Refugee ministry's "domino" reality

The plunge into refugee ministry in the good ole U.S. of A. has been interesting. I already knew, at least intellectually, that they were facing some incredible challenges, but now that we're in the midst of it, the reality of what they face daily has been driven from my head down into my heart and soul. When a refugee encounters an urgent problem it doesn't just effect them indivually or their immediate family. A "domino effect" is initiated that hinges on the willingness of others, sometimes many others, who are open to being inconvenienced.

Here's one example: Yesterday, while talking with Pastor Ramey about the vision for the church and some planning issues, we interrupted by a phone call. A young woman named Eh Wa was on the phone and it was obvious she was very upset and had been crying. In her broken English, she told Pastor Ramey that her 22 year old brother Daniel, (many of the Karen have been assigned English names for the ease of the non-Karen congregation members,) had been having very severe epileptic seizures, was vomiting regularly, was bleeding from his tongue after biting it, and had a headache so bad he was incredibly lethargic. She was in a panic, neither she nor Daniel, nor her Karen neighbors drive or have a car, and so we stopped what we doing and drove over to the apartment where they live.

We knew Daniel needed medical attention immediately, but which hospital should we take him to? Which hospital takes the type of insurance that refugees have? We had Eh Wa call his social worker to find out, and as you can imagine, that wasn't a quick or easy conversation. We decided to take him to Phoenix Baptist hospital, and knowing that he wouldn't be able to answer the questions the doctors would ask and Eh Wa's English wouldn't be sufficient to translate, we had to call Tansy to see if she could come and help translate. Well, she needed to pick up her daughter from pre-school about 45 minutes after we were scheduled to meet her at the hospital, and that was across town. So, her husband had to leave work around 11:00 a.m. to go and pick up her daughter so she could meet us at the hospital.

It's a much longer story, but suffice it to say that after a brain scan and blood tests, it was determined that Daniel didn't have enough of the prescribed medicine in his blood--the medicine that keeps the seizures at a minimum. Turns out that he had put medicine he had recieved in the refugee camp in Thailand into an empty prescription bottle from the medicine he had been given here. And somehow, he hadn't ended up taking the right medicine, and thus the huge seizures had come upon him. He should be fine now that we know what the cause was, but it would be great if you could keep him in prayer.

This episode, along with a few others, has convinced me again that I need to get serious about learning the language. With all that has gone on with the move and getting established, I have put language study on the back burner and it's clear it needs to be moved to the front. Additionally, I need to move more intentionally in getting English as Second Language opportunities set up for the Karen. I'd very much appreciate prayer for these two things--my learning Karen and them learning English.

Pre-dawn view of Sheriff's Joe's tent city

I'm sure most of you have heard about the hard-nosed, no-nonsense law enforcer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona. Turns out we now live in his county, and so do the Karen living here in Phoenix. VERY early last Saturday morning, (3:30 a.m.), I accompanied Pastor Ramey and a Karen man who had gone awry from the law and had to surrender himself to serve 15 days in Sheriff Joe's tent city. I now know where Sheriff Joe's county jail is located, that he doesn't make anything easy for those who break the law under his jurisdiction, and that at least the few deputies we met were all-business, probably like their boss if you know what I mean.

A few hours later, Helen and I played limo drivers with our two cars in order to get a number of Karen children and teenagers to a local park for their soccer league picture day. About 45 Karen kids play in a soccer league of about 200 kids that is sponsored by a large Baptist church. Self-less servants of God go out of their way to make it possible for not only the Karen kids, but many refugees from African countries to play in this league. It was a joy to serve in this way and to see this type of ministry in action. This type of thing is CRUCIAL for refugee kids in particular, helping their acclimation to life here in America, obtaining English skills, and avoiding too much free time--where trouble is usually found.

On Sunday, I was blessed to teach at the Karen service and then the English service. I shared from Acts chapter 2 on the three foundational reasons for the existence of the local church, and the response was very positive.

And finally, we unpacked our last two boxes today and even put a couple of pictures up on the walls. And believe it or not, I've even been doing some handy-man type things and I haven't injured myself yet or done damage to the apartment--which is no small thing!

Headline: Asian street gang unloads Pastor & Wife

Today, (Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008) marks the culmination of our first week in the Phoenix area! It is definitely strange to be back in the "big city" and have so many stores, restaurants, and gas stations less than 10 minutes away, along with literally millions of people...and I absolutely LOVE IT!

We had about 10 guys help us load in Mesquite, and it took us right at one hour. When we drove into our new apartment complex here in Glendale, there were so many Karen young people hanging out waiting for us that it looked like an Asian street gang gathering. I'm fairly sure that's what many of our neighbors were thinking as they peered out their windows towards the parking lot here in the complex. Of course, that would have been what they thought until we arrived and they observed all these Asian kids joyfully unloading the Budget truck of the tall, slightly overweight, gray on the sides, goofy looking white guy and his good looking wife. There were at least 20 of them, along with Adam and Tansy, and believe it or not, we had that 24 foot truck unloaded and everything into our upstairs apartment in 45 minutes!

The reality of what we've actually done is smacking us in the face pretty much everyday as we arrange furniture and unpack boxes in this apartment that really is spacious compared to most apartments but seems so confining compared to the large home we've been living in. Everything has to be put in just the right place in order to maximize the space we have. And sometimes, much to Helen's dismay, something can't be placed where it would have the most visual appeal because to do so would be to not adequately make use of the limited space we have in the most efficient way. In contrast to our house in Mesquite, functionality in this small apartment many times must take precedence over the placement of things in the way that is most pleasing to the eye.

Finally, the Lord has impressed upon me afresh that it's time again to seriously resurrect the "Pilgrim" mentality and worldview that we had when we went to the mission field. I'll explain what I mean in my next few posts.

Thanks for praying for us...He responded to your prayers.