To Know Him More

Girls from Orthodox families. Girls from Protestant families. A girl from a Mslim family. A girl whose family is in a cult. Girls from devout families in ancient church traditions who have never read the Bible. Girls who have impressive knowledge of the Bible but struggle to relate it to everyday life. Girls from broken homes. Girls who are friends. Girls who are enemies. Three to eight 6th-8th-grade girls (out of 50+ youth who attend weekly Bible study) gather each Wednesday to study the Gospel of Luke, and I love how Jesus' words cut through all the labels and backgrounds to the heart issues - the big life questions.

Recently, Mercy*, a new girl in my group asked, "If someone does something really bad, does that mean they are going to hell?" Before I could say a word, Faith* (a former Mslim) turned to her and boldly proclaimed, "Well, sin always leads to death and separation. But that's why Jesus had to die!" It is a privilege to explain the Gospel to a seeking child. But it is infinitely more precious to watch my girls preach it to each other. Pray for the Holy Spirit's work in and through each one.

Another of my girls, Truth*, just arrived in America this summer and has many adjustments happening in her life. She is passionate about loving Jesus, but has received a lot of false teaching. She took home a Bible a few weeks ago and is eagerly meeting my challenge to read the Gospel of Luke at home. Pray that as she soaks in Jesus, the God-Man, false teachers will lose their place in her life to the One worth following.

We pray in our group that this year we will not only know more about Jesus, but that we will know Jesus more. Thank you for praying this with us!

*To respect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this post, please do not share this information in a public setting or on social media.*

Infinitely More Than We Ask Or Imagine

Thank God with me for all that He did this summer at For the Nations! We serve a God who is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20).

In summary, we worked with...
- 12 mission teams from 7 states

- 14 high school & college interns and 64 local Dallas volunteers...

...to serve...

- over 700 refugee kids from 15 countries
- for 8 weeks + training week

- through swim lessons, reading & math practice, science experiments, electives (such as music, dance, art, taekwondo, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and cooking), games, a week of KAA summer camp for 48 big kids, and daily lunches...

...and to share the gospel with them through daily Bible lessons and Christian mentorship, because Jesus is our Motivation, Strength, and Reason!

Of course, behind the numbers and programs are the sometimes heartbreaking but always inspiring stories of the beautiful children I am privileged to know. If I include them all here, the length of this post will get out of hand, so as I write my kids' stories and prayer requests, I will post them on my Facebook group and when I have compiled them, post them here on the blog. Stay tuned!

Personal Update

I am in the process of temporarily decreasing my work hours at For the Nations. After receiving some counsel at the end of the summer program, my supervisor and I have decided on this so I can learn how to better manage my own personal stress and steward the trauma of those I care for.

A few clarifications:

• This does not mean that I'm getting tired of refugee ministry or want to do something else. I love what I do and the organization I work with, and cannot imagine ever leaving my kiddos. I'm doing this so I can hopefully sustain my work long-term without burning out.

• I did not ask to decrease my hours for financial reasons. However, because my support level is currently at only about 60% of my eventual goal, this does allow me to cut my hours without having to decrease my current salary or temporarily adjust my support goals. As of now, I will teach Tues-Fri preschool (afternoon only), Tues-Thurs Kids' Clubs, and my weekly middle school Bible study, for a total of 24 hrs/wk. If you have any questions, feel free to text/email me about any of this.

Please pray for me to have strength, health, & energy each day. Pray that I will rely on the Lord to care for my needs. Pray for wisdom in leading my girls’ Bible study, teaching preschoolers, and tutoring/mentoring children. Pray that students and teammates will experience Christ’s love reflected in me.

Get involved!

Don't be sad if you missed the summer fun... we have a HUGE need for volunteers this fall! Fill out the application and choose from two orientation times this Wednesday, Aug 28 (9-10:30am or 5-6:30pm). Send questions to our volunteer coordinator, Lauren Kirkpatrick: laurenk@ftnro.org.

PRESCHOOL. This fall, we will have one teacher per preschool class (last year we had two teachers per class, which was not enough if their were no volunteers). If you love littles (or want to find out if you do), please consider being a teacher's aide once a week during morning class (9-11am) or afternoon class (12-2pm).

KIDS' CLUB. If K-8th graders are more your thing, we will have LOTS of them for you to help with homework, read & play with them, and help them engage with the Bible lessons. Pick a day Mon-Thurs from 4-6pm. This is a great opportunity for families to serve together and make friends with our kids!

ADULT PROGRAMS. If you really want to volunteer with our adult students in ESL classes, conversation practice, and Bible studies, that's okay too (but preschool is wayyy more fun! I'm not biased at all😜). Thanks for considering this, and feel free to copy/paste/share this section to interested friends!

Volunteer

*To respect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this post, please do not share this information in a public setting or on social media.*

Summer Begins!

The Summer Reading Program is a pretty big deal at For the Nations Refugee Outreach! This week is the first of eight weeks of fun and learning about Jesus, English, reading, singing, math, science, art, taekwondo, cooking, basketball, soccer, and swimming. The week of setup and the first week are always a bit crazy, but this year has been our smoothest yet, even though we have had over 300 kids each day. We are so thankful to have our own building this year.

Each week, we host a different mission team (both local and from out-of-state) to provide the bulk of our volunteer force. Pray for me to have energy and flexibility as I co-host this week's team, along with juggling other responsibilities like teaching 5th-8th graders how to read English in the morning, co-leading our 6th-7th graders in the afternoon, and teaching the Bible lesson to our littlest kids. Summer is one of the most rewarding parts of my job, but definitely the most exhausting. Please pray that my tiredness doesn't get in the way of what God wants to accomplish in and through me, and that He will help me lead my children well.

This is the fourth summer that I get to do the Orange Group! They're my favorite because, as our newest-to-America kids, they are excited to learn and tend to make visible progress over our eight weeks together. It's been special to welcome back a few students that I had last year, and fun to meet my new students from Congo, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. Pray for my kids' effective communication, team unity & respect, and understanding & openness to the Gospel.

*To respect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this post, please do not share this information in a public setting or on social media.*

Love Speaks Louder Than Words

"Children are not a distraction from more important work.
They are the most important work."  --C. S. Lewis

As a preschool teacher of children from around the world, I get the special Easter treat of hearing my 3-year-olds belting out in their best English, "sing hosanna to the King of kings." I'm sorry I don't have a recording of it, but you can enjoy the smiles on the right.


Among the 200+ children (in preschool and Kids' Club) that I interact with throughout each week, there are several that require more individualized attention and accommodation. Please pray for these dear ones and their families in their unique situations, and for my teammates and I to have wisdom to help them learn, heal, and grow in an environment of consistency and unconditional love. This is a revolutionary testimony to many of these children and their parents. It's easy for me to forget this and get discouraged about certain kids; but often how I teach them matters more than what I teach them. Truly, the kids who seem hard to love usually need it the most. If I'm telling kids that Jesus loves us and died for us when we treated Him like our enemy, I hope I can show them a glimpse of what that looks like by my actions.

I'm so thankful for my precious 3-year-olds and this beautiful classroom

Sharing About Refugee Ministry at Bob Jones University
Thank you for your prayers for my week in Greenville, SC last month. God answered in amazing ways:

• He kept me safe, awake, and well-cared-for through all 1,800+ miles of driving.
• He gave me opportunities and ability to speak on campus and at a local church, as well as lots of one-on-one interaction with students. It was very exciting to hear from students who are already reaching out to refugees and internationals in Greenville and beyond. It was such a privilege to be a small encouragement to students in the path God has for them, after being "in their shoes" just a few years ago. I look forward to seeing how God will work in and through them in the future😊.
• He treated me to some quality time with dear friends who happen to live in Greenville.
• All glory to God and a big thank you to BJU staff and my amazing former professor Dr. A for making this happen. As a student in his Cell Biology lab, I hadn't expected he'd invite me back to speak about refugee ministry, but I'm so glad he did!

Reconnecting with awesome biology professors

While interacting with students, I also met a gal on staff with another ministry who came to America as a refugee from Burma at age 16. Small world!