Dreams Alive: The Arab-American

Jan 2015

Alliance for Relief & Development

lorem ipsum
dolor sit amet.

page

Nothing says Christmas like the

look on the face of expectant
children! In the weeks leading
up to Christmas we were able
to give over 500 refugee kids a
Christmas party! We actually
had two parties: One for
Muslim kids & one for Christian
kids. Each group heard the
amazing account of the birth
of Jesus; sang songs of Gods
love, and received gifts in His
precious Name. Thank YOU for
your generosity! Together we
blessed so many wee ones!

KIDS CHRISTMAS OUTREACH BRINGS GREAT JOY

(AND LOTS & LOTS OF SANDWICHES)
While visiting Iraq in October to minister among refugees fleeing the war in Syria and the evil army
known as The Islamic State, I met people that spoke of their wives & daughters being kidnapped &
sold into sex-slavery. Some of the girls had escaped & spoke of other girls that committed suicide.
Men talked to me about seeing their brothers, sons, & fathers executed, some decapitated & their
bodies cruelly displayed in public. Then the Anglican Bishop of Bagdad reported that four Christian
children under the age of 15 were killed by IS because they would not deny their faith in Christ!
As I travelled I saw thousands of refugee kids sitting around, no school, nothing to do. What horrors
had they seen? What pain, fear, or other emotion is etched in their minds? And if the soldiers of IS
came in the name of God, what do the kids now think of God? Haunted by these thoughts I prayed
and asked the Lord, What can we do? The answer was clear: Go & bless them in My Name. Show
them some love. Yes, that sounded like Jesus. In MT 19 we read, Then children were brought to him
that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, Let the
little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.

- aliquam.

Serving sandwiches & milk to the kids

Prayerfully a plan formed to reach as many refugee kids as

we could & have a Christmas party, give each child a
backpack filled with toys & useful stuff. We needed a large
crew to do the preparation. We approached friends in Iraq
but they didnt have the staff to support such a big project.
So we turned to our friends in Jordan, home to more than 2
million Iraqi & Syrian refugees! We contacted my friend,
Pastor Haythem of an Evangelical Church in Amman. This
church has been ministering to refugees since 2008 and
now has a team of 30 people serving refugees on a daily
basis. Haythem loved the idea, some initial funds were
sent & his team prepared gifts.
Continued on page 2

Dreams Alive

January 1, 2015
After the kids received their backpacks, I
had the joy of giving a Childrens Bible as
Pastor Haythem gave each child a coupon
for a winter coat. We blessed more than
250 kids that evening; one of the happiest
times in my life as a pastor & missionary.
Oh yeah, and the kids had fun too! LOL
After the 2nd party, this one to Syrian
Muslim children, this little refugee girl,
with a grateful heart, picked up a broom &
started cleaning. Could it be that she has
caught the contagious love of Jesus & now
wants to share it with others? YES!

Continued from page1: The ministry team in Jordan, many of whom are
refugees themselves, seek out & serve refugees in Amman. They visit in
homes & camps, providing mattresses, kerosene heaters, food, Bibles, &
clothing. They also look for people interested in learning more about the
love of Christ and when they find them, they have weekly Bible Studies! By
Gods grace many Muslims come to faith in Christ & they are being taught
how to study their Bible & how to live for Christ! Some of them are so
excited about their newfound faith that they dont want to immigrate to
safer, democratic countries, as so many other refugees. No, these dear ones
want to go back to Syria & Iraq to share the Gospel with their own people!
This literally means risking their lives. First they want more Bible & church
leadership training. Sadly, the few government-approved Bible Colleges in
the region are prohibited from admitting former Muslims to their schools.
Ive been asked to consider providing a school. Please join me in prayer
that God will show us the way to do that.
It was quite a privilege to serve with the teams in Amman and Iraq
and to represent YOU our Dreams Alive partners! Through your generosity we were able to give
over $37,000 in Iraq & Jordan and bless so many Syrian & Iraqi refugees in just the last 3 months!
Thank you for your trust in Sue & I. With over 9 million refugees the work will go on, so please stay
with us & lets see what the Lord will do in 2015!
Meeting friends old & new! The Lord
pleasantly surprised me with a chance
encounter in Amman with my friend
Thomas (left) who I had not seen we both
lived in Egypt in the 1980s! Thomas has
been serving in the region over 30 years!
My new friend Ali (right) is a Syrian
refugee. He has 3 wives & 27 children!
We shared breakfast & Bible Study
together. Ali lost his peace in Islam & now
studies the Bible with a former Muslim.