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
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Elgin IL 60123
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