Forty-five minutes after the the program was supposed to start, we only had two Refugees who had walked down from the Refugee camp to attend the meeting. The spring weather and the late setting sun had meant that the refugees had spent longer on the field playing football and were not expected to arrive at the Oasis before it got dark, some time after 8 pm.
Waiting for Refugees to arrive is all part and parcel of Refugee ministry.
It happened to me last week. As I had planned to meet up with at least five Refugees in Vienna (Refugees who had left the Traiskirchen Refugee camp and had been giving housing in different Districts of Vienna.) And despite my best plans to organise a time and place to meet each of the five were for various reasons running late, leaving me to sit and wait for them. It is no use getting frustrated because most of the time they turn up in the end and that is all that matters.
But when the Refugees finally do arrive, like they did on Wednesday night, (around five past eight a steady stream of Afghan and Arabic speaking Refugees came in, just in time for the bible talk.) It is always worth the wait. Then the time is spent building deeper friendships, encouraging the Refugees and sharing about Jesus over tea, coffee and cake.
3 comments:
A good reminder that everything goes according to God's plan and in His time. It's good to keep that in mind, especially in refugee ministry. (o :
Great story. Thank you for sharing.
Dan
Its great to hear this as we were meeting here in Corsham for our Missions and Persecuted church monthly prayer meeting on that evening. We prayed specifically that men would be making their way down to Oasis at that time from the Lagar. What a great answer to prayer!
Joan
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