July 17, 2026
There Aren’t Enough Words
Too often, we try to put words to things that don’t really have words.
How can you truly capture, with pen and paper, the stories that make up the lives of countless refugee families? They are stories of heartache, resilience, loss, and hope.
At City of Refuge, these are the stories unfolding every single day.
Stories of people who survived war in their home country, only to later lose a battle with cancer in this one. Stories of college acceptance letters—a glorious feat accomplished in a second language. Stories of financial burdens lifted. Stories of family reunification. Stories of driver’s licenses being obtained—and with them, newfound freedom. Stories of jobs lost as companies close, and the fear that follows as families wonder how they’ll make ends meet.
There simply aren’t enough words.
But these are the stories unfolding all around us.
Every person who walks through our doors carries a different story. A different history. A different framework through which they experience the world.
And our team meets them there.
Sometimes we’re navigating the complexities of one family’s trauma and immediately stepping into the joy of another’s celebration. Back-to-back appointments bearing different results, representing different parts of the world, speaking different languages.
It isn’t a light load to carry.
But it’s an important one.
Every day, City of Refuge has the privilege of walking alongside refugee families as they build safe, stable, and thriving lives here in mid-Missouri. While every story is different, each one reminds us that hope grows when people are welcomed, known, and supported by a caring community.
I hope you know that when you support City of Refuge, this is what you’re helping make happen every single day. You’re helping ensure that every individual—no matter their background, no matter their story—is seen, heard, and known.
Our words will never fully capture what it feels like to experience that kind of welcome after leaving everything behind. After witnessing horrors that most of us can’t begin to imagine. After living in a place where everyone else speaks a different language, and it’s so easy to feel overlooked… forgotten.
Thank you for enabling us to show up every day.
Thank you for helping us grow a team that serves and empowers refugee families through relational care, education, and development.
These words will never be sufficient. But maybe they can help us pause. To reflect. To remember—and truly see—our refugee friends. Our neighbors.
Each with their own story.
Each worthy of dignity.
Each worthy of love.
Each a recipient of the same mercies that are made new every morning.
Debbie Beal
Executive Director
