NEWSLETTER: MAY, 2004

Marcos is now thirteen. Thirteen going on twenty. Marcos is a typical street kid. I've watched him grow up in the red-light district, Tijuana's infamous "Zone." First he was sniffing rubber cement, and then he graduated to crystal meth*. He was in our orphanage for a while and doing well. Then one day he decided to walk back down into the Zone where he had left his life. Back on drugs, Marcos was in and out of children's jail several times. He escaped twice and was caught each time back in his neighborhood stealing for drugs.

Tired of his life, drugs and police hassles, Marcos returned three weeks ago to "The Well," a small Christian children's home in the Zone. Again we saw a different boy, a boy that was clean, well fed, happy and loved. He's been doing well for more than three weeks, and that's pretty long for a kid like Marcos.

Last night while I was in the Zone, Chuy, the director of El Poso (The Well), came to my car with a serious look on his face. Marcos' mother died that day of a drug overdose, and Marcos had just been told. She was a woman of the night and not much of a mother to Marcos, but she was all he had. Now even his mother was gone.

Chuy asked the big question. "Von would you talk with Marcos, this could set him back on drugs." So Marcos and I went into the alley and talked it over. He didn't say much, he just hung his head and listened. It's times like this that every word you say goes straight to the heart. It's times like this we can talk about God, life and death in a natural way. Marcos didn't cry, he was too tough for that. When I was through, he looked up at me for a moment and then grabbed me tightly in a big hug. A long hug.

For a moment he had a father and that's what he needed.

On occasions like this I return home a rich man, and I want to thank each of you who by your prayers makes this ministry possible and safe. While these letters often reflect my personal stories, our Spectrum team is working the streets too, ministering, influencing lives and acquiring stories and rewards of their own.

In His love, von

*crystal meth: The powerful, inexpensive and addicting drug of choice to more and more children of the street.