Assimilate Or Go Home: My Misadventures Among the Somali Muslim Refugees of Portland

Determined to save the world, one soul at a time, nineteen-year-old D. L. Mayfield left her conservative Christian home to become a missionary to Somali refugees in Portland, Oregon. But after a decade proselytizing, she realized that she had not converted one single Muslim. I am pretty much the worst missionary ever, she despaired.

Yet in her time working with these displaced people, Mayfield’s eyes were opened to something much bigger. I started to read the Scriptures with new eyes, informed by the people who the Bible was written by and to-the people at the margins of society. And it was so much better than I could have believed. The blessings of Jesus were to be found in the most unexpected places. The kingdom is real, alive, and changing everything-liberating, setting free, healing, and preaching news that is actually truly good, in the here and now.

Assimilate or Go Home is the story of her awakening. Mayfield shows us how God’s love is transforming lives, and makes clear that instead of saving the world, we can join God’s party by loving all of our neighbors-especially those on society’s edge. With vulnerability and a touch of humor, Mayfield reflects upon how her faith was challenged, and urges all of us to reconsider our concepts of justice, love, and being a citizen of this world-and the kingdom of God.