Drug Rehab

This picture was the best I got from Bob and I's visit to Victor's drug rehab center. I wish you could see more guys that live there but I just didn't take many pictures. The eleven men who who where there in the morning range from Domingo, 15 and without parents, to Johnny, 50, who has not been able to lay down the bottle in past. By afternoon, there were 15 men in the house, two of the new ones coming directly from the hospital as referrals from a judge. All of them though have chosen to come and try to change.

Bob and I went to Quiche yesterday to see Victor and these guys. We taught, worshiped with them, and just spend time one on one with them. Each one has a unique story, usually a very hopeless one, but each one is there with purpose now. As I listened to their stories, they are just exaggerated examples of most of our lives. All of our actions have consequences, and none of us deserve the love that God has for us. Alex, one of the men who reminded me of the cowboys in Canilla, had a family who loved him and brothers who were in the cattle business with him. He lost them though, because of his drinking problem. As Alex sat with Bob and I he cried tears of remorse for the family that had rejected him and kids who were at home without him. He said he had been to church quite a bit but had never accepted Christ into his heart until that day. That was yesterday, and today he still couldn't talk about God without tears in his eyes. He had finally tasted hope. It was real, and it was his because Jesus loved him and can help change him. I believe he will get his family back and rejoin his brothers in the field.

We also enjoyed a time of encouragement from Phil Stern and Kent Henry. They were here for two days and spent a lot of time in prayer, worship, and just time encouraging us. Kent has a prayer model that he's been implementing in churches in the U.S.--how to read the Bible, pray it, sing, it, and then think hard on it as a group. We're going to start using it to organize our worship times as a ministry at least once a week.

This weekend is clinic in Canilla and San Andres. It's been kind of chilly lately, even down to 45 at night, but that just makes sleeping with lots of blankets even better!