Girls Group

On Mondays Robin and Charlie have a study at an apartment complex. Robin and 2 of our Mexican women have been teaching the women while Charlie and one of our Mexican teenagers have been working with the kids. While Robin and Charlie were gone, the 2 Mexican women agreed to teach the women, but they still wanted me to do a craft with the women. The teenage boy who had been helping with the kids joined a soccer team and could no longer come. This left me alone leading a big group of rough kids (rough neighborhood = rough kids). Then, each week one of the Mexican women would come relieve me of my duties with the kids long enough for me to go over and teach the women's craft. It was quite a circus!
This past Monday was the first time that Robin and Charlie would resume leadership of this group. I volunteered to go help Charlie with the kids because I understood very well that they are a lot for one person. The kids range in age from around 2 to around 13. This time we had a few more of the older "pre-teen" girls than usual. They were laying on their stomachs on the tarp working on a word search, and they asked me to help them. So, I got down on my stomach between them and began searching for words with them. They started talking to me VERY RAPIDLY, using a lot of slang that I don't know, and I was completely lost. I jokingly asked them to repeat what they had said in English. Their response? You speak English? Tell me how to say this word . . . and what about this word . . . . We had a great time, and I bonded with them very quickly. as we loaded up the van, one 11 year old girl in particular just kept giving me hugs, each one lasting longer than the one before. I was touched but a bit surprised at how quickly she had gotten so attached to me. She, as many of the kids in this neighborhood, clearly craves attention that is lacking in the home.

As I finally extracted myself from her to get in the van before Charlie drove off, my heart just couldn't let go. I felt like God was calling me to work specifically with this group of girls, separate from the rest. As I prayed about it over the next couple of days, I became more convinced that this is exactly what He is leading me to do. Please pray for me this coming Monday (Nov. 15) at around 5 pm as I attempt to begin this group. Pray that the girls will come, will be receptive, and that their lives will be changed as a result of what God desires to do. I am extremely excited about this and am praying that God will guide and direct me in every aspect of it.