I interviewed several staff from T.E.A.R.S. School last Tuesday, asking them to debrief a little on a recent weekend retreat. Delia, Rosemary, Greisy, Irayda and Marisol excitedly told me everything they had experienced during this long-anticipated event. They held the retreat as a chance to minister to young women in the barrio, each one having been brought to them through the guidance and mercy of God.
He placed specific burdens on the hearts of our female leaders, and they acted on it, starting a ministry which they named “Mujercitas.”
During the weekend, enemies became friends, forgiveness and reconciliation was achieved and almost every girl that attended committed their lives to Christ. Everything that took place was under the theme “Daughters of the King.” The activities existed to drive this home in creative ways.
The leaders organized a campfire time, where girls were encouraged to write down things that burdened them in their hearts and cast them into the fire. Several publically renounced gossiping, which they felt was keeping them from one another and from God. They held a coronation ceremony, punctuating these girls’ value in the sight of the Lord. They tie-dyed t-shirts and roasted marshmallows and enjoyed beauty treatments; they held question and answer sessions and listened to testimonies and… fell asleep. Everyone was so weary that, by Saturday afternoon, they decided to take a nap. Reflecting, the teachers agreed that everyone needed it.
Over the course of the weekend, several topics were put forward in lessons: honesty, spiritual warfare, temptations and (the teachers nodded in agreement when Delia mentioned this was the most significant) falling in love with Jesus. The leaders spoke of Jesus as being our Potter- the one who shapes us- our Champion, our Friend, our Shepherd and our Lover.
“To see how everything developed,” said Greisy as we were wrapping up, “was breathtaking. We knew their situations prior to; these girls really grew in amazing ways. Even their facial expressions seemed to have changed by Sunday afternoon; we felt so close and nobody was ready to leave. It was totally a God driven thing: when the girls returned to the barrio, they were new.”
I ask you to pray for those twenty-five who have found new lives in Christ, that they may continue to grow in faith and love in the midst of very difficult and often oppressive home situations. Pray also for every girl that attended, as well as their friends, as the leaders of “Mujercitas” start up Bible Study groups, that God would bring healing and grace into each heart.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 8:28 am and is filed under T.E.A.R.S. School, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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