As I stepped out of my Tracker in El Callejon today, I squished into red-brown mud, thankful for my rain boots. We’ve had a lot of rain in the past 24 hours, turning the dirt into a muddy mess.
Most of the adults were inside, no doubt trying to keep as warm and dry as possible. Several of the kids were out – some had morning school, others were playing despite the weather.
I ran into Lorianny (8) and Vanessa (6) as I walked. Neither was dressed warmly, wearing short sleeved shirts and flip flops. Brrr, aren’t you cold? I asked. No, they shrugged.
Lorianny wanted to carry my bag and snuggled with me under my little Totes umbrella. When we got to the site, she used me keys to unlock the gate and door. Soon, Vanessa and some of the other girls came by to chat. I pulled out coloring books and crayons, and let them hang out coloring for a while.
Unfortunately, the rain kept the women away from our afternoon class. One braved the rain, but after exchanging pleasantries, she said she was going back home. She, too, was not dressed for the weather, so I couldn’t blame her!
I was disappointed, as I was planning to continue our conversation about emotions, this time focusing on Joy and Rejoicing. The Bible is filled with passages about joy, and I was looking forward to sharing some of them.
I had planned to end with Zephaniah 3:17, where God says that He rejoices over us with singing. The women love to sing, and I wanted to share that our love for it surely comes from Him.
And, on the day before El Día del Amor y Amistad (Valentine’s Day), I wanted to remind them of how beloved they are. So beloved that the Creator of all things sings over them!
Instead, I sat and did some planning and preparing for tomorrow. As I worked, some of the other little girls stopped by, wanting to know if they could color. Sure! I love the fact that they can come to this safe, dry place and just be little kids. I pulled out more coloring sheets and the bin of crayons and let them go to it.
At one point Keila (age 8) looked at her coloring page and said, Qué feo (How ugly). She quickly looked over at me, and just as I was about to speak, she corrected herself. No, qué bonito (No, how pretty).
Last year we noticed how often the girls (and teens and women!) call things Feo. Insulting each other and putting themselves down happens a lot in El Callejon. Listening to one after the other declaring what she has spent weeks working on, Feo, made us so sad.
We decided to working on changing this in 2012. When one of them says Ay, que feo (How ugly), we’ve made a point of stopping them and explaining how we don’t want them to think that about themselves or their work.
I often feel like a broken record, saying the same thing over and over again. Hearing Keila stop herself and then tell me it was Bonita was truly music to my ears!
I know it was a small thing, and tomorrow, I'm probably going to have to repeat it several times... and likely all year long, too! But, today I rejoiced! And, Keila's words strengthened my resolve to keep reminding everyone who comes to our site of how much God loves them, and how important they are to Him.
I didn’t get to share the lesson I’d planned, but I rejoice that God allowed me to be a part of His work in El Callejon today. I hope each of you, too, knows how beloved you are, and how our loving Father rejoices over you, too, with singing.
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