We are thankful for the many people in the Mission 98 community who work to love, serve, and teach residents in apartment communities about Jesus, people like Shauna and Leonard Xerri.
Shauna and Leonard believe their mission is to reach refugee families with the gospel message of Jesus Christ. They believe the Lord is able to establish disciples from around the world who will go on to share Christ with their own people groups. Leonard and Shauna conduct mission work in the midst of an established apartment community in Nevada where the government relocates families from war-torn and persecuted countries.
Here’s more from Shauna.
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“Miss Shauna… my friend is new. You can help her?”
A new yet tentative face under the wrap of a hijab came into view through the doorway of our classroom as our English learning was underway.
I hugged the student who introduced this brave, new young woman and in turn, the new young woman hugged me, too. She trusted her new friend that I was a safe person who could help her in this journey to resettling in America as a refugee looking for hope.
So much trust… I thought to myself.
Three years displaced by war. Five days in America. This young woman has endured much. And the changes in her life? Nothing short of exponentially drastic! As she arrives in Las Vegas, the city of neon lights, from a small, dusty village in Afghanistan, she has left behind the known and exchanged it for all things new.
New language. New culture. New foods. New people. New way of doing absolutely everything.
All things new… for a future God has designed for her and her husband.
This is the story of every refugee who steps into the resettlement process in America. Refugees are displaced by tragedy, every one of them. They flee from their homes, in most cases with nothing but the clothes on their backs, as war and persecution scatter families globally. They are searching for safety and hoping to find it here.
You and me? We know God has an even bigger purpose in it all. We get to be the tangible hands and feet, the smiles and hugs, the representation of Jesus Christ. What a high and humbling honor! We pray that they find eternal hope here.
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Should you want to connect more with Shauna, find her in the Mission 98 Community
