Fight! Fight!

As many of you know Amanda and I have been going to the DOMI house to volunteer. It's a home in our neighborhood for at-risk girls, many who have been on the streets. We have had mixed experiences, the first time we just talked with a few girls and threw frisbees, a novelty here! The pshychologist asked us to create a plan so we decided to commit to 12 weeks and to teach the Fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5. The second time Amanda got sick, so I went sola- and taught her lesson on love. I caught myself in the middle of it asking myself, am I really loving these girls because it was not going as planned! The next time we showed up ready with guidelines we wanted to follow and they were getting their hair done by a cosmotologist group practicuum. We invited Elita our Peruvian friend to come with us to get to know the ministry and help us with the slang they use. Each week it's something different, watching a special movie, Oliver Twist, or it's their birthday celebration. They were just finishing up singing to the girls who had had a birthday in October. I thought, how great! But then as we got settled in the tiny "library" we've been using there was a call for cheezitos so they all ran to get the snack, then a few minutes later the cake, then jello the third time. The girls were being pretty rude to us and I was already so it was not a good week. Elita finally told them to stop, she said there's a point to which you can joke but they were going to far. She gave us the full scoop as we were walking back to my house. I was dreading returning the next week when I was to teach on gentleness and the lesson finally came together just before we were to go. Of course, they were a lot more calm than we expected and even a staff member, Rosa, wanted to join. She shared her hope in working with these girls and we agreed that we wanted God's word to go with them as they confront many difficult experiences. Things seemed normal when we arrived on Friday. We got a pretty good group and were just starting the game, Fruit Salad! (A favorite of mine and great culminating activity as we were finishing the Fruit of the Spirit before Amanda headed to the States, literally) When one girl didn't want to participate and so the other had something to say about it and it escalted into an exchange of a few choice words, few of which I understood. When suddenly the both stood up and began kicking and pulling hair. They ended up in a headlock before we could do much and even as we were telling them to stop and let go of one another. A few girls tried to get in between to break it up but they continued to exchange words and kick ( the girls in the midle suffered as did Elita) They finally let go and we told them that that was not allowed and they'd have to leave. They didn't want to and I wasn't sure what to do but I thought to give them 2 options: excuse one another/ask forgiveness OR get out! One said I'll never excuse myself, she started it! We waited for them to respond and they finally chose to forgive one another, not whole heartedly but promised participate correctly. TENSION was high- Emotions were higher! I tried to continue like normal and when I looked over at Amanda she was on the verge of tears and that immediately struck a chord, and it was the best release I knew. I said in a broken voice, I'm gonna pray b/c this is not why we come. I prayed and the girls were all quiet so I tried to move on with the game. God knows what He's doing, giving us a perfect example of their need for Christ to change them and give them His spirit to allow them to have self-control! Amanda was able to teach the lesson and after we did a craft and they asked if she had cried because she was going to the States for a conference. She emphatically said no that it made her really sad to see that. During the lesson, someone called Elita out to describe what had happened and she later told us that the "educator" said that's how they resolve things on the streets! INCREDIBLE! Incredibly sad, actually! Elita was able to mention the affect watching so much television prbably has on the girls. It's a very sad situation at that home, please pray that God would be working ""something" in the lives of those girls and even the staff. I am definitely being taught and molded in our times there. Elita and I will continue go while Amanda is in the States and I hope to secifically talk about Jesus and his interactions with women and girls like them and their need for the gospel. Please pray for continued good ideas and trusting God in the results!
Thank you I'll post pics of them soon-The two girls are Naddia ( with me) and Wendy(center of 2nd, Amanda on right)!