Stories of Hope

God has greatly blessed my life through many of the refugees who have settled in my small hometown of Willmar, MN. Through a sewing program in my town, I have been able to meet and become friends with many of our Somali neighbors. I felt compelled to

During this time of social distancing due to COVID-19, starting a church refugee garden might be an ideal way to support and love our refugee neighbors. How would you feel if you were a farmer, and suddenly, you were landless? Feeling a lack of purpose, connection, even

A needle and thread might be just the tools needed to stitch hearts together in Willmar, MN. Melissa Scheele founded the Rey’a Community Arts sewing program in 2017, and since then she has watched great friendships form through the 8-week sewing class. This one-on-one teaching program held

The most succinct answer to this question is that God loved me first, which is why I can have love for anyone. As 1 John 4:19 says, we love because He first loved us. But in fleshing that out, the reason we love anyone is because we

I often felt like I was running from one thing to the next. I would come home from work and grab a bite to eat and open Zoom for the next class. I emailed the link. I waited. I emailed again. I did other paperwork while I

My friend Rachel and I have been tutoring the six children of a Somali family in Hopkins for the past couple years. It has been such a joy and blessing to get to know each member of the family, and to see the children learn and grow.

Jeff, a Church Team Leader, has been volunteering at a food shelf to help out during the Coronavirus pandemic. The food shelf, located in a rural area, was continually having an overabundance of rice, due to a lower demand from the residents of that area. Jeff, and

I love teaching English language learners.  I also love learning from English language learners, because they are the best teachers.  My first teaching experience was through a refugee resettlement agency at a library in Indiana to learners who were mostly from Burma/Myanmar.  The room was consistently packed with students

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” Hebrews 10:24  “Would you be able to find Awali’s* family a tablet or a laptop? The one they have isn’t working and the school district said they have to wait, as many are having

In the immigration world, nothing moves quickly. Add social distancing and a government shutdown, and that slow crawl could grind to a halt. Thanks to technology and the willingness of those we serve, we at Arrive Ministries are still connecting with our clients. Although nothing beats meeting