On that note. I've been attending group therapy and planning activities for future group sessions. I was supposed to be leading an activity for groups this Friday, but I just found out there won't be any sessions, entonces, I'm saved for a few more weeks. But here is a glamorous photo from groups last week. Why we're in these outfits, I have yet to understand.
Also, last week, we had 21 of our girls get baptized! Seeing these girls and knowing what they've come through and how much they still hurt, it was truly an incredible experience seeing and hearing them say yes to following Jesus and giving their lives to him. There isn't a truer form of beauty than when Jesus is restoring and making you new. Each one of these 21 girls represents hope and healing. I see Jesus in each one of them and it astounds me.
I also got to spend time with this beauty. I'm so proud of who she is becoming and her decision to get baptized. She encourages me daily and jokes with me and forces me to practice my Spanish... With incessant giggling. She has grown so much since two Mays ago when I was here visiting, but I love getting to know her now and see her flourishing and growing into a confident, happy, beautiful young woman.
In other exciting news, I finished language school, which is both exciting and sad at the same time. I loved getting to spend 4 hours a day with my teacher and force myself to learn more Spanish. BUT, I'm excited that now I can fully immerse myself in my job here. I can see the girls in the morning and I can get way more accomplished than is possible during language school. It's kind of sad not studying and laughing each day with my teacher, but seeing as we live close to each other we have decided to stay in contact. :)
For my homework, Monday, my last night of homework, Heissel asked me to write a description of my job at Oasis. Ultimately, my job will look like (more or less), helping out with the homeschooled girls when school starts back up in January, counseling 5 girls on my own, assisting and leading (at times) group therapy, researching better counseling techniques and ways to measure/chart growth, as well as just assist the psychologists in any way possible. Who knows what is really in store, but I'm excited. Seeing in writing all that is expected of me is both overwhelming, but exciting and I know that God has something in store through all this.
Also, Christmas is even bigger here than in the states and I've already been to a few Christmas parties and we have a big one at work today, as well as the giant Christmas eve party here. My parents are coming for the week of Christmas and we have some fun things planned and right after, two camp friends are coming to visit Jenny and I the first week in January.
There are lots of happenings here in Guatemala. Definitely never a dull moment. I was reading through my Jesus Storybook Bible recently and I came across this...
"Todo lo triste ya no lo es. Y vean yo he limpiado toda lágrima de todo ojo! Y entonces una voz profunda, hermosa, que sonaba como trueno, en el cielo dice: "Miren, yo hago nuevas todas las cosas.""It's always been one of my favorite parts of the book because I think the author does such a good job paraphrasing Revelation. More or less, this part is talking about how when Jesus comes, all that was sad won't be anymore. God will wash away our tears and He is going to make all things new. Every time I think of this, I think of Oasis. I think of the ministry here, the tragic stories that each girl here has, and I think that a little bit of heaven has come to earth. The Spirit is transforming lives. Jesus is drying tears, God is calling his children to him. He's doing it here. And let me tell you, it is beautiful.
