Mary Wilkin, a seasoned landlord, felt content renting out several properties and did not plan on buying any additional properties. However, when a refugee crisis was caused by the fall of Afghanistan, Mary’s heart began to change.
“I was very moved by this crisis. I’ve always had a heart for the Middle East,” she shares.
At the same time, Mary’s church began forming a Good Neighbor volunteer team. Mary curiously perused Arrive Ministries’ website and saw that landlords were needed to rent to refugees. Mary began to pray:
Lord, do you want me to buy something else?”
Amidst a hot housing market, Mary and her realtor found a duplex that was bigger, nicer, and more affordable than others she had previously found.
After sharing her hopes to use the property to rent to refugee families, the seller accepted her offer over higher offers.
If this was on God’s heart and what He wanted me to do, I knew God was going to provide for it.”
Mary shares that there are joys and struggles in renting to a refugee family, finding the language barrier to be a hurdle, but one that isn’t insurmountable.” Mary reminisces of laughter-filled times when exchanging gestures while communicating with the teenage daughters of the family.
Arrive Ministries placed a family of 11 in the duplex owned by Mary. This family was matched with the Good Neighbor team from Mary’s church. Over the following year, Mary has had the privilege of watching the family grow in numerous ways. In addition to witnessing the special connection grow between the Good Neighbor team and the Afghan family.
My life has been touched. The realtors, the sellers, my church group, and the Good Neighbor volunteers have all been touched by this family.”
At Arrive Ministries, one of the ways we seek to love refugees is by showing love in a practical way. We thank Mary for demonstrating love for her neighbors through renting her duplex to refugees.
