In the Beginning...

Remember back to the first time you heard the story of Creation, or Noah's ark, or of Abraham having to almost sacrifice his son. When we hear those stories as children, we find them pretty exciting! That is what all of these girls are experiencing right now! Every story to them is brand new. I love getting to start in Genesis and walk them through the Bible. It definitely brings a smile to my face when I say we have to stop for the night and will continue the story the next day and each of the girls gives a little sigh. One of my favorite parts though is hearing the girls' questions afterward and what they learned from the story. I get questions from "So do the stars have babies?" after talking about how God told Abraham his descendants would outnumber the stars; to "What happened to all the babies on the earth when God flooded it?". This is part of what makes devotion one of my favorite hours of the day. We have devotion once in the morning and once at night everyday. The morning is filled with worship and signing praises to God and lots of praying. Evening devotion is when we dive into the word. I love that we are showing these girls what it really means to start and end you day fully dependent on God. 

I Am Running On Empty

It is a good thing that the Fruits of the Spirit don't cost as much as gas, because I am having to fill up everyday! I actually feel content when I lay down on my bed at the end of the day and I feel empty because I know that I have given these girls everything God gave me that day. These girls are loud, stubborn, disobedient, and fighters; but every time they worship together, read English for the first time by themselves, give me a hug, or try to share their food with me I forget all of the other things and thank God for them everyday. I know that I only get through each day because God gives me strength, patience, and understanding every morning. I ask Him to control each day and He faithfully does. One of Courtney and I's goals is to teach these girls about who God is. They have memorized John 3:16 to know that He is our savior, we have been through the story of creation so they know that God is our creator, and they are memorizing Matthew 13:45-46 to know that God sees them as pearls of great price. One day I was working on the verse with them and I was explaining what it means to be a pearl. I told them to yell at the top of their lungs, " I AM A PEARL", and it was beautiful! 

True Life: this is the Pearl House

On Sunday night, the 28th, we had a dedication of the Pearl House. We had heard rumors of more girls, but had not directly heard anything. As the bus of Maranatha people drove up to the church, along came 10 girls that Pastor Odai had brought us. We had told him a few days earlier that our max was 5 more girls, but of course that means nothing to Pastor Odai. I expected Courtney to be freaking out, but instead she was odly calm. It was inspiring to see her but each one of those girld in God's hands as soon as they entered the house. So, here we are with 21 girls, trying to find beds, mattresses, pillows, toiletries, and so much more. The LORD is good though and has provided abundantly. The transition from 11 girls to 21 girls has been an interested. There are more languages, more sassy personalities, but more hearts to love. God has a plan that is greater than one that I could ever think of and I completely trust His direction. I still don't know a whole lot about these new girls, but I look forward to seeing where they came from. I have gotten to hear the original 11's stories and it just makes me love them more! I want them to see that God can heal their broken families, broken hearts, and broken mind sets. I pray that God will soften their hearts and let them be vulnerable. One of the hardest parts is how to discipline the girls. One, there is a language barrier. Two, there is a cultural barrier. Three, there is a Clara's personality barrier. It's hard to tell them why they are in trouble when I can't communicate with them and it makes me seem less like a leader of the house when I have to go get someone else either older or younger. Then there is the cultural aspect that I haven't been raised to understand. What is accepted? What isn't? Do I let them pee on the front yard? is it okay if they play fight since that is what they do here? I have to learn their customs. I am not here to turn them into American children. I want them to keep their beautiful Africaness. Then there is me. Clara Brown's personality is not one that is strict disciplinarian. I am lenient and tend to let things slide. If I have to discipline than I am calm and have reasoning behind every action. Here, everything is immediate. They don't take the time to tell them why they can't do what they did, they don't give second or third chances to correct themselves. I just have to pray that my fellow leaders are patient with me. I have to learn. I have to dismiss my opinions on cultural actions and learn. I don't want them to fear me. I just want them to respect me. In the past year I have gone from having one sister, to two sisters, to 23 sisters. They are from all over and I love them all differently but in the same way. True Life: my name is Clara Brown and I live in a house with 21 beautiful Ghanian girls.