Roles

Every weekend for the past month, I have thought, “I need to write a new blog post!”  Believe me, I have written random notes in my journal and in word documents, but none of these have come to written fruition.  I think my “writer’s block” (I’m not an author of a book, but I want to make my blog posts sound a little more important and official then they are :) ) is due to the lack of a central idea or unifying theme.  Granted, I don’t need university-level writing to communicate to people I love what is going on in my life here.  Nonetheless, I have put off writing a full post until now!  So, thank you for your patience and continued prayers.

 For me, the past month has been a slow discovery of my role and purpose in each of the settings to which God has called me.  Do I know my role or purpose perfectly and completely?  Of course not.  Still, I am grateful for the day by day guiding of the Lord.  I often try to get a little too ahead of myself, so it’s not easy for me to live in the ambiguity of waiting and discovery.  However, the place of ambiguity, tension, and struggle is exactly where God has called me, so I rest in His Plan and His Timing by daily prayer and surrender. 

I don’t want this update post to be like a list of my projects and accomplishments because life is so much more than what I can write on a résumé, so I hope it doesn’t come across that way.  Rather, I hope to share some of the roles/purposes that God has allowed me to be a part of in my life here.  First I want to say, thank you for all of your prayers about vision, direction, and sensitivity to the working of the Spirit!  I feel so showered in prayer, and I know I cannot do what I am doing without the prayer of family and friends!  Each of the roles/projects I am going to list represent answered prayer and the grace of God.  Anyways, here’s a little glimpse into my life here…

Mentor

In a skype conversation with my family, I talked to them about my struggle to find my roles at the shelter, where I fit in, what are my goals.  My dad mentioned that I am a mentor to the girls, particularly the adolescents.  For some reason, putting the title “mentor” on what I really want to do and focus on made such a difference.  In the context of the shelter, I would define a “mentor” to include the following:  to talk and listen, to pray with and for them, to encourage and speak positively, to draw out and focus on strengths, to spend time with each one uniquely, to be an example to them, to read the Bible together, to share parts of our lives, to give a different perspective, to hug them, and, most of all, to love them with the love of Christ.  This role may not gain huge recognition from the world, but I believe this is one of the greatest roles I can have for the six months God has given me to be with the adolescent girls of La Casa de Buen Trato.  Please pray for patience, love, understanding, and wisdom and that I will remain in the Word of God and abide in Him.

Leading Vacation Activities

As I mentioned in my first (and only ;)) post about Peru, I helped lead and coordinate the vacation activities for the kids at the shelter.  They are on a different schedule than the U.S., so they just finished up “summer vacations” and started school last Monday.  While half the time was spent in motivating all the kids to participate, I enjoyed helping with the different activities.  In the aerobics class I co-led every Tuesday, we learned karate (throw-back to my early karate days ;)), some self-defense moves, yoga, and jump rope (a real hit).  In choreography, the girls learned two dances to Peruvian songs- “La Anaconda” and “Niña Chay”.  They had a lot of fun performing the dances for all of the staff and residents of the shelter, especially because they creatively made their costumes and we did their hair and make-up :).  We also had a few “paseos” (like field trips), which were a lot of fun and a good break from being at the shelter.  We went to parks and spent the day playing volleyball, having lunch, playing games, and getting sun-burned (at least for the whiter skinned ;)).   

Devotionals

At the shelter, we have devotionals every night after dinner.  The girls lead singing, and we sing many of the same worship songs each night, which I appreciate because I can learn the lyrics!  For me, it is so beautiful to sing beside the women, adolescents, and kids because I have the hope of singing beside them in heaven, even if I never see them again outside of our short time together at the shelter.  At least once a week, I lead one of the devotionals.  Teaching a Sunday school class last fall has helped me to come up with some ideas pretty quickly because I often am asked to lead devotional 15 minutes before devotional!  I taught about the parable of the sower with visuals like I did for my Sunday school class, and I think everyone understood the parable pretty well because of their experience in the gardens of the shelter.  Also, I gave a reflection on “taking thoughts captive”, which was really meaningful to talk about with the adolescent girls.  I am so grateful for opportunities to talk with, pray with, and read the Bible with the girls.  A theology student from Brazil just arrived two weeks ago, so I look forward to working with her more.  I can already see that she is such a gift from God for all of us at the shelter!  In the prevalent spiritual warfare at the shelter, please pray for spiritual strength and protection through the armor of God!  Truth, love, hope!

Daily life as a mother, sister, friend

Similar to being a mentor, I also feel that I have the wonderful role of being a mom, sister, and/or friend to the girls at the shelter.  When I take on a more motherly role with the younger kids, I realize that I am definitely not ready to be a mom!  Still, I am so grateful for the loving example my mom has given me to love the kids, make sure they are eating right, ask about their days, hug them when they are crying, break up fights over the jump ropes, discipline (together with the other workers), and listen to them.  With some of the older girls, I feel in a little bit of an older sister/friend role.  I talk to the girls and help to mediate difficulties in relationships among the girls.  I am so grateful for the other volunteers/staff to work with in this regard!  The girls often hug me and say to me, “I’m sad, and I don’t know why.” or “I’m so frustrated with living here!”.  They say, “Can we please talk one on one?”, which can mean a long conversation, listening to music together, looking at the stars, talking about their families, and/or praying together.  Please pray for wisdom in creating necessary boundaries and for love and patience.    

Classes with the adolescent moms and their babies

One of the other volunteers gathered material and organized a program to do with the adolescent moms and their babies.  We have 4 babies less than one year at the shelter.  Often, they are just being carted around or entertained by their mom or one of their other 20 “moms”.  The director talked to us about developing classes to do with the moms and their babies for an hour each day with a two-fold purpose:  1) Provide stimulation and early learning for the babies through activities such as following the baby rattle or listening to different types of sounds and 2) Better the mother-child relationship through planned time together and teaching the moms how to care for and love their babies.  While I don’t think we have tapped into the secret formula to create baby geniuses, I can see a few beautiful results of the program, by the grace of God!  For example, one of the moms (15 years old) is particularly neglectful and unloving towards her son.  Though they may be small changes, I praise God for the ways I see her enjoying her son more and caring for him better, whether that be because of the classes or not!  Please pray for the adolescent moms and their babies, that they may have health, love, and forgiveness.

Bridge

As I processed through this past week with one of my best friends, I realized the unique role I have as a “bridge” between the residents of the shelter and the staff.  As a volunteer, especially as a volunteer from another country and as a volunteer who is not doing her internship, I feel like I have an in-between role.  While I am very much part of the staff working for the bigger picture, developing programs, and making decisions, I also feel very connected to the daily life of the girls and all the drama, excitement, relationship struggles, and adolescence in general that that entails.  I am learning a lot about the importance of communication in working as a team.  If I feel left out of what the staff is doing, I need to lay aside pride and ask!  If I’m unsure what to do in a certain situation, tell one of the other workers about it!  I do not have to solve everything on my own!  If one of the girls tells me something or I observe something that needs to be brought to the attention of the staff, I need to be intentional and quick about talking with the other workers.  On the other side, I can help mediate between the staff members who are often busier and burdened with forms and the girls that I have the opportunity to spend more time with.  I am grateful for all I am learning about working as a team, communicating, setting boundaries, and being honest.  Please pray for unity as staff, discernment, better communication, and good relations and understanding between the staff and the residents of the shelter.    

Cycles of Violence and Life Plans

At La Casa de Buen Trato- Hovde, we have two programs:  the shelter for victims of child/adolescent sexual abuse and refuge homes for women who have been victims of domestic violence.  In the refuge home program, the women and their children often are just at the shelter for one month, so we do not have many “programs” for them.  The director talked to Mireya and me about working with these women in two areas in 2 sessions/week.  In the first 4 sessions, Mireya will teach about domestic violence, the cycle of violence, and the experience of the women.  Then, we will talk about life plans with the women, with a practical focus, to the end of empowering them to live independently and free of violence.  We haven’t started these sessions yet because we are still developing them, so please continue to be in prayer for our work (God’s work) with these women.

Campaign Material

At the office, Ashley and I continue gathering the material for the school campaign Paz y Esperanza will do beginning in April.  We are using the curriculum provided by “Save the Children”.  Here, we are not as saturated with technology as in the U.S., so we look through all of the posters they’ve used from past years, make new posters, and “laminating” the materials (with clear tape- takes so long!  I’m definitely learning skills with the clear tape ;)).  While this work gets boring, I look forward to using all of the material we have gathered/made to educate students about violence against children and adolescents—very important prevention work!  Working at the office one day a week provides much-needed perspective on the work I do at the shelter and gives me a glimpse into other ways to “do justice” and fight against injustice.

Rest and family

I wouldn’t really include this a role per se, but I want to include my days of rest and family because these times are critical to the rest of my roles.  I still am so grateful for the coffee, free time, Internet, care, good food, perspective, laughs, movie watching, conversation, and little adventures I have on the weekends with my family in Huánuco.  They are such a blessing!  Also, I am grateful to go to church each Sunday.  God is so good and provides for my every need.

Thank you for reading and for your prayers!