Refugees - who they are and why they are here

Off to Richfield, headquarters of Arrive Ministries  (actually located in the old EFCA national office building) to learn about the refugees who are here and why they came from warm climates of Thailand, Somalia and the like, to the frozen tundra of Minnesota. We heard the heartbreaking refugee story of Abdirahman Roble, an employee of Arrive helping Somali refugees. In his desperate state, someone took all his money and ID, leaving him in Thailand while leading him to believe he was actually in the UK. And to do this, he left his 9-months pregnant wife under a tree with hope for a better life for all of them? Oppressing the oppressed is the worst. It was a graphic visual of "the harrassed" we were studying in our devotionals. So thankful God sees and hears and moves on their behalf!

Hearing a heartbreaking refugee story at Arrive Ministries

After lunch and a short break, we traveled to  Harvest Community Gardens , a ministry of  First EFC in Maplewood.  Jon Addington told the story of the garden's history and how God moved a church with an inward focus to look outward and focus on loving and serving their neighbors through gardening. The team helped collect fliers announcing the prior week's VBS and collect the trash and compost from the 1100+plot garden on 9 acres of land.

The evening was spent helping the ladies who lead the Garden Kids Club - a VBS-style program held every Tuesday in the garden. After walking the paths of the garden with a sign and a bell to invite the gardener's children, 20 kids came and played and heard the story of Moses and how God transformed him and that Jesus transforms us. The craft for the night was making butterflies, another example of transformation. Some kids spoke no English but we managed to have fun, love on them and communicate.

Working on packets for newly arriving refugees in a variety of languages

A second night of travel showers took us to MacLaurin CSF, another great ministry on the U of M St. Paul campus. Redirects always present new learning opportunities!