Back from Macedonia, with a story to tell.
We returned Saturday after a week serving refugees in a camp on the Macedonia-Serbia border. It was an incredible trip with 7 young people from Austria making up our first student missions trip from Graz. Our days were spent serving tea to the refugee community in a temporary camp at the border. Once the tea was ready a part of the team was able to spend time talking to the adults and young people while others played with children. Our focus was to share the joy of Christ with those who are living in rather hopeless situations. 1,500 people were in the camp we visited. Right now there seems to be no solution for how they can move on from this temporary location. Borders further north are closed and leaving the camp could lead to being deported back to the home country or Turkey.
Most of the people we met were looking for something to break the monotony of living in the camp for 6 weeks already. The housing and food situation were less than ideal, but one thing was helpful, a hot cup of tea. In the home cultures of most of the refugees tea plays a pivotal role as the cultural glue that holds communities together and forms a basis for relationships. I really had never seen anyone so happy to get a cup of tea as these wonderful people who had gone without their traditional drink for the previous 3 days due to restrictions placed on the organizations volunteering to serve in the camp.
As you can see from some of the pictures we've shared below our aim of bringing joy was successful. We had the chance to share about our lives, here from those we served, and bring a small amount of hope that people outside the camp were still concerned for their well-being.
Thank you for being a part of sharing the joy and love that God has for every person regardless of label, origin, status or situation. We appreciate your help and hope you are encouraged with us to continue to share hope with all those around us.
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Playing Volleyball- no net needed.
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Some happy faces-after tea and games
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We met some great artists who only needed supplies.
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Passing out tea, Both sweet and unsweetened
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STL van selfie - Thanks STL and NWMN youth!
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Thank you for partnering with us. Whether you pray for us, make a one-time or monthly donation, or send us encouraging notes we want you to know it makes a difference and we are all in this great adventure of reaching students in Austria together.
Currently we have less financial support coming in every month than budgeted and committed. This is not a sustainable situation, so if you can help us with a one-time gift, make or increase a commitment to help us monthly or pass our email on to someone you think might be interested, it would be greatly appreciated. You can make a donation or commitment by following the link below.
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