Created with a Purpose

The whole week before the meeting I thought and thought about what to say and how to start interacting with these teenage girls who have such a different reality from my own.

How many would come? Would they be noisy, talkative, attentive, out of control, or a mixture of all of the above?

I thought about the fact that many of these girls know nothing about the Bible and about God and salvation. Prayerfully, I decided that a good place to start would be talking about two things: 1- Their purpose here on earth (why do we exist?) and 2- God (his character and his relevance to mankind). Hence, the picture above-- we discussed that God was creator (how wondrous and glorious His creation!), pure, and accessible.

On the Sunday before my first meeting I ran into Tia Sandra. The first words out of her mouth was that I should talk to the girls about sexual purity. She mentioned that many of them had been coming pregnant to the meetings, bringing one baby after another to the community center. They are young and do not live in a healthy environment that encourages them to save themselves and their bodies.

I have to admit that I wasn't too thrilled about this topic! How could I possibly talk about this subject in a way that would make sense and not seem too Utopian to a group of girls entrenched in a sexually promiscuous environment? Along with this concern, how could I encourage them to be pure if they did not yet know the Person who Created them to be pure? I do not want them to be pure for morality's sake-- I want them to be pure because they want to please the One who created them for a very special purpose. Yet, I talked with God about this and felt encouraged to try my best and see what came from it... I found a great book translated into Portuguese that dealt with some deep issues in that area and decided to read a chapter to them.

Thursday night came and along with it came the butterflies in my stomach. Tia Sandra told the girls that they would be having a special meeting and off we went into her living room. A young woman named Juliana came along with us (she has been helping out for the past three months) and was assigned to be my "helper". I looked out into their faces and my eyes met 4 pairs of very shy eyes and curious eyes. I began introducing myself and suddenly the door opened and a wild-haired girl snuck in and sat in the corner. I asked her to come closer and she tentatively sat near Juliana.

The meeting went by quickly. I taught them an "adult" song (they have been singing little children songs for the past few years) and we talked about their purpose here on earth along with God's character. Their favorite part, as you might guess, was the sex talk, and they eagerly listened to the chapter in the book. I made them repeat after me: "My body is not an object. I am not an object to be used and abused." Before I knew it, time was up.

The girls ate their bread and sat for a long time before wanting to leave. I noticed that many of them just wanted attention and loved the idea that someone cared enough for them to give them a special lesson. I was fascinated with the fact that all my preconceived notions about how things would go had been wrong, and that God had made things go much smoother than I thought possible! The girls participated, asked questions, and listened carefully. I was so thankful that it had been a small group.

My final thought about that evening was that it was so refreshing to talk about God to people who knew very little or NOTHING about Him! I work in a Christian school as a Bible teacher, and at times it is so hard to come up with creative ways to present truth in a way that the children have not already heard a million times! These girls, on the other hand, have no other source of spiritual input. Even some of the basic facts about the character of God were new and exciting to them. It was invigorating to explain the beauty and greatness of the One I worship to fresh and interested minds.