Another like-minded refugee ministry in Portland asked if I would story at their Easter celebration on Good Friday. So I again did the story of the “Thief on the Cross.” A group of maybe 60 refugees from Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Sudan, Jordan, Afghanistan, etc. listened in complete silence as I storied from Luke 23. Surprisingly, in the discussion time after, they did not seem to push back on the truth of Jesus’ crucifixion, but interacted well. I had several Luke/Acts Arabic-English booklets, and they all disappeared. A Palestinian man told me he would read the whole thing! The director of the ESL program said they would follow up the story with discussion in their classes the next week.
So we were thankful for the opportunities to sow the seed of God’s Word in cooperation with others who are modeling God’s love and truth to our immigrant friends! – RH
