Girls' Group Weekend!

To end our first official term of Girls' Group we had the great privilege of taking our girls to the beach for the weekend. For most of them it was their first time ever to see the ocean even though they only live two hours away from it. Beyond opening up their world, the weekend was a special time for us to deepen our relationship with the girls outside of our normal, more formal structure. There were many good conversations and sharing moments nestled in all of the giddy laughter and high-pitched screams. It was a weekend packed full of first time adventures and bonding experiences. Girls, who before this trip, would not have considered the other a friend, now share inside jokes and countless wonderful memories. And what's even better, there's a whole other handful of girls who want to be a faithful part of Girls' Group when the new session starts up at the end of this month.

All of us getting ready to leave from the Tutoring Center: 6 girls, Erin Janzen, Giannina, Leah and myself.


First sight of the beach


Leah was plugging her ears the screams were so loud!


The house we stayed at had a pool, and I think the girls liked it almost as much as the beach.




After lunch we convinced them the beach really would be as much fun as the pool...


First steps in the ocean; they were not disappointed.


Catalina filled her swimsuit with shells, while repeatedly asking, "No one is going to get mad at me for taking all of these? Will more shells come?" She was baffled, overwhelmed, and so excited all at the same time.




Everyone had a buddy so no one got accidentally swept away by the waves. None of the girls actually know how to swim.




Maria wasn't too sure about the ocean water, but she loved collecting shells and walking along the beach.


Burying Estefani in the sand.


The girls love cooking together. It was a great experience to share in the meal preparation. We were a little worried the girls would miss their typical beans and rice, but they did well with peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti, and pancakes.


Every slumber party needs great pajamas, especially matching ones



Down below the bridge are giant crocodiles, another first for the girls


One last special treat: McDonalds. The girls got just a little excited when they learned about "free refills".



There's so many pictures and stories I could share from the weekend. If you want to see more you can check out the rest here, and if you want to hear more about our time, send me an email. Thank you to everyone for all of your encouraging words, thoughts, and prayers when we first stepped out and started Girls' Group. It has been an incredible blessing to be apart of these girls' lives and to be able see how setting aside a special time for them makes such an impact in their lives. Even though at times it is so challenging, I look forward to being able to continue to walk alongside them and pour into the new girls joining our group.

Loving

Yes, I run a tutoring center in Los Guido. Yes, I am a university trained teacher. I have lots of great ideas of how to make learning fun and engaging, involving various learning styles and never staying too long on one activity so kids don't get board. But most days, this is not what my children need most. They need someone who sees all of them and is able to respond to that with love and patience. As the kids trust us more, they let us into their worlds, their worlds that are often just barely hanging in balance, their worlds that affect every other interaction and decision. Being let in is a great privilege, but also an overwhelming responsibility. I now know that Maria calling other children ugly and stupid mostly likely stems from the fact her mom does the same thing to her, as we witnessed during a recent home visit. By no means does this make it okay for Maria to say these derogatory things to her classmates, but it's not a simple as saying, "Marie, we don't say things like that because it's not nice." This is a just a small example.

Each day there are countless interactions like this, many being much more severe in nature. I would like to say I embrace them all as "teachable moments" and we have calm discussions through each misstep, but we all know this impossible, especially in a second language. I would like to be able to stop and with patience and love talk with the child about why she is acting this way, why he said that, why she hates her. And sometimes it possible. But most of the time it's not. There are 15 other kids who need individual attention in that moment. Kids who's moms have brought them to get help with their homework, since after all, we are a tutoring center. This tension of seemingly conflicting goals (educational support v. overall life support) is something I struggle with almost everyday. I know that education is really just a vehicle to relationship and life change, but that vehicle needs to be effective if we are going to keep using it. But I don't want to be so stuck to the expressed educational goals, that I miss loving and serving the whole child.

The truth is, these kids have my heart. I will do pretty much anything to help them. This is why weeks like these last few, where almost everyday we have some melt-down or blow-up in the Center, are so personally challenging. I want to do right by my kids. I want to love them in the best way possible, but so often I don't know what that is or how to do it. No amount of university training can teach you that.

But I try my best. I stumble through Spanish. I hug them. I cry on my way home. And I trust that as much as I love them, God loves them infinitely more. Where my feeble attempts fail, he is still caring for them. He knows their situations, their language, their hearts. He can speak to them where my words are a jumbled mess of misused pronouns and conditional tense. He can embrace them when they run out of the Tutoring Center before I ever have a chance to talk to them. He loves them (and me) more than I can comprehend.

And so I go to the Tutoring Center each day, heart ready to love, knowing it will be hard and it will probably hurt, but trusting that I don't have to do it all.

Some of our faithful students. These kids are there everyday!

From Center Time

This is what it looks like most days as we walk out of Los Guido, a host of kids accompanying us to the car or bus stop.