Over the past month St. Paul’s UMC
in Scranton has had the privilege
of welcoming refugees from the
Congo. One Sunday we were visited by
a couple who spoke very little English.
We did our very best to welcome them in,
greeting them and offering them snacks
and the bread that we give away. To our
surprise, they returned the next week
with their children. Halfway through the
service, the church phone rang and we
found out that there was another group of
refugees waiting outside to come in. They
were let in, and after the service we found
out that they had walked 1.8 miles from
the other side of Scranton to be with us for
worship. We have since begun offering
rides to and from church, and the number
of refugees attending has continued to
grow to the point that we are making five
trips to bring them to church.
After a plea on Facebook we were
fortunate to make a connection with Amy
Kuiken, a member of Trucksville UMC,
who is a French professor from Wilkes
University. She and her husband, Jonathan,
who is a history professor at Wilkes, and
their children were able to join us on a
Sunday to help us communicate to a few
of the adults who spoke French. Amy and
Jonathan were able to go back to Wilkes
and share our story with a professor in the
anthropology department, who has since
visited with our families and helped us
gain a Swahili translator for a few weeks.
Read the full story on page 3 of the November Susquehanna LINK.
