Educating Gina

So I have been back in the USA for just over 2 months.  I have been employed now for 7 weeks and today is Friday the 13th.  Not much connection there, just trivia.  My job has been a wonderful and yet heartbreaking learning experience.  Most of you know that I am a mentor for children and teens with a great agency that really cares about kids.  Some of the kids are starting to open up to me and as they do my heart breaks for them.  The abuse and abandonment.  The betrayal and the trauma. The anger and fear.   But even within that there are smiles and hugs and signs of hope.  You can read all you want to about children in crisis, and even after my own childhood of dads, men, alcohol, poverty and neglect I had to see it through their eyes to appreciate it.  The sight is not pretty.  It is adults behaving badly and the organic effects of a fallen world.  Come Lord Jesus!  No I am not a fatalist, I actually think my cup is usually more than 1/2 full but I still long for Jesus to come and make it right again.  Until then I am glad there ARE people who care.
I am scared to death about starting school t ASU this fall.  Those people are really smart and really passionate, and I wonder if I can keep up.  So I got my reading list and it is filled with books addressing social justice issues.  I am currently reading The Activist's Handbook and two other books for work:  The Changing Behavior Book and Everything is NORMAL Until Proven Otherwise.  All interesting and very challenging.  None are books to fall asleep to.  But I can't read all of the time and my real weakness is TV and movies.  I get talked into going with one of the teenagers I mentor to Prometheus.  Ummm yeah...scary and yucky.  At home I can't get Netflix, no internet, and I am almost out of reruns of my favorite shows.  So I decided to start watching documentaries.  I have been going to the five storied main branch of the Phoenix Public Library where the collection of non-fiction videos is huge.  I have seen four documentaries so far.  Today I was able to get one that I have been waiting for, for the last two weeks.  One Small Act.  SO VERY MUCH WORTH THE WAIT.  Watch this video.  It will inspire you and encourage you.  I also saw Waiting for Superman and The Interrupters.  Both in the top three documentaries for their years of release.  Watch them too if you get a chance.
I am expecting my friend Amanda to come and visit us here in Phoenix and I am trying to set up speaking arrangements or jewelry selling opportunities for her.  If you are interested give me a call.  Her organization, Lot 2545, takes teen aged boys off the street in Uganda and gives them a second chance.  She needs prayer partners, sponsors for the boys, and just support in general.
That is the tie in for all of these thoughts.  I would like to encourage everyone reading this blog to take to heart the idea of really loving other people.  Love just one today.  Make a commitment to educate yourself about the real lives of other people and then don't be afraid to get involved.  If you don't know what to do or say...find out.  Lifelong learners are usually the happiest people.  Share that happiness with a hurting world.  Live social justice everyday.  I truly believe that Jesus did.  True social justice is never without the Gospel, although many try to share the Truth without justice.  Don't be one of them my friends.
Some blogs are funny, some are full of pointers or instructions.  Mine is well...sort of like reading a letter from me or sitting down with me with a cup of coffee.  Sort of rambling but hopefully makes you think a little.  So send me your best books and best movies.  I would love to hear about what you are experiencing too.
May God richly bless you my beloved.   -Gina Jaye-

This is the last email I wrote about my journey for the last 18 months in Africa, from here on it is just me and my thoughts on this little blog.  Here is the email:  This is probably the last support e-mail that you will receive for a while.  No, I am not planning on dying tomorrow, but my ministry has changed.  Some of you may not know that I am back in the US.  I arrived on May 6.  I left Uganda on May 1 and I spent a few days in London.  I am back in the US for good.  I am going to use Phoenix as my home base.  I am hoping to expand my involvement in Mexico.  I am hoping to continue to work in training lay leaders in the area of child and family support.  Helping women heal from sex trafficking is in that mix too. 

I found a job and have already started training.  I am so very excited to be joining an organization that provides direct support to hurting children and young adults.  I will be working with older teens and young adults.  My beliefs about how to work with families and young adults align very well with the core beliefs of this agency.  I am so excited.  So I will be continuing to learn how to minister with hurting young people.  I have been applying for jobs online since February.  Last week was my "get serious" week.  I had an interview and I went to a job fair. I was planning on Friday starting to hit the retail outlets around where I live (Safeway, Target, Walmart, etc) and early Friday I got a call and a job offer.  Monday I started training.  I will be a direct support specialist with at risk and vulnerable youth and young adults at a wonderful agency that shares my values.  

Many people have asked "why did you leave Africa?"  The short (and truthful) answer is because God called me to.  No...no voices.  But circumstances, Scripture and personal conviction came together in a perfect storm pointing to the fact that it was time.  The women's program that I have been so involved with will be ending early this summer. I was deeply moved by the trauma training I attended in September and loved being part of a training team in December in Mexico City.  I also was deeply moved by a sermon series that the pastor at my church did on Social Justice, and wanted to learn more.  So I followed what I believe was God's call and came back to Phoenix. I hope to go back to Uganda  for short term visits.

I will re-join my church family and enjoy being a grandmother and mother in my own family.  

The bottom line is that you won't here ministry news from me until I go back to Mexico as a part of team.  As one friend said I will be going from Jajja (Grandmother) in Luganda to Tia (Aunt) in Spanish.  Not too many people send info about their private lives and secular job to 100+ people.  But I promise to send you any updates I get about the women or the boys.  Also If I go back to Mexico as a part of a team I will want your prayer support.  So thank you for reading my updates and praying for the women and boys.  There is great work being done in Africa with A Perfect Injustice, so please pray for the staff and the volunteers there. 

I will continue to blog about my journey into the behavior health world and Social Justice activism.  My blog is http://reluctantjourney.blogspot.com/  

So thanks again for all of your prayers and support.  As one of my favorite radio preachers, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, used to say, "May God richly bless you my beloved".

The Cat is out of the Bag!!!!!

What a crazy few months I have had! Jeff's mom passed away on the fourth of July and I drove back to Ohio with Jim and Vicki. We drove straight through-CRAZY! We arrived Wednesday at 12:30 and the viewing was at 5:00. I loved having the time with Jim and Vicki. We didn't talk as much as Vicki and I wanted, we were all too tired and stressed. This past Spring our Executive Pastor wanted me to take a class at Phoenix Seminary called Mending the Soul for Pastors. I did and really loved it. Plus I know that I would benefit from it. I ended up signing up to go through a program of Mending the Soul. It is a 14 week group and we go through a book. It is designed to heal people who have suffered mental, physical, sexual or spiritual abuse or neglect/abandonment. I have learned a lot about myself and I hope I have developed a tender heart for people who have suffered abuse. I know I have a VERY different view of abuse now, from when I started. I am praying for increased compassion and understanding. I also am learning to set healthy boundaries and to say no.

So why the title, "the cat is out of the bag"? Sunday our pastor announced to the congregation that I am considering joining a mission group to do social justice work in Uganda. Specifically I am planning on teaching reading and writing to abandoned kids, really young men and women who have lived on the streets and have been unable to go to school. Just read through some of my posts from Africa to get a feel for life there. I plan on going there for 4 months and then coming home for 2 and then returning. I am getting my house ready to sell and I am looking for a small one to buy. Jeff and I talked about this kind of work last year when he was so sick. He encouraged me to go, we both just assumed it would be to Mexico. So here I am! Scared, happy, excited, nervous...all together. We will see! I will write more later. GJ