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A Year In Review

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Merry Christmas, friends! 

It’s been a whirlwind year for us, nestled in the Middle East with wars to the North, to the South East, massive earthquakes, an overwhelming need for counseling, and a limited staff. We’ve also faced many of our own instabilities with internal government and visa issues. We certainly have felt the weight of the world in some fresh ways this year. And while there is more that we’ll share in the coming weeks about that, we wanted to just reflect on some of the ways we served – both in our community and to cross-cultural workers who are in the trenches in incredibly difficult areas.

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Hard Decisions in Hard Places

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Israel, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, Russia… you’ve heard these countries a lot in the news. What you may not hear are the unique challenges many cross-cultural workers in those countries are facing. Questions abound. Should they pull out? When will it be too late to leave? Should they stay and help their friends? At what cost? Is staying too much for them? For their spouse? For their children? Where do they go next? How can they even begin to deal with their personal struggles when they seem absolutely dwarfed by the mass of needs all around them?

These are just some of the reasons we have a counseling center in this part of the world. When traumas like this happen or the fear and uncertainty take a long-term toll on someone’s mental health, they need an easy-to-access place for care. Nick and our team of counselors work hard to provide life-giving counseling in each of these situations and plenty more.

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Christmas Giveaway

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This Christmas season, our team has put together 6 lovely gift baskets full of self-care items to foster gratefulness and connection. These would make terrific Christmas gifts, or be something to enjoy yourself throughout the winter and year to come.

Make a year-end donation of any amount to Safe Haven Travelers by December 9 and you might be selected to receive one of these six baskets!

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SAVE THE DATE: Aug 8

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We are coming to the States for a brief (and very busy!) month in August and would love to see you! Our main chance to catch up with you will be at our Safe Haven event:

Tuesday, August 8, 7:00 pm

AC Fellowship Hall, Bluffton, IN

Join us to:

  • hear stories of healing from our counseling work & ministry
  • get personal updates on life in the Middle East and the political / visa climate
  • sample ethnic foods

We hope it’ll be an encouraging night for you all! Please consider taking time to come hear what God’s doing around the world.

When Natural Disasters Strike…

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On February 6, a 7.8 earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, quickly followed by a 7.7 earthquake later that same day. In the following days, countless volunteers and workers from around Türkiye and the world would learn of the devastation and try to reach out to help. The death toll currently sits at over 56,000, but will likely continue to increase. Our staff psychologist describes these first weeks as the “heroic” stage of disaster response, a time when many people pushing themselves to their utter limits to try and rescue whoever they can. But as we all recognize, we can’t live in these states forever and relief workers often find themselves feeling disillusioned and hopeless in the months following days. 

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Beyond Counseling…

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I recently came across an article talking about how our closest relationships can suffer during times of intense stress. And let’s be honest, life can be stressful! For those who have moved overseas, there’s a season of intense change, culture shock, language barriers, etc. As everything feels more difficult, we may find ourselves turning away from or even against the most important people in our lives. If you recognize something of yourself in this description, consider the questions in this article as potential conversations starters with the people you’re closest to.
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God is a Good Father

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Nick, LMHC originally wrote this for the counseling center

The book of Jeremiah presents to us the voice of a grieving prophet having lived through a transition from the relatively stable nation of Israel under King Josiah through its utter destruction. We can hear the echoes of the despairing and bereft within his text, but he also provides us with a voice that we so often need in life: the voice of a good parent.

Jeremiah 30-31, the so-called Book of Consolation, speaks to an alienated people, living out the insecurity of a refugee life, hopes lost in foreign lands and weighed down under the rule of foreign gods. How could people whose home has been taken away find home again? Baruch writes of a divine command to the people that they call out to the Lord and follows it up immediately with God’s response:

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AN EXPAT CHRISTMAS

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Every expat can tell you stories of holidays overseas. I’ve been watching moms across our city search for advent calendars, cream cheese, peppermint sticks… anything to make the holidays feel like “normal” from their lives before. Other times, I think, it’s in a genuine effort to share what a “western” Christmas looks like with their friends and neighbors who haven’t ever experienced it before.

We are learning a new dance between the traditions and family gatherings and abundant holiday lights from our home culture, and the quieter, distant culture here that doesn’t celebrate at all. In a sense, we’re finding a new balance between worlds.

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Collaboration in Counseling

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Nick works with a lot of families and couples living all over the world. Here, he gets the privilege of collaborating with a team of therapists to provide better care for entire families.


Here’s a few examples of the types of issues the counselors address:

  • A child with a new mental health diagnosis may lead to our helping the family learn and practice new way of working together both for the well-being of the child and the rest of the family
  • A traumatic event (e.g. a political coup or a scary evacuation) may lead to children and parents learning how to process and make sense of what they’ve experienced
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