800 Girls!!!

Also, I wanted to share with you about my day yesterday. It was a bit unbelievable to say the least. For over two months now my friend Emerthe has been asking me to speak to some girls at King David's Academy on sexual health and how to honor God with their bodies. Her main reason/concern in having me come talk to them was that many of the girls at school had been having sex and/or getting pregnant and having to leave school. I have been putting it off with so much going on at school and actually had to cancel twice. Well, yesterday we finally went and literally I had hardly planned because I spent my entire week planning for school and that morning from 6:30-2 coaching a soccer camp. I also thought there would only be able 30 girls there, so we could just have a conversational discussion about the subjects instead of me sitting in front of them like a lecturer. I had also brought a tin of cookies for the girls thinking it would only be a small group of us. Well... with only a tin of cookies, my bible, and no notes in hand, I showed up and walked into this huge hall to 800 girls!!!!!!!!!!! My mouth dropped and the only thing I said to Emerethe was "oh my gosh there is a lot of girls" to which she responded "oh yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you." I was shocked, unprepared, and feeling a slight sense of "what in the world did I get myself into".... I seriously just stopped in my tracks and started praying. It was all I could do because there was no way I was going to get through this meeting as a guest health teacher speaker on my own thoughts and planning. Thankfully, I can report that I did make it through and I do think the girls were interested and learned. It was a sweet time where I was able to share a bit of my story with them and my mistakes. I was also able to share with them from 2 Corinthians where it says your body is a temple and how as girls they have value. I also was able to share not only my heart, but also the little knowledge I know from teaching health and sexual reproduction. It was pretty unbelievable all around, but I think what was most shocking was the little they actually knew on their bodies and how it works. Yet, their lack of knowledge on the subject does not surprise me with it being slightly culturally taboo for parents to really talk about these matters with their children, most of the girls living at a boarding school hundreds of miles from parents and relatives, and most importantly because health education is not seen as valuable here and so there is literally NO sex education in schools. No one is telling them the simple things that could really help them value themselves, say no and/or be safe, as well how how to just simple honor and take care of their bodies for the Lord. Again... crazy. It was a pretty amazing time though and I really felt blessed to be there, to a share, and felt a desperate need for God to really speak..... it was just an unbelievable time.