First off, I am back at El Pozo de Vida (The Well of Life) helping out in whatever capacities I can. For those of you that don't know, The Well is a Mexican non-profit organization that fights human trafficking and modern day slavery. We have four main areas in which we work which are: prevention, advocacy, intervention and restoration. I am currently helping mainly with prevention and advocacy, but I also am involved with intervention and restoration as well in more discreet ways.
For the advocacy part, I am helping the social workers to learn more about the individual laws and protocols that have to do with human trafficking, both nationally and internationally. I will also be giving a workshop to the girls in the house on the justice system in April and am currently working on preparing my material for that. Many of you may be thinking, "How does she even know Mexican laws?" and the truth is I don't and am starting from scratch! I've been spending many hours the past week reading the Constitution, the basic foundation of the Mexican government, and bugging all my Mexican friends to help explain to me so much of this that I don't understand.
There have definitely been moments where I have had to stop, take a deep breath, and remember that God placed me in this ministry and He will equip me how He sees fit to do this work well. It's been a really humbling time through this major learning curve, but at the same time I am finding such strength and peace that only comes from my Heavenly Father and have really been enjoying my time with Him in a way I have never experienced before.
The prevention aspect that I am working with comes in the form of the ministry team that goes to the immigration jail every Saturday to work with the women and young boys that are detained there. See this previous post for a more in-depth story about my first time with this ministry. I'm continually humbled and changed through these experiences on Saturday, and I am also really delighting in the team with whom I get to share these experiences. Most of them are Mexican, and all of us come from different organizations, so it is so sweet to see such diversity working for one common goal: freedom. This team and what were are getting to do each Saturday is such a beautiful reflection of the Gospel and God's Kingdom and I am continually blown away by how blessed I am to experience this here in Mexico.
Another "activity" that I have been doing is discipling a couple of girls that have befriended me. The times that I get to spend with each of them are some of my favorite times of the week for me because there are few words to describe how encouraging and uplifting it is to have friends that are nationals and are so supportive and excited for you to be here. Below is a picture of my dear friend Paulina who is studying Graphic Design at UVM and probably my best Mexican female friend :D
Monday night and Sunday afternoon I also got to spend some time hanging out with the "jovenes" (the youth) from my church. I usually don't go to their Sunday School class because I am helping instruct the class for the new believers, but despite not having spent much time with them last semester, they have welcomed me with wider than open arms and I have really enjoyed getting to share life with some of the girls in particular. I am very excited to see where the Lord leads my friendships with some of them and I am praying that He will help me to continue to open up my heart to love on all the young ladies that He brings across my path.
