Hi here are some pictures from the Freedom Project car wash..we have devoted staff, SOMD interns from our base that have been on an urban track as part of the school requirements and lastly we will point out Bobby and Jose. These are two young people will be taking on a 2 week trip to New Orleans with a dual purpose - to see transformation in thier lives and to serve and transform the places we go by the love and power of God. I wanted to share a little about each of these guys so you would get to meet the people we are getting to bless because of YOU!




Jose (group pic above, 2nd one in) has been out of incarceration since December. His dad is 72, his mom elderly and blind. He has a deaf brother who still lives at home. He signs in English and the mom only speaks Spanish? The house is in very bad shape because she is unable to do much. She is still adapting to this condition since it was a loss of sight, not something she was born with. The dad takes fulltime care of a daughter in a wheelchair, both severely mentally and physically handicapped from a botched surgery as a child. They also have a younger daughter who lives in the home, is age 6 and seems to be lost in the shuffle of all this. To pay a visit to the home is nothing short of overwhelming. They were given the home they live in as part of a settlement for the sick girl, but it is right in the middle of poverty, crime and gang territory. Jose joined the gang as a child amidst pressure and promises of being protected. He said he was bullied and teased as a young boy and they promised to be there. He has been stabbed three separate times and survived. Now he still lives where you can hear the sounds of other youth being brought in one by one to the gang that surrounds him - fists pounding away at innocence and feet kicking the life out leaving what is seemingly just an empty shell that will carry this now hardened heart. They jump him in as he is looking for protection, acceptance and an escape from what may be a home full of overwhelming circumstances like Jose's. This is a sound heard in the alley behind his window. An enemy of his lurks in what feels like darkness even in midday, he lives across the street and is a lingering threat of death and destruction not only threatening Jose but his family. He stays away from his homies, but they come looking for him and warn him if he doesn't get back on the job he will pay. This is NOT to big for God - his ear not too dull to hear the cry of this man's heart. Forgive me and deliver me. He is so tender and is trying so hard to fight off the anger he feels from this prison he is in. So we want to get him out of there and allow him to get a glimpse of something new - so a missions trip? It changes people as they see God provide, pure relationships develop and he will find there are others who suffer alongside him. Maybe from different circumstances, but suffering all the same. Below are a few pics of his birthday party we had for him here at his new "second" home he comes to serve here often, weekly just about. He likes the presence of God he feels here and we are teaching him it goes with him wherever he is. He has alot of new friends that are much different than any he has had in the past. But is a difficult thing to see a new pattern established in a life like this - it requires love, patience, power of God, grace and more love and more power. I am so glad to know Jose and be on this journey with him - he recently said about the program at Camp we provide that it was the highlight of his entire week. It was the only place he knew he could come and not be yelled at and called names. I am so glad to have this ministry.....
posting of Bobby to come!