Asha’s Refuge has been working to connect teens:  newcomers and suburban  Americans.  We are excited about the opportunity that exist for teens to work together thereby learning about one anothers culture, language and offering friendship and encouragement to one another.  The connections also have begun to help teens have a better sense of geography.  

We believe true success at Asha’s Refuge will require us to invite the next generation to teach us more about their generation which in turn will allow us sweet opportunities to pour into and mentor them as unto Jesus.  We are excited to get young people of so many different backgrounds, experiences and cultures to come together to begin building bridges through open discussions and strong friendly relationships.   It is they that will lead us in our future.  We want to invest in these bright teens and look forward to what God has in store for us all.

This started out after I made too many visits to refugee homes and noticed a lot of teenagers sitting around their house on the weekends bored, antsy and sometimes sad.  After talking with a new and excited teen volunteer (Madison) trying to find a way for her to help me get more teens involved with serving local refugees, we came up with an idea to try to start a more modern PenPal program.  We would call it TextPal and connect newcomer teens with suburban teens who were interested in making a new friend, learning about other cultures and just having an overall desire to encourage a teen.  The refugee teens were excited, willing and ready to have a TextPal with an American suburban friend. But many of the American suburban teens we tried to get on board were a little confused and  unsure about what we were trying to accomplish.  

Madison and a couple of teens began chatting via text. It was going very well.  We decided to ask a teenager from Burundi Africa who has been such a leader and example in her community help us lead this initiative.  Her name is Nadine.  So, we now have two teenagers who are working together to headship and plan activities for teens. Last night, Asha’s Refuge took about 15 kids to meeet one another for the first time to the bowling alley.  Madison, Nadine and I were hopeful that this meeting would encourage and plant some of the new friendships between the teens a little better.  Also, we are praying that it will begin to help parents understand our heart to reach teens by encouraging them to learn about, serve and care for one another.  Asha’s Refuge wants to say thank you to the teenagers that participated last night and who are leading the way.  Thank you to Madison and Nadine who are taking ownership of our next generation initiatives and are eager to build upon what we have started.  We also thank those parents who are key in teaching their children to first show love to ALL people just as we believe Jesus would do.  

Madison has taken lead in starting our Instagram page – @ashas.refuge which is certainly a popular form of social media for teenagers these days. Please check it out!

Monday, Oct. 24th at 6pm we will have orientation.  Any person interested in volunteering or learning more about Asha’s Refuge is welcome to come.  1035 Winchester Blvd., inside High Point Church in Collierville, TN.