Blog Entry #101

Can you believe it? I cannot believe that I have officially written over one hundred blog entries. Although we don't have the biggest audience, I must tell you - you who read this randomness - that sometimes writing these blogs is like therapy for me. It's an outlet to express how things are going and maintain my perspective and remember that God is in control. Thank you for reading, everybody.

This past weekend was really interesting... I have both bad news and good news to share:

BAD NEWS: Sunday's soccer practice was the worst practice I've ever had in a year. I was all alone (again) with 12 girls from two of the roughest barrios in Santo Domingo. We're talking prostitution, drugs, alcohol, abuse... you name it. I can only yell so much and not get a response... as many of these girls are used to getting beat into doing something. They were physically fighting and walking off and buying ice cream in the middle of stretching and screaming and throwing rocks the little boys. Unfortunately, I ended up walking away from practice and couldn't help but cry. The girls had no idea what happened but something snapped inside of me and I'd had it. Soccer for me is a means to an end... an end that would bring the girls into the church, into a life of joy, into self-esteem and love and peace... and soccer just wasn't appealing to the girls enough to actually be disciplined to learn it and try hard... they show up and are excited to be together, but soccer hasn't been the main appeal... so I felt like giving up. It really made me start to think.

GOOD NEWS: As a result of this horrible practice, I kept asking God for discernment about what to do. I prayed over the past couple of days and called a meeting with the two other female leaders who help now and then. Admitting that soccer just wasn't a draw for the women of the church (since I was leading practice alone week after week), I thought it might be time to do something new with the girls. We have a core group of about 15 girls (ages 8-17) and we needed to brainstorm new ideas. As a result of this meeting, we decided to start something like a "girls club" that will take place on Sunday mornings apart of the ministry we've been involved in... ONLY GIRLS ALLOWED. :) As we brainstormed, we thought of all of the things we could offer to the girls to give them experiences and opportunities to grow and learn... using the people resources we have already at the church. For example, art classes from an art teacher... dance classes... the opportunity to go to the theater with low-price tickets from a woman at church who works in entertainment... workshops about sex from a Christian counselor from the church. As we talked through these ideas, our passions and energies just kept on growing.

Just this afternoon, I got together with 12 of the girls from the team, nine of which live in these barrios. After meeting up at the church, we ate ice cream together and walked to the Parque Colon, which is an everyday spot for most people who live around the Colonial Zone. Although these girls live about 15 minutes away, NINE of them had never been there before. We fed and chased the pigeons at this park, sat together on benches, and the girls were laughing and smiling. It was awesome, and a joy for me to watch and be a part of.

Although this is not what I'm getting paid to do while we're here in the Dominican Republic, I really feel like God is giving me a holy discontent for the young women of Santo Domingo and I just have to do something. If you can pray for me and this new little ministry (name pending), we'd really appreciate it.