:::CHELE:::

...one more story this week involves the God send of my life, Chele. he is like part son, part brother, and part friend to me. but i've never felt so concerned for someone like i do him. it's more of what i imagine a mother to feel. i want to adopt him (he's 15 yr. old). anyways, he is a very troubled teenage boy. I can’t remember if I’ve really gotten into detail about him on the blog, so I’m just gonna go through it again in case I haven’t. He is one of Gabby’s brothers. He’s 15. He can’t read, write, count money. His mom works in a bar, his dad is in one of the neighboring countries. His mom has left him and 2 of his brothers before, while she went to Managua. And they had no means of money for food. His mom is a joke from what I’ve been told. I want to meet her, and Cheryl has been saying she wants to go talk to her, but we haven’t had a chance yet. I really want to meet this woman who could neglect her children like she has. Back to Chele, he's gotten into quite a bit of trouble in the past. But I say that he hasn’t lived for 15 years, he’s survived. He has a lot of anger that has built up in him. He gets mad all the time, but it usually doesn’t last long and he’s smiling again… he was living in the house when I got here in November. We would hang out all the time, which I figured out was as nice for me to have someone as it was for him to start acknowledging that someone truly cares about him. Don’t want to get into everything that happened, but he was told that maybe he could come around during the day and go to his house at night. Then a day or so later, it was decided that he would have to go to school for a month before he could come back around the house. So that meant no contact with him for a month, which didn’t make much sense to me considering what I’ve sensed God placing on my heart. But I have tried to obey, but still trying to figure out how I’m supposed to accomplish what God has given for me…well, this past Friday we were taking some people home and decided to get Elliot (Chico’s girlfriend) from the gym and take her with us. When we did, Chele was there and I asked Chico if he could ride along with us. So then we went and hung out at Claudia’s house for a little while for Charlie, Benny and Pam to say bye. Then we came back to the house and Cheryl, Charlie, Chico, and I started talking to Chele. He said he was not going back to the school (he had been 4 days in a row and seemed to be doing really well). But he said it was hard (mind you, he’s never been to school so I imagine it is very difficult, especially to be disciplined when you’ve never had to be). He started talking about how his life is misery. He didn’t want to talk about his mom and family. Charlie talked to him about giving his life to Christ. Chele said he’s prayed it over and over, how many times does he have to do that. So I’m not sure if he is saved or not. It only takes once, if he meant it. But he just doesn’t understand what it means to be a Christian. I’m thinking he may think becoming a Christian is a magic pill that will make everything bad in his life disappear. So pray for us in how we deal with him, and the wisdom to talk and mentor him. And for us to give an accurate picture of what a Christian life is. Because I think that’s an obvious problem with what he’s thinking when he prays the sinner’s prayer.......so he had given up on school. BUT, I talked to him, and got him to agree for Luis and I to help him with schooling. Luis has a master’s in Spanish or something along those lines, and he cares about Chele too. So I’m excited to get started with us teaching him. I say us, like I could teach him Spanish! Ha! I’m just there for moral support and love, and maybe to catch a little Spanish learning myself!! J …and after we all talked, Chele came in the house and ate dinner. Charlie loved on him a lot that night which made me SO happy. I finally felt like someone cared as much for Chele as I did. It’s been brought up more than once, me and Cheryl and then Charlie, that Chele really needs a psychologist or a Christian counselor. Something to help him get all that anger out and the neglect that he’s experienced. So does anyone out there with that experience or degree feel led to come to Nicaragua for a while!?!? There truly is a need for that here in Nicaragua. Cheryl has said there is no where for teens, like Chele, to get help and counseling for the lives they live. There is a couple of places, but they are for alcohol and drug abuse, and thank God, Chele doesn’t have those problems. I thank God for that!! He really is a good guy, deep down. And if he could see that he is valuable and worth something, and loved. Then I think he would be more likely to excel in school. And spiritually. He’s gotta know that he’s lovable, before he’ll believe that God loves him. And I KNOW that one of the main reasons I am here is to show that love to him. Please pray for him. And for me. It’s very hard for me to know how and when to ask if Chele can be included, or when I can see him, etc. I will not give up on him. I am not everyone else in his life. I am Jesus in his life. Big shoes to fill so pray big!!!!

MUCH LOVE!!!!!

p.s. He came by tonight…and he said he was going to Honduras and/or El Salvador tomorrow to work with a friend. Please pray for his safety. He has no papers, no i.d. nothing. And so technically, if he gets caught I think he could be sent to prison. But before he came around here, that’s the life he lived. He would travel with men to those neighboring countries and would just hide when they crossed the border so he wouldn’t get caught….that’s another prayer request, I want to get his papers. I think he has a birth certificate, but it’s in another city (he doesn’t even know his birthday!). But, truly, if God ever allowed him to be adopted, then he would need them. (plus if I get his Christmas present bike, then he’ll need an i.d. …b/c you have to carry papers on the bike to verify it’s yours and so he’d need an i.d. card to verify he is who he says he is).