The GALspels

We are the people that are always there but no one ever pays any attention to.  We are the ones that see all and keep to ourselves.  It is the 21st century and the things that we see can range anywhere from horrifying to magical.  The stories we are going to share are ones from the lives of teenagers across the city of San Diego; specifically one important teenager.  Each of us has struggles of our own and we all need help getting through them.  We all have a mutual friend, Josephine, and every once in a while we meet up for consolation of their troubles or just to be there for one another.. Josephine is the person that all the girls talk to, who they go to for help.  Also, Josephine is the person that is able to give the girls exactly what they need.  Sometimes, she will be able to help them without one of the friends even telling her their problem.  Josephine is very strong in her faith and she will die for the Lord at any given second.  She is loving towards all and embraces nothing but the best in every single being she comes into contact with.  She associates with the people that are always kept in the background, the people who are behind the scenes, the people that go unnoticed.  Josephine is a great being and she is capable of great things. We are the few lucky enough to have had physical presences impact our lives and these are our stories of Josephine. This is meant for teens to see that they are not the only ones that go through hard ships in life and that they are capable of overcoming everything they fear. 

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Savannah

Kimmie has always been the ideal girl.  She has a great family, good friends, a well-educated background, a happy dog, a wonderful boyfriend, and she’s strong in her faith.  She never seemed to be the kind that would stray away from the good-girl type.  Nonetheless, she did.  One day Celeste, Claire and Josephine were talking when they saw Kimmie with another girl, Arline.  Arline doesn’t exactly have the best reputation.  She hangs out with many different guys, goes to parties, and does things that a teenage girl should not be doing under any circumstance.  The fact that Kimmie is hanging out with other girls isn’t what bothers her friends; it’s whom she is hanging out with that is a bit worrisome.  Time goes on and Kim is distancing herself from her four good friends and is growing closer to Arline and her friends.  The four girls feel lost without their other friend.  Josephine takes matters into her own hands and determines the whereabouts of her friend.   Not too long after that, Jo gets a call from Kimmie asking her to come to her rescue.  Josephine would go back to get her friend without a doubt, no questions asked because she would do anything to bring the last piece of the puzzle back to where it belongs.  Kimmie learned her lesson about straying away from where she belongs.  Not being in your comfort zone can cause many things to happen.  Being in one’s comfort zone allows for order and for things to be as normal as they possibly can. 

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Bailey

The other students are amazed and shocked to find Josephine volunteering on a Sunday. These girls are not in awe because of that Josephine is actually working on a Sunday, but rather that Josephine is volunteering while she could be doing homework before school on Monday. She tells these students that she is embarking on a journey outside of school that will help others and in turn will help her spiritual self. Grades are not a priority in life and should never be put before someone’s spiritual or personal well-being.

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Savannah

During a normal school day, Josephine helped her friend Claire with some boy problems.  Turns out, it was more than just boy problems.  Everyone was in his or her classes and Josephine was in the bathroom washing her hands from a lab experiment when she heard someone crying in the bathroom.  She recognized the sounds, as it was her friend Claire.  It took Jo a while to get her friend to come out of the stall but once she did, they had a long talk about what was wrong.  Claire had recently broken up with her boyfriend, well, actually her boyfriend dumped her, but that’s not the point.  The point is that Claire feels all alone because she thinks she has no one to go to.  Then the waterworks came, and Josephine reassured her friend that she would always be there for her no matter what the scenario and so would her other friends Celeste, Miranda and Nastia.  There was more to the story though.  Claire’s father had taken off when she was just a baby so she has some abandonment issues.  Claire admitted that she was afraid her friends would find a reason to leave her just like her dad did.  Josephine told her friend to have a little faith in her friends.  Jo helped her friend clean up and told her that everything was going to be alright.  Claire questioned her friend asking her how she knew everything was going to turn out fine, but deep down she knew that her friends would always have her back and that Jo is right about everything going to be fine. 

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Bailey

Don’t gossip and no one will gossip about you. Stop depending of technology and do something for yourself. Stop judging and then you will not be judged. Rumors only cause harm to both the intentional victim and the bystanders. How will we be able to tell people to not gossip, if we also gossip? None of these stories should be in vain, but rather in selflessness and in hopes to make yourselves and others better people. Hypocrites are not the messengers from God but rather those that need to be saved by God’s messengers.  Josephine taught all of us the importance of this by calling me out when I made a passing comment about another girl. I feel ashamed of my actions but I am also stepping up by thinking before I speak and asking myself if it will offend or hurt anyone before I say anything.

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Camille

I was sort of taken over by my conscience the other day when I went to a really insane party last weekend. It’s totally out of my comfort zone to go to something like that, but a friend convinced me to go since the guy that I was into was going. But when I got there, Evan was right in the front entryway waiting for me, which caught me by surprise. We spent the evening outside talking nonstop about lots of things. It’s like he had me under a spell because I wasn’t really aware of anything else that was happening around me until Josephine told me that she was going to head home soon when it was about 11:30. Evan said to me that I should stay longer because he wanted to show me something. I was a little confused though about what he wanted to show me because it wasn’t even his house. Josephine said that whether I was coming home with her or not, she was leaving right then. So I said to myself that I might as well stay, how bad could it be? Evan brought me upstairs to a bedroom. My heart started beating a little bit fast but he led me through the bedroom out to the balcony instead.  We stood out on the balcony for a while and watched the stars, when he suddenly gave me a look and glanced back towards the bedroom. I was so “under his spell” that I wasn’t really conscious of how I was responding to his looks he kept giving me. He said to me, “I really like you and I promise to take it slow with you if you aren’t comfortable.” As I sat on the bench on the balcony and kept staring out into the sky, I gave a big sigh and told him no, “This isn’t the time and place for what you want to do. I’m also not ready for that kind of thing yet.”  For the whole party until the end, I was totally unconscious of how fast he was taking things. There was something about him that made me lose all sight of everything else but him. I wasn’t going to let someone take control of me like that. I don’t need that now or ever. Right after he played a move on me, I headed down stairs and called an Über home. Josephine was right; I should’ve gone home with her

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Rachel

We were sitting at lunch one day, when a new girl was introduced to us. She did not stay with us because she was taking a tour, but that did not stop Kimmie from openly judging her. The new girl had a little bit of nerdy appearance, and Kimmie noticed. She did not like the way she dressed and started to make sly comments about her appearance. After the new girl left, Josephine stood up for her and told Kimmie that she should not judge others because it is mean. Kimmie always complains when people spread rumors about her, but she was being hypocritical by judging the new girl without knowing her. Josephine spoke some powerful words that changed everyone at that table. We were never the same people, and we tried not to judge others too harshly.

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Bianca

One of the girls, Michelle, likes a guy who has a reputation for being a bad guy. The guy asked her out and she ran to tell Josephina what had happened. Josephina knew about his reputation and begged her friend to be careful and to consider not going but Michelle got mad and thought Josephina was jealous. Unfortunately for the friend, Josephina was right and the guy lived to his reputation. After the date, the friend came to Josephina’s house crying and apologized.

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Camille

 I’m starting to question why I’m friends with the people I’m friends with. All they do is go to bonfires and get drunk all the time. They invite me but I don’t feel like I would have a good time so I always turn down their offer. And then at school, that’s all they talk about. They say sorry to me that I didn’t come, but I know they don’t mean what they say. I’ve started to become good friends with this girl her name is Josephine. She doesn’t do all that bad stuff like drinking and smoking like my other friends do. If they keep giving me an empty apology, should I just except it and move on or should I just leave them? Josephine gave me advice about doing whatever is best for you, not them. It’s okay to put yourself before others.

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Rachel

Another situation was when I was going through a rough patch in my life. My grandma had recently passed away, and I was being bullied. At the time, I did not know who Josephine was. She was shunned by a lot of people though because of her religion. My old friends had begun to shun me after I fell behind in school, and continued to ridicule me. I could not believe that my friends from kindergarten had turned against me. The ASB president who had just given a talk on bullying walked by, I expected her to help me, but she simply walked by like nothing was happening. Another girl walked by, and neglected to help. Finally, Josephine walked by and stopped the bullying. I couldn’t believe that she helped me when my friends and I were the ones to spread rumors behind her back. It was truly eye-opening.

[thegalspels]

GALspel of Bianca

The girls were about to begin finals and Sara struggled with math. She needed an 80% or higher in order to pass the class but that was impossible for her. Luckily for her, Josephine was decent at math and was willing to stay up with her all night and study. Even though Josephine promised to help, Sara found it hopeless and wanted to give up but Josephine was able to encourage her to keep trying. After a long night of studying and working together, Sara went to take her test. When the results finally came out, she had passed with 82%. She ran to Josephine with excitement and could not believe it.