Not a subscriber yet? 

Sign up here.

Hi, !

TL;DR (~2min)

Just a short glimpse into our most recent outreach as a family. 

• Pray for our support-raising efforts. We have 93% of our needs met (praise God!) and will need to raise an additional $5,772 amount to cover us for this mid-2021-22 ministry year.

• David is starting his seminary intensives again in 2022 starting on January 9th. The new goal is to finish in 3 years.

Long Version (10 min)

Over the past several months, Reagan and I have continued to work alongside our refugee team to assist the Aljareh family's transition process. In addition to our other responsibilities, Home for Refugee has been part of the compassion initiative that we've started at our church in Orange County. Our partnership with HFR has given us the opportunity to meet the Aljarehs.

The Aljareh family is composed of 3 kids, Tasneem, Sana, Raghad, and Mom (Batool), and Dad (Othman). The Aljarehs, escaped during the Syrian conflict and eventually temporarily settled in Jordan for six-plus years. After several years of just surviving, the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) selected their family to resettle in the US. As you may already know, we got to know their family through a partnership with Home for Refugees. 

Since the formation of our Refugee team, it has been a whirlwind of bringing together gifts, talents, and resources to love this family well. Every teammate played a different role during the settling process. Jeff Austin and I have had the privilege of helping the Aljareh family find work. Every couple of weeks, Jeff and I would meet with them, encourage them, and answer any questions regarding job seeking. Tasneem, their oldest daughter, now has a food handling license and hopes to work at Knotts Berry Farm.

Reagan has been part of the women's encouragement core, visiting with other church members and cooking meals alongside the family as they practice their English together. 

Other team members have done so much in aiding housing, driver's license acquisition, and banking. It has been amazing to see how God continues to give us inroads in helping the Aljarehs to become more stable financially as a family. I want to finish our letter this month by sharing a letter from none other than my fellow teammate, Jeff. Jeff recently shared an amazing story on Othman's recent interview:

Hi team,

I just wanted to fill you in on Othman's job interview on Friday. I was out of town this weekend, so I was bummed to not tell you all about this in person. So my writing skills will have to suffice.

I have to say it was an amazing day! Turns out he got the job and will likely be starting on next Monday. Basic terms are $18/hr for the first month to just get a baseline of what he knows and how he is doing with their team.

This is such a God thing that I'm actually tearing up as I begin writing. God is so good!!

The job is perfect for him. I know and have worked with the owner, John Simut from Dynamic Windows and Doors, as my supplier of custom doors and windows, for many years. He is a gregarious guy, with a thick eastern European accent. Immediately, John began, almost running, around his shop showing Othman all the different large machinery he uses to cut and shape wood. Othman responded with enough English-speaking ability to convey his experience around this machinery is at the "Masters" level. The interview quickly turned into typical shop talk. For instance, I overheard, "What machinery did you use in Syria?"... "Only German-built... Felder or Homag, german is best"! They were totally geeking-out, even through broken English.

John turned to me and said, "we want this guy, there are no more true craftsmen in California, but he is one!"

At this point, we were introduced to a young man, Charlie. Charlie is buying the company from John because John is retiring in 2022. I started to talk with Charlie on the side while John and Othman were totally digging into more of the machines in his shop. Charlie asked me about how I came in contact with Othman and I was able to explain our HFR Team and what we are doing for the family. He keyed in on the fact that this was a church that was working with Othman and his family. Charlie told me he was actually a long-time family friend of John through their Catholic Church, San Juan Capistrano Mission Parrish, and just loved the idea that "the church" was helping refugees. John stepped back into our conversation and added "you know when I was a young man I came to America with nothing too, running from communist-controlled Romania, so I know exactly what it feels like to not know the language and not know what to do" He looked at Othman and said, "you know, you are going to find that the American People are good people with big hearts, and we want to help you too. We can start you at $18 so you can hopefully keep some of your benefits, but within one month I want to raise you to $20/hr. But from there I can already see that you will be worth more than that and your salary will raise more".

We began to talk about starting next week and how his transportation will be to take the bus in the mornings until he gets his driver's license and a car. To that Charlie responded "no, no, no that will not be necessary. I will pick Othman up myself on my way up from San Juan Cap every day. And when you get your driver's license we are going to figure out how to get you a car. Leave it to us, we will take care of that".

At this point, in my head, I'm just like...what? Whaaat??? What is going on right now, this is crazy!!! Not just a job, but a ride to the job. And not just a ride, but also a car to sustain him beyond "getting on your feet". Not just a job but a potential career.

I am tearing up again...

On the way home I asked if I could come in to say hi to the family and of course, they were happy to. I wanted to explain all that had gone on and to get Othmans' true feelings about the interview with the help of Tasnims' translation. Othman said with Tasnim's help, "after all the searching on the internet, reading job descriptions, plus working with my friend, for the first time, I feel like this is exactly the type of job I want. This is a very good shop. They have good machinery, with plenty of examples of good workmanship...a little dirty and disorganized, but I think I can help them with that". Awesome! This is going to be a mutually beneficial relationship.

I looked at Othman and said, "God put you and me together, two woodworkers from very different backgrounds, from halfway around the world, for a reason. Today proves to me that God had a plan a long time ago for us to be together".

My friends, from there, Batool, Tasnim, Othman, and I had an amazing conversation about our similarities of faith. We talked about how if people would just dig beneath the surface and see each other hearts this would be a better world. That most people don't go beneath the surface in relationships. Tasnim said that our group has been eager to go deeper than just the surface and be open with them in such a kind way. I was able to share further the reason we were helping them is that when Jesus came to earth He taught us how to "love our neighbors" and care for those around us. That Jesus taught us we are all loved by God no matter what country we are from. So we all volunteered for HFR simply out of obedience to what Jesus taught us in the Bible. Tasnim responded you will be rewarded in the afterlife for that obedience someday. To which I simply smiled and said, "We have already been rewarded on earth, now, by your friendship"!

Next Batool wanted me to sample some of her efforts to prepare for our meal together. And let me tell you... it's delicious. She had me try "Kibli" (if that is how you spell it). You are going to love it! She showed me a picture of a whole table full of food that she had prepared for their friends in preparation for our time together. It looked amazing things like Kibli, Tabouli, Baba-Ganoush, I think she said hummus and another dish that looked like carrots and meat and a pomegranate sauce. Amazing!

She mentioned though that she really wants to be the sole provider of the food for our gathering because it is their gift to us. I don't know what to say...I told her, "I will pass on the message but I can't promise anything, I know our group is excited to share Thanksgiving food too". So I will let all of you decide what to do about that. Maybe we just do the traditional desserts? I don't know. You guys vote. 

Lastly, I need help from the Team, John Omiesh and/or Minda Schweizer. I will need to help them with filling in the job application information, i.e. anything special I need to know about documents or ID's?

Also, I need to know EXACTLY how much they can make before services of any kind get taken away. Dynamic Doors and Windows is willing to work with me on that and hold off higher on salary (of course) for a period of time. But I would also need to know when services get cut-off so that their company can plan out how much, and when, to raise his salary beyond the $20/hr. The Al Jareh's have personally gotten all kinds of misinformation when they ask. Anywhere from; it all gets cut-off when you get a job of any kind; to; It gets cut-off incrementally as your salary increases. They need clarity. Thank you so much!!

Thank you for your faithful giving and support. We definitely can't do this work without you all! Looking forward to what the Lord has in store of us next year!

In Christ,

David, Reagan, Judah & Ezra

How About You?

We try to take some time each day to pray for our ministry partners, and we like knowing we are praying for specific, current things in their lives.  , we would love to hear an update on your life and how we can pray for you.  

Talk to us!

Support Update:

We have 93% of our needs met (praise God!) and will need to raise an additional $5,772 amount to cover us for this mid-2021-22 ministry year. This breaks down to be about $481 per month of support. If you found this story to be helpful and encouraging would like to partner with us financially, would you consider giving a year-end gift by December 31? If you would like to learn more on how you can partner with us, you can ask us, check out our website, or click the button below!

Babies - Just for Kicks and Giggles

Why not...