Love, Laughter, and the English Language

Last Friday, the girls home we teach English at, recieved 2 new girls.  They are sisters and were brought straight from the courthouse to the home.  As a matter of fact, I went to the courthouse with the directors of the home to pick them up.  When we arrived to the courthouse, the girls were hysterical.  I don't blame them.  They had just seen their father taken to jail and were being taken away from their mother.  They were being taken to an unfamiliar home to an unfamiliar family. I would be hysterical too. As they climbed into the backseat, the youngest (12) was crying and saying "I don't want to go, I have my own home". 
When we arrived at the house, a beautiful thing happened.  All of the girls ran to the door to greet the 2 sisters.  They welcomed them with such love and had no reservations to invite them into their family.  My heart was so full.  These girls had never met the sisters nor were they even expecting them until 30 minutes before they came (literally).  They demonstrated the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.  I was moved because I thought...you know these girls know what it is like to be on the other side and now God has restored them so that they can bring comfort to the new girls.  It was such a beautiful picture of God's love.  Although the sisters were still traumatized, by the time we left, they had calmed down and Carol (the director) had put them at ease.

Today (Tuesday) we returned to teach English.  Because the sisters have missed the first 4 classes, I started working with them seperatly.  This morning I began with the alphabet.  I was so impressed because they were learning to say and identify the letters rather quickly.  When we got to the letter "L" however, it was a different story.  I will never take for granted the fact that I grew up knowing 2 languages.  I literally spent about 10 minutes having them repeat the letter "L" to me.  For the life of them, they could not pronounce it. They said "ar", "ela", "al", and of course many times they just repeated it back to me in Spanish.  What was so amazing to me though was that they did not get frustrated and angry, they just kept trying.  And we laughed so much!!!  One would mispronounce it and we would just laugh and laugh and then try again. 



Learning the letter "L"


I was so blessed to see these girls, who 4 days ago were so devastated, laughing and being so carefree.  It really blessed my heart to see them at peace.  It is a peace that only God can give after such traumatic events.  They may not even realize it, but God is moving in their lives,  The fact that they were put into a christian home were God's love is reflected is proof of that.  I am so excited to see what God will continue to do in their lives.  Their laughter today was proof that God is at work.

"weeping may last for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" Psalm 30:5

I know that the Lord has alot of healing and restoring to do in their lives, but I am so thankful that their season of rejoicing is beginning!

Pa Lante y Pal Cielo!

Cece