Following our initial encounter with our host, I was prepared for the most challenging month so far. Her communication style and expectations are a stark difference to what we had just just experienced in Africa and it was apparent from the start this would be a month practicing patience and grace.
In addition to our differences with our host, I began to dread our ministry assignment and question my ability to be the hands and feet of Christ. We were told we would be split up between a Girls’ Home and Boys’ Home, both serving as rehabilitation centers for teenagers with addictions. We were told the teens would not warm up to us, led to believe trusting relationships were out of the question, and warned there would be thievery and fighting.
After we got the run down of our ministry expectations and house rules, our team and the team we are paired with this month, Stay Salty, picked which individuals would be going to which houses for the month. I am with 5 others at the Boys’ Home.
I. LOVE. IT.
These boys are phenomenal. I was expecting a huge center overflowing with youth like we have previously experienced these past 8 months, but instead I was greeted by my 8 new amigos. Although maybe a little hesitant the first couple of days, some more than others, this intimate group is joyful and eager to learn and love to show off their talents and even invite us into their hobbies. Don’t let me skip over that part: they are extremely talented. They dance bachata, play a Bolivian instrument, write with extreme vulnerability, make bracelets from hand, and can freestyle rap like it’s their God given talent. They laugh and play and yes, there are quite a few chistosos (jokesters), but they just want to be loved. We communicate the best we can, solely in Spanish, but we are all patient with each other and grateful for the free Spanish-English dictionary I found my first day here!
Every one of these amigos we are serving and learning from this month has a difficult past, but they don’t let their past mistakes define them, a lesson for so many of us. They care for each other, perform the duties, therapy sessions, and classes required of them, take responsibility for all the house chores, and still dream big.
Some of them appear so young and innocent that it can be easy to forget they have seen and experienced more troubles and traumas than the average middle aged man. They have been addicted to hard drugs, been drug dealers, slept on the streets, been addicted to cutting themselves, and have been exiled from their families and communities. They have been beaten, shamed, and made to feel as though there was little to live for.
My heart aches for them and the hurts they are still struggling with, but even more, my heart aches for their salvation. No one at the homes’ is required to identify as Christian or religious to be admitted, although this ministry sees the majority of their boys come to know and walk with Christ by the end of their program.
Although I am gathering most of this through a collection of broken Spanish and teammates, it is my understanding that most of the boys are aware of God and His power, but are still trying to understand Jesus, Christianity, and the Holy Trinity. They participate in worship sessions (with lyric sheets, so I know they are singing praises to Jesus) and pray before every meal and hot chocolate break (but way to quickly and fervently for my beginner-level Spanish to comprehend). Only one of the amigos is allowed to leave the house for church on Sundays (he is the only one currently in Phase 2) and Kamrin and I were able to join him last week. Sometimes when they see me journaling or reading the Bible at the house, they will engage in conversation about love for the Lord or will take their Spanish Bible off the shelf and follow along with the scriptures I am looking up or the books of the Bible I am reading. These are some of my favorite moments.
My 8 teenage amigos remind me daily of how God loves and pursues us and lavishes us all with his grace, despite our sin patterns and constant mistakes. They remind me that He loves us exactly as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us exactly as we are.
Month 8 Prayer Requests:
- I ask you to join my team in prayer for our new amigos, Kevin, Daniel, Emerson, Edson, George, Johnathan, Jobani, and Jarl. Pray they are released from their chains of bondage and break free from every single addiction. Pray for their salvation, that they will continue to pursue truth and ask questions and hear from the Lord, and that we will see each other again in Heaven when our time comes. Pray they recognize they are redeemed and forgiven, lavished with grace (Eph. 1:7-8). Pray they never stop laughing and believe in themselves and their future.
- Please pray for the hermanos y hermanas (staff) at the house, that they know how much they are loved and manifest love, and that they get the rest they need.
- Please also pray for my squad that we all push through any Month 8 struggles we may each be experiencing.
- While I’m here and since no prayer is too small, if you also want to pray that the nights warm up by about 20° at night, I would be grateful for that too.
“Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” Luke 22:31-32
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25
