The Young Ladies of Red Hill

Well, it hasn't been nearly as exciting of a month as in January with my trip to Zambia. I am simply settling in and it is finally hitting me that it is already February 2011. I have one more year left on my visa in South Africa so a lot of this past month I have been thinking about what I want to do about that. Should I go through the trouble of renewing it and continue living in South Africa or should I move on to somewhere else? I do know one thing for sure. I will be coming back to the states for 2 months starting at the end of May. I can't wait to see everyone!

I have been thinking about what I want to focus in on for at least the next 3 months and that is the young women in Red Hill. Right now I work with two different groups of young ladies. One group is ages 12-14 and the other group is ages 16-mid twenties. I love working with this age group and I think one of the reasons is that I want to help them find their heart and true identity. In the overwhelming sea of poverty, alcoholism, abuse, drugs, and sickness in which they live they have lost something. As they live in survival mode just to get by they don't see their true potential. Somewhere inside of them they do have dreams that they want to reach for but they don't know how and most will probably never try. I want to help them reclaim their hearts and their passion for life so that when I leave they are the ones living lives to the fullest and passing it on to others. I want to take them through a healing process so that they can see what the wounds are that are holding them back and how we can heal them and move forward. Sounds like a grand idea right? Well for me saying it is always far easier than actually doing it so let me tell you some ways that I want to help these girls.

1. I want to take them away for weekend camps to a place where we can have times of heart to heart sharing and really digging into our hearts to find what is there. I want it to be a place and time where they can feel safe to be vulnerable one on one and in a group. I want it to be a time where they discover who God has made them to be and help them take the steps to walk in it.

2. I want to do sports ministry with them. Almost all of them play netball (a form of basketball) and I want to use that as a time of building friendship while having fun. It is also such a natural time of gathering together in a group so it can be a good time to have good conversation with them as well as challenge them to keep pursuing what God has for them and the freedom in their lives that they can have. I have seen how powerful it is to build a friendship with them in the midst of everything else. One of the girls I have been discipling, Pam, is such a different person now after simply spending time with her, building a friendship and helping her find the freedom in her heart that she now has.

This is just the beginning of course. One day I would love to have a house/'healing home' where people can come and know they are welcome to stay and be loved, prayed for and find people who will help them walk in the freedom they were meant to have. (I will tell you more about these 'healing homes' some other time).

I am excited to have a few people joining me for two months that have a heart to work with these girls so we will see what we come up with together.

I want to invite you guys as well to be a part of all of all of this if you would like. If you want to help fund me personally or send money specifically for camps, sports materials or anything else you feel led to give please let me know and I will let you know how to do that. Thank you so much for always following me in my journey and please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I continue to work with these young ladies.