Another story

So one of the girls shared her story with me, and I wanted to post it on here to let you know the kinds of emotional and physcial things these kids are dealing with. I wont mention her name, but I do want to tell you her story.

She is one of eight children, but she told me that two of her siblings died as babies. Shes probably about 13 or so, and she´s the only girl in her family. She and all of her brothers have different dads. She told me that only one of her brothers lives at home, and hes twenty four. I think she said that she lives in the Community with two of her other brothers.  I was sitting on the side of the basketball court after my evening English class, and she came down and sat next to me. She could speak a little English, so we started talking, some in English and some in Spanish. She told me that she wanted some practice with English so we started up a conversation. As we talked, I asked her what she thought about God and if she had a relationship with Him. She told me about an experience last Saturday that she had with God, and then the converstation quickly turned to Spanish as she began to open up heart and tell me about her homelife. She told me that her mom hits her when she goes home, and that the man her mom lives with now abuses her mom. He, or one of the other 8 guys her mom had been with, also had been cutting one of her brothers with a knife. Like cutting his arms. She told me that none of her brothers stand up for her when her mom starts hitting her. She also told me that it is very hard for her to see her mom when her mom comes and visits her at the Community. I can't imagine. She told me that there are many other children with stories like hers that live in this Community.

This girl stayed through half of dinner to tell me her story. She just opened up and was very honest with me, and she told me everything without even shedding a tear. This was just her life.

This is the magnitude of the problems these kids are dealing with. Please pray for them that God will give them the grace to love their families and forgive them as they recover from their hurts. Lauren and I are able to meet many of their parents when they come and visit their kids on Sunday so maybe you should also pray that we won't want to smack them upside the head when we learn about how they've treated these precious kids.