Morley Update 2011 #21

Everyone,

When I was young I got a magazine called Girl's Life. It had a column called "Was My Face Red" which were short stories of embarrassing moments in girls lives. If there was a magazine called "Missionary Life" and it had a column like that I would have an entry. This week we welcomed a wonderful short term team from Canada. It is a large team - one man and 9 sweet, Christian ladies most of whom are middle aged. Because of the size of the team we had not been able to book them in our usual hotel but there was a hotel listed in our older prefield manual that we hadn't used in a few years. Rhoda, the mobilizer for Canada, checked their website and it looked nice. It wasn't in the best neighborhood being only about three blocks from the ARC so Kent and I did a drive by one day after work. It seemed okay so we booked it. The team arrived on Monday at 5:30pm. We picked them up at the airport and drove straight to the ARC to unload the 25 checked bags they brought with them and put away all the donated items. It was hot, and we were all exhausted by the time we finished at almost 8:30pm. I asked if they wanted to get something to eat or just go to the hotel and they said just go to the hotel. We drove the cars over with all the luggage and unloaded them on the sidewalk. The majority of the group was walking over with a team mate but they got a bit lost so we stood there a while waiting. I said to Kent "This neighborhood looks a bit more sketchy at night than during the day." I spoke to the team leader's wife and told her not to have the women go out alone in the evening. Finally the group walking found us and we took them into the hotel. Their reservations were confirmed and things looked nice enough so we left them. The next morning they came to the ARC early so I could do their orientation. We went through about an hour of information and as we were finishing, I said "How was the hotel? Did you sleep alright? Were the beds hard?" There were a few glances, snickers and remarks like "Instead of telling us not to go out alone she should have said 'Don't stand on a corner, keep moving'". Then pastor Zia said, "Well we were going to wait until later to tell you this, but the hotel where we are staying seems to be a "working girl" hotel. Apparently there has been a change of ownership since we used to book teams there and I had booked these lovely Christian ladies in a hotel for prostitutes! I called Kenn my team mate who is co-hosting this team and he said "How bad was it?" My answer was "Whips were mentioned". Scott McCracken and I went out immediately and found them another hotel and as soon as work was over we got them moved. Fortunately they are being very good sports about it and see it as an "adventure" to tell about when they go home. Of course the Helping Hands team here will continue to tease me forever and some have even taken to calling me "Madam Myrna!" I think my dreams of being a respected travel agent are over!

Kent left yesterday for an overnight men's retreat. Before we came here I think I could count on one hand the times in our 35 years of marriage (at that time) that we had been apart for even a night. In the last three years I've used up the other hand and started on my toes. I have to admit, I don't like being alone at night. In fact if truth be told I am afraid of the dark and must sleep with a light on when Kent is gone. Kent knows my fears so when he kissed me goodbye he said "Don't let the boogeyman in" and then, being Kent, he added "and don't let any men boogie in"! I love this guy! We have had quite a few men who are seekers or new believers coming to our Saturday class. We had been thinking it would be nice to get them away for an overnight retreat. We decided this would be a good time since the short term team leader is a pastor who is a former refugee from Iran so of course speaks fluent Farsi and is a great guy. Their team donated enough money to fund a retreat so Kent, Scott, Shep and Pastor Zia took 16 refugee men for an overnight stay at a Christian sports facility in our area. They will have three teaching sessions as well as time to play and just get to know one another better.

While the men were gone the women took some refugee women and kids to the beach for a day. These are always special days because it is so nice for them to get out of the city. Because I had spent Monday (our day off) helping Kent shop for food for the Men's retreat and then picking up the team at the airport and unpacking all the bags that was a long busy day. Then because I had to be in early for orientations on Tuesday, stayed after to help the ladies debone and take the skin off a big batch of chicken for sandwiches the next day and then get them moved to their new hotel, it was another long day. I got up early Wednesday and spent an hour and a half shredding the chicken for the sandwiches. After I realized how long it was going to take I sat on my couch with my big metal bowl on my lap and did it there. I then mixed up a big batch of tsatsiki and mixed it with the shredded chicken. Since it was my huge metal bowl full it took lots of adding more salt, more vinegar, some dill etc until it tasted right. Christy and Tasha came over and with Lauren (the intern staying here right now) we formed an assembly line. I took a piece of Arabic flat bread and spread the chicken mixture down it. The Tasha and Christy added cucumbers, onions and tomatoes. These were then passed off to Lauren who rolled them up like a burrito and wrapped them in foil. We did 53 sandwiches and packed them in coolers. By then I realized that my head was aching and I had overdone it the last few days. I sent the girls off to the beach knowing there was plenty of help with the short term team of 9 women plus our staff and I sat down on my couch which smelled vaguely like chicken and fell asleep. I woke up two hours later.

The heat has finally set in here in Greece and makes everything more of an effort. Pray for our refugee friends who live in the parks and don't have ready access to fresh water for drinking or bathing. During the hot weather many Greeks leave the city to go to the islands until September. As I have said before many refugees will try to make their way to other countries hoping to be invisible in the crush of tourists and Greeks traveling at this time. Pray for their safety and pray for us that we use the time we have with them to share the hope that we have in Jesus. For many there is little hope in any other form as they desperately seek a place of peace and safety and a better life for themselves and their families.
Thank you for caring, thank you for sharing and thank you for praying. 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
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