Safe Haven

Save the Date: IN & IL

May 20, 2024Leave a comment

We’re in the States and would love to see you!

INDIANA

June 11 @ 7pm at the Bluffton AC Fellowship Hall

Nick & Amber will share new stories about the pastoral & clinical counseling work they are doing in the Middle East and their upcoming move to Budapest, Hungary! You’ll also get to hear from their international church pastor and his wife, who have been deeply involved in the counseling work with them! They bring a lifetime of harrowing stories from their work in the Middle East – and know all too well the need for intensive counseling for workers – particularly in this part of the world.

Continue reading →

BIG CHANGES

March 21, 2024March 21, 2024Leave a comment

For 3.5 years now we have lived and worked alongside an incredible team of counselors in a richly diverse and beautiful country in the Middle East. We have fallen in love with it in so many ways, poured our heart and soul into making friends, learning the language, and navigating life in a new culture – in addition to serving the expat community. It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve thrived in many ways in this place. We are SO grateful.

Continue reading →

A Year In Review

December 18, 2023December 18, 2023Leave a comment

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.

Continue reading →

Hard Decisions in Hard Places

November 22, 2023Leave a comment

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.

Continue reading →

Christmas Giveaway

November 13, 2023November 16, 2023Leave a comment

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!

Continue reading →

SAVE THE DATE: Aug 8

July 21, 2023July 21, 2023Leave a comment

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…

March 30, 2023March 30, 2023Leave a comment

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.

Continue reading →

Join us Sept 6

August 30, 2022August 30, 20222 Comments

Join us to hear more about what God’s been doing in our work and family in the last year. We’re excited to share authentic foods, stories and praises with you.

Sept 6, 2022

7:00 pm Indiana time

@ Bluffton AC Fellowship Hall, 1970 S 800 E, Bluffton, IN 46714

https://fb.me/e/5vc3U5lxv

Beyond Counseling…

July 22, 2022July 22, 2022Leave a comment

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.

Continue reading →

God is a Good Father

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022Leave a comment

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:

Continue reading →