This week has looked a little different than the other ATL days.
We were fortunate to find a great international church here in Athens: International Christian Fellowship (ICF). The community there is truly like a family having a large emphasis on fellowship, plus the pastor is from Florida!
One of the highlights of finding ICF has been the ability to make some great connections for ministry while here in Athens. One of those being with the Bridges Humanitarian Initiative. Last Sunday evening we attended the church service for refugees; it was moving seeing so many with nothing sing their hearts out to the One who is their everything. Immediately seeing the heart behind what they’re doing at the center, we asked how we could help.
Our team split up in order to help out at two different centers this week. Emily, Linsey, and I headed to Bridges to help with clothes distribution; while the other 4 on our team went to the Good Samaritan Center to do the same thing.
We would split up the tasks, taking turns so we each had an opportunity to interact with different people. Whether we were folding clothes, entering people into the computer system, or playing with the kids we all got to hear incredible and heartbreaking stories.
The women who runs the clothes distribution is one of the most joyful people I have met on the Race so far. She is a refugee here from Syria and has a heart for people like you wouldn’t believe. While folding baby clothes with one of my teammates she made a comment of how cute the outfit was which promoted the question, “do you have any children?”. We didn’t expect what came next. When fleeing from Syria she lost her husband and her other children. The only surviving members of her family beside herself are two of her sons; and her 18 year old son fled to another country so she has not seen him in 2 years. Despite losing most of her family, being chased out of her home, and being in a foreign country with next to nothing and no-one, she remains joyful, with a smile saying her strength becomes her faith and God is always good.
During one of the days I was hanging out with the kids I had an opportunity to talk with this adorable little girl from Iraq. One of the men who works at the center was telling me all the countries the refugees were from at this particular center. When he said Pakistan she said “yuck I hate Pakistanis” and then went back to coloring. I turned to her and said thats not very nice sweetie, everyone in all Nations are God’s people and we are to love them all. She proceeded to tell me about how she witnessed a Pakistani man gutting open a little Iraqi girl and how all Pakistanis are evil because of that. It was a hard conversation to be a part of; hearing of such brutal things this 10 year old girl has seen in her life, yet still having to explain that one man’s actions doesn’t define a whole Nation. Its heartbreaking to really think about what these children have seen, what they’ve been exposed to, and what pain they have in their hearts. Yet there is so much hope because their parents have found this center, they are hearing the word of God, and they are finding love and redemption in a place where fear would be the normal response.
One of the translators at the center is a sweet young-man from Iran. His story is incredible. Two years ago his mom commented on the difference in his behavior, he responded that Christ was responsible for the change in him. Seeing his life changed for the better through God his family decided to accept Jesus into their hearts as well. He is not able to return home because He is a Christian. He is so bold in his faith I am truly in awe of his boldness for the Lord. He tattooed the Arabic symbol for Christian on the back of his neck branding himself for the Gospel. Back in Iran groups like ISIS would mark christian homes with this symbol so they knew which homes to raid for mass murders. Yet, here this young man is boldly declaring his life is for Christ to the point that if he were back in Iran he would be marked for persecution.
We don’t see this kind of faith in the States. Most of these refugees have either lost their families or will never be able to see them again in this life time but are living so loudly for the Kingdom. If we weren’t interested in their stories or acted out of “normal American standards” avoiding them because of where they are from we would have never gotten to see the tears that live behind their joy; we would never have heard the heartache and hardships they walked through; and we would have never heard their testimonies of God’s glory!
This month continues to be humbling and eye opening in all the places the Lord is moving that so easily go unnoticed.
