I actually want to backtrack a little bit before I get to everything that happened yesterday evening. At the beginning of June I was visiting Kusi with a work team. As is customary here in Kusi, we have a bonfire with the group and all of the boys near the end of the group's time in Peru. It is a great moment of fellowship with each other. We sing praises in English and in Spanish, and anyone from the group or any of the boys that live here are free to stand up and share a testimony of what God is doing or what he has already done in their lives. I was sitting at the dinner table with Miguel, one of the boys who lives here at Kusi. I asked him if he had anything that he wanted to share with the group. He thought for a minute, and he said to me, "Not tonight, but when the last group comes in August I will share my testimony."
I left it at that, wondering if he really meant that he wanted to say something in August or if it was just his indirect way of saying that he didn't want to share anything in front of the entire group, hoping that it would be forgotten before August came around. I would just have to wait and see.
"I am going to give my testimony to the group tonight at the bonfire. You are going to translate for me, right?" Miguel said me yesterday morning. I had been wondering whether or not he was going to say anything for the last two months. It turns out that he did have something that he wanted to share, and I was excited to see what he had to say to the group. But come dinner time Miguel approached me again. He said, "Billy, I don't think I can share tonight, but I promise I will the next time a work group comes, and we have another bonfire." I told him that no one is pressuring him, and that we are happy to hear what he had to say when he was ready to say it.
We finished with dinner, and put on all of our warm clothes on to head out to the fire. On my way out, Miguel approached me one more time. He told me that Angel, the house father here at Kusi, had also approached him and asked if he wanted to share anything. Once again, he changed his mind and decided to share. We sang a few songs, and a few other people shared testimonies of God's work in their lives first, and then it was Miguel's turn. I have known Miguel for a number of years, and I know that he has passed through some very difficult moments in the streets, but I had no idea what he was going to share. He stood up beside me so that I could translate, and he began to speak to the group of 20 Americans and his 40 other brothers here in Kusi:
"My story starts when I was six years old. I lived in the town of Tingua, and my older brother abandoned me on the streets. I spent my time on the streets. I went wherever I wanted to go, and I did whatever I wanted to do. Two years later when I was eight, I came to the town of Yungay. I found my brother here, but he abandoned me again. I continued to live on the streets until one day I met a lady named Liz. She approached me, and asked me where my family was. I told her that my mom, my dad, and my brother had abandoned me, and I didn't have any family. She was the one who told me about Kusi, and eventually I came here.
I lived here for a couple of years, but it was really hard for me to get used to life here with all of the rules. They were hard to follow, and after a year or two I began to think about leaving and going back to the streets. I convinced myself that the freedom I had on the streets was something that was good for me, so I left. I went back down to Yungay, and I began to rob to make a living for myself. I also worked on a transport route going from Yungay to the town of Yanama on the other side of Huascaran. Sometime I worked all day and all night. I rented a room for myself in Yungay, but after the first month I left without paying the landlord. I found other friends in the streets, and we continued to steal. One day my old landlord found me, and confronted me with what I owed him. I told him that I would pay him when I had the money, but I wasn't really planning to ever pay him.
Then the day came when I stole something, and I was caught. I was taken to the police station. I told them that it wasn't me, even though I knew that it was. I was there for awhile, and then eventually they got in touch with papa Angel. They called him and asked him to come down. They wanted to send me back to Kusi. Angel came, but I really did not want to come back here. They left me to think about it for five minutes, and I began to reflect on my life. I thought about where my life would end up if I didn't come back. I agreed to go.
I have been back for one year now, and I am thankful for my family here in Kusi. I ask you all to continue to pray for me because tonight I want to make the decision to give my life to Jesus."
Miguel broke down in tears along with many of us who were listening. We prayed with him, and celebrated by breaking out the marshmallows to roast over the bonfire. What a beautiful story of God's redemption and the seed planted years ago that has finally come to bear fruit in Miguel's life, and what courage Miguel had to share the Holy Spirit's work in his life to such a large group of people! The truth is that Miguel just chipped into the tip of the iceberg as he told us of the pain and suffering that he has experienced. He has passed through some situations that would be hard for most of us to even fathom. But that is now all in his past. In Christ he is a new creation. The old is gone; the new has come!
Please join me in rejoicing in the work that God has done in Miguel's life, and the work that he continues to do in the lives of the boys in all of our programs throughout Peru. Pray that Miguel would grow in his new faith and that God would place people in his path to encourage him and help him to move forward.
We closed the evening by singing these words last night. I think it is an appropriate ending to this blog entry as well:
- "Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
- Praise Him, all creatures here below;
- Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;
- Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."
