Nau'to twibaounme

(from left to right: Lian Kim, Hau Khan, Pau Lam, Mang Chen)

Last July this family came into our life through Exodus, a local ministry that Dennis and I volunteer with. They had just arrived in Chicago from Malaysia, where they had fled to from Burma several years ago. As we sat across from one another in their cramped and humid apartment, we did not know what to think of eachother, and we struggled to exchange even our names across vastly different languages. I can't recall what followed that initial meeting, but we continued to visit, what we affectionately refer to, "our refugee family" each Wednesday night for the next 10 months.

Somewhere in the midst of doing math homework with Lian Kim, sorting through junk mail with Hau Khan, teaching Pau Lam to use an ATM, and watching Mang Chen take her first steps, this dear family made their way into our hearts...and we will never be the same.


They welcomed us into their home on the hardest of days; when another hopeful job had fallen through or when they had received a gas bill that seemed impossible to pay. It was in these times that we began to live life alongside them.


On Friday we said a final farewell to Pau Lam and family as they boarded a plane for Louisiana...a new home that we pray will give them the opportunity and means to give their family a better life. Through hugs (and a lot of tears), we said good-bye, and just like that first meeting last summer, no words were needed.

Nau'to twibaounme...We will meet again.