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RMC TOUR D17 | Denver

14 May denver

Today was our last Exchange!  After a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend in Denver… Sandi with her daughter and family, and Cherie with an old college friend who is a mother of 2… we were ready to wrap up our official tour.  We met at Light of the Nations Church where 13 different ethnic groups gather to worship.  There were 12 of us for this morning Exchange and we hosted community leaders from six different organizations.  One of them was DenverRescue Mission, a homeless ministry that partners with a resettlement agency to provide support for new refugee families.  And International Neighbors Network who match international students with refugee kids to tutor and help with homework.  We heard lots of other great ideas too!

Colorado resettles 1000-2000 refugees every year.  There are 5 different resettlement agencies–  Ecumenical Refugee Services, African Community Services, Jewish Family, Lutheran Family Services, and Catholic Charities.  And there are almost a dozen Christian organizations reaching out to these new Americans.

We are headed home now, and while we are not looking forward to the hundred degree temps that await us, we are excited to finally unpack and sleep in a familiar bed.  There is still lots more work to be done as we follow up on these important new connections we have across the US.  We also plan to hold a Tucson Exchange in early June when we can bring all the folks in our desert city together to hear some of the good ideas and best practices we have recorded, and perhaps to discover new ones among refugee workers who we already know and love but never get to see. (more…)

RMC TOUR D16 | Kansas City Exchange

11 May KansasCity

(from Cherie | Kansas City)

(Side note…to paraphrase Cherie’s disclaimer before writing this particular update… she wanted to note: I can’t really think straight tonight I’m so exhausted. So this is me offering what little i have before i crash. Please keep the ladies in prayer as they wrap up the end of the tour and face a solid time of reprieve, recuperating, processing and debriefing with their homebase team in Tucson.)

Tonight it was another small, intimate gathering, and that was okay with us because we are pretty worn out.  But what a neat group of folks!  They are all followers of Jesus who have deep relationships with refugee families.  There were 3 organizations represented, including a huge church who invite 32 different nations to worship with them, and a couple of folks who do incarnational ministry among Nepali refugees.  A couple planning to move to Africa also came to join us for the Exchange.  It gave them new insight to the value of international outreach in America.  They were delightful contributors saying they gained so much and also  learned about the Nations coming here.   We all shared some ideas and stories and some really great fellowship.

We also got to visit a restaurant today that is a business to help refugees and to share Kingdom truths.   One of the employees is a Muslim follower of Jesus and comes from a family of generations of bread bakers.  He bakes the bread, and they sell it to several international restaurants and businesses in town, and now they have opened a cafe as well.  It was the best shawarma I have ever tasted!  May God make this business prosper.

(more…)

RMC TOUR D13 | English Class

8 May Indianapolis

 

(from Cherie)

After a long drive and lots of delays, we found our way to Faith Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.  We walked in and were greeted warmly by Steve & Joan Eisinger.  Eight years ago they returned from living in Turkey and were surprised and blessed to find a whole community of Meskhetian (Ahuska) Turks who were refugees and just happen to live right across the street from their church.  Steve & Joan are fluent in Turkish, so they really found fast friends in this international neighborhood and made lots of visits and drank a lot of tea.  Then they started an English class for their Turkish friends, recruiting church volunteers to teach and take care of children.  Now, eight years later, their English class program has grown quite a bit.  They welcome 244 adults and 162 kids who all represent 32 countries, and this is all accomplished through 99 volunteers who give their time once a week to be a friend to refugees and help them learn basic English language skills.  Wow… it was a beautiful sight to see!  So many people, so many countries, so many languages, so many religions all in one place learning and laughing together.  A glimpse of heaven!  God is so good.

(a few more thoughts about this experience from Sandi)… (more…)

RMC TOUR D9 | Winston-Salem

4 May winston-salem

(from Cherie)

Tonight we had a nice, intimate gathering with a great group of folks in Winston-Salem.  The whole crew are volunteers with an organization called Open Arms (www.openarmsrefugee.com). The directors, Tim & Jody Cross, once lived overseas ministering to asylum seekers, and now they are mobilizing churches to love and serve refugees in the US.  They have a great team of volunteers who are all very passionate about their work and you can see the joy on their faces.  This team primarily reaches out to Karenni refugees from Burma.  There have been 300 settled here over the past few years!  They also know a few refugee families from Iraq and Nepal.

The executive director of World Relief High Point also joined us tonight.  They are one of two resettlement organizations in this area, the other one being Church World Services.  World Relief is the only evangelical refugee resettlement agency in the US, and works hand in hand with churches to welcome refugees.  Together the agencies in North Carolina have resettled approximately 2,00-3,000 refugees in the past year. (more…)

RMC TOUR D8 | Atlanta Exchange

3 May atlanta1

(from Cherie & Sandi)

Atlanta is a mecca for refugees!  There are six refugee resettlement agencies:  World Relief, Lutheran Services, Catholic Charities, IRC, Jewish Family & Career Services, and Refugee Resettlement & Immigrant Services of Atlanta (Church World Services).  They resettle between 3,000-5,000 refugees every year!  In Tucson we only resettle 700-1000 every year, so that gives you an example of the magnitude of the operations here.  They are welcoming refugee families primarily from Bhutan and Burma, but also a few every now and then from Iraq, Eritrea, Somalia, and other far away places.

Followers of Jesus in Atlanta have rallied to love and embrace these nations in our neighborhoods.  At our Atlanta Exchange today there was a room full of people who represented 14 different organizations who reach out to refugees in Jesus name!  It was a beautiful gathering.

We met someone named “Papa” who together with his wife, both in their retirement years, reach out and live among Burmese refugees.  We met several representatives from resettlement agencies who have been giving their lives for over a decade to help refugees build a new life in America.  (more…)

RMC TOUR D7 | Atlanta

2 May atlanta2

(notes from Sandi)

We woke this morning in Tennessee hearing the birds chirping in the huge green green trees surrounding the house outside our second story windows.

Windows were opened wide all night and the humid cool breeze surrounded us.

We are so overloaded with information, people, ideas and visions for the future!  What a privilege it has been to be with people who are just as passionate about this ministry as we are!  We seem to be able to bring them together and encourage them!  Isn’t that great!?  It was great to meet a pastor who opened his church to refugees during the big tornado that came through the area.  The church members then worked side by side with Muslim friends to clear debris and comfort those who suffered loss.

We left Chattanooga this morning and headed for Atlanta, where we met with a journalist with World Magazine for an interview.  She’ll be writing about refugees and we don’t know what she might come up with one of these days. (more…)

RMC TOUR D6 | Chattanooga Exchange

1 May Chattanooga-Tennessee_River-Chattanooga

(from Cherie)

After an overnight stay in a questionable hotel in Jackson, MS, we headed for Tennessee.  We were feeling pretty good because we got a good early start and took our time along the way with plenty of rest stops and lots of things to talk about in the car.  According to our calculations, we would make it to Chattanooga about an hour early.  We were nearing Chattanooga when we got a call from our Exchange host saying “Are you coming?”.  That when we realized, to our shock and dismay, that there had been a time change!  We were horrified!!  We sped all the rest of the way there and arrived shortly after the last guest arrived and started setting up.  I don’t think anyone even noticed that we were late because they were busy visiting with one another (thank you God!).  When all was said and done we officially started the gathering just 30 minutes late.  No one seemed to blink an eye.  They are all used to running on international time. (more…)

RMC Tour D4 | Dallas Exchange

29 Apr dallas

(from Cherie)

Today was the best Exchange yet!  We met in a small apartment that a refugee ministry has rented in an apartment complex where refugees live, and they use it as an office.  It was the perfect size… nice and cozy.  We had about 20 attend, and they were all excited to share with each other and to hear what we are doing.  It seemed like most of them didn’t know each other, and it was exciting to watch them learn what one another was doing.  Today we also had an opportunity to share more about what we are doing in our hometown, and people seemed to really like to hear it.  We have been playing around with our agenda and tweaking it each time and it seems to get better.

(more…)

RMC TOUR D3 | Houston Exchange

28 Apr houston

(From Cherie)

Tonight our Houston Exchange was exciting with 25 amazing refugee workers who had lots to share… resources, stories, experiences. We loved meeting the folks who all have great passion, wonderful humor, experience, and so much joy and fulfillment in their work!  It was a joy for all of us! (more…)

RMC TOUR D2 | Nehemiah Tour

27 Apr san antonion hindu temple

WHAT A FULL DAY!

In an email from Cherie:

Today we went on a Nehemiah Tour led by the church who is hosting us here.  Using the verse Neh. 1:4 “When I heard these things I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven.”  Our tour included a Muslim mosque, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple.  We also had lunch in a Vietnamese mall that is entirely Vietnamese stores and restaurants.  It was an incredible and full day!  We learned a lot about bridges and barriers.  The Nehemiah Tour is offered once a quarter to everyone who attends Sugar Creek Church.  And then periodically the mosque and temple bring people to the church for a tour there as a learning opportunity and exchange.  Many relationships have been built.

Houston is full of international people, maybe up to 32 different countries are represented here.  It’s overwhelming to think of so many students, immigrants, businessmen, and refugees in one very prosperous American city!

After the tour we went straight into The Houston Exchange. With approximately 25 refugee workers from all over the city, we heard a variety of stories covering different things that they were doing!  We especially loved hearing what Urban Catalyst is doing in loving and serving their Muslim neighbors. (more…)
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