Monday, August 17, 2009

Las Senoritas Sleep Over!




"Pizza, peliculas, and popcorn". That's what the senoritas from the home said when I asked them what they wanted to do for our first PJ party at Casa de Boyles. ( Peliculas are movies, by the way! ) So I stocked up on the three P's and we had a blast!!


Getting to know the teen girls here has been something I've looked forward to since we knew that God was calling us to CHI. I've had dreams of PJ parties and trips to the mall and girl talk and bible studies. But, to be honest, I'm more than a little insecure about my Spanish skills. How could I have the girls over or do anything with them if I can't communicate with them? Then God gave me Silivia! No, Silivia is not new, but our relationship is. I've known Silvia since my first visit here last June. She is almost 16 and she speaks very good English! Over the last 3-4 weeks God opened the door for me to begin to forge a relationship with her. Before really thinking it through I asked Silvia and some other girls one night if they knew what a pajama party was. She said "Yes, when can we have one? Tomorrow?" That very night we started making plans and as we neared the date I still felt very apprehensive. Would the girls enjoy themselves here? Would we be able to have girl talk with a language barrier? Would it be them laughing and having fun while I stood back not understanding anything? Then one morning I read my devotional and it said we can't wait until we think we are fully prepared to do everything God wants us to do. If we felt fully prepared for everything when would God get to show up and save the day? I realized that I had been thinking in the flesh and had not acknowledged God as the author of this whole thing. After all He is the one who placed the burden on my heart for these girls. He is the one who opened their hearts to me. I gave it over to Him that morning and on Friday night He was right there in the midst of it all.

He showed me that I have learned more Spanish than I realized . He showed me that it wasn't just about me pouring into these girls lives but about them opening the eyes of my heart and blessing me more than I can say.


We ate pizza (6 larges!!), drank "Coca", watched movies(4), talked, laughed and talked some more until 4am! That's not as easy at 39 as it was at 16! The irony of it all is that in all my apprehension I never anticipated what it would be like for them to leave on Saturday. When everyone was aroused around 9am one of the girls asked me, "Can we stay until the afternoon?". I didn't take them back until 4pm and it was very hard. A couple of them joked that they would like to live with us. What they don't realize is that we wish we could keep them all. Satan tried to use that moment to make me feel that we can't really make a difference in these kids lives as long as they still go home to an orphanage at the end of the day. But the Holy Spirit of God reminds me that these are His children and he has plans for them. Anything that we do for them in His name will not be in vain. We may not be the ones to see the harvest but we will have plenty of opportunities to plant seeds.


I have a new outlook and a renewed sense of purpose now. My God has changed me in miraculous ways and blessed me beyond measure. If I can be a witness of this to even one child while I am here then I will have brought glory to my Savior.


Please pray for "Las Senoritas" of the home: Angela, Silvia, Selene, Jacqlin, Maritza, Isabel, and Lola. And pray for me that I would continually point them to the Cross.


P.S. I just want to say "Thanks" to my Mom for always having the PJ parties and doing all the girly stuff with me....and for pointing me to the Cross!!
Silvia Rivera

1 comment:

eliza said...

This is so beautiful Ann-Marie. You have the opportunity to be such a special influence in las vidas de las senoritas, and I know that God is using you in that way. I wish that I could be with you all, and I think of and pray for you each every day. Dios les bendiga.