Recently, I’ve begun to spend a couple hours on Thursday afternoons volunteering with some after school programs at my local library. I am seeking to use this as a natural bridge for relationships with parents and kids/youth that live in my neighborhood and so far, it has been very successful! However, I haven't had the opportunity to engage with any of the staff for an extended time. That changed this Thursday.
I arrived an hour before the programs start to begin set up as usual and found the children's program coordinator, Mrs. Domingo. In the few times I've gotten to help out so far, she has been pretty busy so we haven't had much one-on-one interaction. But this time was different. She sat down with me in the tiny chairs and we chatted as we cut shamrocks out of construction paper. As I am working in a publicly funded institution in order to meet contacts, I have to be very careful about what I say in regards to my job as a mission catalyst. I want to be able to continue volunteering there. However, I had my suspicions that Mrs. Domingo believed in God but hadn't been able to confirm. As we were talking I began to discuss that I’ve been working in the community and that I get to create Bible studies through my job. Immediately, her eyes lit up and she said, "Does that mean that you're a Christian? I knew it! When I first met you I could tell that you had so much peace and thought that you had to be a Christian!"
From there, we spent the rest of the time discussing our faith, testimonies, and struggle as well as the needs of the community- especially the needs of the kids and youth in the area. She shared with me how she deeply desires to share Jesus with them in a more explicit way but cannot due to the risk of losing her job. Then she looked around the empty room, leaned in closer and whispered to me about the times that she had overcome that fear and shared with specific children from time to time. Please pray for Mrs. Domingo. Pray for her to come up with creative ways to be able to share God's love within her context while protecting her job. Pray that her faith stays strong and that she and I will continue to have these deep conversations. Pray that the kids in my neighborhood would benefit from her positive influence and Christ-like love in a profound way and pray that they will discover God’s love for themselves.
I arrived an hour before the programs start to begin set up as usual and found the children's program coordinator, Mrs. Domingo. In the few times I've gotten to help out so far, she has been pretty busy so we haven't had much one-on-one interaction. But this time was different. She sat down with me in the tiny chairs and we chatted as we cut shamrocks out of construction paper. As I am working in a publicly funded institution in order to meet contacts, I have to be very careful about what I say in regards to my job as a mission catalyst. I want to be able to continue volunteering there. However, I had my suspicions that Mrs. Domingo believed in God but hadn't been able to confirm. As we were talking I began to discuss that I’ve been working in the community and that I get to create Bible studies through my job. Immediately, her eyes lit up and she said, "Does that mean that you're a Christian? I knew it! When I first met you I could tell that you had so much peace and thought that you had to be a Christian!"
From there, we spent the rest of the time discussing our faith, testimonies, and struggle as well as the needs of the community- especially the needs of the kids and youth in the area. She shared with me how she deeply desires to share Jesus with them in a more explicit way but cannot due to the risk of losing her job. Then she looked around the empty room, leaned in closer and whispered to me about the times that she had overcome that fear and shared with specific children from time to time. Please pray for Mrs. Domingo. Pray for her to come up with creative ways to be able to share God's love within her context while protecting her job. Pray that her faith stays strong and that she and I will continue to have these deep conversations. Pray that the kids in my neighborhood would benefit from her positive influence and Christ-like love in a profound way and pray that they will discover God’s love for themselves.
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