Catharsis

Today is Monday . . . a calmish day after a whirlwind weekend!  I haven't had the time to be able to write about Friday to Sunday, but hopefully, I'll be able to do that now.  I want to apologize ahead of time for the rabbit trails and ramblings that will most definitely occur within the next couple paragraphs.  Fortunately for me (perhaps unfortunately for others), being able to write out what's been happening is a time for me to process what actually has been taking place - so thank you for your patience with my writings that lack a concise nature!

Friday was such a roller coaster of a day!  It started out with three of our team members, including the two leaders, going to the doctor -- the food and the climate had been pretty merciful to us, but I think it is now definitely taking a toll more recently in rashes, heat-caused sores, and let's say . . . stomach issues.  With their departure, that left seven of us to play with the young girls, whose teacher had chosen to take the day off of work, and we had no plan whatsoever.  We had to get them out of their house for various reasons, so we tried to play volleyball.  It rained.  I think we tried to dance and the radio broke.  We even tried to get them to do a scavenger hunt - they found the final clue within minutes.   All that to say it was a very frustrating morning for me and I definitely let the frustration get to me.  I reminded myself of the story of Mary and Martha and was most definitely acting like Martha.  My teammates were so understanding though, and I am truly appreciating their patience with me as this trip is bringing out a lot of areas where I need to change and grow.  So many situations are humbling to me, and although it doesn't feel good, it's good, because it's causing me to grow, hopefully.  Haha, I guess it's really easy to say you want to be humbled but actually going through it is another story!  

Anyways, we regrouped after everyone returned from the doctor and that was definitely the turning point of the day because the evening was something truly wonderful.  Two of our girls were brave enough to share their testimonies - something that was a very daunting prospect for both.  They spoke with eloquence, out of a genuine heart, and with honesty.  It was amazing to see the girls' response.  Many of them broke down crying, and they prayed for the girls who spoke, and it was a beautiful time of care for eachother.  I guess, after talking to Thilini, that it was a two fold reaction:  1. The girls see Americans as having everything.  To hear that these girls went through so much and struggled in their own lives was a shock - a big shock.  2.  Many of the girls have experienced similar events and, obviously, this brings back the memories and emotions of those trials.  By the time our two girls were done, the whole room was affected - and being all girls, crying.  The majority of the teens were sobbing, and we it was all we could do to just hold them.  After reflecting on this, I think that this is where the language barrier worked in our favor, as, for many of the girls, I don't think words would have sufficed.

However, after a solid 15 minutes of crying, my big fear seemed to becoming a reality.  I had been so fearful inwardly that we were going to be dragging up so much pain, emotion, memories - basically opening a can of worms for these girls - and are/were completely ill-equipped to deal positively with all of this.  Even if we did have a plan of how to lead the girls through their emotions, we had less than a week's time left living here.  But then, one of my highlights of the trip occurred.  We moved from upstairs where we were talking, to downstairs for some tea as it started to rain.  Pouring rain.  Within seconds someone had suggested dancing in the rain and within minutes we were all dancing as the water pelted down on us.  It was so fun, we were all giggling and dancing and laughing at one another.  The people here don't go out in the rain usually, I think they say it makes you sick.  But somehow, I am not sure exactly how, we all ended up on the roof, dancing in the rain.  The roof is open and where the girls hang laundry, almost like a fourth story but open on the top.  Someone grabbed a bucket full of water water and the rest was pure fun - we were throwing bucket, after bucket, after bucket of "watura" (easiest Sinhala word) at each other.  This was the most intense water fight I've ever had, all of us were drenched.  The girls had never had a water fight before and I think it was a novelty for them that was so much fun.  I go into so much detail over this because, I totally think this whole occurrence was God's way of wrapping up what could have been a "raw" time.  He brought joy from pain.  He brought them from crying to being washed and restored.  After the water fight, there was a joy and peace surrounding us -- also, a new closeness from our time of sharing both this pain and joy.

Cali just checked her journal for me to see if that's all that happened that day - she reminded me of what we had for dinner.  We had bread.  That's it.  For breakfast we had bread too.  Somehow, our food was disappearing, haha.  It was funny.  

(I wrote this out last night.  Didn't make it to Saturday (AMAZING day) or Sunday (such a fun day)!  But I will try when I have time, for now this will have to due! )  Please pray for us!  Thanks