Monday, April 26, 2010

Morley Update 2010 #18

Everyone,

Here are your weekly snapshots.

1. Greasy Bowls! I thought of just leaving it at that but thought I should make some explanation. On Thursdays we serve around 100-120 refugees plus 10-15 team members spaghetti with meat sauce. This means we have STACKS of bowls that are greasy on both sides. In order to wash them efficiently someone needs to prewash them in a pan of hot soapy water. I am often that person. I usually have to empty the pan and get fresh water 6-7 times and my hands are coated with grease. I used to make spaghetti at home quite often and now can barely stand the thought.

2. Yesterday my friend "I" came in. She is from Nigeria. I have know her for 5 years as she was my first friend when we were here before in 2005-06. She has three children and doesn't come in often anymore. Her youngest son is sleeping in his stroller - my friend "E" with whom I am sitting at the moment says in Greek "He looks just like chocolate - very sweet". These five years have been hard for "I" and her husband. "J" was a nurse back in Nigeria but here he buys cheap jewelery and sells it on the street for a little more than he paid for it. It is enough for them to survive. "I" told me yesterday that they are thinking of going back to Nigeria. They left dreaming of a better life but that dream has died. Life is hard in Nigeria as well but at least there they have family and are in their own culture. Many of the people here do not have the option of returning to their countries as their lives are in danger but for those that do I'm not sure but what it is a good move.

3. We love our church - it is a Greek church called Nea Zoi (new life). Of course it is all in Greek, but I am understanding more and more of the words as we sing and even when I don't, I can feel worship happening in and around me. On Saturday night I got to speak to some of the women from the church. They wanted me to share how I came to be here. I managed to introduce myself and tell a little bit about myself in Greek and then my friend Carolina translated. I told them of God drawing us here and though it was hard to leave and still is hard to be away from our family and friends, we are very sure this is where we need to be. I then shared a little of "Z"s story with them. There were tears, laughter and lots of questions. Afterward I said, "When I used to teach a women's Bible study in America we knew we had a good study by the number of kleenex we used - I knew I was going to like you!"

4. Sunday morning at church we did our first puppet show for the Greek kids. We did it during the service so it was children and adults both. I spoke in English and my friend Freda translated. I could tell everyone enjoyed it and afterward the leadership told us that ANY time we had another one to let them know because they loved having something that the whole church all together enjoyed. There was one little glitch in the show. My big inflatable Ant lost the stick that held him up and poor Christy had to struggle to keep him from listing off to the side or pitching forward. As we are using puppets more and more we realize that we need to invest in building a better puppet theater. The one we have now is made out of a clothes rack and the puppeteers must crouch the whole time. It also has a bar across the middle for stability that we are constantly trying to work around. I would love to build a PVC pipe one like we had at Elmira but although you can get PVC here it is a little spendy.

5. Let me tell you a little bit about a woman we call "S2" because she has the same name as our other friend "S". She has a son who is a teenager and a daughter who is about 8-10. Her husband died of a drug overdose. She has come regularly to women's events and is part of the circle of Afghan women we have become close to. She hasn't seemed as interested in spiritual things as some of the other women. But recently a team mate and her Farsi speaking fiancee have been spending time with her. A couple of weeks ago she decided to accept Christ. Please pray for her as it is hard for her to be open about this with the refugee women for fear that she will be ostracized. Please also pray that this will be the chink in the wall holding back 3-4 other refugee women who are seeking and are very close. We are excited about what God is doing especially among the Afghan women!

Well I have a busy day today so I will close for the week. Thank you for your love and support - we can't express to you how much it means to us that our support team is made up of people we love and trust to uphold us. Let me just also put in a plug for Kent's blog (link below) he has done some beautiful things with setting his photography to music and has a new entry with pictures of meteora that is worth checking out.

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, April 20, 2010

Morley Update 2010 #17


Everyone,

Here a your snapshots for the week.

1. We are having a kids carnival for Farsi speaking families. I am dressed as a giant Zambur (bee). I am running around putting flower stickers on peoples cheeks. When "A" and her kids come in Honi her little girl who is about 2 1/2 seems a little shy with me so I stay back from her so as not to frighten her. Later in the day, I feel something behind me and see that Honi is gathering her courage running up and hitting my stinger and then racing away again.

2. Before the carnival Kent (wearing his pirate hat and eye patch) and I (the giant bumble bee) are handed an instruction sheet and a bunch of long balloons - we are supposed to learn to make balloon animals in 5 minutes. Not happening - we finally settled for balloon hats which the kids loved. (see attached picture)

3. For the carnival we did the puppet show of the Good Samaritan. Since I only have two people puppets and no time to make another we must do 6 characters with two puppets. I made a black robe for one of the puppets, the other (the traveler) is wearing a white shirt. As we tell the story the black robed puppet is wearing a lone ranger type mask to be the robber. He leaves and Tasha has about 20 seconds to take off the mask and put on a black gold trimmed shawl and a black gold trimmed head covering - a priest! The priest leaves - off comes the shawl and head piece, on goes a long gold velvet head piece, and you have - a church leader. When he leaves, the gold head piece is changed for a striped one and a black mustache is added - the good Samaritan. They go into the inn and the injured man turns into the innkeeper with the addition of a headpiece and matching apron! . Whew!

4. Nader (our Iranian team mate) is back. He was deported from Norway and arrived here last week. When they deported him they put him in jail and said they had never received his passport. He told them "I gave it to you". They denied it. Nader said he was VERY afraid. Fortunately he was able to contact his lawyer who had a copy of his passport and suddenly the authorities "found" it. He was already on his way to Greece so had to spend two days in a Greek jail under very poor conditions until it could be sent here from Norway. Although we were sorry they did not get to stay in Norway, we lost no time in putting Nader to work. He translated for the puppet show on Wednesday and spoke for Farsi Day on Thursday. Nader is a gifted speaker and I enjoy listening to him even when I can't understand a word he is saying. Please pray for Nader and his wife Ella. They will be taking a furlough in the Philippines (Ella's home country) and then need to decide what to do next. Most likely they will be coming back here to serve which would make me very happy. Not only are they gifted in ministry but they are good friends.

5. Yesterday at tea house Christy had brought her Greek book because "E" our Romanian friend wanted to help her practice. I was sitting with "E" as well so was included in the lesson. Christy almost immediately "was needed" somewhere else (I think she just abandoned me! ) so I was left to continue the lesson alone. For the next hour and a half "E" drilled me on the days of the month and had me read dialogs and then asked me questions. It was good but my brain was full. I finally closed the book and said "Okay I think I am tired". She said, "I will get you some Chai and then we can go on" I asked her if she knew what the words "slave driver" meant in English and she just smiled her toothless smile and went off to get the tea. I finally escaped to the kitchen where I "hid out" for a while and then went to sit with "S" and "Z".

Once again it was a good week. We worked hard but we played too. On Sunday afternoon we played Boccie Ball in the park with Donna and Themis and then went back to their house for a card game called Golf. Nader was there to and between trying to speak Greek while we played and Nader jumping in occasionally with "one Turkish man...." (his way of starting every joke) we had a some good laughs. We continue to love the work, our team and our refugee friends. We have occasional bouts of homesickness for our family but know we are where God wants us. Thank you for holding us up in prayer. I am attaching a collage of pictures from the carnival.

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, April 13, 2010

Morley Update 2010 #16

Everyone,

Here as some "snapshots" from the last week.

1. It is Monday the day of a week when we have Tea House. That means our doors are open from 12-4 for anyone to come in, sit and have all the VERY sweet tea they want. Our team mate Brian is sitting and talking with a refugee from Sudan. He has been in Athens for a number of years and became a Christian since coming to Greece. Brian shares his longing to be able to offer more to refugees like him instead of just cup of tea and somewhere to sit for a while. In response the man said, “A cup of tea isn’t nothing, don’t say it’s nothing, it’s a lot. Here we can escape and sit in peace for a while... that’s a lot to us.” It’s both encouraging and heartbreaking to know that a simple cup of tea in a peaceful room could be considered "a lot". This man’s life in Greece is difficult, his chance of getting legal papers is minimal, going home is not an option and work is becoming even more difficult to find.Yet he doesn’t wish for comfort and ease. “My life here is hard but I don’t wish for an easy life, these troubles keep me walking with God.”

2. As I sit and talk with an Ethiopian woman, I have been watching for her. When she walks in her face lights up with a smile and she rushes over to give me a hug. "E" is from Romania and she came to Greece years ago with her mother. Since then her mother died and she now lives in the park near the port of Piraeus which is about 12 kilometers from the ARC. She comes anytime we are open and once even walked the 12 kilometers because there was a bus and metro strike only to find we were closed because of the strike. The last time I had seen her was a few weeks ago and she was coming down with the flu. I have been worried but had no way to contact her. As we sit and talk in a mixture of Greek and English I realize that when I look at "E" I no longer see a not overly clean, somewhat toothless, bag lady but I see the beautiful face of my friend.

3. Kent is talking with his two Kurdish friends "G" and "H". At one point Kent mentions someone who is leaving. "G" stops him and says, "Morley, you are not leaving?" Kent said "No". "G" says again "You will stay here." Kent says "Yes, I will stay here for a long time." "G" sighs with relief "That is good, that is good." I remember when we came almost 2 years ago, that if I needed Kent, I would usually find him in the kitchen. Kent is a bit shy by nature and sometimes found it difficult to talk "one on one" with the refugee men. Now if I want to find Kent I will usually find him deep in conversation with someone from one of his English classes or with one of the other refugee men. God is changing refugees but He is also changing us!

4. I am sitting with my friend "Z". I have written about "Z" before, she had twin daughters who are almost two and two older boys about 8 and 10. "Z" is holding one of the twins, Sahrah, on her lap and as we are talking Sahrah hands me a piece of the cookie she is eating. I say "Tashacur" which is Farsi for thank you. Sahrah grins and kind of giggles. She then hands me another piece and I say "Hoosh Mazai" (delicious). She grins even bigger. I pointed this out to "Z" and she said "yes, because she understand you". Oh how I long to have the language to speak freely to these people. As we say in Greek "Siga, Siga" (slowly, slowly)

5. Later in the day "Z" tells me of a dream she had where Jesus came to her, called her "daughter" and took her hand and prayed for her. She said she woke up and was sweating. She has been seeking for almost a year and attending church regularly as well as doing a bible study with one of my team mates Tasha. When she told me of her dream, I said "Jesus loves you very much." She said, "I know". I told her that I had recently sent a pastor in America her story and how she used to be very sad and even hurt herself sometimes. I said "now I look at you smiling and I know God is changing you". She said, "Yes". I said "But He is not finished yet." She nodded and said "I know. " God is calling "Z" and her friend "S" and I long for the day when they will finally overcome all their doubts and fears and enter completely into a relationship with Him.

6. We are visiting our team leader and his family in their home. Our little blue car is parked on the street below. It is the middle of the day. When we leave, we go down to the car and unlock it. When I open the back door I notice that there is glass all over the back seat. I look over and the side window is broken out. Then I see that the glove box is open and the contents are scattered on the seat. We have been robbed! We are usually very good about not leaving anything in the car but we had just taken a trip and our binoculars were on the backseat. This was enticement enough. They took the binoculars and the money we keep in change for tolls (about 15 euros). When they broke open the glove box they found our zune (microsoft's version of an IPOD) which was also in car because of our trip. Greece is not a city known for violent crime but unfortunately it IS a city known for theft. In the last two weeks our car was broken into, some team mates who were on furlough had their house broken into, a short term team person had their wallet stolen and in perhaps the most dramatic instance our Greek director was robbed. He was driving in the car and did not have his doors locked. As he stopped in traffic a man opened the back car door, reached under the seat, grabbed his bag, and took off running. Nikos left the car in the road and took off after them but he soon realized that there was a gang of about 5 men and that he would not catch them. Unfortunately he was carrying some donations from churches so the thieves got away with around 1000 euros.

It was a week of good moments with a few bad moments thrown in. In the larger scheme of things, our troubles are few and we are very blessed by God. Thank you for upholding us in your prayers. We love you all.

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 ;}

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Morley Update 2010 #15

Everyone,

Kent and I actually went out of town for a couple of days after Easter for a MUCH needed break. Things have been pretty hectic and we found out our Greek classes were canceled for the week after Easter so decided to take a couple of days off. We had a long weekend for Easter but had filled it up with Easter activities. Here are a few "snapshots" of Easter.

1) We had two Easter outreaches for refugees. One for Farsi Speakers and one for Arabic. I headed up a puppet show about a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. There is always something magical about kids and puppets and although the little faces looking up at the stage were a little browner than they might be in America - there was that same sense of wonder in their eyes.

2) "F" an older Libyan man was here when we came four years ago and is still here, minus a few more teeth. He can be a bit abrasive at times and has a temper but he loves any kind of drama or puppets. He will mouth along the words if it is one he has seen before and "shushes" people if they aren't paying attention. After the Easter outreach he was leaving and he put his hand over his heart, smiled his big toothless smile and said to us "Thank you so much. I love you my brother, my sister. Kalo paska (happy Easter). Thank you, thank you."

3) At 15 minutes before midnight on Easter Eve we are gathered with a huge crowd of people holding unlit candles. Out of the church comes a procession of people with their candles lit and the light flows out through the Platia as person after person lights their candle. Then over the loudspeaker the priest begins to tell the Easter story. (I could understand more of it this year.) Just before midnight there are a series of loud booms and flashes (to me it seems like the power of God coming down) Then at the stoke of midnight the church bells begin to ring wildly and the fireworks light up the sky. Everyone is kissing and saying "Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!" (Christ is risen! Truly He has risen!) It's a WONDERFUL way to celebrate Easter.

4) Quintessential Greek moment. The fire we have just lit our candles with is fire which was flown in from Jerusalem and is supposed to have miraculously come down from heaven. I watch a Greek man standing on the church steps using his candle to light his ever present cigarette!

5) It's six o'clock in the morning and we are walking up a cobblestone path that winds up a hill through the Olive trees. The birds are beginning to awaken with sleepy little chirps. As we make our way through the dim morning light I think that it must have been something like this for the women who went to the tomb that first Easter morning. The difference is that they thought they were going to say goodbye to their murdered Master whereas I know I am going to worship my living Lord!

6) We are up on Filapappou hill at 6:30am Easter morning. After hearing prayers and scripture in many languages we are listening to an Indonesian woman beautifully singing "I know my Redeemer Lives" as the sun breaks over the Acropolis. It's a WONDERFUL way to celebrate Easter.

7) We go to church at International Christian Fellowship where the worship team is made up of four different nationalities. We normally go to a Greek Church and it is a real joy to sing in English so many of the songs that we know you, our "home team", will be singing a few hours later. It's a WONDERFUL way to celebrate Easter.

We hope that you had a WONDERFUL Easter as well. We had a good rest and are ready to get back to work again. As always we are blessed to be involved in the work here in Greece and are grateful for the unfailing support we receive from you, our larger team. We love you all.

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 ;}