We haven’t heard anything back yet on the jail ministry or the hospital ministry, and they have a large group of high school kids from China here that are doing the construction work at the moment, so that leaves me open for anything. All that just goes to show that
God is in control and He knows exactly what
God is in control and He knows exactly what
He
is doing. I started doing ministry at Children’s Garden last Thursday. We were asked to check it out by a missionary friend of our contact Jeff Long, and see if we would be interested. I almost turned it down without even knowing what it was, but the Holy Spirit in me urged me to find out more. With a name like Children’s Garden I thought we would be planting flowers with kids or something like that. Little did I know that I was completely wrong and that God was ordaining the ministry that He has called me to for reasons that only He knows.
Children’s Garden turned out to be a community that takes in teenage boys off the street. These boys literally lived on the street, and some of them, by CHOICE. The boys have been subject to serious abuse, drugs, violence, crime, and more. Children’s Garden gives the boys a place to live safe from harm, a chance to go to school, and most importantly to learn about Jesus. We have been working with them doing daily devotionals, discipleship, outreach, and spending time with them showing them love. To help us get acquainted with each other, we shared our testimonies and they shared some of theirs with us.
The testimonies that I have heard so far have shown me why someone would run away from home to fend for themselves on the street. Honestly, I would too. They have been beaten, starved, neglected, and some have been sold by their parent’s to have money for drugs. I heard a story today that broke my heart into many pieces. I felt such compassion for him after I heard this story. It is hard to imagine because I come from a loving and giving home. A lot of children are not so lucky. These are pieces of his story:
Paolo was institutionalized growing up. His parents didn’t want him or couldn’t take care of him, whatever the reason, He spent a large part of his childhood going from one institution to the next. He eventually got kicked out of institution life and sent back to his parents. It was then that his parents started to abuse him. On one occasion he was hung upside down and starved for a week as so called punishment. In her desperation, he got sold by his mother to a lawyer so she could have money to buy cocaine. He was sold for 10,000 Pisos ($200). After a while the lawyer gave him up and he ended back with his parents. After further abuse and neglect, Paolo was somehow given a second chance at an institution and given up yet again by his family. This time he ended up at Children’s Garden. He started getting trained in skills and learning about Jesus. The Lord has given him hope and a chance that many kids will never get.
This is just one boy out of many. I have heard about some being beaten by 2-by-4’s, metal pans, and some even worse. Things that would not be fit for even the worst of horror movies. This was life for these boys. A boy named John Paul lost his mom at age 5. His dad would beat him all the time. By age 6 he had enough and ran away to live on the street. He got caught up with the other boys huffing glue and getting into other drugs. God called him and he now resides at Children’s Garden clean from drugs, in school, and hearing about Jesus. He is now 13 years of age.
God called me to this ministry. I feel the need to dedicate ALL of me to these boys. I have spent a total of 3 days with them and I already love these boys so much. It blows my mind what Christ has done in them. I hear stories like these and expect these boys to have behavior problems and be unruly. Not the case at all. They are well behaved and are very friendly. Why would anyone want to hurt these amazing boys??!! If I get a chance I may do some jail ministry from time to time, but these boys come first! God has called me to them and I will obey!
