Get ready, get set . . . go!

Tomorrow the swimming pool at Huntington Ridge officially opens for the summer! We're hosting a party -- and that means preparation. The management worked hard to get the pool ready. It took several tries before the pool passed inspection, but it's in good shape now. We've already talked to the moms about the importance of putting their children into swim diapers. A couple of weeks ago, we gave out several packages of these special diapers, so we hope the water stays clean this year. The gas grill has no gas, so we'll use charcoal. It was in bad shape. Tim got out a metal brush and gave it a good scrubbing. It's all ready for tomorrow's hot dogs!

Tim Cummins brought over lots of food ahead of time. We thank God for Whirlwind Missions. With your financial help, we have the makings of a grand fiesta!
Please pray for us as we gear up for the big day. We'll have balloon animals, face painting, hot dogs, drinks, games and lots of fun. This is a great opportunity to create goodwill in the community and to share with our neighbors in the name of Jesus Christ.

Visiting the Village Together

Cathy and her ministry partner, Terry Earl, usually teach together in "the village" where African refugees live. Today, Tim was Cathy's sidekick! We started by having lunch at the DeKalb Farmers Market. What a place. They won't allow photos inside, or you wouldn't believe your eyes. Not only is the food fascinating, so are the shoppers. People from all over the world gather in this one spot to purchase their favorite items. If you come for a visit, we'll take you to this experience of a lifetime.After lunch, we drove to one of the many apartment complexes where relief agencies have resettled refugees from war-torn countries all over the world.
This woman (below) who fled from Burundi, lived in a refugee camp in Tanzania for many years before getting the opportunity to move to Atlanta. She lives with her husband -- and four children under the age of five! Cathy brought some diapers that had been donated. She also gave this mom a "Magic Eraser" sponge to help clean walls . When you've lived in a mud brick house your whole life, painted walls are a new experience. Give a child a crayon and what happens next? This struggling mother is learning that she'll need to teach her kids not to mark on the walls.
Our Burundian friend was eager to show Cathy that she's been attending school three days a week. A relative watches her children while she goes to class. Our friend had filled page after page in her notebook with writing. There were no spaces between the words, and she wasn't able to read all of it -- but she was so proud of herself. And rightly so! English is a hard language, and she is very motivated to learn.
Tim had fun getting to know the oldest boy in this family. He's usually very shy and runs away, but he loved Tim. Today, he was eager to show off a new trick.

Cathy's friend wanted to talk about church. She's a Christian, and she wants to start attending a church where Swahili is spoken. That's easy! There's a wonderful church just down the road where not only Swahili is spoken but also the languages of Burmese, Karen, Burundian, Liberian and other people groups. The whole family can walk to this church. Tim drew a map, and Cathy wrote down the time and other information. Hope we see this sweet family on Sunday!
Cathy loves to hold babies -- and this precious little girl is irresistable. Tim got to hold her, too.

The twin girls were thirsty. Cathy was shocked to see their mother put a tablespoon of sugar into each cup of milk. Uh-oh! Looks like a nutrition lesson is in store for mom.
There's always something cooking in these homes. Today one pot held rice. Fish was boiling in the other pot. With no air conditioning, small rooms, and closed doors, there's a strong aroma that's hard for American noses to get used to!


Our second visit was to the home of a Somali family. They escaped from Somalia into Kenya where they lived in a refugee camp. Cathy has a strong bond with this Muslim woman, and today we were sad to find her feeling very sick. A dentist had extracted one of her back teeth this morning. She was still in a lot of pain.
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Dad was still home and proud to show off some of his children -- including the new baby. We gave this family some diapers, too.
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A neighbor had come to help watch the children while mom recovered from surgery and dad went off to work in the chicken factory. This woman has no husband. When asked about it, she broke into a huge smile, held up her arms and cried out, "I have freedom!"
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This beautiful young Somali girl drives the big van that takes workers to the chicken factory. They drive an hour and half to Gainesville. Sometimes they work 17-hour days, five days a week. But they're happy to have jobs. Please pray for our friends in the village.
When we got home, Andrei had some nice surprises for us. He had unloaded the clean dishes and put away all the dirty dishes in our dishwasher. He had also washed our clothes, dried them, and folded them. What a blessing! We're going to miss Andrei when he moves to his own apartment. So will the people of Huntington Ridge who enjoy him so much.

A Hot Day for English!

On a sweltering June day, women gathered for English class. School's out, so they brought lots of children! We practiced greetings, the alphabet song, counting, naming body parts, and other basic English. Despite the heat, we were all belting out the song, "Head and shoulders, knees and toes." It's fun to see the moms laugh along with their kids.
Tim entertains the kids while Cathy teaches. These precious little ones charm us every time we're blessed to spend time with them.

With cookies and juice for everyone, things can get awfully sticky! Thank goodness for big sisters.
This woman (below) only got to attend high school in the United States for part of one year. She learned as much English as she could. Now she's eager to earn her GED so she can go to beauty school. She takes her Wednesday morning lessons very seriously.
This mom keeps us all laughing. She has a great sense of humor and makes the classes so much fun.
This sweet woman comes to class with her sister-in-law. They encourage each other.
Shyness is a big obstacle, and this mother is reluctant to say English words out loud. All the same, she's often the first one to arrive at class, so she definitely wants to learn.
A favorite friend, she takes her work seriously. She doesn't smile a lot, but her earnest effort is rewarded. She has learned the most English in our four weeks of class.
After class, it's time to cuddle tired babies, talk to the children, and continue developing relationships with their mothers.
Un plato delicioso! Homemade tortillas, pasta soup, egg and potato salad, and lots of different spicy dishes. Muy picante!

Problems...

Yes, we see lots of problems . . . challenges . . . issues . . . needs! Here are just a few:

TRASH:
A clean environment is an unfamiliar concept to people who have come from the poorest living conditions imaginable. We have to work hard to teach the children not to litter. Though the maintenance crew at our complex tries to keep up, the trash is always overflowing.
ALCOHOLISM:
In this community, people are desperate. They have little hope for a good future. Often, hard-earned money goes to buy the easy escape of beer. Weekends are so loud we can barely sleep as trucks race through the complex, people shout, and music pumps. But drinking happens all week long. Almost every morning when we open our door, we see beer bottles lying around. Broken glass is all over the ground, much of it half-buried. We worry about little feet stepping on this glass. We pray for adults who drink too much.
DESTRUCTION:
The landscape here suffers a lot. Not only is the ground covered with litter and glass shards, but the trees get damaged, too. People strip the shrubs of every leaf. Tree branches are snapped and left dangling. Part of this is caused by ignorance about a healthy environment. Part of it is human willful destruction. Please pray that we can teach the importance of caring for God's earth.
HOMELESSNESS:
People who fail to pay their rent for several months in a row face a "set-out." Management removes all their personal possessions and locks the apartment. Adults frantically try to find a truck to move their things, a motel for the night, and another complex that will let them move in. Children stand around bewildered and tearful. Many move from one apartment to another, with each stay ending in a "set-out." How can these children learn what a real home is? How can they ever know the meaning of responsibility and stability?
GANGS:
Gang signs are written, painted, and sprayed throughout our apartment complex. Though the management works to remove these signs, we know that the gangs exist. Worse, the children are eager to "pretend" to be gang members. Kids as young as three will flash gang signs when asked to do something they don't want to do. Older kids are ripe to become real gang members. When you don't have a stable home, a real family, or money and a gang offers you just that . . . the temptation is often too great to resist.
SCHOOL FAILURE:
Almost every child in our complex will be attending summer school this year. It's hard to pay attention to your homework when there are so many people around, so much noise, and so many other problems. It's even harder when English is your second language and your parents don't even speak it! Georgia was dealt an ugly blow this year when an overwhelming number of students failed the standardized CRCT testing. Please pray that we can know how to help the children focus and catch up with their studies.
OVERPOPULATION:
While having lots of kids can be great fun -- and it certainly adds to the bustling merriment of a happy household like this one -- it can make things very hard on parents. Getting a job that pays enough to feed all those mouths is hard for a father, and many of these homes are fatherless. Often the mother has to work. How can she take good care of infants and toddlers when she's so tired? How can she find time to learn English and life skills if children are always demanding her attention? Will her children "fall through the cracks" of the educational system? These big families need our prayer!
SUFFERING:
Most of the refugees have experienced the ravaging effects of war. Many have physical injuries that we can see. Scars on faces. Amputated hands. Blinded eyes. Many more live with deep pain we hardly comprehend. Loved ones raped and murdered, other family member left behind in Africa, and things they can not bring themselves to speak about. When we go into homes to teach English, we are really there to minister with the love of God to these hurting hearts.
WORKPLACE ISSUES:
This sweet mother on the right (below) has seven children. She also has to work the night shift at a chicken factory. To get to her job, she rides in a van almost two hours. With these long hours at night, she needs to sleep during the day. But how can she get enough sleep with seven children. This mother is desperate to learn English so she can communicate with her children's teachers and maybe find a better job for herself. Most of the refugees Cathy works with are employed by chicken factories far away. Please pray that new avenues of income can be found. Pray that mothers can get better work hours. We need to find ways for these moms to stay in their homes -- and at the same time provide for their families.
Just a few of the problems we see daily have been touched on here. We ask that you keep these needs in your heart as you go before the Lord every day.

What we do!

We moved to Atlanta from a quiet lakeside home in Missouri. Here in Atlanta, we rarely pause to take a breath! Our lives have completely changed in a single month. Instead of serene lake views, we see massive power lines overhead, children playing on dirt littered with broken beer bottles, and mothers carrying laundry on their heads! Our ears rarely hear birds singing or frogs croaking. Now we listen to loud, thumping Mariachi music through our windows. Heavy footsteps overhead creak our ceilings. Sirens wail, horns honk, the ice cream man jingles the bell on his little cart. The scent of fresh air has been replaced by an odd mix of pollution, spicy red chile sauce cooking, and fish stew wafting through the apartment. It's a whole new world!

What are we doing in the mix of all this? Here are a few of the things we've been up to.

Tim has tennis classes every morning for kids in our apartment complexes. Their mothers stand in the shade while the children practice hitting that pesky yellow ball.

We have learned to expect the unexpected. A "set-out" is a regular occurrence here. This happens when a family fails to pay their rent for several months. Eventually, the management has no choice but to evict the family. Sometimes the sheriff comes. All items from the apartment are put out in the parking lot and the door is locked. The adults frantically try to arrange for a truck to move their things, a motel to stay in for the night, and a new apartment complex to let them move in. Bewildered children cry and wonder what is happening. We have started an emergency "set-out" closet to provide food and drinks to families while they work to restore their lives.
Happier times occur, too! On Mother's Day, we bought several dozen roses. We walked around the complex knocking on doors and handing every mother a rose. It was a great opportunity to meet people and share Christ's love.
Walking around and meeting neighbors is something we do a lot! Our complex is 95% Hispanic, but we have met some African-American and Anglo neighbors, too. Imagine our surprise when we met this delightful couple from India! They are Hindus, but they said they had been to church when they visited America earlier. To them, Jesus is just another of their gods. We know He's the One True God. Pray for all our new friends.
Cathy teaches English classes on Wednesday mornings at Huntington Ridge. Women come with their children. Occasionally a man sneaks onto the scene to listen from the side. We sing the alphabet song and practice greetings and basic vocabulary.
In the Clarkston area of Atlanta, Cathy works in partnership with Terry Earl. They teach English, literacy and life skills to refugees from war-torn countries in Africa. It's great fun holding babies and laughing with our friends.

The after-school tutoring program at Huntington Ridge fills Tuesday afternoons during the school year. Children get off the bus and hurry to the tutoring room under the management office. Volunteers from our friends at Perimeter Church help with homework. Then it's time for playing outside, listening to a Bible story, and eating a yummy snack!

Andrei has played a huge part in our ministry. He loves to walk around outside and interact with the children. They are delighted with his car models, and the adults admire them, too. Andrei is baking lots of car cakes. This one was a big hit at the end-of-school party.
Thank you for praying for us and supporting our work among refugees and immigrants in Atlanta. We are excited to be part of what God is doing.