They were at the boarding school there, they did not want anything to do with their studies and Village of Hope was of great help to my mother due to the fact that they dedicated themselves and they made an effort to teach my sisters to read and write because they did not know how at the time. It was wonderful to see the progress they made there.
I remember the first time that I personally met Village of Hope, it was one afternoon when some people visited my house. It was Don Ricardo and his noble wife Doña Leyda, but since the visit was about my sisters, I never expected Don Ricardo to ask a question, I never thought that he would look up at me and ask me, “Do you want to study?” I replied, “I do want to study.” He asked me to show him my school newsletter and he expressed that I had good grades and jokingly he said, “How much did you pay to get these notes?” I replied, “I did not pay anything, I just got good grades with my effort” He expressed, “How good!” He told me that if I needed something, he would support me in my studies, and I thought in my mind, “Wow, that’s great!” I was going to fourth grade, and then Village of Hope through Pastor Ricardo began to support me in the educational area with school supplies and other things, but if that were not enough, when my sisters had been in the Boarding School for a few years, Pastor Ricardo invited me to the first boys camp. We were about 30 young people on a beautiful Sunday morning and there, we were taught the word. It was a beautiful time, an encounter with God. But what I never thought was that later, God would have a great purpose for me and with the rest of the youth. I also met the boys of CECNIC, who give excellent messages about sexuality, abstinence and the word of God applied in their own life experiences. Pastor Ricardo and those boys have helped me understand life and be a better person. By having a deeper relationship with Village of Hope, I said to myself that I had to make a change soon. I knew it would not be easy but I told myself that I had to do things better.
When Pastor Ricardo decided to go deeper into these camps, thank God, I became a type of assistant for him. It is said that in life you learn something new when you are with people who teach you something new. He told me about his experiences and about his expectation of how God could go about working in the life of each boy, and by working with him, I realized all that I can learn from him. Don Ricardo has taught me to put more value on things, to be a good son, a good brother, a good person for my community, and above all to have a strong communion with God. When there is something unstable in my life, he says to me, “You need to read the Bible.”
Knowing more about the work of Village of Hope has allowed me to broaden my knowledge and the desire to imitate them to carry and give a message of Hope and Life has been born. That place has transformed me into a young man who likes to give advice to others. I can say that I am now used to serving, because one of the things that Village of Hope teaches us is to serve from the heart. It is beautiful to see the way in which He teaches us many things even in silence, because we can learn only by seeing them. Comparing what I was before to what I am now, I could not get used to being the young man I was before, I just do not want to change for the worse, I want to stay with the person I have become.
At Village of Hope I feel that I can be useful in a beautiful way. I can help without fear and be a useful young man for the lives of others and for society. Village of Hope has sown in me, Christian knowledge with good foundations, with strong foundations, and in the way they work there encourages and inspires me to be like them. Pastor Ricardo inspires me to be a different person than I was before. The [Christian college student group that volunteers at Village of Hope] inspire me to keep going even though it is not easy to be a young Christian and carry a word despite having a society with young people who dedicate themselves to evil. I previously thought that there were not any young Christians, but meeting them all has been wonderful. Village of Hope helps us take steps to improve our relationship with God and it is beautiful to see how God uses them greatly, and knowing that they want to see me transformed, makes me see that I am part of something greater in God’s purpose. I believe that It is God through Village of Hope molding young people in a pot where the spiritual gift of good knowledge is poured out.
Village of Hope has been a good thing for young people and also for our parents. I know that God is working in us and in our families. To describe Village of Hope it would take many hours, the people who work there dedicate time and effort and it is wonderful how God has sown in your hearts serving with joy and helping others. Thank you Village of Hope because you have instilled Christian knowledge in me and despite the fact that it has cost me, I have been an example for the rest of the youth in the neighborhood in how to follow Christ. Sometimes when I feel discouraged I go to a big book called the Bible and there I find options that help me make good decisions and encourage me to keep going. It is nice to know that there are people who are dedicated to teaching and sowing the word of God in others.
Thanks to Village of Hope I can say that I have become a young man with good and firm foundation, who can serve society and his family. They have helped me understand how to be a good son, brother, friend and husband in the future, without these foundations in our lives, we would be like ships adrift, aimlessly and without direction. In these times when the world is lost, I feel that Village of Hope came to my life just in time, before I lost myself more, and I know that it was God who put in the hearts of these beautiful people to help me. I thank God for everything they have done for me, for my family, and for the family of other young people. I also thank you for teaching me to get involved in knowing God’s plans and purposes for my life.
I would say that Village of Hope is part of the hand of God because thanks to them today I am a good young man because the teachings that they have given me that have been engraved in my heart and it is something that I will never forget. Thank you Village of Hope for your dedication and effort. May God bless you and may he always be working in you and give you more understanding to bring the word of God to the needy.
