Morley Update 2012 #20

Everyone,
Last Thursday morning our team drove to the Peloponnese for a team retreat. We all contribute each month to a team fund and that pays for us to have two team retreats a year. Our spring retreat is about relaxing and rejuvenating while our fall retreat is a working/planning retreat filled with meetings. We went to a small hotel that we have stayed at many times. This year we invited the pastor from the church Kent and I attend, Fotis Romeros to come and speak to us about compassion fatigue and burn out. We have been going through a lot of changes on the team lately and this is a stressful ministry so we want to be sure that we stay healthy and strong. We also spent times playing games and just enjoying each other's company.

Kent and I got home about Noon on Monday and just dropped all our stuff off at the house. We then drove to the airport to pick up Katie Friend, a young woman who is here on a vision trip - to see if she would be a good fit to join our team. We spent time doing her orientation, getting to know her and getting her settled.

Tuesday was Farsi Speaking Family Meal Day. For once we had quite a bit of help as we had several volunteers as well as our regular team. We had people there from US, Greece, Iran, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Denmark, and Canada. The day went smoothly but I realize that I am pretty tired after a full day at the ARC. Some of it is because I am still having trouble with my good ear - I can hear my pulse making a very loud whooshing sound in it all the time. That coupled with the noise at the ARC tends to put me on edge a bit. I will go back to the ear doctor this week and see what he says.

Yesterday we had a going away dinner for our team leader Brett and his family and for our children's leader Wendy. They will both be leaving Greece in the next couple of weeks. Brett and Kristen are moving back to the states and Wendy is moving to London to be a part of a ministry there. We are going to really miss these guys and it will leave some gaps in ministry but the Lord knows what is needed and if we have to make some adjustments we will. We wanted the going away party to be special but decided we didn't want to go to a restaurant so had it here. Kent and I rearranged our furniture on Tuesday night so we could have three large tables to seat everyone - there were 27 of us. I spent the day Wednesday decorating and setting the tables, setting up buffet stations and making salads and desserts. We hired our Iranian friends the Kamranis to cook kabob, chicken, saffron rice and grilled tomatoes for the main course. It was a fun evening with good food and sharing of memories.

Please be praying for our new team mates Heather and Chris Shepherd. They had planned to be on a plane Saturday to make the move to Greece and begin their work here. However they applied for a new type of visa which is for volunteers and though Nikos our Greece director talked with the embassy and things seemed to be positive they found out yesterday that their visa had been denied. They are going to appeal and also try for a different type of visa for financial independents which is the type of visa we have. This process will delay their coming - please pray that they are successful in getting a visa and can join us soon.

We have a full schedule ahead as we will have interns and teams coming and going. We will participate in the camps while keeping our regular programs running. We will start having special beach days as the weather gets warmer. Please continue to pray for Greece as a country. They will be holding elections again on June 16th and what the outcome will be or how this will affect us we don't really know. Luckily our faith does not rest on the wisdom or foolishness of men but on God and He will provide for the work He wants to accomplish. On my wall are the words "Be still and know that I am God: for I will be exalted among the nations" Psalm 46:10 We are seeing this come to pass every day as refugees ask questions, read their bibles and seek to know the truth. Thank you once again for your participation with us and with God in Greece and toward the nations.

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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