Morley Update 2012 #2

Everyone,

This morning I had what we call an "IM" with our team leader Brett. IM stands for Individual Meeting and it is something we try to do bi-monthly for each member of the team. It's a time to check in with leadership and talk about how we are doing. We talk about goals, things to celebrate and things to work through. Most of the team meets with Kent as team pastor but Kent and I each meet with Brett. Brett and I had scheduled this meeting for December and then things got a little crazy and we put it off until now. It was a very different meeting than it would have been a month ago. I had been planning to talk to Brett about changing my status to "volunteer' just because I was not being able to keep up with things at home and still be at work due to the amount of pain I was in. I'm sure it would have been a meeting of tears and sharing my frustrations. Instead it was a joyous meeting with me sharing plans I have for hospitality in addition to my regular work schedule. I am enjoying work, enjoying life and feeling positive about my role here again. I know my husband would say some of the same things - we are excited about ministry and having energy left over to do things just for fun. Even things that would normally annoy us are not so bad when our lives don't revolve around how I am feeling. As you know we have been through some team changes recently - some welcomed and some endured and we are most likely not done yet. Continue to pray for God's Direction and Will. We know that this is His ministry. He is in control and our trust is in Him.

Saturday at tea house we had a large team of volunteers come in so I was able to sit with the women instead of being in the kids room. I talked for quite a while with "Z" who has the two older boys and 5 year old twin girls. Recently they discovered that Narges one of the twins has a hole in her heart. It has been there since birth and should have been discovered and dealt with earlier. She is still small enough now that they are planning to go in through her groin and put something in there that will close up the hole. It is not an uncommon surgery but as you can imagine "Z" is worried. The other issue is that at this point it looks like they will charge her 1000 euros for the surgery. Please pray for "Z" that she will turn to Jesus during this - she is very close to accepting. Also pray that Narges does not get sick in the meantime and that the surgery can be scheduled soon and that the cost will be covered.

Another big news item for us is that our friend "A" (for my family - she is the one who made your Christmas gifts) has been accepted to immigrate legally to Germany where her son is currently living. We are SO happy for her to be able to go without worry of being caught and sent back and to have a place to go. Life has been VERY hard for her here but through it all she has kept her sweet spirit. She is truly one of my favorite people and I find as I am writing this that the tears are starting to flow as I think about her going away. There are so many bittersweet moments in this ministry. We are thankful that she will have a chance at a better life. We are thankful that her son is a Christian so she will not stop hearing about Jesus but our hearts ache with the thought of not being a part of her and her sweet children's lives. Pray for her as she goes. Pray for her husband who is a heroin addict and not a kind man. Pray that her son will be a strong witness to her and her husband. Pray for us because it hurts to say goodbye and the temptation is to close ourselves off from loving new people because of the fact that we will likely have to say goodbye to them as well.

We continue to have our seekers class after Saturday tea house and we have 20 or more people. It is mostly men but last week there were 3 women. I enjoy seeing the refugee believers answering questions for the seekers and having a chance to share their faith. I also enjoy being a part of a bible study again. Every week I realize again how much I have missed teaching. I am SO thankful for Aziz translating so that we can share freely without the barrier of language. I am hoping to begin a once a month women's day in my home and want to especially invite seekers who may be too shy or afraid to ask questions in a bigger group. Pray that we will know which women to invite and how to share with them. Continue to pray for the Saturday seekers class as well as the community small group for believers that Kent and I are involved with on Friday nights.

Kent is planning to begin to start teaching English again. Aziz has quite a few interested and wanted Kent to take the advanced class. It will most likely be two mornings a week before our regular schedule. This is always a great time for developing relationships as well as teaching English.

As always time flies by - today is Kent's birthday and two days before our youngest child turned 30. It has been an amazing and wonderful journey with God and I am so happy to be doing it with the man I love. I'm thankful God still has things for us to do and we feel honored to be your hands reaching out to refugees here in Athens. Thank you for all you do for us. 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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