Where Gladness and Hunger Meet

July 6

Today was my first day teaching the “Sex and the Soul of a Woman” class. It went pretty well for the most part. The girls were attentive enough and they participated in discussions. But I did realize that I may have to change my approach a little to fit their conditions. The thing is, the book talks a lot about the importance of waiting for the right time and the right person before having sex, but their mind set is, “why should we wait when we have already lost our virginity?” or “we’re never going to find a man who will love us once he knows our past.” It breaks my heart to hear them say things like that, but it’s my hope that God will free them from those lies and that He will speak truth into their hearts and reveal to them their true value as His daughters.

We had 3 new additions to our family today: Melissa and her 6 month old baby girl Keydi, and Milagro who is about 5 months pregnant. Evelin and I had the task of inspecting their stuff just to make sure they weren’t bringing in anything “inappropriate”. We just discovered not too long ago that one of our girls, Karla, has been sniffing nail polish to get high…so we want to keep things like that away. I guess we’re all going to have to readjust to having the new girls here, but I’m glad we get to minister to them.

Not much went on the rest of the day…a storm came through just as we were having dinner. The power has been out since then. I brought out the guitar and sang some songs with Jen for a while. Then we sat out under the stars and talked to Gracie for a while. Overall, it was a pretty good day. I did sense some tension between some people here and there, but by the grace of God, we made it through another day with much to be thankful for. Tomorrow is another day. I’ll be teaching the sex class again in the morning. I still have to recollect my thoughts, but for the most part, I’ll be praying that the Lord speaks through me.

             I really like the quote in my journal for today; it says, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” (Frederick Buechner) Not too long ago, I was at a point where I was having doubts if I was really meant to go to Honduras and intern with this ministry, but God has made it clear why I am here. Though some days can be challenging and emotionally draining, God still blesses us with a sense of joy from being able to feed these hungry souls with the love and acceptance that they long for.