CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In a small third-floor room on the campus of Harvard University, about 20 people pack the space — some sitting on tables or windowsills — just before lunchtime on a Saturday to learn about the story of the Old Testament.
In 1994, Shimeles and Yutta Retta met the “Russian Mennonites,” or Aussiedler, who had recently moved from the former Soviet Union to Germany. Being recently converted to Christ, Shimeles, an Ethiopian refugee, and his German wife, both of Catholic background, were incorporated into and discipled by this conservative Anabaptist community.