From Sister to Sister

BJD students enjoying dinner together.

7 Months Ago...

"A new girl is joining us at BJD."  One staff member told me.

"Have you met our new BJD sister?"  A student asked.

"She came last night."  Another student added.

"She's kinda quiet."  A third pitched in.

After two days of hearing about our new mystery student, I finally met P. 

As warned, I only got a few words out of her.  And I felt like I was pushing just to get that many.  I took the hint, tried to give her a warm welcome and then gave her some space.  Understandably, a dorm of 15 girls who know each other well and like to laugh loud, could be a bit overwhelming.

As time went on all the girls and I invited P to lunch, invited her to dinner, invited her to the market, invited her to watch TV, invited her to sit and chat, but P declined each invitation.  She preferred to spend time alone or sleeping.  "She's a tough one." An outside friend warned. 

We weren't daunted.

By month two, we knew the answer would be "no" before an invitation was extended, but we kept inviting.  I don't know if it was more of a cultural thing, or if it was our only way to try to make P feel included, but we did.  Maybe what gave us hope was that every once in a while, in a long long while, she would agree to join.  Probably because she had run out of food in her room, but the reason didn't matter to us. 

On arrival at BJD, P wore a Buddhist bracelet around her thin wrist.  The bracelets are  given for long life and good luck.  I'm not really sure when, but it eventually disappeared.

And she, like all students at the dorm, attended Bible class twice a week.  While she showed up grudgingly at first, God, like he so often does, was at work. 

This past week he did something really special.

"It's hard to explain, but there were many things.  The main thing is that I know is that God loves me a lot, more than anyone else in the world."  P shared.

P has gone from dorm sister to eternal sister.  We are all praising God and celebrating with her!

This morning while eating breakfast together, our younger sister joked along with all the other girls.  Smiles extended around the table.  Christ's freedom and joy was abounding.