Karen is a single mother from El Salvador who was invited to our church by a lady that found us herself looking for help for her child as she was adapting to a new life in the US. When our church offered a Trauma Healing Group offered through our work with World Impact, Karen was eager to attend with her friend. They both grew a lot in the following weeks – learning basic biblical and mental health principles related to trauma care. They also dug deeper in important topics like forgiveness and skills like active listening.
After eight weeks both women were feeling the change and renewed hope as well as the desire to share this training with others. So along with a group of 6 other people that we had gathered from other groups we have led we trained them to form and lead their own Healing Groups. Since then, this group has trained people in numerous cities, states and countries. One of the ladies that was in Karen’s first group is Maria and she is also taking what she has learned to share with others – she brainstormed 89 people to invite for her first few groups and since has expanded her list considerably.
Maria works with a group of international chaplains that minister in jails, hospitals, shelters, half-way houses, homes for women recovering from abuse, prostitution, addiction and more. We have partnered up to offer not only Healing Groups but Trauma Training for these chaplains so that they can bring practical tools to those most in need. As the reach multiplies and the testimonies come in, we are reminded of how being faithful with the little and loving the person that is in front of you is God’s wisdom for seeing lasting change in communities.
We appreciate your partnership more than you know because it allows us to love, serve, equip and empower women like Karen and Maria and countless others as they reach areas that none of us have access to – from the homeless on streets in Columbia to women leaving the sex trade in Florida and beyond.
·
Continued growth
of the Trauma Healing program. We have been working almost single-handedly at
building a network of trainers in Spanish (aside from what we do in English) so
that our reach can continue to grow far and wide throughout the US and Latin
America and beyond.
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We mentioned the
fires and other problems behind our home in the last letter.
Here is an LA Times article we were interviewed for
(just a little bit at the end) related to the fires: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-12/surge-in-fires-at-la-homeless-encampments-growing-crisis
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A strong start
for our children at school this month. Rebecca enters her junior year. Angela
will be at her high school IN PERSON for the first time as a sophomore (her
school never opened during COVID). Justice is starting his high school career (freshman
year). And Beniah continues growing as a 2nd grader.
