Aslan Youth Ministries

A Presidential Point of Light

58 Maple Avenue * Post Office Box 270 * Red Bank, New Jersey 07701-0270
Telephone: 732-741-7824 * Facsimile: 732-741-3284 * E-Mail: aslanyouth@aslanyouth.org
Web Address: http://www.aslanyouth.org

Dear Friend:

Greetings from Aslan! Although I write most of the monthly newsletters, I also enjoy having other Aslan staff share their experiences. This month Leneita Fix writes about her relationship with one of our Long Branch students. I know you’ll enjoy it!
Craig

Mary* is a young lady I spend a lot of time with. Every time our doors are open she’s coming to Bible Class or one of our recreation programs. This summer she was a junior counselor at our Long Branch Summer Day Camp. She practically lived with me ~ spending nights at my home, eating dinner with my family, playing with my kids. By the time she was ten she was drinking and had already tried drugs. By eleven she had let boys take advantage of her, and by twelve she already had a “reputation” around her town. She doesn’t have a dad in her life. Her mom works hard and really tries, but she can’t always be around for Mary. Her older brother and sister are involved with drugs and are often violent.

Standing in the midst of a tornado, Mary watches her life whirl by. When she first started coming to Aslan, she began making different choices and her reputation started to change for the better. All the time we’ve spent together and the love we’ve shared is starting to pay off. I wish I could tell you that she’s totally changed, but it wouldn’t be true. It’s a long, long process, with lots of steps forward and lots backward. Mary is just beginning to understand the hope and a future that only Jesus can give. The biggest difference in her life is she’s beginning to understand God’s forgiveness.

Working at Aslan is kind of like living inside a tornado or a hurricane. Sometimes the eye appears calm, but storms are exploding in the homes of so many of the children we reach out to. And, most often, more clouds are gathering in the distance. The results of these storms are broken lives and futures filled with little hope. This weather analogy works well with me, because any who know me know that I’m weather obsessed. Every morning I have to know if it’s going to rain, snow, sleet, or be hot and sunny! My friends make fun of me, but I don’t mind. What if the black clouds are gathering, the high winds of a hurricane are beginning to blow, my children are playing outside ~ and all the while I don’t even know the storm is coming? As any good mom or dad would do, I’d brave any storm for my children and search until I could bring them inside from danger. The question is, what will I do if I find others left outside in the path of a hurricane? Will I leave them there or ask them in?

Aslan braves the wretched weather, no matter how bad, and invites children into the safety and warmth of Christ’s arms. And we manifest our love by sticking around ~ through thick and thin ~ whatever the weather! This is what I like to call “relationship driven” ministry. The goal behind everything we do is to warn children of what is coming ~ standing in the torrential downpour and pleading for them to listen and let us help them. Even when Mary creates the storm herself (through poor decisions or choices or even to test me and see if I’ll leave her, too), I still stand beside her until the storm passes. Some days I would like to just stay inside, warm and dry, and forget about her problems. It would be so much easier! Yet when all is said and done, as with my own children, I would rather have Mary safe from the storm with me. So I will keep running out to bring her in, hoping that someday she will have the strength to stand and brave the storms in the warmth of God’s love. When the winds blow fiercely around her, perhaps she’ll think back on our times together and remember God’s promise to never leave or forsake her.

Thank you so much for standing with Aslan as we rescue these little ones from the fierce storms and rising flood. Your prayers are like an umbrella as we brave the daily problems and prepare for those many problems that will inevitably come down the road. Please keep praying for us, and please give generously. We are so appreciative of your prayers and gifts. Now more than ever, the children of Aslan need your help.

In God’s great love,
Leneita
Leneita Fix

* We have purposefully changed Mary’s name to protect her privacy.

Leneita (back right) with Long Branch class