My flight from Mexico landed at 2:35 p.m. yesterday and at 9 p.m. I finally finished telling Christine all about the week. There is that much to tell. I'll never get it all posted on this blog. But here's a very cursory overview...
- It was hard. The kids are tough. Their lives are hard. The whole situation is hard to witness, hard to address, hard to change. The kids are rude and immoral and sometimes violent. They steal (even from those who came to help them) and they do drugs. It's just hard.
- It was fun. Getting to know the kids, the other counselors (there was a group from a church in San Diego), and the Lampas staff was a treat. Plus it was a youth camp so it had to be fun! In 5 days, we probably played 20 hours of soccer! They loves them some soccer!
- It was rewarding. Seven kids received the gift of salvation! About five showed serious signs that they may be ready to leave the street. By the end of the week, all of them were much more calm, and much less dependent on drugs. One of the kids who was born again had been to camp and heard the message before. But he told us that he had killed two people and that he didn't think that the Lord could forgive him. He was one of the most rowdy, disrespectful, angry kids there. I was shocked when the counselors who prayed with him told me about his decision.
There are, of course, lots of little stories and lots of kids to describe. And there are several prayer requests for kids and for the Lampas ministry and for the camp itself. I think there's a big need for prayer in terms of a change of position with regard to discipline with the kids at camp. It's very hard to discipline them there, but I believe it should be done nonetheless. It's a big issue that I may write more about later.
Anyway, that's the overview. And here are a few kids to pray for specifically:
Tiapa: The new Chrsitian who said he has murdered two people. He left home at age 7 (abusive father) and was arrested for theft and in jail by age 9. Now he's in his late teens. He will have a terribly hard time following Jesus on the street, especially given his background, his drug addiction, and his attitude. Please pray for him and for the Lampas staff who will minister to him in the days to come.
Mariano: I got to know this kid the best of all last week. He was kind-of a loner. He said he was a Christian but I think his understanding of that was pretty limited. I gave him a Spanish New Testament with the Roman Road underlined. Pray for him to read it (he was reading it the day after I gave it to him) and understand it and give his heart to Jesus. And leave the street. I almost had him convinced to leave the street last week but when all the other kids loaded the bus to go back, he couldn't resist.
Mauricio (Caballo): Lots to tell about this kid. He was a big problem all week. But on Friday morning he gave a "testimony" about how he was thankful for the camp. He doesn't know Christ, but his heart was softened. He and I butted heads all week but as the bus was pulling away, Darren told me that he stuck his head out and, when he didn't see me, told Darren to say good-bye to me. Seems like a small thing, but after watching him all week it's a miracle that he even acknowledged another person, much less shown any thanks to anyone.
