Growing Through Adversity
By Alexis Larson, Volunteer at Refugee Youth Club
Hello Mission Adelante community! My name is Alexis Larson and I am a volunteer with the Refugee Youth Club. I joined the Adelante family almost a year ago, in January 2020. Since my very first time at youth club, I’ve gotten to know so many special girls and volunteers and see God work right in front of my eyes.
Over the summer, we got together almost every week or two to hang out at a park. When the fall trimester began, it was like we didn’t skip a beat! This fall, we got to meet every Tuesday evening at Mission Adelante to carry on our lessons and time together. We also had a fun game night with pizza and goodies to celebrate a couple of birthdays!
Before the fall trimester began, another volunteer Laina, recommended a book called “The Gospel-centered life for teens” to guide our Bible lessons with the girls. There were nine different lessons we went through. We covered a lot of hard topics like performing & pretending, repentance and heart-idolatry. We talked a lot about the things that can get in our way of trusting God and sharing his love with others. Although we had to end our trimester meetings early, we ended by discussing forgiveness, handling conflict, and our mission as Christians. It was good to challenge our thoughts and actions and learn more about what it means to live as the image of Jesus.
Although our normal capacity dwindled, we still had new faces. We had the opportunity to pray for our friends in the group that were faced with new responsibilities and challenges due to the pandemic and could not join us. I know that having school online has been an added stressor for the teens, but to see their commitment to come each week with their schoolwork and to learn about God, was so encouraging. I know we will continue to meet online to grow together through adversities.
On a personal note, I can’t believe it will be a whole year that I’ve been here. Whether I’m helping with math homework, playing UNO or sharing the gospel it has been so fun getting to know the girls in the youth club. Some of my favorite memories have been making cookies at Lori’s house and fishing in her neighborhood pond, volunteering at Adelante Thrift and singing “You Say” by Lauren Daigle with all the girls. I have loved learning about God’s promises and seeing his provisions over the past year. I’m thankful God put Mission Adelante and Laxmi in my path. He knew that I would need a family like this to keep me steady and looking up towards him in 2020.
