Cáterine-day 2

Wednesday afternoon, we headed back to the girls' detention center for another visit. I was excited to see Catherine and her friend Ebony. I wondered if they would want to see me at all. But as soon as we had entered in the common area, the girls immediately greated me. We hit it off, as if we had been best friends for wuite some time. It's been a while since I've hung out with high school girls but I was reminded of why enjoy spending time with them. After a bit of catching up and telling them more about my family, we gathered all together to hear a word from Philip and the scriptures. The girls leaned on me and it was in those moments that I had a realization of my time here in Honduras. It wasnt just to use words in the right way and in the right language. It wasn't to experience a different country and a new culture. It wasn't even necessarily to say "Jesús te ama to everyone I met. It was simply to love on these sweet people who were hurting and in such need. That's what we had been doing all week and that's where I found myself right at this moment and it hit me. And I realized my heart was capable of so much more love for these people than I ever would have imagined. 

After I took a step back for this, the girls started calling me "mamá"....and then later, my friend Cáterine started calling me "abuelita" (sweet little grandma) since she was pregnant. We ended up spending the next 2 hours, just she and I, to the side, talking, our conversation completely in Spanish. She shared her dreams, for her and her child and her family. She shared her regrets of what she had done wrong and her sadness for being in the jail. We exchanged sgories of what we liked to do, me play music, her draw. Our lives were somehow woven together in the most knitted fashion. So that when it was time to leave, we both wept. Even as I write this, I shed tears for my dear hija. I pray for her, and her safety, for her protection, for the care of her growing baby, and the life she will continue to lead. And pray for a time to see her again. I long to see her again. I can express what I want to say in Spanish, but for some reason can't translate it into English (this isn't such a bad thing...). It was one of the hardest moments I've had so far this week to walk out of that center. And I couldn't turn around, or else I'd probably still be there.