Celebrating 14 years and 7 years of friendship!

                                           


                                                                    
                                                                       Charmaine!


                                      
                                                 

On Saturday I was reminded of a sweet and affectionate 6 year old girl who ran up to me and gave me a big hug on my second day at Community Hope School. Well...that girl is no longer 6 but turned 14 on Saturday, still sweet, affectionate and really polite. I never thought we’d become such good friends. God has His ways of bringing people together and I am so thankful that He did. After a long journey of investing, teachings and different faith-based exposure Charmaine finally came to faith 2 years ago and her genuine faith has been a great example and encouragement to me and her peers.Through our experience, she taught me to be more patient, more loving and much more appreciative of the little things in life. She taught me the value of being there for people, to stay connected and to never take them for granted.
With her, I have these constant reminders of why I am blessed. Constant reminders that turns
(1Thessalonians 2:8) into purpose, purpose into passion, and passion into change. She is just not my student...she is family!

 (1Thessalonians 2:8...We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well...)

 That is how beloved she have become to me.



                                             
                                          

                                                       

2013

                                                           

2014

                                                                    

                                                           

2015

                                                                     

2016

                                                      

                                                    

2019

                                                     

Happy Birthday-Charmaine turned 14!!!!!

                                                      

Racing towards a new Beginning...

 This is an exciting time of year for so many Children. A new school year means a new start with a new teacher, new classmates, and best of all, new school supplies. Do you remember the excitement of getting that fresh box of crayons, a new notebook, new clothes(with new shoes if you were really lucky), and a backpack in your favorite color? While back-to-school shopping may be a little stressful for parents, it’s definitely one of the highlights of the year for most boys and girls.

Keeping up with the GIRLS

 I thank God for sending me pillars of strength and wisdom in the form of my spiritual mentors throughout my teen years until now. Women who served as Jesus in the flesh to me and poured God's love into me. Who walked beside me and prayed for me and loved me in spite of my flaws. Over the years I figured that they were blessing me with their time and lives with the hope that I would learn to be a blessing and help to pull up another girl one day...

  I sat with the girls with my eyes wide open. It was one of those moments where every word spoken pierced straight into my heart. You would never know from the outside. In fact with teens, you would never know anything these days unless they let you in on the "secrets and the codes" themselves, otherwise your discussions will always go down a rabbit trail. Teens live in a world where everything is  coated and many times it's hard to be authentic. But since many of us would love to come along side them and help without pushing them away or being shut out, I took the time during my discussions with the girls to find out some of the felt needs that teenagers have and their advice on  things that teens in general wish their parents or mentors would know and understand...

 We all need someone to listen to us. To really listen and understand. 

Accept us for who we are. 

Correct us but don't condemn us.

 Be a safe place for us to share how we feel and to help us navigate how we feel.

 Someone to tell us often and regularly that we are remarkable would be nice.

Some one to believe in us especially when we are trying our best but continues to fail.

Make room for mistakes and allow us to learn from them. 

Fashion and social media just becomes more interesting then reading sometimes

 Respect our privacy. 

We'll always be open to talk to someone we have learned to trust/ always available.

We can not live up to perfection some times we need to see your flaws to relate well.

        Laughter and times just to have fun are important.
         We mainly learn by example so be a good example...always watching.
       Friends are important and they become family.

Though we may complain about it we need and want boundaries and responsibilities.

 Mom to be Mom and not try to be our peer.

Need dad's unconditional love and complements

Faith lived out daily not a faith that is only seen on Sunday.

Please don't GIVE UP on us.

It was an enlightening moment for me. I couldn't help it but to become a student immediately, pen and paper, I learned; learn the facts before you assume and understand why before you judge and teach.

Girl's Reunion

 For me right now student/youth ministry is at it’s best when it bridges primary and high school. But mainly the high school stage. I realized that I'm done with the days of graduating students and forgetting about them.That was one of my greatest mistakes as a new teacher. One spend so much time building relationship with students just to have them disappear one day into high school. You never really hear anything from them again except for some grievous news of how unfortunate life turned out for some of them. If there was anything I learned over time, is that good teachers are not afraid to disciple their students –now, I believe in maintaining those relationships that were build over time and equipping students for the transition to teenagehood and adulthood by intentionally walking with them through the different stages of life.
 I shared my heart with Suzanne and both of us wanted to follow up on our graduates that we immediately started to work toward the goal of hosting our first reunion lunch with all the girls that were in town that weekend.
The  reason for putting on a reunion event was to reconnect with the girls. The very fact that our graduates are freshmen in high school means that they need quality adults in their lives to mentor them.  And, truthfully I personally realized that I need them in my life too if I want to effectively help them and many more. Mentoring brings life to both sides. Sometimes you get more out of it than you give. Relationships are the key to growth.

Rekindling our relationships could have been enough reason to do this reunion but it was also a great opportunity to listen.  It was interesting to listen to the girls talking about the joys and struggles of life as teens in general and being in high school. This helped me better understand what topics we need to address while they are still in high school. At this point faith and finding friends that shares the same faith has been a struggle for most of them and it was a great opportunity for them to evaluating their first semester choices and  to remind them of what was important. This reunion event was a great way to tell them that they are still valued members of "Community Hope's family". The day was filled with laughter, a great meal prepared by Suzanne, cooling off in the pool and best of all; a chocolate cake to celebrate their lives!
And little gifts to show them that they still belong and they are dearly loved!

Family Day!

Is not a coincident that one of my student is born on Independence day and named Indepensia!
To make this day special, I had her over for our family day at my bother's place where we also got to celebrate her birthday with the rest of my family!

Celebrating 28 years of Independence!

“Some things are too wonderful even for a child, and freedom's one of them”
 Elizabeth Yates
 Our school beamed with joy as we joined the rest of the country in celebrating 28 years of Independence with all students and staff dressed in their traditional  attires; a way of appreciating and highlighting our unity in diversity

 

Embrace the New

Some times I tell myself...I am just a teacher or to strengthen my heart...I am a youth worker... Throughout the course of our lives we experience many endings and many beginnings. However, with each transition we have the opportunity to learn a great deal about ourselves and new things. So things are not as bad as it felt like in the beginning. To depart is a significant milestone in anyone's life and ushers in a time of separation and transition, requiring adjustment on both parties;  the one letting go as well as the one leaving. Yet is much easier said than done...when the time came to break my day to day teacher+students connections it definitely took me a little bit longer than I thought to adjust to  the change. The new reality was not just the absence of my former students but also the presence of new ones which required additional adjustments. From the outside everything looked normal and in place but deep within I felt the pain of separation that went far beyond simply missing my students  after they we're gone. Letting them go felt like letting them walk down a dark tunnel all by themselves.
I was scared for them—those 9th-12th graders were huge!
 But after we both learned to dive deep into the new experiences presented to us and embraced the change only then did my perspective of things started to change. In fact it started to get really interesting when I started to learn more about life through their experience. We use to talk about high school life in theory and based on my teen experiences but now we are talking about high school from their own first hand experiences. The thrill, fear, changes, and challenges. Yes, things are turning and I find myself some times being blown in a new directions which I am hoping would help me to understand teens better and enable me to usher our pre-teens at Community Hope in High school a bit more prepared. Teen life had always me worried and frustrated but now that I have my students going through this stage and high  school, it suddenly became intriguing though still a little bit sensitive. It's inevitable.
 

Things are a little bit different now and high school is teaching them to take on new ideas, challenges and values but I have committed to keep the relationships going with some of my former students. I am thankful to still be apart of their lives and have a voice of guidance, though they are now beginning to learn to establish their teen's autonomy and independence.