Last night Annie and I had an over-nighter in the batey with the girls.  Quite the experience!  The girls were so excited that we wanted to come stay where they live.  Twelve girls between the ages of 10 and 18 came.   We had a great time of visiting and doing “girl stuff:” painting nails, eating lots of food, playing games, watching a movie (one of the girls’ dads let us borrow his generator), and talking about boys, life, etc.  I think the greatest impact, though, was getting the opportunity to peer into their everyday life and counter their worldview on relationships with a Biblical worldview.  They are at the age where relationships are or will quickly become a reality and they live in a culture where sex at a very young age is the norm.  We want to start talking to them now and showing them what God’s Word has to say on relationships, showing them that there is a better way – (God’s way – and that the commands in the Bible are not just suggestions or old-fashioned but are ways that we can honor God and protect ourselves and that they are truly the best way to do life.

All-in-all it was a fun night and an opportunity to reinforce that we are interested in their personal lives, not just holding church services and activities.  When I went down into the batey this morning to gather up the kids for Niños para Cristo, I was met by lots of people asking, “Did you really spend the night here?” with a mixture of awe and excitement (I guess they thought we would get scared off with no electricity . . .).  

It meant something to them that we wanted to be there.   So, while we probably won’t see any radical life changes as a direct result of our sleepover, relationships were strengthened, a Biblical worldview was presented, and fun was had by all! 

In the words of Eva: “It was a spectacular night!”