Last month in Nepal my team and I were partnered with an organization that focuses on rescuing women and children who are at risk. This includes women and children who are living on the streets, working in cabin restaurants or dance bars, or who have been trafficked in Nepal, India, or to Muslim countries. Our hosts, Brian and Ruth, are an incredible couple whose heart for the Lord shines clearly through the way they lead their lives. They not only want to rescue God’s children, but they are also housing and taking care of 15 women and children who have been removed from an unsafe or unhealthy environment.
When we first met Brian, we learned that he and Ruth have five children- four boys and a newborn baby girl. Upon further conversation, we discovered that their two eldest sons were adopted. One of these sons is currently working with missions in India. The other, Samir, was leaving for Denmark soon to work as a youth pastor. My team and I had the honor of spending a few days doing ministry with Samir and getting to know him a bit more before he left to pursue God’s work for him overseas.
We heard many stories about the women that God has rescued through Brian’s organization, but I was also able to hear Samir’s story about how he came to be Brian’s son. Samir is a special person to his family and to the organization, and with the help of Brian, I wanted to share his story in written words.
“Samir was born into an abusive family. The abuse was so intense that he preferred to sleep on the streets rather than in his home. The first time Brian’s team met him, his wife Ruth was on the street doing ministry. Samir was nine years old. Ruth asked him if he wanted food, and when he responded with a “yes,” she gave him something to eat. Several days later, Ruth met him again on another part of the street. She fed him a second time, and something about Samir clung to her heart.
Samir had told Ruth that his house wasn’t a safe place to live, that it was safer for him to live on the streets. He confided with her that there was a lot of abuse and alcohol at his home. Ruth went home and told Brian about him. She said, “Let’s pray for this boy. He seems to be such a cute small boy, on the streets all alone.”
Some time later, Brian and Ruth met with a pastor at a restaurant to share a meal. They finished their meal, left the restaurant, and as soon as they came outside they saw Samir. He was lying down on the pavement, completely drugged. Oftentimes street children sniff glue, typically as a way to ward off hunger or to stay warm. Samir had sniffed so much glue that he was unconscious.
Ruth looked at Brian and said, “I’m taking him home.” Brian protested saying, “Ruth, we don’t do these things. We take girls, but if boys want to leave we have to ask them, we don’t just take them. Otherwise they come to our house for a holiday then just go back to the streets.” But Ruth told him, “No. I’m taking him right now.” She was determined, so they picked him up, put him in a taxi, and took him home.
As soon as Samir was brought to their home, he immediately woke up. Brian and Ruth gave him a bath, washing him completely clean from head to toe. As soon as he came out of his bath, he was sober. He had no clothes, so their son Saran (who was around 6 years old at the time) gave him some of his clothes to wear.
Once clean and dressed, Saran took Samir by the hand and brought him to his room to play. Samir was wearing a necklace with a Hindu god on it, so Satan said, “Take that off. I’ll teach you to pray to the true living God.” Saran took out a necklace with a cross on it, put it around Samir’s neck, and taught him how to pray to Jesus straight away. After they prayed, they began playing together.
Typically with Brian’s ministry, when children are rescued they are kept in his house for 3-4 days while they look for a Christian family, church, or orphanage to house and take care of them. Brian and Ruth were in the process of doing this and were ready to find Samir a new home.
After about a week of Samir living at Brian and Ruth’s home, Saran approached Brian and said, “Papa, I want Samir to be my brother.” Brian told him that they would pray about it, and Saran retorted with, “No, Papa listen to me. Look, here is my children’s Bible. I’ve read Samir most of the Bible. Once I’ve read the rest of the stories, he will be homeschooled, so he can be with us.” According to Saran, if you have read the whole Bible you have completed homeschooling. That was his 6 year old understanding of homeschool. Both Samir and Saran had grown close to each other, but Brian responded again with, “We’ll pray about it.”
Samir and Saran continued to spend time with each other, pray with each other, and grow closer to each other. Slowly, Samir started living with them. Brian initially thought, “Ok, he’s going to be living with us.” But Saran insisted, “No, I don’t want him to just live in our house, I want him to be my brother. I know we have a community but I want him to be my brother.” Slowly, Samir became a part of their family and was eventually adopted by Brian and ruth. He started going to school and did so well that he jumped three grades, from grade five to grade eight. He did excellent in school and thrived in Brian’s household.
Samir decided to follow Jesus soon after he was adopted into Brian’s family. Although he was doing extremely well in school, he came to Brian and told him, “I would like to be homeschooled so that I can do school but also help out with our ministry.” So Samir started studying at home, registered with Open Schools through India (an online program), and started actively participating in ministry. He was eventually raised up into leadership, started running a slum school, and started taking care of their ministry’s outreach teams. Samir is now serving God in Denmark as a youth pastor and continues to share the love of Christ tangibly with everyone he comes into contact with.”
Although my team and I were only able to spend a few days with Samir before he flew to Denmark, that was enough to experience the light of Christ that dwells richly within him. God took a child off the streets, transformed his heart, and is now using him to share Christ’s love with the world. It’s hard to think about how often we casually walk by people living on the streets, avoiding eye contact with them, and continue on with our day without giving them a second thought. If Brian and Ruth chose to do this, the world would have been robbed from the things God has in store for Samir and for all of the ways God will use him to further the Kingdom.
I talked with Brian more about his family, and he told me that Samir is the son God chose for him. Watching them interact, you would never know that he was adopted because the love that Brian has for Samir is the same kind of love that he has for all of his children, the same kind of love that God has for all of us. He does not let blood define who his family is.
Although this past month was challenging in many ways, it was extremely filling. My team and I were invited into Brian’s life and were loved and taken care of like we were members of their family. God showed us what it truly looks like to live in community the way that it is described in the Bible, and he used Samir’s story to shed light on the fact that we are all one body and one family in Christ
