Morley Update 2011 #24

Everyone,

We had a nice day yesterday - instead of an outreach the team had the day to do something on their own with refugee friends. This is special because often with our busy schedule we see masses of people but it is hard to fit in time with individuals. Dr. Joseph has not been able to attend church with us the last month so although we have talked with him on the phone we had not seen him in some time. Yesterday Kent had a morning meeting about the seekers bible study and then he picked up Dr. Joseph and brought him to the house. We headed to the beach and took him snorkeling at a new place we have found that is only about 10 minutes from the house. We snorkeled for an hour but the sea began to get rough and since Dr. Joseph is not a strong swimmer we got out to sit on the beach. Suddenly a thunder shower moved in and we ran to the car. We came back to our house, rinsed off the salt and sat down for a late lunch. I made Dr. Joseph's favorite - chicken with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce. When Kent went to take him home, Dr. Joseph said, "I feel so relaxed and refreshed. Thank you so much." I love doing this for people who's lives are often so filled with stress.

Tuesday I spent quite a while talking with a lady ("N") that I met last Saturday. She speaks a LITTLE English so we were able to establish on Saturday that she
has a daughter and granddaughter in Holland and several children here. Like everyone else they want to move on. Tuesday she came up to sit by me and brought a book with her. It was a little Farsi/English book - very old with no cover. Unfortunately for me it was the phrase in English, then the phonetic sounds in Farsi script and then the word written in Farsi. We had fun looking at the phrases and teaching each other how to say them. Saturday when she was in her lower lip was swollen and cracked. I carry antibiotic ointment in my purse all the time because I am always seeing people with sores, children with infected blisters etc. I squirted some on a piece of foil, wrapped it up and gave it to her, telling her to put some on a few times a day. She was very happy on Tuesday to show me that her mouth was almost completely healed. (Thanks Mom for teaching me about Neosporin!) After we'd been talking a while a man came over to say something to her. He looked pretty rough and when he left I said "Is your husband?" indicating my ring finger. She nodded and then acted out taking drugs. I said "I'm sorry". Many of these women are married to men who are drug addicts and often abusive.

"A", a good friend with five children, told Tasha this week that her husband, who is a heroin addict, was using heavily right now and coming home very abusive. On top of that another woman (who's husband is "A"s husband's cousin) left this week with her two smallest daughters leaving behind her oldest who is about 5 or 6. She left her with her husband who spends his time getting high with "A"s husband so this means that "A" has another child to care for. She said to Tasha - I can barely feed my own children and now I have one more. Kent and I decided to use some of our "special ministry" money that we set aside each month to buy some groceries for her. We hiked up to the super market and bought rice, pasta, lentils, tuna, sugar, oil, salt and tomato sauce. We gave her the groceries telling her that we wish we could change her circumstances but that we loved her and wanted to help in a small way. She was very grateful. Brett told her that if she felt unsafe to call one of us and we would come and get her and the children immediately. We prayed for her and she told us a few days later that her husband had not even been around. Thank you for providing the funds that make it possible for us to do these kinds of things- you are truly acting out Matthew 25:35, 40 "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,......whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Tomorrow will be a day of rejoicing in Greece as well as in heaven. Five men who have been meeting regularly for bible study with our team mate Ilir, and who attended the seekers retreat Kent went to recently, are going to be baptized in the sea. Several of these men will be moving on right away so pray that they will meet Christians who can continue to disciple them and that they will be lights going out into other dark corners of the world.

Remember our many Muslim friends this month as they seek God in a special way during Ramadan. If you missed the link last week on how to pray daily here it is again.
http://www.xodigo.com/30days/2011_30Days_uk_version.pdf

Thank you SO much for partnering with us in this work. 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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