"We can have water anytime! My children aren't afraid the food will run out now. They only take what they need because they know there will be more."

Pastor Augustin smiled.

"It's good to be here after so long. It is an answer to your prayers, Pastor Tim. For all those years, you came to us in Dzaleka. And now we are here!"

How long?

I sat in the small dining room of my friend's new apartment in Fargo, ND, with him, his wife, and a neighbor talking about their new life since they'd resettled here in the U.S. a year ago. His six bright-eyed children ran in and out from the other room, laughing and playing around us.

I thought of all the times I'd gotten on a plane on the other side of the world, my heart breaking because I was leaving my friends behind to carry on their lives in the refugee camp without a future. I'd often asked God, "How long?" My friend Pastor Augustin had asked the same question many times in his prayers during two decades in the camp. Now, they were starting fresh, and my heart filled with joy seeing their hope and satisfaction.

"The church here welcomed us!"

Over our meal, fixed lovingly by his wife, we talked about our lives and memories. I pulled up pictures on my phone of our time together back in camp in Malawi. "It feels so far away now," I said.

"The church here welcomed us very well," Pastor Augustin told me. He talked about the adjustment to start a job after so many years of being unable to work a financially paying job in the camp. He spoke of his children's schooling.

Then, since it was happening that week, we talked about the Super Bowl and how it's a significant cultural event. I mentioned the team jersey I'd be wearing. "We'll cheer for the same team," Pastor Augustin laughed, his eyes filled with fun.

Thank you for giving my friends a future.

As the evening ended, Pastor Augustin promised to bring his family to visit me and my wife in Illinois for a weekend. The sweetness of the reunion and the joy of answered prayer lingered in my heart as I stepped out of the apartment building into the cold winter night.

The snow fell heavy on me as I walked to my car. "From the heat of Africa to the snowstorms of North Dakota," I thought, smiling. "God, thank you for caring for my friends through all these years and all these miles. Thank you for answering our prayers and giving them a future."

CLICK HERE to learn more about our work in Dzaleka refugee camp!