COVID-19 restrictions may have prevented the annual Thanksgiving celebration at our church in Sacramento, California. But it didn’t stop our Arab-American Learning Center (AALC) ministry team from delivering more than 100 Thanksgiving gift baskets to overlooked refugees in our community.
Each basket contained food items and a gospel tract in the Arabic language titled “Help from Above.” “We prayed that just as the families opened the doors of their homes to receive these gifts, that they would open the doors of their hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ,” says AALC Director Raed Awabdeh. “May they indeed find their help and refuge through the gospel.”
Jean, an AALC team member who helped deliver the gift baskets, reports, “I felt the Lord’s compassion and love for a struggling single woman who is needy and lonely. She was so thankful when I was able to share with her and pray for her through an interpreter friend.”
“My highlight of the day was seeing the children help carry the gift baskets as they guided us to their neighbors to receive them,” Raed adds. “We continue to obey the Great Commission by going to make disciples of all nations—God is so good!”
adapted from a report by Raed Awabdeh, director of the Arab-American Learning Center of Sacramento, California