Toothless!

Ok. So, random title I know. Well, that's me. We'll not really, but that's how I feel like. Invert this guys missing teeth from top to bottom and that's where I am right now. My orthodontist told me that I had to remove my front bottom tooth. "Front?" You ask. Yes. Front. So off I went with my roommate Clara before our slum ministry to see my dentist who yanked off my bottom tooth. Supossedly the hole will soon dissappear as my orthodontist pulls the other ones together.

Well, after the dentist Clara and I rushed to the Umuarama and it was quite hard to sing all the songs with the little kids because I could feel myself swallowing blood the whole time! I kept pushing myself to sing, I felt awkward just looking at the words and felt like I was being a bad example or something...

We soon split up and I was with the teenage girls. I could barely speak, so I asked Juliana to read a bit of a book on purity that we are reading together. She did a great job reading about some of the myths that teenage girls believe about sex and their bodies. The girls listened with interest, although some could not help but giggle nervously. I think some might be too young for this talk, while others are visibly aged before their years.

When we were done Duane asked us to pray for her friend who had died this weekend. She had tears in her eyes when she explained that her friend had had some weird marks all over her body, had been taken to the hospital, and had died within 24 hours. I told Duane that we didn't pray for the dead, but that we could pray for the family and for Duane too. Wow, what a powerful reminder to these girls that life is so short.

After the prayer I sat with the girls and chatted a while but soon we were encouraged to leave (I found out that there had been a shooting and the moms were trying to desperately pick up their kids and take them back home).

Aline (my sister-in-law) looked at me and said that I looked like the Joker. (I guess my gum had bled so much that I got blood all over my mouth!)... that must have been an interesting sight for the girls to look at!

One Story

Tonight I would like to tell the story of Duani. She is a a 14 year old girl who has been faithfully attending our small gatherings on Thursday nights. She is a beautiful girl, and I can tell that the boys are probably already running after her. I enjoy seeing her because she has a genuine interest in learning more about God and she does all the lessons that I assign the girls to do at home. She has been so faithful to memorizing the books of the Bible and she proudly told me that she is making her smaller sister memorize them with her!

This last Thursday, I was talking to her when her sister walked in. I made a passing comment that they didn't look much alike and they readily told me that they had different fathers. I asked if they lived with the younger sister's father and they said "No, we live with our little brother's father." Wow, three children from different fathers. I guess that is quite common in their circles, but it puts into perspective how much these girls have to go through. They live with men who are not their real fathers, and with siblings who are not fully their own blood.

I pray for these girls safety in regards to abuse that might come from within their own homes. I also pray that they would not follow in the footsteps of many of their mothers, who at times go from one man to another, without much regard to how hurtful or traumatizing that can be for their children.

Prayer Requests

Thursday night made me realize a couple prayer requests. A couple of minutes after we arrived a very tall man came in and stared at every kid and woman in the room. I suddenly felt very vulnerable. I looked around at every single adult and realized that we were all women. Not only that, it dawned on me that I was the BIGGEST woman, therefore, our defense lay on my hands. The creepy man just looked and looked and none of us women knew what to do or how to ask him to leave. That is when I realized how blessed we are for God's protection every week. Please pray that God will send two or three men to help out with this ministry. We are very vulnerable and easy prey to evil minds.

The second thing that really touched me was my talk with Juliana afterward. She told me that she is really excited because she has a new job opportunity. The new job? BEING THE PASTOR'S MAID. Its so sad to me, that a 23 year old woman who is so talented, who teaches these young girls so well, has to spend her life working as a maid. She is such a sweet girl, about my age, and yet her time is spent doing hard manual labor for a minimal wage. I decided to pray that God would give her the opportunity to go to college. I asked her about it and she said that she wants to go and its one of her dreams in the near future. She mentioned that working for the Pastor might help her to fulfill that dream because he has been encouraging her to run after that. Let's see how God works in her life in regards to this! Pray that she might be able to get out of this maid's lifestyle and go further in life with her great mind!

The girls were great! We talked about John chapter 1 and they participated a bit and thought through the passage a bit more... There were 10 girls this time-- the numbers keep growing!

May the Lord continue to preserve the lives of these girls and the women who work with them!