Hello friends
As most of you may know by now, I have been serving for almost 4 weeks in the refugee camps in the island of Lesvos, Greece. The Lord led me to be here because every time that I saw the news of refugees fleeing their homes in those tiny boats, my heart just broke for them.
The refugees are mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and of course other countries as well. Most of them are fleeing because they come from countries that are currently at war, or because they are being persecuted by various rebel armies such as ISIS, and if they refuse to join, they are simply killed. Yes, this sounds so brutal, but it is the truth.
Over the past 4 weeks, I’ve had the privilege of working in an organization called Euro Relief, and I’ve been placed in 2 different camps and a community center in the main city of Lesvos where we’ve had the opportunity to serve the refugees.
On my first week in the city of Mitilene, working in the community center, I met over 100 different families, and most of them, if not all of them were Muslim. However, even though we come from different cultures and religions, we are all humans, and they are in a desperate need of hope and love. And these people are just so thankful for a helping hand, that they called us their brothers and sisters! They all had the same stories to share with us. “I had my home, and than a bomb fell in it, or near it”. I met a guy with his family of 6, and they were all from Damascus, and he told me “I used to work in the Sheraton of Damascus! But than, bombs would fall near us all the time, my children and I were in danger all the time, so we decided to risk the cold waters of the Aegean Sea to get to a place of safety.” And in this community center is a place where these families could come and rest for a couple of hours before taking the ferry to Athens to go to their next location of their long journey. Most of the refugees are receiving a helping hand for the first time in their life’s, and hearing about also hearing about the love of God for probably the first time ever.
I met a guy named Amin, who is from Iran. He came alone. He shared with us that his life in Syria before all this war was great. He used to be a teacher, and also owned a pet store, which he showed us pictures of! But than, he also showed us pictures of the place completely destroyed after a bomb fell near it. Amin was a great quiet guy, who knew English, so he helped us translate for other people in need. We got to spend most of the day with him, and towards the end, when he was about to leave, he started asking us more about why we were so nice to him since we were so different from him? And the door to open up about God was so wide open! And we started to talk to him about the love of Jesus. And we told him, how God allowed for him to flee Iran, and for us to meet him and share about His love for a reason! And the most amazing thing happened!! He accepted Jesus for the first time in his life ever!! And right before he left, we were able to give him a bible in Farsi so he could read it and know more about God! How amazing is that!!
I am here in Greece for a reason! And that reason is to be God’s love as I hand out a cup of tea, or a piece of clothing to each refugee.
Days here in Lesvos can change from day to day. Somedays we were completely slow, and no refugees because of a lot of changes with government laws and such. And some others we are completely slammed.
This past week for example, has been completely exhausting! I have been working in the clothing tent of Moria, which is the biggest government camp here in the island. And we have been working in the overnight shifts and day shifts, 7 days this week. Most days have been so busy that we don’t even have time to go to the bathroom, and eat once a day when we remember because we are so busy!
We have had over 2000, or even 3000 refugees in the past 2 days. They all come completely soaked. This week we had family of a mom, dad and a child that came with their life jackets on still, and had a look of horror and shock because of what they had just endured. We changed them and helped them to get dry clothes as soon as we could to help out their situation. Their shocking faces is something I pray to never forget, I say this, so I can continue to pray for them so they can find th hope that they need.
I met a Syrian gentleman this week that shared this with us; “The boat ride was only 50 minutes, but it felt like 50 hours to us! And the time was going slowly. Every minute I look at the time, and the time didn’t go. It was very scary! We couldn’t see anything because it was so dark. We paid $2200 per person to cross those 50 minutes If we know that we would survive it, we would pay anything to survive and not die in our countries.”
Also, every time I see a grandma in our long lines, God always puts them in my heart to help them as soon as possible, and avoid standing in line, since they already have endured so much. In Greek, a grandma is called a “yaya” and I just love the yayas! I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for them to walk so much and endure this hard journey. Whenever I do see a yaya, I make sure that they find somewhere to sit down, and I let them know that I will help them. As soon as they sit, they are just so grateful for being helped, and than they immediately proceed to kiss my forehead as a sign of gratitude! And this not only breaks my heart, but it melts it at the same time, because I try to give them so much love as Jesus would as I take off their wet socks to provide them with clean dry ones, and put their new shoes on.
Life in Greece has been hard and amazing so far! I have never been as tired as I recently have been. My feet are completely exhausted at the end of each shift. But as I think of my tiredness, the Lord reminds me to think of the tiredness of these refugees. Their journeys are so long and exhausting. They go from one camp to another, and than to figure out where to cross border to end in safe lands. And this once again, helps me to learn to pray for them in deeper ways, to continue to ask for God’s heart for them as I help them and show them of His true love.
I share these stories with you all so you too can help me pray for them. Life back in America and in the Western world is good. We do have more than enough, and we are free! And a lot of the time we forget what’s going on around the world and simply because is not in our doorstep. I share these stories, so you can be aware and pray.
Please help me pray for the refugees; for their safety, for them to find a place of refuge and be able to provide their families a future, pray for their salvation. And also please help me pray for all the volunteers that are here as life here can be very exhausting as well. Pray that we always have sensitive hearts for the refugees and for each other.
I am thankful for each and everyone of you for taking the time to read this as I know it’s long, but I just really needed to share my heart.
May God bless you all greatly!
Sincerely;
Jhacky
