Candelaria, but these three boys have brought us the greatest joy! My team and
I have labored in prayer for each one of them since we arrived in Nicaragua. God put each of these boys on our hearts
at different times and we spent many, many hours praying for each one of
them. We are so thankful to be able to
say that we were able to see God transform all three of their lives over the
four short weeks we spent with them. My team and I have agreed that it is
evident that God is raising these boys up to change their community. Here is a taste of each of their stories…
M
arlynn
I’m not going to go into
much detail about Marylnn because I have already written so much about
him. All I can say is that it has been amazing to see
God completely transform this young man’s life. Although he is only fourteen, he was one of the most feared in the
community, and it is a blessing to see how God is going to bring peace to a
community by transforming the life of this boy. God has a big plan for his life, and I wish I could be there to see all
that is in store for him.
I was also proud to see the kids form our Bible study accept
him with open arms into their new family. He said he never had a family that loved him!
Anthony
Anthony has been on my
heart since day one. He is kind of difficult to put into words. I guess the best way to describe him is as a
kid who has to act tough and cool in order to hide all the pain and fear in his
life. He is a lot of fun to be around,
but he can also get very serious, very fast.
We started to pray a lot for Anthony about a week into our
trip. He was consistent with coming to
Bible study, and would spend a lot of time hanging out with my team and me, but
we knew something was really going on with him. A couple of days before the baptisms, Anthony said that he wanted to be
baptized as well. There was a bit of
conflict that arouse between him and the other kids, so we had asked Tommy to
come speak with him. At the end of their
time, Tommy said that Anthony had become a Christian and was ready to be
baptized. We were very excited at the
news.
Two days after he was baptized, Anthony was back to his
really serious moods and tough kid mentality. I could tell that he was always
fighting back tears but I could not figure out why. My heart was breaking for him again, and
there were many times that God would lay him on my heart to pray for him. Two days before we left, I couldn’t take it
anymore! I needed to find out what was
going on with him. He had said in his
baptism video something about wanting to prove that everything his mom says
about him isn’t true, but I didn’t understand what this meant. So I finally asked Linda and a translator to
sit down with me and him.
It took a while to get him to trust us enough to open
up. When he did he explained his mom was
about to lose their house because of an unpaid debt, and his mom was making him
work an illegal and dangerous job to try and pay it off. They owed a large sum of money that day, and
if he didn’t come up with it they would be kicked out of the house and his step
dad would disown them. He fought back
tears while he explained how the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
After a short discussion, Lisa and I decided that we were
going to pay the debt that was due that day. Linda also offered him a safe job working in the garden at the church,
but told him she was going to find him a sponsor so that he can go back to
school in February. When she asked him
if he would like to work in the garden and go back to school, he nodded yes and
the tears started to form in his eyes. We prayed over him and went to explain to his mother all that was going
to happen. Before offering the money, I spent a little bit of time praising him
in front of his mom and telling her what an amazing son she had. I never figured out what he meant by his
comment in his video, but I wanted to make to take that opportunity to give him
a bit of hope. His mother was moved by
it all and was in tears as she agreed to let him go back to school. When I looked at Anthony, his amazing smile
had finally returned to his face!
Andres
Finally, there is
Andres… the last of the three amigos. This kid is amazing! He became a
Christian a week before we arrived in Candelaria and it has been so much fun to
watch him grow in his faith. Andres
comes from a broken home and is currently being raised by his aunt. His mom and dad abandoned his brother and him
when they were really young, and although they are living with their aunt… she
doesn’t really want them. I’m just
amazed at how such a sweet and gentle kid could come out of such
brokenness. Again, God has an amazing
plan for this kid as well.
