Each month I like to talk about at least one person I’ve met and how they’ve influenced my life. This month, that person is Ariel. He’s 16, soon to be 17 in August, and has been here at Zion’s Gate for 8ish months.
The first day we were here, his older brother, Roni, stood up and shared his testimony. Roni was very involved in drugs and alcohol. He was sent to the AA clinic that I talked about last week, but broke out of there. After Roni finished sharing his testimony, Ariel stood up and shared his as well. His life was a bit different than Roni’s. He didn’t get involved in drugs because he didn’t “like” them. But his future wasn’t too promising living in Los Pinos (a dangerous community near Zion’s Gate). So both of them moved here to Zion’s Gate.
Ariel ended his testimony in tears. His father committed suicide less than two months ago in their home. The scars from that loss still pains Ariel’s heart. It was hard listening to him share through his tears and realizing the deep brokenness of his heart. His mother was in the room that day. And sadness fell over her face as she listened to her sons speak.
We gathered them in the center and prayed over them. It was a moment where the Holy Spirit worked so beautifully and timely. And I believe much healing was found for them that day.
Ariel helps run the Potpourri here at Zion’s Gate, which is like a little snack shack. He loves serving here in that way. Inevitably, I became one of his frequent customers. What’s a girl to do when she hasn’t had M&Ms in 10 months? So our friendship basically began day one.
Ariel and I hadn’t had too many in depth conversations in the first two weeks, until one night when I was finishing up letters I had been writing to Tyler. I jokingly asked Ariel if he’d write one and immediately he said yes. Normally, I don’t read them, but he had written in Spanish, so I had to translate it so Ty could understand.
I broke down in tears as I read the beautiful things he had written. He described me as a beautiful princess and a close friend and said that he hoped Ty knew how blessed he is. He also talked about my life and love for people and how I’d touched his life.
My love language is words of affirmations, so being affirmed by people definitely fills up my love tank. But this was different. Ariel and I were barely friends, but the way he talked about me was as if we had been lifelong friends. The truth I learned this night is that sometimes, you never truly know how much you can affect someone’s life. Realizing this has given me more of a desire to pursue those around me.
I had the opportunity to do ministry with Ariel this week and it has been awesome to watch him step out in faith. He’s always so willing to share his story and talk about how God has changed his life.
His dream is to continue changing his life for the better. And to one day maybe become a doctor. He is very smart and knows a lot more English than he leads on. His friendship often feels more like he’s my brother than my friend and I’m blessed by every moment we spend together.
Keep him and his family in your prayers!
