Last month in Bolivia, while working at a rehabilitation home for teenage boys with addictions, I met a boy named Felipe. Felipe is 16 years old and he’s been living on the streets for most of his life. He’s never known his father, and his mother is an alcoholic. He had his first drink of alcohol when he was 7 years old. At the age of 13, he learned that taking care of a baby is both challenging and rewarding as he lived with his alcoholic friend and helped her take care of her infant child. He loves playing soccer, which is probably why he’s so good at it. He cares deeply for his 11-year-old brother, Christopher, which is why he came to Mission Adulam to get help. Sometimes he misses living on the streets and wants to go back. He tells me about how he knows the drugs to which he has access there are bad for him, but they make him feel good.
One day when we were re-painting the hallway of the boys’ home, Felipe told me that he didn’t like the color green we had chosen for the walls because it’s the same color of the walls in the jail he was taken to on the nights he was found sleeping on the streets. He told me about a “game” he played with the officers in jail. They called it “matame si puedes,” or, in English, “kill me if you can.” He tells me about it with a smile on his face, and sometimes jokingly asks if I want to play.
Felipe showed me what it looks like to be human as he reminded me that sometimes sin makes us feel good, and it can be so hard to resist. He also taught me about strength and about hope, because he is resilient. His life has been harder than I can imagine, but I see so much strength in him.
Though he’s been given so many reasons to be angry, he chooses fun and laughter. Once when I arrived at the house, Felipe asked me the whereabouts of my water bottle. I told him I wasn’t quite sure where I’d left it, after which he presented it to me, out of the freezer, frozen solid. I wasn’t even surprised. He makes me laugh every day.
Felipe made Bolivia my hardest goodbye from these last 10 months. As I continue looking back, my prayer for him is that he will be freed from the chains of addiction, that he will be ignorant of shame, and that the Father’s love and kindness will make him whole. Felipe told me he thinks it’s strange to believe in God, but I’m praying that what once seemed strange will become the only thing that makes sense to him.
This month we built relationships with ten other boys, each with his own uniquely moving story. If you’ve come this far, please take a moment to pray for Felipe, the other boys receiving help at Mission Adulam, and the countless others like them. Pray that this world doesn’t break them, and that they discover the love and freedom they are being offered.
