Iranians in Diaspora #1
Bitterness does not have the final word
By Tom Boone
Associate Director for Mission
The cherry tea we drank tonight among Iranians in a small house church needed some sugar to become fully alive in its taste. This image was powerful for me in thinking about the story of Asafeh and Rambod, which we are sharing with you in this blog. Through Christ, the bitterness of their journey does not have the final word. Instead, their’s is a story made sweet by the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. A sweetness that shines in their hospitality, is heard through the beauty of their worship, and is expressed in their faithful work as part of SafeHouse.
They became Christians in Iran through SafeHouse, the ministry of our partner Dariush Golbaghi and his wife Hodeis. Using social media, SafeHouse reaches Iranians throughout Europe and Iran with worship, counseling, Bible studies, and satellite television programming. His ministry is very popular receiving tens of thousands of hits monthly. All of it is free for Persian-speaking people.
Asafeh and Rambod are shining examples of those who have responded positively to Dariush’s ministry. Their home was marked with images of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” We gathered around several types of tea. We grilled skewers upon skewers of kabobs and ripe tomatoes and scooped from an abundance of saffron rice. One team member commented, “this is just a shadow of the feast waiting for us with Jesus!” Amen sister.
Our worship at this house church was filled with prayers, singing, and tears, and Elaine brought teaching from Psalm 22. Yes, the Lord is our shepherd and we shall not want, but as David sings in Psalm 22 and as Jesus quoted from the cross, sometimes it feels like God has left us alone. “God, God…my God! Why did you dump me miles from nowhere? Doubled up with pain, I call to God all the day long. No answer. Nothing.” (Ps 22:1-2, MSG). Elaine could not have known just how much the Spirit intended these words to bless this particular group.
Asafeh and Rambod, as generous as they were in their hospitality, have been denied residency four times. Each time is a full-day ordeal of questioning. Four times over six years they have heard “No.” This government is not sympathetic to Christians seeking asylum. After the first denial years ago, they no longer receive their 40 euro per week allowance. Their story is filled with heart-wrenching details but shining through all that is their persistent faithfulness to Jesus.
They should be living in a refugee camp, but miraculously they were allowed to rent the house in which they live. Asafeh said, “God gave us this house as a gift, and we use it for His glory.” For example, a Muslim teenager from Afghanistan arriving after they did and to whom they provided refuge received his residency about three years ago. While he was with them, they brought him to the Lord through their kindness and exposing him to the Bible and the living Lord. Asafeh has to do something to earn money, so she caters and is a mother. Still, she makes time to be part of SafeHouse’s ministry by conducting a ministry of prayer and counseling with 70 women in Iran, some Muslim, and they are becoming followers of Christ as well.
Jesus said, “the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” With Dariush and SafeHouse, we are humbled to be in the presence of a few of the laborers of the harvest. Much of the work of Safehouse is done through social media and conducting seminars with refugees in Turkey, Georgia, and Greece. For security purposes, we aren’t able to share this work with you. If you would like to learn more about SafeHouse please write tom@theoutreachfoundation.org and see this link my-safehouse.com.
