Update from Greece

Everyone,



I can't believe we have already been in Greece for one week. Only three weeks left. We had our team retreat this weekend. It was very special to be away with our team again and to renew those ties. A new leadership team was announced. Please pray for Christy who has been serving as team leader and will continue but with the support of two associate leaders Kenn and Mikko. This will greatly relieve her burden and both these men bring unique gifts that will benefit the team and the ministry as a whole. Pray for them as well as Nikos, the director as they all find their roles in leadership.



We got home on Monday and the sorting and packing began. Please pray for my back. I had been having trouble already and last night it was so bad that I got up twice to take Ibuprofen during the night. On my birthday we went out for dinner and during dinner I felt chilled and by the time we got home was so chilled that I got in bed with the hair dryer. This is like what happened when my disease was flaring. Before long my fever had spiked to 104.6 and I was a little out of my head. This is different because I used to only get a fever of about 100-101. This incident worried us because I had only recently lowered my prednisone and we were afraid my disease was breaking through. I have not had another incident however and several people on the team said they had had a bug that caused them to spike a fever so we are hoping that is all it was. I will lower my prednisone again on Thurs. so please pray that my disease will stay in remission.



An answer to prayer is that Helping Hands is furnishing an apartment to house interns and short term workers in combination with 3rd Evangelical Church and they are buying a lot of our furniture and appliances. This is a huge help to us. Kent has had a couple of calls about the bike and we are getting a couple things fixed on the car before we advertise it. There is a new family moving to Athens who may be joining our team who are going to look at the possibility of renting our apartment which would mean they might also be interested in our light fixtures, air conditioners etc. Pray that God will be in all of this. We have a moving company coming to look at things tomorrow and Kent is talking to another one today.



We went to the ARC for a while on Tuesday and saw several people we knew. It was especially sweet to see our faithful volunteers "A" "Z" and "J" who have become Christians through HH and who continue to grow and serve faithfully in spite of the difficult situations they face. "A" has particularly had a hard time recently. Please pray for her especially. We hope to see more of those we are close to this week when there will be a believers day. Kent also wants to spend time with Dr. Joseph and "V" a leader in the Afghan community who heads up an Afghan Fellowship.



We attended our church Sunday with our whole team. It was so good to see everyone. Our church family here has been so faithful to uphold us in prayer and many, many people came to hug us and tell us they had been praying. My Greek is not good but I recognize "dinatos" (strength) "parastika" (get well) and "doxa sto theo" (glory to God). It was especially sweet to sing worship songs in Greek again and I told Kent we will have to stream these when we move back to the USA so we don't forget them. Thank you for upholding us during this time and for your faithfulness to us in prayer and financial support. 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 select: US, Select: What do you want to do, Select: Give
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 :)

Health and Ministry Update

Everyone,



I saw my doctor yesterday and she gave me the go ahead to travel to Greece. I am still having a great deal of trouble with my vision - the prednisone is making my good eye blurry so not only am I blind in my right eye but I have quite a bit of trouble seeing out of my left. This makes me feel vulnerable when I am out alone and makes simple things like shopping etc difficult. I have purchased stronger reading glasses so am able to read but much of my time is spent in a blur. I am also having trouble with one of my legs swelling and once again the doctor thinks this could be exacerbated by the prednisone but is probably genetic since poor circulation runs in my family. There are just other little issues with the steroids that make me feel a bit frustrated - weight gain, fat face, jittery feelings etc. Basically my doctor said "No one who is on steroids likes it but at this point it is a necessary evil and it is doing it's job." My blood counts look great and we are on our way to getting me in remission but it mean we need to hold the course and drop the dosage of the steroids gradually so I will just have to put up with the side effects for at least several more months.



Future plans: At this point we plan to be in Greece sometime shortly after the 20th of September. We will stay in Greece until around the 25th of October. This will give us time to say our goodbyes and sell or give away the things we are not bringing and pack the things we will ship home. We will stop in MA on our way home for a week to visit our kids there and then settle back into the Eugene OR area where we were originally from. We are not sure what that will look like yet but are exploring some different possibilities as far as work and or ministry. International Teams has said that they will consider the end of October as our last active ministry day. They then recommend a three month "transition" period where support continues as we transition into finding work, housing etc. This would mean International Teams would continue to accept and distribute our support as usual through January 2015 and then would close the books on us. We realize that this has been a bit crazy in that we have been in the states now for 8 month already so it may seem like we should have had time to transition. However until we closed the door on Greece and indeed until we actually close the door this next month we haven't been free to pursue other things not knowing what our future held. That said we totally understand if you have been supporting us and feel you need to conclude that support. If you can continue through the transition time it would be a big help to us as we face the added costs of resettling. Either way we are so thankful for your faithfulness to us through all of this. There are some ways you can pray for us. Please pray that our time in Greece especially at the retreat would be a time of closure and passing of responsibilities and a way that is supportive and helpful to the team there. Pray for those involved in making decisions about new leadership and what that looks like. Pray also for us to have good times with those refugees with whom we have formed special relationships. Pray for us to find the right shipping company and to make good decisions on what to bring and what to leave behind. Pray especially that our motor bike and car would sell. Pray for protection for our health especially as my immune system is compromised. Pray that the Lord would be opening doors even now as far was what our lives look like when we return. As always we are so thankful to all of you who have been with us through the ups and downs of this journey - we aren't done yet. 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 select: US, Select: What do you want to do, Select: Give
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 :)