Dear friends and family,
In our last newsletter, we shared with you many of our experiences from our visit to the Helping Hands refugee center in December. We have more stories to share. Here are some of Henk's experiences.
Tea - Thé - Τσάι - چای
Praise
Praise God for His guidance as we have wrestled with logistical questions arising from our two nationalities. An issue regarding our insurance has been resolved allowing us to move forward in many areas.
For the Arabic Concert for refugees we attended last month. Many recently resettled families came. A message of hope in Jesus was shared, donations and services were provided and many families are now connected with local church communities.
Praise for plenty of yard work and other side jobs which provide enough for our current needs.
Friday is the ‘tea house’ day where Helping Hands is open to everyone: refugees from all countries, Greeks and longer-term immigrants come through the doors. It’s a hectic day, and the room is a buzz with people everywhere. A line forms at the kitchen for tea and clusters of people gather around the tables. Warm tea is sipped over a game of chess and the chatter of old and new acquaintances coming together fills the room.
The volunteers and staff are kept busy with all sorts of tasks. I glimpse Allie around first serving tea, later playing on a mini basketball hoop with some boys, looking for baby formula to give to some ladies, at some point she is juggling craft supplies out of the back room trailed by some kids.
As I move around to greet I see that people tend to stick to their own language and cultural groups. There are tables of Afghan families and tables of Iranians, some tables of men and some of women. In another corner are several Greek-speaking men who might be homeless. Looking for some common ground and a way to connect, I decide to try out my little bit of Greek with the Greek men.
Later a group of Africans come in, speaking in their native language. I feel pulled to the familiarity of the African culture. As Allie passes by me I ask her ‘ca va?’ in French, a habit picked up in Burundi, and the Africans immediately look up surprised. It turns out they are from Congo, and speak French! Allie joins me and we are able to help them with the clothes they ask for - mainly sweaters and warm socks to stand the cold weather ahead. We send them off warmly, feeling the sense of community we are often left with when we meet Africans.
I am thankful for how comfortable we both are with the Congolese visitors, and know that if I wasn't there with my French they would have a hard time finding someone to connect with and and a way to communicate their needs. But we also look forward to the challenge of learning and reaching out to a people and culture that is more foreign to us. Right now we are learning basic Greek, but when we move to Athens we will begin learning Farsi and I'm sure that will open doors to new ways of relating to the Afghans and Iranians we will serve. But today, as I move around the room I am grateful for ping pong, foosball, and many cups of tea.
WORLD CUP
Towards the end of the day, I sit down with a 12 year old boy named Ali who I met during my visit to the refugee center two days earlier. He is here with his dad; his mother and older siblings have gone ahead to Switzerland, and he doesn’t know when he’ll see them again. A tiny foosball table provides a fun distraction and soon a Finnish teammate joins the game to make it a real ‘World Cup’. There is loud cheering and laughing at every goal and blooper, and we have a real blast!
PING PONG Despite all the buzz my ear catches the ‘pink’ ‘ponk’ sound of table tennis, and I think back to the ping pong tournaments at the men’s retreat in Illinois. I find the Iranian men playing table tennis and secure my turn to play. I’m up against a man in a wheelchair who sits, without moving, his paddle less than a foot from the back of the table. First I take it easy on him, but as I lose one game and then another, I realize I need to take advantage of the corners he can’t reach to score any points at all! Humbled, I take up a conversation and he shares his story with me.
The games provide a good excuse to connect with the men who are otherwise often preoccupied with their phones. I am anxious to be here longer and look forward to finding new ways to intentionally connect with the men here. Whether it be over games like ping pong or soccer, maybe discovery and hiking, language learning, or offering hospitality.
prayer
Prayer for new opportunities and doors to open in fundraising.
Pray for Venezuela, where Allie’s brother and sister-in-law and their kids live. There is an economic and political crisis with a lot of unrest. Pray for safety for them, their community, students, and teachers.
We are so encouraged by the community of friends who are standing with us in prayer. If you would like to receive more regular prayer requests and updates please join our Prayer Team mailing list.
FUNDRAISING
In the past months since returning to the States we have been busy fundraising. We have the enjoyed opportunities we’ve had to share in small groups from Poplar Creek Church in Bartlett and at Christian Fellowship church in Crystal Lake (IL). We even had an amazing Greek lunch to serve during our extended presentation after church thanks to the help of some friends. We were able to connect with several new people and are excited about the interest expressed in what God is doing in Athens and the new friends we are making!
Thank you to everyone who has joined our team!
Currently we have 30% of our monthly budget pledged and 60% of our one time costs are raised
We still have quite a way to go in the next 3 months before our final training and then departure in July.
Many of you have expressed interest, please let us know if you have any more questions. If you are thinking about becoming a monthly donor please consider committing sooner rather than later. The earlier monthly pledges are received, the better we can plan for the future!
Donation pledges can be set up now to start immediately or on a future day of your choosing. Any finances received between now and when we move to Athens go towards our one time costs such as training, language school, and moving expenses.
We would love more opportunities to meet up with you individually. We also need more references. Do you know anyone that has a heart for missions or for refugees, and would like to be a part of God’s work in another country, please connect us with them! We’d also like to be connected to other churches and small groups. Send us an email or click "Join our Team" to learn more.
Blessings,
Henk and Allie