Remember when you were a teenager and you struggled with finding a place to belong? Maybe you felt like no one understood you and that you were trapped between being a child and an adult. For many of us, though, if we think back, we realize it was in that vulnerable stage that God reached out to us and loved us right where we were.
Since I began volunteering at Mission Adelante, I have had such a heart for the teens. I’ve watched them struggle through the awkwardness of adolescence and try to find a place where they belong. Although we had a place for them at the Kids Adelante Outreach Bible Study, I could sense that they yearned for something that was all their own. They desired a place where they could form a relationship with God that was driven by their own desire to pursue Him.
This last Wednesday, we launched the Teens Adelante ("Teens Go Forth") Bible Study. It was so incredible to see teens that had outgrown the Outreach Bible Study pursue Teens Adelante with excitement. Eight kids attended the first study and all of them were returners from the Outreach Bible Study. Six volunteers helped lead the teens through worship, recreation, and prayer. I was nervous that the kids might feel shy about sharing their deepest prayer requests. However, my nerves were calmed as I saw them respond to God through the worship and reach out to each other through prayer.
Providing a place for the teens to grow and connect with God has been a dream of mine for over two years. God’s faithfulness, the teens' vulnerability, and the sense of family that was already in place on the first night has allowed me to see that God had planned this place for them to belong before I ever did. Please pray for this new community to grow, be challenged, and flourish as God gives them a place to call their own.
In other news:
- L.I.T. students will hold a Bake Sale at the Mission Adelante facility this Thursday, February 4 at 8:30 p.m. Proceeds will be donated to World Vision for their earthquake relief effort in Haiti. If you'll be in the neighborhood volunteering that evening, please support their effort!
- Resource Center volunteers, Anglo and Hispanic alike, have remained faithful to the ministry during the recent months of cold weather. The Resource Center is open every Saturday morning in an detached unheated garage to provide food, baby supplies, clothing, and household items to needy neighborhood families.
- Three women shared with the worship community Sunday night how meeting in their discipleship Trio is impacting their lives.
- Jarrett Meek has been diagnosed with a cervical disc extrusion in his neck and is exploring treatment options. Please pray that the condition will be healed without surgery.
- The dilemma of transporting the Bhutanese population to outreach programs is becoming more difficult as the few Bhutanese individuals with Driver's Licenses are getting jobs and becoming unavailable to provide transportation. Please pray with us for a good, long term solution.
- Please continue to pray for a Hispanic woman in our community who courageously left her job after suffering workplace abuse and sexual harassment over the course of a few years. Pray for God to allow her to find a new job where she'll be respected.
- A refrigerator for the newly constructed kitchen on the second floor of our facility.
- Diapers, sizes 3 and 4, for distribution through the Resource Center.
- Home furnishings and household items for a newlywed Bhutanese couple. They're moving out of their parents' households into a very bare apartment with few of their own belongings. Please contact David Stetler to arrange drop-off.
- Saturday, February 27, 9:00 a.m.: Adelante Missions Institute presents Kirk Ogden, Director of South American Missions for a seminar on cross-cultural ministry.
- Thursday, March 18: Spring break. No morning or evening activities.