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
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