Note from a Mentor

By Katrina Morris, with Next Step Mentoring at Youth for Christ Central Valley     

I am blessed beyond measure to be working with Youth for Christ as a mentor for the last three years. Working with teenagers from diverse backgrounds has enhanced my knowledge and experience, broadening my own personal growth. Mentoring small groups of girls has allowed me to watch, first-hand, their development, growth, and recognition of personal God-given gifts and talents. This is very exciting for me as I am a part of their journey in life. Leading character development groups has given me an opportunity to engage the students in discussions regarding elements outside his or her normal thinking, promoting individual responsibility. Every meeting, small group or individual, has been an opportunity to assist the students in discovering, developing, and maximizing his or her God-given potential. I am blessed to be a part of the process in any young person’s life, even if it is only to plant seed of God’s love and to encourage them.

 Story

Freshman year, about two months into the year, one of the girls brought a friend to a group and said, “can she stay I’m her ride” I said yes of course. Therefore, this young lady sat on the table in the corner on her phone listening to music pretending to do homework the first week. The second week she showed up again with same story, (her friend was her ride) again, I said she could stay. Sitting in the same place at the table, but this time, she began to engage periodically in our conversation. When I asked her if she would like to join us she replied, “No I’m ok”. The third week--same story again, I mentioned she might think about joining mentoring since she was in here anyway, she just kind of shrugged and said, “Maybe”. We began an activity, I invited her to join us, and she joined in. The next week, I said, “Okay missy you have been in here four weeks hanging out kind of engaging in what we are doing why don’t you just join mentoring?” (laughing and nodding her head)She took home a permission slip and joined. YEAH! She was faithful all year. However, the story does not end there.

Sophomore year was tough. She started strong but then started to hit and miss; it felt like she was pulling away. Her grades were dropping, she had a new boyfriend, she was not coming, not talking, and did not know what all was going on with her. I was concerned. Through some perseverance, we stayed in contact through phone, face book, and friends and by the end of the year it was good again. She had some challenges in school and personally but pulled through.

Junior year has been awesome. At the beginning of the year at a Point Break (one day workshop to promote anti-bullying and acceptance of others on campus) she was a student group leader. At the end of the point break, everyone was writing encouragement on the papers tape to each other’s backs, she wrote on mine. She wrote, “Thank you for never giving up on me when everyone else did”. WOW! My heart dropped to my feet, it made everything worth it. I was so proud of her. She is working so hard to keep her grades up and do well in school. She is diligently looking for work, even persistently pushed me to take her to Project YES to sign up early for next year. She has applied goals and set priorities to her life. It is awesome to see the growth and development in this young lady who just happened in my group three years ago, I’m so proud of her!