As the young ladies in the Senior High classroom discussed their goals from the previous week, they also shared stories about families and friends. Mariah, a Senior High student at ILA, had set a goal the previous week to teach her younger sister about God. This week she was proud to say that she had completed her goal. Mariah went to the library and printed off coloring pages of Jesus with Bible verses for her younger sister to decorate. While Mariah’s sister colored, Mariah told her sister about God. Not only did Mariah teach her younger sister about God, but she also encouraged her mother throughout the week.

Mariah encouraged her mother by thanking her for her help and telling her she has done a great job providing for their family. In addition, Mariah explained to her mother that she and her sister don’t need a big Christmas. Mariah stressed that Christmas is not about the presents, but spending time together. Mariah explained how thankful she is that their family can be together after her mother survived cancer.

Real Life

A young lady on the Social Justice Leadership Team discussed her experiences as a homeless child. She explained to her peers that her family has lived in seven different shelters within three different states during her lifetime. The peers in her small group were shocked to hear her story. She went on to express that she had lost many friends who were taken away because they had single homeless mothers who couldn’t care for their children. Prior to this young lady’s story, the students thought of homelessness as a choice. Although this young lady expressed that homelessness was not a choice in her case.

Going Above & Beyond

For the past several weeks, the Philanthropy Leadership teams have been preparing presentations over poverty, child abuse, and cancer. One student took the time to prepare and search out for compelling information and videos about her team’s issue prior to ILA work time. Taylor Bennett, an ILA student and member of the Philanthropy Team, is in the group preparing a presentation for child abuse. She came to ILA ready to work on the presentation with lots of great ideas and resources to utilize. The issue of child abuse is very dear to Taylor’s heart and it noticed through her effort towards the presentation. Taylor found a tear-jerking video that talks about child abuse and shows graphic photos of the victims. Taylor, along with the other group members, has been working hard to produce an effective and persuading presentation.

Power of People who care & pray

One Sunday night after club, my husband and I were praying for the kids at City Impact. Right after we concluded our prayer, La'Terria called at 10:30 P.M. and asked if I would pray for her. I said sure and asked if there was something specific that I could pray for. She said, "There are these two girls at school who have really been making fun of me. Every time they make fun of me, I remember the story you told from when you were in middle school and what you did when you were being made fun of." (Side note: The first day of middle school, a girl started a rumor about me.) When I told the story, I explained to the girls that even before I knew Christ, He knew me; He was protecting me and helping me to love as He would. She continued, "I'm trying to ignore it and be as kind to them as I can like you were and like I know Jesus would want me to be, but it's not getting any better. Would you just pray for me that I would continue to love them like Jesus would?" I said sure and told her how inspired I was by her heart to honor the Lord. I then asked if it would be okay to let the small group leaders know so they could be praying too (Michaela, Courtney, Peggy, Julie). She loved that idea and said she would really appreciate it. I called her on Wednesday (3 days later) to see how her week was going. She excitedly said, "Ms. Erica, you wouldn't believe it! One of the girls came up to me today and apologized for making fun of me! The other girl hasn't apologized yet, but she's not doing it as much. And now, the girl who apologized, along with a lot of her friends are trying to convince the one girl to stop making fun of me and apologize too! Her heart is just not ready yet. It's been so crazy! Thanks so much for praying for me and tell the other leaders thank you too!" I responded by explaining that God is a big God and sovereign over all His creation. When we, as sons and daughters of the King of the universe join in worship and become prayer warriors for one of His children, He always provides an answer. Sometimes the answer is 'yes', sometimes it's 'no', and sometimes it's 'wait'. She then said, "Ms. Erica, I really appreciate everything you and all the other leaders do. I may not act like it on Sunday sometimes, but you truly do make an impact. You all have definitely made a huge impact on me. I love you all and am so thankful that I have you guys to help me and guide me through the good stuff and bad stuff. Thank you so much!" The call ended soon after and I emailed the leaders to give them an update. The all replied with an email explaining how thankful and amazed by God they were. During dinner the following Sunday, another girl mentioned that she was being made fun of at school. La'Terria turned to her and told her story. By the time she was finished, all of the girls in the 6-8th grade classroom had stopped their dinner conversations to listen to La'Terria tell her story. They were as amazed as she was. It was one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed in the 4 1/2 years I've been involved with City Impact. God is so gracious and continues to work in awesome ways.
- Written by Erica Schmidt (6-8th Grade Classroom Leader)