Amada: Beloved.

Being a teenage girl is hard. There is pressure to do well in school, to care for younger siblings, to get in with the “cool” crowd, to date…and the list goes on and on. Teenage girls are surrounded with lies: you’re not pretty enough, you’re boring, you’ll never amount to anything, you’re unlovable, you need a serious boyfriend to fit in.

During a weekend in August Back2Back Cancun staff was able to combat these lies in the lives of teen volunteers and girls we work with. With the help of psychologist Lorena Cavazos teens were able to delve into hard topics like identity, feelings, boys, and purity. Staff was able to proclaim the truth that you are God’s, you are strong, you have been in God’s thoughts since before you were born, and God has a plan for your joys, hurts, and relationships.

It was beautiful to see timid teens who are normally too scared and self-conscious to speak up running around the house giggling, making new friends, and sharing their hearts with others. And it still touches my heart to see them wearing the bracelets we gave them to remind them they are loved—Amada.

“So, what was your favorite part of the retreat?” I asked on the drive home. “Everything!” my van full of girls chorused back. “What would you change for next year?” I followed up. “Do it for 3 days! No, a week! How about two weeks?!!” they screamed. I think it’s safe to say that between being honest about hard topics, playing in the pool, doing collage crafts, watching a late night movie, and eating way too much food everybody had a good time. And even now, two weeks later, they can’t stop reminiscing with beaming smiles on their faces.

Just talking with them, you can see that they are more confident. Girls who wouldn’t talk during activities before the retreat are now smiling, answering questions, and participating. Two teens have begun coming more regularly to classes Back2Back staff give at a local community center on Wednesdays and Saturdays. And girls who previously had trouble making friends their age are excitedly asking about when they get to see their new friends from the retreat again. I have no doubt that God will use the seeds he planted in their hearts at this retreat to grow each one into a loving woman of God. Praise the Lord.

Boundless Hope

After spending time with Oti's family of 7 kids, I realized that they didn't have a very good understanding of their feelings. Sometimes they would react in unhelpful ways because they didn't understand what was going on around them or inside of them. We decided to start doing monthly emotions/character quality classes with their family and have since talked about anger, honesty, shame, and hope. While some of Oti's girls have big dreams others struggle to think beyond today. 

During our latest class we talked about how God gives us hope we can be confident of because it's based on his promises, which we know are true. We read about God's promises from his word: how he will always love us, protect us, take care of us, fulfill his special plan for us, and make us victorious. Then we played a game where the kids had to go through an obstacle course where each obstacle represented something hard that could happen in our lives because, while God has many promises for us, he doesn't promise that all of life will be easy. They successfully climbed over a chair because we have the confident hope that God loves us even when people make fun of us. They conquered crawling under a table because we have the confident hope that God will take care of us even when our loved ones get sick. And they were led to the finish line blindfolded because we have the confident hope that God will lead us even when we can't see how good can come out of the hard things that happen to us. The kids then had the opportunity to make a collage of different things they hoped for their lives. 

It was awesome to see them be so engaged and to begin understanding the big future that God has planned for them. I have no doubt that God is fulfilling his promise from Jeremiah 29:11 in the lives of Oti's children when he says that he has "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future".

Life Lessons from Energetic 8 Year Olds: Unashamed

Shame is a nasty feeling that comes from the darkness inside of us. It’s rooted in fear and insecurity. It warns us to protect ourselves from rejection, embarrassment, and truth. Shame fosters secrets. It tries to convince us that we need to hide from ourselves and others and that we won’t be accepted for who we are or what we’ve done. It destroys relationships with ourselves, others, and God.

We recently talked about shame during VBS at Rossy’s community center in Bonfil. The theme of the day was “even when you don’t understand, God loves you”. During the class, the small group leaders began washing the kids’ feet but didn’t explain why; instead, they replied “even when you don’t understand, God loves you”. After all of the kids’ feet had been washed the teacher asked them how they felt during the activity. In every other site where we had done this lesson, the kids said that they felt ashamed, embarrassed, and bad because their feet were dirty. Not at Rossy’s. From the minute the buckets of water and towels were brought out all 20 of the kids in my small group were pushing their feet toward the bucket begging me to wash theirs, some of them sloshing the water out of the bucket in their excitement. Many of their feet were black from running in the street, but they had no shame. Some even giggled as they sat their dusty feet on my lap when it was their turn knowing that I was going to make them clean. The kids at Rossy’s aren’t ashamed to be who they are. They aren’t ashamed to sing at the top of their lungs into a microphone praising Jesus. They aren’t ashamed to play games that make them look silly, and they aren’t ashamed of hard things that have happened in life.

They have been set free from shame and guilt through the blood of Christ and now have nothing to fear. It’s not that their lives aren’t difficult or that they haven’t been touched by hard things—most live in one room apartments off of a diet of Spaghetti O’s and are the first generation in their family who can read and write. They understand hard. They just know that the hard things aren’t what’s most important. And so they jump into life two feet first, up for anything, doing all things with gusto. They have a hungry hope that works out the impossible and an enthusiasm that brings life where there once was none. Every day at Rossy’s is a beautiful craziness and that is why I love them with so very much of my heart. And that is why I am here—to serve them and to help them to never lose their unashamed pursuit of God.

Sofi's First Email Address

I have been given an incredible privilege: the ability to participate in human redemption and restoration. To step into their stories and be a witness to God's healing grace in their lives. Sometimes that takes the face of the extraordinary, but more often than not I've found that on the surface it looks surprisingly mundane.

One of the moms we work with has two daughters who have lived at the San Jose Children's Home for the past 7 years. While she has suffered from both depression and alcoholism, the main reason for why her girls do not live with her is because she does not have a consistent job. So a few days ago I went with her to a shop where they sell internet to browse through job postings on Mexico's version of Craig's List. After jotting down a couple that we would later call and look in to, I asked the mother to do something on the computer and realized that she had never used a computer mouse before.

I was suddenly overwhelmed with tenderness as I looked into the eyes of a 30 year old woman who gazed back at me with the trusting, eager expectation that school girls have towards their teachers. I showed her how to hold the mouse, how to click, how to scroll up and down the page. I wrote down instructions on how to look for jobs online, and we created her very first email account. I felt so touched that she would allow me to care for her in that way. It was a simple task, but it didn't feel simple--it was a reminder that everything matters. A reminder to choose gentleness over a to-do lists in a world where so many of us may look, pretend, or fancy that we are big, strong, and grown up but are still in so many ways little children.

I'm so thankful that I am the child of such a marvelous father: a father who by allowing me to care for a woman in an internet shop, showed me how intimately and tenderly he cares for me.

Best Birthday :)

I love talking with people about their dreams. I love watching their eyes begin to sparkle and their mouths smile as a far off look comes over their face while they're telling you about what they hope for themselves or for others or for the world. I think that I like it so much because I see God in people in those moments--in their hopes and their passions and their desire to be a part of making whatever that dream is happen.

I believe very much in dreaming. My biggest life dream started in my US history class in high school when I learned about Jane Adams. She started a tenement house in Chicago in the 1920's that worked to give worth and dignity to the impoverished by providing affordable, decent housing. What started as buying a run down tenement house to fix it up and rent the rooms out at the same price but at a much higher quality led to the development of more tenement houses, community programs, and jobs for residents. I think this is beautiful and so a seed for a dream of doing something similar was planted in my heart.

God has been caring for this dream for years--growing my knowledge and skill set through social work classes at Taylor, practicum experiences, and personal relationships. While my dream hasn't been fully realized, God gave me a taste of this dream on my birthday. I got to spend the day painting a cuartaria (building of one-room apartments) where many of the kids from Rossy's community center in Bonfil live. To some, it may seem like a pretty crummy way to spend your birthday--getting covered in paint, dirt, and sweat far away from your family--but to me, it was the most beautiful gift. I love the way that God uses dreaming to call us to the place where we can best know and serve him so that he can continue the process of making us into who we were created to be. And today, I am thankful that God holds my dreams tenderly and that he stays committed even when I grow faint.

Playing with the Kids in the Park after a Long Day Painting

Our Expert Painters :)

My Birthday Buddie, Jiromi

Oti's Family

Oti is 38 years old. She lives and cares for her 7 youngest children, who are between 3-13 years old. Her husband died over 3 years ago, and she has been trying hard ever since to both take care of her kids and work to make money to provide for their basic needs.

Oti Serving Cake for a
 Birthday Celebration

Back2Back began working with Oti's family shortly after her husband died. At that time, none of her children were in school, and Oti was really struggling to provide for her family. Now her children are in school, and with the help of a tutor, are all getting straight A's. Two weeks ago, 5 of her kids were baptized. When Jeny, 13, was given her own Bible she immediately began reading it and making up tunes for singing the Psalms. Oti has visibly become more involved in helping her kids to grow and reach their dreams. We took the two oldest girls, Jeny and Marisol, to the beach this past Saturday along with some other teens that we work with and some teen volunteers so that they could get used to being around other kids their age (they're both behind in school and spend most of their time with younger kids). We played football, sang worship songs, and had snacks--it was very fun and so encouraging to see them laughing and making friends.

Oti's Kids Drawing Self-Portraits

I've been involved in working with Oti's family over the past few months by writing down the kids' life stories and creating individualized goals for each child. I'm also starting to do games and activities with them each month to help them better understand their feelings and how to cope with stress and hard things. This month we talked about anger. Among other games, we wrote down things that make us frustrated, upset, and angry and then threw wet paper towels at those things, which caused the words to drip away. It was fun to watch the kids get super into it, and I think they learned about good ways to express their anger.

I've loved watching these kids grow--hearing their hilarious jokes, singing Justin Bieber songs together, and having story time. God has great things in store for each one of them, and I feel so blessed to be a part of their stories.

Dalila's Family

Dalila is 31 years old. She got married when she was 14 years old, and her husband died about 8 years ago. Dalila and her husband had three lovely children who are now 15, 12, and 11 years old. While a lot of hard things have happened in Dalila's life, she is a strong woman who is dedicated to helping her children have a brighter future than her past. Even when there wasn't enough to eat for dinner, she would tell them how much she loved them and how she knew they would go to the university someday. She would tell them about her dreams for them--that they could do and be anything they wanted to be.

Dalila met Back2Back a few years ago while walking the streets looking for work. She accepted Christ into her heart last November and is now living in her "dream house". Her kids dream of being a psychologist, a veterinarian, and an architect. They are doing much better in school and are very happy.

Just last month a short-term missions group serving with Back2Back helped to pour the front patio of Dalila's dream house by hand. The whole family was very excited and grateful--especially Dalila's son, Jose Luis, who is anxious to practice and show off his skate boarding skills (a birthday gift).

I've been blessed with the opportunity of working with each of the kids to write down their life stories. I've also learned how to make Picadillo (yummy taco filling), am currently a beat-boxer in training (thank you Jose Luis), and have had the joy of watching Leydy become more self-confident. God is at work in this family, and I have been so encouraged to be a part of this work.
  

Dalila's Dream House

Leydy, Zury, and Jose Luis

  

Dalila's Family