HELPING PARTNERS TO REACH THE UNREACHED

“At first glance, rolls of discarded artificial turf might not seem like much of a ministry opportunity,“ said Reach Beyond Missionary Dave Jolly, “But in God’s hands, anything is possible.”

“When we began planning this short-term trip to Athens, we thought we would be helping our partner, One Heart, do some light construction work on their medical clinic. But the permits from the government were being delayed, so that was not possible.”

Dave said, “Since we had a team ready to go, we began looking for what else God might have planned for us to do.”

“We began engaging with one of our partners who has been doing evangelistic ministry in Greece for decades. In fact, we had helped them build some recording studios many years ago. In recent years, this partner has expanded into doing a lot of work to reach refugees, including serving in refugee camps, and we’ve sent short-term teams from the US and UK to help them in their efforts.”

“Our partner replied that they desperately needed help at a camp where they had just begun working about five months ago. They asked if we could help them with renovating some of the ISO box homes to get them ready for new families to move in. This seemed like a great fit, so we made plans to move forward.”

Once the team arrived at the camp, they learned that the materials needed for the renovations hadn’t arrived.

GOD HAD OTHER PLANS

Dave explained, “So the camp authorities said, ‘You see these rolls of artificial turf here? We want you to unroll them, cut them apart, seperate them out, shake out all of the dust and dirt, and then go place them around the housing units of the camp.”

Dave said, “It was a very dirty job. Many of the rolls were very hard to lift or move. I cannot explain how heavy a piece of artificial turf is that had been soaked and caked with mud and water for two years. We had to use chainsaws and hacksaws to try to cut them apart. It was definitely hard work, but that is the task we were given. And this team never complained about anything. I could see that God was doing something in their hearts.”

During the first team meeting, the leader of our partner’s ministry at that camp shared that even though no one had raised funds and come all the way to the camp to install turf, and while it might seem like a waste of time, there was actually a bigger picture there. He explained, “We have to gain the trust of the camp. Once we gain the trust of the camp by doing the work they don’t want to do, then they open the door for us to do more, like doing the food program, or supplying clothing, or doing whatever.” He continued, “We have to do all of this junk to be able to have an impact on the refugee residents’ lives.”

Dave says, “And so once our partners explained the situation to our team, our team was like, ‘Ok, that’s great.’”

The camp itself has around 2,400 residents, and virtually all, if not all of them, are Muslims.

ClEARING ROCKY SOIL

Dave says, “When you really think about it, what we were actually doing through these piles of artificial turf was ‘clearing away rocks’ so our partner can do more ministry. And that realization was a tremendous encouragement to them and for our team.”

Throughout the week, God gave the team other opportunities to do ministry. Dave explained, “While we were there, 247 new residents came on one day. And three of us were able to go and do hygiene kits for the new arrivals. Probably half of them came without shoes. So, we handed out shoes and other things.”

Stephanie had volunteered for the team because she wanted to have meaningful conversations with refugees.

Dave recalls, “She was really looking forward to engaging with young refugees. She is gifted at that, and she does a lot of one-on-one discipleship with the youth at her church.”

“One afternoon, I looked over and suddenly saw Stephanie kind of sitting at a table, and three young girls, residents, had come over and just started talking to her. And that was Stephanie’s heart. So, she was really thankful that God gave her that opportunity to talk with them.”

As the team was working, they had other interactions with people from the camp. Dave explains, “We had this interesting thing come up several times where refugee residents came and offered to help, but then added that they just wanted to be paid as much as we were being paid. When some residents said this to Stephanie, she replied, ‘Well, I’m not getting paid.’ The residents were like, ‘What do you mean you’re not getting paid. Of course you’re getting paid.’ Stephanie responded, “No, I’m not getting paid.” They asked, “What do you mean?” Stephanie replied, “I chose to be here. I want to be here.” A young woman then asked, “Why?”

Dave said, “That brief exchange gave Stephanie the opportunity to open up a little bit and be able to talk with them for probably an hour and a half. So God gave us opportunities, even when and where we might not have originally expected them.”

Those conversations had a deep impact on Stephanie’s heart. Dave explained, “On Friday, when we had our final time in the camp, Stephanie was crying. She’s like, I want to talk more to those girls, I want to follow up with them.”

Dave says, “Our prayer for the girls that she talked to, and for the seeds that she planted, is that someone would soon be able to water them, and that God would make them grow.” •