A Song/Story from the Boys in Ica...

Below are the translated lyrics of one of the songs that some of the boys here in Ica have written to record onto the CD that they are making. The song is reggaton (the Latin American version of rap). Make sure to read all of the way to the end of the song. What a testimony to what God is doing in their lives!

This is my story. This is my reality.

Often times I am tormented in my dark loneliness.

Although I want to remember my family, it is too late

To recover my past happiness.

I was happy as a baby, but that didn’t last for long.

It turned into a dream—not a reality.

As I got older,

Everything began to change.

Day after day my parents argued.

The would fight, and they would shout.

But I never understood,

The cause of all the problems in my house.

Years have passed since then, and I am not a little kid anymore.

Now I am a boy with regret and anger.

I have passed through 1000 problems with my family,

And into the streets I went.

Gangs and evildoers look for me, they pursue me,

And they want to finish me.

But I continue to survive in this city.

I run many risks.

I don’t know what will become of me.

I have bad friends, and they tempt me to rob.

I lose control of my hands; I can’t stop them.

Daily I have to flee from my sad reality.

I can’t accept it; I can’t understand it.

Help me Lord—this could be the end of me.

Only You can work miracles. That is why I believe in you.

Sadly this is my life. I don’t know how to change it.

My only refuge is drugs and alcohol.

I take refuge in these things to forget,

The problems that I carry on my heart.

Standing on a street corner all alone,

People look at me and wonder why I even exist.

And they judge me without knowing the true reality.

Lord, You exist. Please remember me.

I didn’t realize that there was another unexplainable love.

I was lacking it; I needed it; I searched for it.

I had never found it, but I know that You will give it to me Lord.

Lord, Your love will fill the emptiness that my heart has had for so long.

They talked to me; they told me about how Your love exists.

My Father, I ask you to give me new life.

I thought that this life was only full of sadness,

But now Your love has grown in me.

For this reason, Lord, I give thanks only to You

Because in spite of all my errors, you took care of me.