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Hola Amigos! The team spent most of the day at El Refugio with the girls but it still lead to being a very full day!
We had morning team devotions on the rooftop patio followed by breakfast burritos with the girls in the home. We then walked about 15 minutes to a field to teach the girls how to play baseball. It was fun to teach them a new sport and slowly watch them grow in confidence in trying something new even when it took a few tries. We even had an ice cream half time with Randy who drove up playing "take me out to the ball game."
Once back at El Refugio, Pastor Shawn continued his group counselling session with the girls, building on what he talked about yesterday, the topic of being able to recognize your emotions. Today he focused on anger and what happens to our bodies when we feel anger. We looked at stories in the bible and how Jesus dealt with his emotions and encouraged the girls to reflect on how we can listen to our bodies when we feel strong emotions. We could see this topic resonating with the girls which was encouraging but the team also feels an increased sense of heaviness as we get glimpses of vulnerability from the girls and hear more of the trauma they have experienced.
Wendy blessed us with a special lunch which was Rollkuchen, a mennonite deep fried dough dish that is well loved by the team. The girls were hesitant at this new food at first but all grew to enjoy it as much as we do.
Later in the afternoon, Eden, Avea, Trudie and Char lead the girls in a bible study and craft time where we talked about prayer and the girls were able to start and decorate their own prayer journals. We had some really encouraging conversations with them about prayer and they shared some of their favourite bible verses.
A donation of a new pool for El Refugio arrived today! The girls were very excited about this surprise for them and Scott was able to help our partner Randy inspect the process of getting it set up soon!
We ambitiously decided to make some cookies with the girls that we will hand out in ministry later in the week. We had four groups that each made a batch so the girls could all be involved and work on some measuring skills. It was a bit of chaos as you could imagine with nine girls, five team members and a language barrier, but we were able to make it work with smiles and laughter as we went.
For the evening the team split into two groups, some heading to a kickboxing class that the girls attend weekly and others going to the grocery store to buy 6 carts worth of supplies for food hampers that we will use for ministry later in the week. Both activities needed strength and agility in different ways!
We found it encouraging today in different moments to hear the girls talking about pastor Shawn's sessions, even talking about releasing their anger through kickboxing as a healthy outlet.
Overall the team is finding our groove and continuing to build relationships with the girls. Please be praying for us as we continue to talk about big emotions with the girls, as it would be a helpful tool for them. As well for the team, for continued strength, safety and health for the remainder of this week.
Thanks for following along and your continued prayers!
