Heading Back

Refugees have been on my heart ever since I came home from my previous trip to Iraq in April 2015. Sitting with them inside their camps and seeing what has become their new "normal" was very humbling... Hearing some of their stories, looking into the faces of women and children, and not being able to grasp what they were going through was life changing for me. What was also touching was that they welcomed myself and my teammates to sit with them, to have tea and to simply be with them.

This coming spring I am heading back to Iraq along with about eleven others to go serve refugees (you can learn more about the trip below). I would greatly appreciate your prayers as my teammates and myself prepare to go serve...

• Please pray for us as we prepare both practically and spiritually.
• Please pray that we will be unified as a team; that we will be quick to serve, love and forgive each other.
• Please pray that we would stay healthy and that we would enter the trip well-rested.
• Please pray for our hosts, they are incredible people! We are excited to serve with them and overall we want to be a blessing to them.
• Please pray for our time spent with the refugees, that we would be an encouragement to them and through us they would see Jesus.
• Please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide our conversations and interactions.

If you feel led to give towards my trip, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I would love to hear from you. alhcreative@yahoo.com

Thank you, friends.

Blessings, Ashley

About the Trip

Hear The Cry has felt called into Iraq due to the turmoil and refugee situations. To a country that for the most part, nobody is going into. Jesus calls us into the places that everybody else is running away from . We want to run into this beautiful historic country in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq to love like Jesus, work with the orphans and refugees, and to offer education.

We believe education is a major culture shaper in the future of a country when it comes to poverty alleviation, equality in education, and even the education around beliefs and religion.  This type of education is huge to opening doors of acceptance and mercy.  

On the ground, Billy Ray and his family have been living in northern Iraq for the past six years and has been working with the mayor on a community center school for skills training, english classes and Kurdish classes.  Our partnership with Billy Ray and Restore International will help launch this school.  Last fall as the school was being developed, 120 people hiked over the mountains when Isis took over their village, and came to safety, and are now living as refugees on this property. This is where we will make our home for the week.  

Our teams will spend time with the refugees during the days.  Helping to winterize or de-winterize their tents, provide them with food and provisions for cooking, listen to their stories, and build relationships with them.  In the afternoons we will work with the kids in an after school program that offers music, arts, games, help with homework, and a place for the children to continue to learn.  Our evenings will be spent with the team.

For more information contact info@hearthecry.org