From the Inside Out

Hello hello hello!!

We finished up our work at the women's shelter last Friday. I can honestly say that as frustrated as I got with some of matter is that I the staff and their irresponsible decisions, and some of the kids and their overwhelming disrespect, I was sad to leave and say "goodbye." The truth of the matter is that I will most likely never see any of them ever again. Our time together was a mere blink in their life. The scary part about that is their lives and my life are on very different paths. Talking to a few of the youth over the past few weeks I found that many of them had family that was incarcerated for abuse, battery, or drug charges. Sadly, these kids have a higher likelihood to follow in a similar path...and that breaks my heart. We were suppose to be ministering to these kids but, honestly, I didn't feel like I was. I felt like I was missing out on opportunities, and for most of my time there I felt really discouraged because i felt as though Jesus was not the center of my being there. Praise God, though, Friday brought a new since of encouragement!! Friday morning as I was getting ready I really felt as though I should wear the story Jesus' life that we made during woman's day. So, I did. About 20 minutes after the kiddos had arrived i was already getting compliments on it and sharing the life of Jesus and that he climbed up on the cross to cover all of our sins. That day at least three girls and one boy memorized the entire bracelet!! Hallelujah! PRAISE THE LORD (PTL, emmalog)!!
And they wanted to keep going over it! To have a 9 year old boy say to me repeatedly say to me "Ms, Mari, can I plEase say it just ONE more time???" WOW. cool.

As we entered our last week here in Seattle, we enjoyed a nice break from the fast pace of the last two weeks with a retreat at Discovery Bay retreat center. It was a great time for me to just reflect on what the Lord has done in my life and in Seattle for the past 3 weeks and just share in a time of fellowship with everyone. Friday night, Sam and I had a nice heart-to-heart as we laid out and underneath the stars. Man, can I tell you. She's a god-send. Like seriously. We just get each other and it seems we always have the same thing on our minds. We just relate to each other so well, and she is a complete blessing to have in my life. I hope when we get to heaven, we live on the same block :) Anyway, Saturday we went to the beach (WOW!!! Pacific Ocean= COLD!!!!!!) and into town at Port Townsend. Saturday night we had a home-cooked chicken enchilada dinner!! Uh, YUM! That night, was a big night of meditation and reflection for me. It was raining very lightly and i went out into a big field and stuck my iPod in and just sang to the Lord. Spinning and twirling and laughing, I felt like such a little girl. My favorite part was just rejoicing in the Lord and singing loud! At one point, I was singing Never Let Go by Matt Redmen and I was twirling as fast as I could and i felt sooo dizzy and out of control but I felt God's hand gently around me. I ended up falling down flat on my backside and just laughin' and singin louder! Just lying their beneath the stars looking up and knowing that I can't even begin to imagine the full amount of love that the Lord has for me. That was a good night.

This week we are working in the womens prison. I'll update soon on how that's going. love y'all!!