LWML Serving New Americans
/
Vbs
Recently I spent a weekend in a part of St. Louis that I’d never visited. Along with three other LWMLers, I visited the CFNA Peace Center from July 8-10 to complete a servant event for the LWML. What a fabulous day we had!
We ladies vacuumed, pulled weeds, washed windows, dusted blinds, cleaned pews, bathrooms, and organized supplies. Some ladies from Nepal, and Heart to Heart Sisters Ayni Workeneh from Ethiopia and Beena Stanley from India assisted with mopping and cleaning the kitchen area. During a break we spoke with a volunteer who is assisting Deborah from Democratic Republic of the Congo and Maya from Nepal with their English language and job search. They were using a Rosetta Stone program and Microsoft Word on the computers.
sweeping up
cleaning up the playground
Later that afternoon, after a much needed shower back at our lodging about 10 minutes away (and an ice cream at Ted Drewes), we went back for a fun time of VBS with about 30 New American children at the Peace Center. We used the same VBS resources used at my church, Good Shepherd Lutheran in Centralia, earlier this summer. The music DVD, followed by crafts, and the Jesus Cares storytelling lesson were well received by such happy children. We ended our workday with a delicious meal of Indian cuisine made by the Stanish family with some assistance by the YWRs. God is good!
That evening we stayed nearby at St. Trinity so we could worship at the Peace Center with the Nepalese group on Sunday morning. It was lovely to hear nearly 50 worshippers praise God in their native tongue.
Special thanks to the kind soul who would cross the aisle to show us the scripture reference in our Bibles so we could follow along. We recognized the tune and actions to one of their praise hymns despite not knowing the words.
Certainly a lesson learned by us LWMLers had to do with how it feels to be in a setting where one does not know the language. We thank the Lord for this opportunity to serve and to meet the helpers and refugees at CFNA.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:7
Submitted by Ann Seider Vice President of Special Focus Ministries Missouri District LWML
