As I’ve mentioned before, one of the things I love about Burlington is that we have a growing community of 5000 refugees just blocks away.  Every week I pass people from Somalia, Burundi, Iraq, Vietnam, and we even had dinner with a Nepali family tonight.  Over the years as I’ve been moved by the scriptures to take the good news of Jesus  to the nations, I never imagined it happening in pasty white VT.

This Sunday, following our third  weekly Home Fellowship, we’re hosting a brainstorming & planning meeting with others who are interested in teaching English to Somalis.  God has connected us with a Christian family living in an apartment community where many Somalis reside- this family has been praying for quite a while about starting an ESL program but lacked the volunteers.  Now God has put all the pieces in place.

Please pray…

*Pray that God will give us incredible wisdom concerning our game-plan for teaching English- especially since many of the Somalis are illiterate in their native language.

*Pray that God will enable us to overcome the language barrier, cultural barriers, and the Muslim-Christian barrier so that we may develop meaningful relationships.

* Pray for Christin and I as we continue serving as “family friends” to a Nepali/Bhutanese family through theVermont Refugee Resettlement Program. Relationships are forming quickly.

*We’re planning a middles school basketball camp focusing on refugee families  with the help of Valleydale Church.  Pray for favor with the Catholic Diocese as we’re seeking permission to use a closed Catholic school in Burlington’s Old North End.

*Pray for God to draw others to our Home Fellowship- seekers and cynics.  Ask God to make this group a spiritual family where people can see Jesus living through us and be drawn to know Him.

*Pray that God will send more workers for the harvest.  Specifically as God to raise up more spiritual leaders from within the community and lead others to transplant their lives here.