About five years ago Tony came to Honduras to be discipled by a pastor. One day while doing coursework for an online class at Burger King, a street kid named Carlos knocked on the window begging for food. Tony bought him a meal and the next day Carlos found Tony in the same spot again, but this time Carlos had all his friends with him. After a while of buying these street boys Burger King, Tony thought he might run out of money so he wanted to find another way to invest in their lives. For Tony, this meant doing life with them. Tony began visiting Los Pinos, sitting on the couches near the dump and breaking up chicken to pass around to the boys who were working there in the dumpster. The people of Los Pinos thought this gringo, who spoke very little Spanish, was crazy spending time with them just eating food and hanging out.
Tony didn’t care that the boys were getting high on paint thinner right there in front of him, he just wanted to show them he cared; all the while God was opening up doors and softening hearts. Gradually this routine gained Tony respect and he began to get to know the people of Los Pinos. Sector F, one of the most dangerous areas in Los Pinos became Tony’s field of ministry. Through different projects Tony met many of the boys that now live with him.
After helping Carlo’s family build a house at the top of a steep incline there in Sector F, Carlos came to live with Tony because he knew there was a better life for him there. Being at Zion’s Gate would mean being away from the influence of the drugs and other bad influences; there would be food and a spiritual father figure. Tony now has 25 people living on his property known as Zion’s Gate. This includes his wife, some volunteer staff, kids from the street from age 2 to age 20, and a grandma of one of the girls. And with our squad here there are about 80 of us total living on the property.
Tony likes to spend time investing in each one of the world race teams and getting to know them. So on our day with Tony we went to an awesome Chinese restaurant. It was so weird walking in to the restaurant and hearing a Chinese woman speaking Spanish and seeing the Great Wall hanging up and being able to say in unison, “We’ve been there!” After shoveling down a delicious Chinese meal we walked the streets looking for a Mother’s Day present for Carlos’s mom. He came with us because he wanted to buy his mom a present and visit her for Mother’s Day.
All 10 of us piled in to the SUV and began driving dumpster to dumpster looking for Carlos’s mom. That was when my emotions crept up on me. I couldn’t fathom that we were driving from dumpster to dumpster looking for his mother. We ended up stopping at the first dumpster because Tony recognized one of the boys who was sitting out on the sofa. Tony called Brian over to the vehicle so that he could ask him how he was doing. He informed us that he hadn’t seen Brian in two years and currently Brian was as high as a kite. I could see the paint thinner in the bottle of coke that he shoved in his pocket and the piece of cloth he kept tightly closed up in his hand. We all got out of the vehicle and shook hands with Brian and stood around while Tony and Brian caught up. I could tell it was hard to communicate with him because he was so high, but Tony continued to show him that he cared.
Carlos, age 14, and Brian, around the same age, had been good friends on the street growing up and working in the dumps together. As the two of them stood side by side up against the SUV I was in awe of where Carlos had come from and where he is now. Brian looked so torn up with the marks all over his body and the dirt that covered him head to toe. Carlos was cleaned up with his hair slicked back and dressed in a nice outfit. Brian stared past us while thinking through the simple questions Tony was asking him, the poor kid couldn’t even remember his birthday. Carlos has been clean from drugs for a few years. Talk about a transformation. Brian had once lived with Tony but he left and now is on the streets again. Carlos had stayed and is growing up and maturing under an outstanding spiritual father.
We wrapped things up with Brian, drove to another dumpster and still couldn’t find Carlos’s mom. I asked Carlos to go ahead and pray that we would find his mom because we all seemed a little hopeless after driving around so long looking for her. He bowed his head and prayed that we would find her. Two minutes later Tony was on the phone and received word that she was at her house. Carlos was thrilled that we would get to go to the house and see her. We drove in to Los Pinos just before the sun was about to go down. We climbed up the steep incline to the house and Carlos was able to give her the gift in their home. It was such a special moment for the team to share with Carlos and Tony. I watched as Tony, Carlos, and the mother sat down on the trash in the house to talk about all the growth that has taken place in Carlos. He got to tell his mother that he has been clean from drugs, has been helping out on the property, has been developing good relationships, has developed strength of character, and is becoming a man of God. I was so proud of Carlos.
The work Tony is doing here with these boys is amazing. He honestly is just doing life with them. He doesn’t fear their weaknesses, their backgrounds, their families of origin, the drugs they have been on since age 8, their lack of respect for authority; Tony knows the kind of God he serves and he knows that each one of his boys is in the process of real, raw transformation.
