Today was a great day with my refugee friends! Our bus driver was eager and ready to drive this morning and most all of our students were dressed and ready to get on the bus to go to class. We were excited that our English Conversation and Kindergarten Readiness Class was full of students. We had about thirteen children and twelve ladies. Our bus is now full and we may need a second bus and driver. How will I tell my friends waiting to get on the bus that the bus is full and they will not be able to come with me?! Oh, Lord, teach me how to handle this situation the way You want for me to. My heart cannot turn people away. We may very soon need building space closer to my friends and big enough to handle what we are doing.

The advanced class played their opposites learning game and practiced grammar. My class, the middle level students, practiced reading and understanding action phrases and handwriting. The basic level class practiced handwriting and some vocabulary. The children sang songs, worked with the letter ‘J’ and decorated sugar cookies. We had several wonderful volunteers today that were able to help teach our students.

And, we got to talk about what Christmas really means to followers of Jesus (…No, we do not pray to or worship a Christmas tree). We sang a few Christmas songs and we listened to some songs sang by our refugee friends. Many refugees do not understand all the different things we do around the celebration of the birth of Jesus. I must admit that Santa, his elves, his reindeer, and all the stuff he brings often confuses my friends as their curiosity peaks about our love for Jesus. I pray that my concern for my friends and genuine heart to help them see the truths of Jesus will show in my actions and that my friends will not get confused by a fantasy Santa world. I admired my friends curiosity and enjoyed hearing back from them their thoughts about Christmas today.

If your reading and are interested in helping us with our Friday morning classes, which are currently held in Germantown, TN’s New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, please let us know by contacting Jamie at jamie@ashasrefuge.org or Deborah at deborah@ashasrefuge.org. We are very much enjoying the blessing of working with our New Bethel church friends and we would all be happy to have your help on Fridays too! If Fridays do not work for you, you can always volunteer to help in several other ways. Make a welcome basket. Teach someone to drive. Tutor a school aged or adult student. Become an advocate for a family. Transport someone to an appointment. Help with a fundraiser. Teach a craft. Be a guest speaker. Help collect donations; We currently need:financial support, kitchen utensils, pots and pans, secondary writing paper, spiral notebooks, pencils, new kitchen and bath towels, laundry detergent, toiletries and your prayers! We thank you in advance for your support.