Getting Our "Sew" On!

After two awesome weeks of Spring Teams, the blessings continue to flow with a two-week Sewing Class!  A wonderful sister-in-Christ, and good friend of the Social Work Site, felt the Holy Spirit encouraging her to accept an invitation from Daisy to come and teach alterations to some of our women. 

Well… encouraging isn’t quite the right word.  According to Carie, He ‘bugged her’ and wouldn’t let her say No.  And, we’re so thankful! 



Learning how to properly pin before starting to sew.

Along with Carie is her sixteen year old daughter, Kaitlyn, who has been studying (and speaking!) Spanish for many years.  She’s doing an awesome job of translating for her mom!  Another friend, LaVonne, has been helping keep the little ones entertained while their moms are learning.

We have two groups, a small group (3-4) of our Young Women in the mornings, and a much larger group (12-15) of Adult Women in the afternoons.  We’ve spent the week learning the ins-and-outs of altering pants and jeans.  Next week we'll tackle tops and blouses.

A family affair!  Sister Rosy and Alice getting help
from Carie while Alice's daughter watches.

The women are learning what can, and cannot, be altered.  They are learning the correct way to alter.  That doesn’t always mean it’s the fastest way!  It takes patience to pin everything before sewing, but it saves time later ripping out bad stitches. 

Some of the women were in a class with Carie in the old Social Work Site three years ago.  Others are new, and have never used a sewing machine.  No matter their skill level, those willing to listen and learn are already 

The afternoon group taking notes.

showing improvements. 

As important as all of this is, for us, the most important thing is how all of this connects to the Gospel.  One young woman brought in a very nice pair of pants that had been sitting unused for an entire year, because she didn’t know how to take them in to fit her slim frame. 

Daisy used this as a jumping off place to talk with the women about their lives.  How many of you have things in your lives that aren’t right, aren’t fitting, that seem useless?  God can help us to fix those things, but we need to do our part. 

Nanci's smile says it all.  First time on the machine, but thanks
to Carie & Kaitlyn's tutoring, she hemmed a pant leg!

We need to fix them the right way.  That isn’t always the easiest way.  The world can tell us that it’s fine to just do it badly, but we are working as to the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23). 

Our prayer is that through these classes, the women can learn a skill which can help their families, and possibly even be a small home business.  More than this, we pray they can learn to see the value in doing things correctly, whether sewing a hem, caring for their children and companions, or learning more about Jesus.

The Holy Spirit's Perfect Balance

Today one of the young women of the community, who used to be one of the girls in our group of adolescents, came to the Social Work Site.  As happens with many of the visits, we weren’t expecting her because it was a time when we were working with the outreach team that is with us this week.  She was very sad, and wanted to talk. 

We only had a moment because we needed to leave with the team to walk in the community.  But, she really wanted to keep on talking. 

One of the challenges of our work is trying to attend to the needs of both the students and the people of the community at the same time, while seeking where the Holy Spirit guides us. 

We told this young woman that we would go to visit her home that afternoon.  And, the Holy Spirit definitely made the perfect balance! 

When we went to visit, this young woman told us some of the struggles she was going through.  She then told us that one of the things she would like to ask God is that He would help her change her life. 

One of the outreach participants (and team leader) shared that when she had been young, she had made bad decisions in her life, and this had brought a lot of difficulty and misery. 

She shared that only following Jesus had changed her life, and also the life of her daughter and of her grand-daughter.  She said that this could happen for this young woman, if she would follow Jesus.  She told her that Jesus would help her, but she needed to do her part, and invite Him to work in her life.

She then invited her to come to the Social Work site later this week, to listen to a lesson that she was going to share.  The young woman said yes, she would come.  We hope that she is going to do it, and we know that this visit was a part of the Holy Spirit’s plans.

Please pray that this young mother will come to hear the lesson on Thursday morning.  Please pray for the outreach participant as she shares the lesson she prepared back in the United States.  Praise God for the way He prepared this encounter before she even stepped on the plane!

The Holy Spirit truly is at work, both in the lives of those who come on outreaches and those who live in El Callejon.  What a blessing to share in His amazing plans.  What a comfort to know that He knows all of our needs, and arranges for just the perfect balance when we seek His guidance!