From a Team Expansion worker:
Seeking family-to-family Gospel-sharing relationships, we recently showed up at a newly arrived Yemeni family’s home with a welcome gift: toiletries, cleaning supplies, and more. We were immediately invited in and had a great conversation, with plans to spend more time together.
Salim and his wife Laila* welcomed us warmly, introducing us to their two young sons. They shared that Salim’s mother had arrived with them, living upstairs. Salim and Laila had good English and shared what had surprised them about the United States: the absence of people outside, the frigid Michigan winter, and the loneliness of being new in a strange place.
Two days later, I received several frantic late-night texts and voice messages from Laila about difficulties in her home. She said that her mother-in-law does not like her. In Yemen, where she earned a university degree and worked before their children were born, her relationship with her mother-in-law was not strained, but the families lived in separate apartments. In her voice messages, Laila was upset and crying because her mother-in-law was criticizing her and telling Salim to divorce her. Laila said she loved her husband but was afraid his mother was changing him and that he wouldn’t love her.
We did not know what to do, so my husband and I prayed and sought counsel from a friend with more experience in this kind of work. At the same time, I wondered why she would contact me, having only met me once for an hour. But circling inside my head was “trust and obey, trust and obey.”
I knew I needed to call and pray for her, though it was late. I wasn’t even sure if she would answer the phone. She did, and first, I wanted to make sure she was safe – not abused – as it was hard to tell from the voice messages. She was safe, but so discouraged and in despair. As I prayed with her on the phone, Laila stopped crying, and I believe she felt the peace that only the Great Comforter provides.
We made plans to meet the next day with another friend at a local coffee shop. Laila’s English is great, and one of the first things she shared was why she had texted initially. That night, as Laila hid and prayed alone in her room, she felt prompted to reach out. Laila shared that she asked herself, “I don’t even know her, why would I call this woman?”
Laila paused, confidently pointed around the table, and said, “God has arranged our meeting.”
We listened and prayed with Laila, and my friend and I shared stories of difficulties in our lives and how Jesus is our hope. We talked about forgiveness. “How can I forgive my mother-in-law?” Laila asked. “I don’t want an angry heart. I need a new heart.”
“Will you study Joseph’s life with us?” my friend replied. Joseph’s life was difficult, yet he trusted God. Laila agreed to study together with us. She wants to forgive and love her mother-in-law and for her mother-in-law to love her and her sons. She wants to preserve her family and her marriage.
I can’t stop thinking about how one hour with a family turned into such a wonderful relationship with an openness to talk about Jesus and the difference only he can make in our lives.
