Morley Update 2012 #46

Everyone,

This is my last update for the year 2012 and what a year it has been. Who but God could have foreseen the changes in our lives this year would bring? In March Kent became the team leader, in April I was hospitalized twice with blood clots and a small stroke, in June our children's leader moved to England, in July Heather and Chris Shepherd who were planning to join us were denied a visa and moved to Turkey, in November our dear friends and the founders of this ministry Scott and Vicki McCracken announced that they will be moving back to the states this summer. Add to this the coming and going of refugee friends as well as interns and short term teams and you can see how it might have been a rather stressful year.

Through all these changes we have seen God at work. Kent did not seek and even initially resisted taking the leadership position but God has given him a peace about it and blessed him with Christy and Nikos as a leadership team. Nikos provides wisdom and leadership and Christy is very detail oriented and helps to keep things running smoothly. Though my health continues to be an issue at times we are adjusting and I continue to function as the short term team and intern coordinator as well as help out at the ARC on a reduced schedule. The week our children's leader left, the Lord provided two interns who stepped in and were a great help over the summer as we were adjusting our children's program. Our young Afghan friend "G" continues to grow and work with the kids and my teammates Donna and Ritsa have filled in the gaps nicely. Over the past year especially, the political and economical climate in Greece has worsened. In some cases this has led to a growing distrust of foreigners. Whether it is related or not, we have seen several people denied visas in our ministry and in other ministries over this last year. Please pray as we have several new people wanting to join the team and we worry about them being able to get the necessary papers.

We have definitely seen the Lord working in the lives of refugees as well. Our believer friends have continued to grow and the Lord has added new believers throughout the year most recently the three women who were in a seekers Bible Study. As well as believer friends here who often help in the ministry: teaching, translating, cooking and sharing, we also have several believer friends who have moved on. Kent has two friends in Kurdistan who became believers here and who want to share Christ with their own people. Others are in various countries and are involved in local churches or Persian fellowships. Greece continues to be a hub where God is reaching the nations.

As I look back on 2012 and ahead to 2013 I am excited to see what God has in store. 2013 promises to be a banner year in our lives. Kent and I will both turn 60 - Kent's birthday is January 12th so he doesn't have far to go. We will also celebrate our 40th anniversary this year. Due to an agreement with Greece over social security issues Kent and I will spend 6 months of the coming year in the states. We will be attending our daughter's wedding May 4th in Mexico and then head to CA for Kent's dad's wedding. We will spend much time reconnecting with our supporting churches and individuals and hopefully forming new relationships as well. I will take the time to get some needed medical attention and we look forward to a bit of extended time with our parents, kids, grandkids and extended family.

We pray that this new year will hold blessings for all of you. We are continually thankful for your faithfulness to us and to the Lord. Thank you SO much.

Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@gmail.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To join our Support Team:
Online go to: www.iteams.org/us
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks :)

Morley Update 2012 #45

Everyone,

I am writing this update early because we just got home from family meal day and my heart is full because of something that happened today. Two weeks ago when we had our Christmas parties, Kent gave a talk on the Gift of Jesus. He took things from a box that illustrated what the Gift of Jesus was. He had a candle - Jesus is the light - he had water and bread. He also had a paper chain which he took out and hung around his neck pretending it was very heavy. He talked about how our sin weighs us down like this heavy chain and we cannot do anything about it. Then he told how the Gift of Jesus and what he did on the cross can free us from the burden of that chain of sin. On the family nights when he gave this talk, the children had already been sitting for a puppet show and a song and they were pretty excited, wiggly and a bit noisy. I wondered how the adults could even concentrate on hearing the message at all.

Today in the kids room we talked about the Christmas story and how baby Jesus grew up to die on the cross and take away our sin. Donna asked the kids in Farsi if anyone could tell her what sin was. A little boy of about 5 or 6, who is kind of a wiggle worm raised his hand - he raises his hand any time we ask a question. Donna called on him and he rattled on for some time in Farsi. When he finished "G" looked at me and said, "He said, 'Sin is like a big heavy chain around our neck and we can't get rid of it but God can take it away'". I was amazed! Here in the midst of semi-chaos two weeks ago, this little child actually listened to the message, remembered it and applied it. As I told Kent about it later I could not help but weep and his eyes filled with tears too. Sometimes you feel like maybe your words are just going out into thin air, but the Holy Spirit is at work and God's word does not return void. At the end of class we asked if someone wanted to pray. This little boy raised his hand again and prayed in Farsi. Donna told me afterwards that he said "I love you Jesus. You are my best friend. I'm glad you are in my heart." What a gift in this special season! Please pray for this boy and his family. His mother has gone on to another country to try to get asylum and the father is here with this little boy and his younger sister. The father always stays for the message on Tuesday. Today we talked with him a bit afterwards and told him how his son had repeated the message he had heard at the Christmas Party. Our teammate Carolyn and her husband told the father that if he ever had any questions or wanted to talk about these kinds of things they would be glad to sit down with him.

This is our last week and then we will be closed for the Christmas holiday and won't reopen until Jan. 8th because of another Greek holiday. Many of our team are away at this time so it is a busy week ahead and we will all be glad of a bit of rest. Kent and I will stay close to home since we will be taking our 6 month home assignment next year and didn't feel we could spend any money traveling now with that coming up. We will have refugee friends and team mates in during the break and may take a day trip or two. Have a wonderful Christmas. We will miss being with our family but as always we are so thankful that God has called us to this place and has provided us with a network of people we love. Thank you for your faithfulness to God and to 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@gmail.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To join our Support Team:
Online go to: www.iteams.org/us
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks :)

Morley Update 2012 #44

Everyone,

Well our week of Christmas parties is over - here are a few "snapshots".

It is Monday - 2 hours before we open our doors for the first Christmas party. The gift items we have ordered have arrived but we have over 500 bags to pack in an hour. Kent and I are packing men's bags. The book of John in Farsi, a stocking hat, socks, shaving creme, three razors and shampoo. The items are on the tables and Kent and I are putting things in the bags as fast as we can while Mike counts and puts the bags in boxes. We are moving right along and have done over a hundred bags when suddenly everything come to a screeching halt. Lisa comes into the room looking for more conditioner for the women's bags. Much to our dismay it was mixed in with the shampoos for the men's bags and we have to stop and go back through each bag we have already packed. Amazingly we finished on time!

I am dressed as an Elf and going around the tables passing out candy to the kids. So many little black eyes looking up at me. Some are shy, some are sparkling with excitement and some coolly amused. Many of the kids call me Papa Noel as I tell them "Christmas Mobarack" and give them their candy. After the party I pose with most of the kids and many of the adults for pictures beside the tree.

The kitchen is a hive of activity. Our friend "A" has been there for hours cooking two huge pots of rice the Persian way. Each night a group from a local church brings food to prepare and serve. 150 salads are made and waiting on trays on the bakers rack. There are huge pots of rice and chicken, Arabic bread is stacked on the counter. Desserts are on a side table waiting to be put on decorative trays and the big refrigerator is filled with bottles of soda. When the time comes to serve the bowls are heaped with rice, chicken goes on top and the Arabic bread acts as a "cover". Our guests are very appreciative of the meal. Not just because it fills their stomachs but because having food that is familiar and cooked like home feeds their souls.

It is the night of the men's party. The team has sung "Tavalod Isa Mobarack" (Happy birthday Jesus) and when we finished the men were asking for more. After the object lesson that Kent brought, Susie came with her guitar once again and she and some of the team sang a couple more songs in Farsi (Joy to the World and Angels We Have Heard on High) The men loved it and sang along, especially on the chorus, always asking for "one more time". For years when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan, music was banned so being able to sing freely together has special meaning for many of these men. Singing freely together about Jesus is even more amazing!

At our last party and again yesterday at family meal day we had quite a few children coming in with spots. These are not bug bites but we have an outbreak of chicken pox again. At least among refugees there is not the same attention to sickness and not exposing others as we would find in our culture. People often come with fevers, flu and other illnesses. Because of the Enbrel I take I am not supposed to be around chicken pox but have no way of avoiding it unless I just stay home. Yesterday I was helping in the baby room and found out two of the little ones I was playing with were infected. I've just had to ask the Lord to protect me and amazingly even though my immune system is compromised I don't seem to pick up the viruses going around very often.

I wanted to say a BIG thank you to all of you who donated toward our Christmas parties and also another BIG thank you to those of you who donated toward sleeping bags. Because of your generosity we got our first shipment of 50 sleeping bags this week and the men on our team will pass them out to guys sleeping in the parks or abandoned buildings this next week. It has turned off cold this last week especially at night so I know they will be very much appreciated. I am attaching a few pictures from the parties - Thank you for helping to make this happen.

Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@gmail.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To join our Support Team:
Online go to: www.iteams.org/us
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks :)

Morley Update 2012 #43

Everyone -

It's time for an update but we are midway through our Christmas party week and I am feeling more tired than inspired. We have had three parties so far and all have gone well.

Our first party was Monday night but for Kent and I it started at 1:30 when we arrived to set up the puppet stage and tables and then practice the puppet show. At three the whole team arrived to pack Christmas bags - we packed over 500 bags in 2 hours with different things for men, women, teen boys, teen girls, young boys, young girls and babies. It was a family party and by 5:30 the room was filled with Moms, Dads and kids of all ages. As they entered they were directed to a room for a family portrait which they will be given next week. The church that Kent and I attend, Nea Zoi sponsored this first party. They did a great job of providing an abundance of all that we needed and working hard in the kitchen preparing, serving and cleaning up. The program was well received and of course the kids and adults loved their gift bags. Once again I changed into my Elf costume midway through the party and came out to pass out candy, play with the kids and have my picture taken with pretty much everyone there. By the time we finished clean up and got home I was extremely tired and in pain from being on my feet all day. I didn't get much sleep that night and woke up the next morning feeling feverish and tired. I slept until 12 noon when I got up and took my meds for the day. I sat down on the couch and fell asleep until 3:30 when Kent left for the believers party. I got up and went back to bed and slept until 8:30pm when I got up for an hour or so and then went back to bed and slept through the night. I felt much better yesterday, so either overdid or had some kind of a bug - there are several being passed around the team.

Tuesday night while I stayed home Kent went to the believer's party. This is a group of 25-30 refugees who are believers, many who came to faith here in Athens through Helping Hands. It was a night of sharing testimonies, singing and praying together. For some of the people it was their first time to partake in communion. What a sweet time of sharing together.

Last night was our Men's party. This is mostly men who are here without their families but there are a few who have young boys or teens and there are some teens who are here on their own. I hadn't planned to do the puppet show, not wanting the men to feel it was too young for them but "V" our translator said "No, DO it the men will LOVE it!" One of my puppeteers was sick and not there so I hastily drafted Christy and we went over the script. I am so glad we did. As we talked about how Mary and Joseph felt going on such a long tiring journey only to find there was no place for them when they arrived, many men nodded their heads in understanding. When we told how Mary and Joseph had to take Jesus and flee to another country for safety because of the evil king, I saw a few eyes fill with tears. These men understand the Christmas story in a way you and I will never know and I pray that it gives them hope.

Pray for us as we have two more family parties this week. Pray for Kent as he is starting to get a sore throat today and there is a nasty sore throat/ flu going around. He is giving the message so needs to hold out for a couple more days. Pray for the refugees who come to the parties - that they will see beyond the gifts we give them to the true gift of Jesus. Pray for the churches that are giving so generously to sponsor the parties at a time when all Greeks are struggling financially. Pray that our whole team stays strong and healthy through the parties and for the following two weeks as we return to our regular schedule. We will have quite a few team members gone on furlough so will be a big short handed - we are so thankful for our local volunteers at time like this. Thank you for your part in making all this possible. We love you all. Sorry I didn't include any pictures Kent and I were both too busy to take any so I will have to wait until our official photographer makes them available - I will try to include some next week.

Serving Him Together,
Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@gmail.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To join our Support Team:
Online go to: www.iteams.org/us
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks :)