We are very grateful that the Almasri family arrived safely on January 9. After greeting them at the airport and driving them to their (thanks to you all) furnished apartment, we left them to settle for the night. Shopping with them for needed food through the past week has been a great experience for us and them, as other shoppers ask if they are refugees and then thank us for helping them. Even in one case, giving money to help them buy food. “We would like to help”. We accept their thanks and gifts on your behalf. The last week we did a lot of work with them registering for English classes, and familiarizing them with all the services available to them in the community. Two of the family speak quite good English — son Ahmed, who has an economics degree, and daughter Asmaa, who has been working on a degree in computer communication. We will, in the next week, be meeting with agencies to evaluate their degrees and determine the need for further courses to enable them to work within their chosen fields. The parents, Mahmoud and Badiaah, as well as their eldest son, Mohamad, speak little English. They will be starting English classes sometime in the next two weeks as well as joining conversation circles at local settlement services. They are a devout Muslim family and have been to the local prayer rooms. We will be finding the nearest mosque for them to worship at next week. They are very grateful to begin a new life here after living through the destruction of their home in Damascus, suffering imprisonment, and surviving for three years in Lebanon. I would like to acknowledge a generous donation from IKEA, a queen size bed with all the linens. The remainder of the furniture and household needs were donated by members of this church and the wider community. The family will get some government assistance for 6 months, however we are committed to supporting them for a full year. They are very anxious to get to work to become self-supporting.