Embrace Befriender Testimony #1
As the Embrace project continues to expand and develop we thought it would be helpful to post a few articles on the blog this week that will help to provide a glimpse into what is going on. In this first post one of our befrienders shares her testimony of how her befriending relationship is working out:
Q. What made you want to get involved in Embrace?
A. I have always had a passion to come alongside and support women and families who have been trafficked and this has been something that has been on my heart for many years so when I received the e-mail from Red Community about Embrace I knew I just had to get involved.
Q. How has the experience been thus far?
A. I met my befriendee roughly four months ago and see her weekly for a few hours. ‘G’ is from Eastern Europe and speaks little to no English. My involvement initially was to simply support ‘G’ with her English and for the first few months this is what we did with help from google translate. We would head out for coffee and I’d help her with her English. It was great to see ‘G’ develop in her language skills although it wasn’t easy using a phone every time I wanted to say something to her and vice versa, however we muddled through and it’s now just part of how we communicate together. During our support sessions, it came to light that ‘G’ who was pregnant had no one to support her when she was giving birth and this literally broke my heart. I spoke to her support worker and it was agreed, if ‘G’ was happy, that I would be available to support her when her baby was born, what better way to show the love of Jesus and be his hands and feet! It was with such a joy and with great emotion that ‘G’ recently had her baby girl and I was there supporting her during her delivery, I even got to cut the cord. This was such a great honour and something I will never forget.
Q. How do you see that Jesus is using this Befriending relationship for both you and your new friend?
A. Even though ‘G’ speaks little English, I really feel she knows she is loved by me, her friend. She may not always be able to understand my words but she understands my actions and I am excited to continue befriending ‘G’ and her family. I would say that befriending has shown me what it means to love like Jesus, love without expectations and agenda.
Q. Why would you suggest others to get involved in Embrace?
A. It is a pleasure to be involved with Embrace and I would recommend it to anyone who has a few hours a week to support someone who simply needs a friend, and isn’t that who Jesus is, our friend?