(RNS) — On a recent night, a mother in California found herself lying awake at 3:00 a.m., her mind racing. Unable to sleep, she tossed and turned for the next three hours, anxiously ruminating on the same question that has haunted her for years.
“All the time, I just think about it: How can I help my son?” she told Religion News Service in a recent interview. “I cannot think about anything else.”
It’s a personal agony that has long plagued Ava — which is not her real name, as she requested anonymity to be able to speak freely about her story — who is a refugee from Iran living in the U.S. While much of her family has resettled here, her eldest adult son remains in exile in Indonesia. A local church has sponsored his entry into the U.S., but he, like virtually all refugees seeking entry into the country, is currently in limbo after President Donald Trump’s decision to essentially freeze the U.S. refugee program entirely.
That includes people fleeing religious persecution. In her most trying moments, Ava says, she turns to that which has long given her family strength, even as it prevents her from ever returning to Iran, where she could face potential death: the Christian faith.
“I can pray,” Ava said. “We pray every day. We pray about it every night. Every day. Every morning. Every moment. We just pray for our son’s situation — to join us, and that God will open the doors for him to come with his family and start a new life in the United States.”
Ava and her family’s refugee story began roughly 20 years ago when her husband visited South Korea on a work trip. He joined a Christian church there and brought his newfound faith back with him to Iran, where he quietly participated in Bible studies. The family eventually fled to Indonesia, where Ava said she, too, converted to Christianity after a chance encounter in a shopping mall connected them to a Persian church, which they eventually joined.
“I decided to follow Jesus,” she said, adding that her younger son also came to embrace the faith while they lived there.
Over the next 10 years, the family lived in Indonesia while also seeking refugee status through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The process was agonizingly slow, but Ava’s family was eventually briefly resettled in Michigan before connecting with a church in California, leading them to finally put down roots on the West Coast.
But while Ava embraced their new beginning, it was tainted when her eldest son — who converted to Christianity and fled Iran to Indonesia later than the rest — was not initially approved for resettlement alongside the rest of his family.
Meanwhile, the family grew closer to their church congregation, with Ava and her husband joining a “home group.” It was through these gatherings they met fellow parishioners Taryn and Fernando Herrera.
“They are truly our family,” Fernando said, adding that Ava’s family has been “embraced by the congregation.”
Ava was equally effusive, describing her relationship with the church as “perfect,” and exclaiming, “we love them!”
