloudy and pretty cool days I awoke to a blue sky and sunshine today - I had my clothes in the washer by 7:30am and they should dry on the line quickly.
Since I had a good response to my "snapshots" last week, I just want to share a couple of incidents from this week.
On Friday night Kent and I were invited to spend the evening at his friend "H"s house. "H" is a former English student who didn't learn much English but became a Christian. He is a great guy but when we have had him here without an interpreter it is very hard to have a conversation. He told us his sister would also be there who speaks no English and his brother-in-law who also speak VERY little English. I was dreading the evening just feeling it would be awkward and we would end up starring at each other with no way to communicate. God had other plans though. When "H" met us at the metro station, we all got on the bus for the 1/2 hour ride to his house. On the way he made a comment in Greek. I said "xeries ellinika" (do you know Greek) He said "Nai" - yes. I began to ask questions in my halting Greek and amazingly I could understand the answers! When we got to his house we found that his brother-in-law also spoke Greek and we had a wonderful evening filled with laughter and conversation which was a mixture of English, Greek, Farsi and the two Kurdish words Kent knew. I am now looking forward to having them all to our home.
On Saturday Kent and I spent 4-6 hours working on our Greek homework and we both said we were feeling burnt out. We had invited a couple of refugee friends to go to church with us the next day and then come home for dinner. Once again I was not really looking forward to it. I was tired and not feeling like cooking, Kent was beginning to get a cold, and I was really wishing we had nothing on the schedule for the next day. Once again God was at work. The next morning we picked up Dr. "S" our friend from Pakistan who is a new Christian and Mohamed the Tailor who is a Kurdish Christian that we knew from when we were here before. He has been in the Netherlands for over a year and had made a life for himself there but was picked up for no papers and shipped back here where he has nothing. Dr. "S" had never been to church before so asked us to explain what would happen there. We explained the order of the service and since we go to a church that has communion every Sunday we explained about how it symbolized what Jesus did for us on the cross and was a time to pray and remember that. As I sat next to Dr. "S" that day I felt tears welling up as I shared communion for the first time with this new believer. After church Dr. "S" said, "I have no words to tell you what I am feeling. When I went to the Mosque the Imam always was holding himself up as higher than everyone else. Here everyone is alike. At the Mosque the Imam would not allow anyone else to speak. Here many people spoke and prayed. At the Mosque the Imam would be speaking of God who is terrible and angry and wants to punish us. Here you talked of God who loves us. At the Mosque no women would enter. Here there are women and men and children worshiping together. I liked this very much". When we got home Youssef was here also and we all sat down to dinner together. Once again it was an afternoon filled with food, conversation and laughter.
I am so thankful that God takes me where I am at, even when I don't have the best attitude, and still blesses my efforts to be obedient. I was happy yesterday to be able to use my Greek again with a lady from Poland who spoke no English. I was able to find out where she is from, that she has a son, she is living in a church etc. It is very satisfying to see our hard work studying beginning to pay off.
Lastly, I wanted to address a question I have received from several people. There has been a lot on the news about the economic crisis in Greece accompanied by civil unrest. People have asked how that is affecting us. The economic crisis was in part brought on by the HUGE bureaucracy that Greece has. The new government is taking a tough stance on making cuts especially to perks for public employees. They have also raised taxes on several items most notably gas and cigarettes. I had to laugh because I was reading in the Athens News, which is an English newspaper in Greece, an article on the fact that the average person's income would decrease and the cost of living increase. They charted two different hypothetical families comparing their fixed expenses to see the difference between this year and last year. These expenses included, housing, car costs, telecom costs and of course on both of them one of the larger fixed expenses was cigarettes! Only in Greece! Anyway, all this combined has made a lot of people unhappy and Greeks are big on protests. There have always been random strikes and protests throughout the year but now because the government will not give in they are getting more frequent. This is mostly just an inconvenience to us because many of the strikes are transportation strikes. For 24 hours there will be no buses, no metro and often no taxis. That means our team cannot get down to the ARC to do ministry. Last week we had to cancel our Thursday meal because of a strike. It looks like this might continue and we are looking at how to deal with it. Please pray with us about a good solution. There has also been some minor rioting in the form of vandalism but nothing on the scale of the riots last year.
Please continue to pray for our team as we still seem to be battling a lot of illness. Also please hold up our many refugee friends who are in need of work. Kent and I are pressing on in our Greek studies and appreciate prayers for that as well. Thank you so much for all you do to love us and support us - we could not do this without you.
Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@juno.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To Support:
Online go to: www.iteams.org/give
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks ;}
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Morley Update 2010 #11
Everyone,
Rather than do my usual update I thought I would just give you a few "Snapshots" of living in Greece and Refugee Ministry from the last few weeks.
1) I was in the ARC after hours waiting for Kent to be done with a meeting. I heard shouting on the street below and went out on to the balcony. There was a crowd of people gathered around something and I assumed maybe it was drugs. Suddenly out popped a little old Greek man with a spatula and he was handing out cream puffs. Everyone was gathering around reaching for them and if they got too pushy he would yell at them in Greek and hit at them with his spatula to wait their turn.
2) There is a lady "O" who comes to the ARC and can at times be a bit annoying with always wanting something more. However, a few days ago she told Suzie and I that at our last clothing give away she had taken clothes to give to a family with small children who live in her building. She said they have almost nothing and her face lit up as she told of the children's excitement over the new clothes. What a joy for her to be able to give instead of always having to take.
3) We attended two birthday parties in the last couple of weeks. One was Persian and once again we were all called on to dance. I was amazed when "S"s husband who is usually very quiet began to dance for us. He was VERY good. I know refugees miss their own culture and it was nice to see him abandon himself to the music. The other party was for Matthew's (Ilir and Kate's son) first birthday. One of the things we all miss here is our families and it is great to get together for a "family" event like a little one's birthday.
4) I walked into the office at the ARC. Someone was making copies, someone was on the computer, someone was getting a snack out of the 'fridge. In the middle of this chaos there was a quiet little circle as Kallie (our Greek teammate) sat and prayed with a woman who is critically ill.
5) My refugee friend from Romania "E" was trying to tell one of the Afghan ladies something. "E" was speaking Greek and the 9 year old daughter of another woman was translating into Farsi. It is fun to see some of the people breaking across cultural lines to become friends.
6) Our former security guard "M" who worked for the gallery upstairs was out of a job when it closed. Yesterday he came up to the ARC just to say hello and bring sweets for the kids. He grew to love these little ones as he helped carry strollers up the stairs and watched over us all. We miss him.
7) There are some things about Greek society I will never understand. Yesterday a young couple got on the bus with their son who was about 4. The woman was carrying about 6 bags of groceries and the man was just holding the child's hand. An older woman got up and gave the man her seat so he could sit down with the child while she and his wife with all the groceries stood!
8) Saturday we went to the Laiki (outdoor market). I love walking down the rows of fruits and vegetables while the vendors shout "Ena Evro" (one euro) Kent took his camera and people probably wondered about the crazy guy taking "close ups" of the octopus and zooming in on the eggplant.
When I see pictures in my mind of the last week many of them are beautiful or funny or touching. Some of them are not. I picture the man standing with his pants down injecting himself, or the others who are already high weaving through traffic or leaning against a wall. I picture the people who sleep in boxes outside the stoa or the prostitutes approaching men on the streets. It is amazing to me that in a beautiful country like Greece, which is surrounded by the turquoise sea and filled with historical sites, amazing food and warm people, there can be pockets of darkness. For many refugees that darkness is the only Greece they see and for many Greeks the darkness is something to be ignored. I am so thankful that God has sent us to be a part of bringing light into that darkness and that the Greek churches are beginning to join in the work. This week one of the local churches is starting a feeding program twice a month, another has opened a clothing room. As God's people begin to take seriously Jesus's words "for whatever you did for one the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" we can begin to push back the darkness. Thank you for being a part of that. We love you all.
Rather than do my usual update I thought I would just give you a few "Snapshots" of living in Greece and Refugee Ministry from the last few weeks.
1) I was in the ARC after hours waiting for Kent to be done with a meeting. I heard shouting on the street below and went out on to the balcony. There was a crowd of people gathered around something and I assumed maybe it was drugs. Suddenly out popped a little old Greek man with a spatula and he was handing out cream puffs. Everyone was gathering around reaching for them and if they got too pushy he would yell at them in Greek and hit at them with his spatula to wait their turn.
2) There is a lady "O" who comes to the ARC and can at times be a bit annoying with always wanting something more. However, a few days ago she told Suzie and I that at our last clothing give away she had taken clothes to give to a family with small children who live in her building. She said they have almost nothing and her face lit up as she told of the children's excitement over the new clothes. What a joy for her to be able to give instead of always having to take.
3) We attended two birthday parties in the last couple of weeks. One was Persian and once again we were all called on to dance. I was amazed when "S"s husband who is usually very quiet began to dance for us. He was VERY good. I know refugees miss their own culture and it was nice to see him abandon himself to the music. The other party was for Matthew's (Ilir and Kate's son) first birthday. One of the things we all miss here is our families and it is great to get together for a "family" event like a little one's birthday.
4) I walked into the office at the ARC. Someone was making copies, someone was on the computer, someone was getting a snack out of the 'fridge. In the middle of this chaos there was a quiet little circle as Kallie (our Greek teammate) sat and prayed with a woman who is critically ill.
5) My refugee friend from Romania "E" was trying to tell one of the Afghan ladies something. "E" was speaking Greek and the 9 year old daughter of another woman was translating into Farsi. It is fun to see some of the people breaking across cultural lines to become friends.
6) Our former security guard "M" who worked for the gallery upstairs was out of a job when it closed. Yesterday he came up to the ARC just to say hello and bring sweets for the kids. He grew to love these little ones as he helped carry strollers up the stairs and watched over us all. We miss him.
7) There are some things about Greek society I will never understand. Yesterday a young couple got on the bus with their son who was about 4. The woman was carrying about 6 bags of groceries and the man was just holding the child's hand. An older woman got up and gave the man her seat so he could sit down with the child while she and his wife with all the groceries stood!
8) Saturday we went to the Laiki (outdoor market). I love walking down the rows of fruits and vegetables while the vendors shout "Ena Evro" (one euro) Kent took his camera and people probably wondered about the crazy guy taking "close ups" of the octopus and zooming in on the eggplant.
When I see pictures in my mind of the last week many of them are beautiful or funny or touching. Some of them are not. I picture the man standing with his pants down injecting himself, or the others who are already high weaving through traffic or leaning against a wall. I picture the people who sleep in boxes outside the stoa or the prostitutes approaching men on the streets. It is amazing to me that in a beautiful country like Greece, which is surrounded by the turquoise sea and filled with historical sites, amazing food and warm people, there can be pockets of darkness. For many refugees that darkness is the only Greece they see and for many Greeks the darkness is something to be ignored. I am so thankful that God has sent us to be a part of bringing light into that darkness and that the Greek churches are beginning to join in the work. This week one of the local churches is starting a feeding program twice a month, another has opened a clothing room. As God's people begin to take seriously Jesus's words "for whatever you did for one the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" we can begin to push back the darkness. Thank you for being a part of that. We love you all.
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