Issues and fun...

On Monday I had my girls group. Laura was helping me as Beckie was on holiday. I had mixed emotions about the group - as we were talking about fathers, and that we are children of God. I know that some girls in the group have absent fathers, or fathers that drink, and one girls father has died. I was also going to be running pancake games, which is totally new too, so I was unsure how they were going to react. Well things went well with the games and activities...

Puzzle time!

Reading time

Catching the pancake after flipping it over the rope! 

Pancake Battle - trying to knock the other persons pancake off their hand - very fun!

Dancing in worship

At the end of each group - each leader chooses a girl that has done something well, or tried hard etc... to reward, so they get to put a petal on their flower. Encouragement for these girls is very important.

...However many issues did come up especially during the Bible study time looking at Ephesians 1:4-5
"...God loved us and chose us...God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family...and it gave Him great pleasure" We looked at the fact that we are Children of God....which meant God is our Father. So we discussed what fathers are like, I shared a little of my story about me and my father, and for example I am far from my dad (geographically) - many girls agreed about how they live far from their dad, or he drinks a lot, or he works and doesn't spend much time with them. The girl who lost her dad, didn't say much, until they started writing down the Bible verse and we suggested that they draw and picture of them and their dads - she then just started to cry silently. My heart broke for her. Two girls shared with Laura and I about how their parents are splitting up. One girl was also having a few problems and kept saying she was crazy, but not in a jokey manner - I spoke to her and found out that the doctor had actually told her she is crazy in the head (she is not crazy!) and this girl really believed it, which is yet another thing to knock her confidence as she already thinks she is not good enough to do anything.  So my question is...what other hurts, brokeness and issues are behind these smiles...

I just cannot imagine being 9,10, 11 years old carrying the weight of all these issues, and with no one really to talk to about them. I am so glad the girls feel that they can share with us, and we are able to pray for and with them. I just hope they will continue to be open about their lives, so through Jesus we will be able to mend some broken hearts and spirits, and to be able to speak truth into their lives...


For more photos of the group please follow this link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/laura.felipe.matias/EleanorSGroup?authkey=Gv1sRgCKSL9JPFo6nLCA# 

Taken by Felipe Matias