much craziness
Sorry for my absense. Life seemed to go in fast forward this week.
Last Thursday Matthew and I went as youth leaders with 4 coach buses full of students to Rochester for MN Assembly of God youth convention. It's hard to sum it up in a few words... lots of interesting stories! Mostly about one girl, Crystal. Amazing, really, that she was even on this trip at all.
About a year ago, she became our 'pranker'. Out of the blue, she started calling 2-3 times a week. We had no idea who she was, or she us. She literally picked our name out of the phone book and started calling. We sat and talked to her about all sorts of things after she got over the initial 'your fridge is running' calls. It was obvious she needed to have adults in her life she could look up to (her mom would sometimes get on the phone and openly flirt with Mathew, knowing he's married). After 5-6 months, the calls stopped. We had no idea where she went until she called us a couple of months later. She called us on a weekend visit away from the girls group home she now lives at (she ran away from home and was caught shoplifting). It seems like she's been pretty low since then. Phone calls are not allowed, but they are letting her come to our youth group (amazing!). Now we're discovering, though, that she is a different person face to face. She won't look you in the eye or answer with more than 1 or 2 words. She's confused and seems to have little to no trust for anyone. But she still comes... and somehow got permission to go to youth convention!
Since I was the only girl she would really respond to, I was her room leader. It was hard to see her closed off from everyone. She literally curled up in a ball and stared at the wall while the rest of the girls and I were joking around. We tried to engage her, but she was clearly not interested... or didn't know how to show it. I hurt for her.
Last Thursday Matthew and I went as youth leaders with 4 coach buses full of students to Rochester for MN Assembly of God youth convention. It's hard to sum it up in a few words... lots of interesting stories! Mostly about one girl, Crystal. Amazing, really, that she was even on this trip at all.
About a year ago, she became our 'pranker'. Out of the blue, she started calling 2-3 times a week. We had no idea who she was, or she us. She literally picked our name out of the phone book and started calling. We sat and talked to her about all sorts of things after she got over the initial 'your fridge is running' calls. It was obvious she needed to have adults in her life she could look up to (her mom would sometimes get on the phone and openly flirt with Mathew, knowing he's married). After 5-6 months, the calls stopped. We had no idea where she went until she called us a couple of months later. She called us on a weekend visit away from the girls group home she now lives at (she ran away from home and was caught shoplifting). It seems like she's been pretty low since then. Phone calls are not allowed, but they are letting her come to our youth group (amazing!). Now we're discovering, though, that she is a different person face to face. She won't look you in the eye or answer with more than 1 or 2 words. She's confused and seems to have little to no trust for anyone. But she still comes... and somehow got permission to go to youth convention!
Since I was the only girl she would really respond to, I was her room leader. It was hard to see her closed off from everyone. She literally curled up in a ball and stared at the wall while the rest of the girls and I were joking around. We tried to engage her, but she was clearly not interested... or didn't know how to show it. I hurt for her.
It was humbling that I could not crack her hardened shell. Even if she didn't want to talk much, she made it clear that she didn't want to go anywhere without me. I was to be her 'safety'. By the end of the trip, though, she started answering with longer sentences to a few of us. Hopefully a lot was going on in her heart, even if she didn't want to talk about it openly.
Patience is a hard thing to grasp when you want to fix someone else's hurts.
This is Crystal. She has such a sweet heart- I wish we could see more of these smiles!
Our bus driver had a tootsie roll addiction... maybe because it was all Matthew and I fed him.
A candid, totally unplanned shot- we were actually sleeping when this was taken.
This is Carrie. She bought crutches at a thrift store because, "they were only 3 dollars!" What a crazy. She used them all weekend, just because she could.
5,000 to 6,000 students packed into the Rochester convention center for a weekend of powerful worship and the challenge,
"One Life. One Chance."
posted by Cristina | 10:52 PM
5 Comments:
i will be praying for the Lord to continue to use you in Crystal's life. You have an amaznig heart, cristina!!!!!!!
my batteries are dying in my keyboard.
lol
-J
am i the only one that can't read a word off this page? i see yellow specks and the some really nice pictures...
im wondering if the dirt background isnt loading for some people, Ill change the load up background color to something dark to see if that works.
ok, I made the background dark, if anyone still has a problem, let me know and I'll try something else. Great Blog my beatiful wife, and great job with Crystal. I know you did a great thing for her at the convention.
I can read it. Looks good too!
G
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