David's Story

Special thanks to Dayana Reyes, YL Leader in Cuenca, for sharing this story with me. 

 

We made flyers for the first Young Life Club ever in our city about a year and half ago and decided to hand them out at a high school nearby, kids took the flyers and asked a lot of questions. No one knew what young life was or what we were going to do. We spent hours outside the school trying to get kids excited about this new thing called Young Life, it seemed to be working; yet at the end none of those kids showed up to club. We kept going back to that same school and eventually we drifted as we saw absolutely no interest in the kids. It felt as though we had spent money, energy, and time in a fruitless endeavor.

About a year later I bumped into one of those kids, David Ordoñez, at a group geared towards people with addictions and their families. David's stepfather was an alcoholic who due to his drinking habits had lost his job and would disappear for 2-3 days straight and David or his mom would usually find him sleeping on the street nearby their home. He blamed his dad for leaving him, and his mom for taking on another relationship and giving this new man all the attention with out him deserving any of it; due his situation he wanted nothing to do with God. I began sending him weekly invitations to young life club and activities for four months straight, and he always had a reason for not being able to make it.

A week before camp I bumped into him and his mom as they walked back home, and I knew it was my chance! I asked his mom if she would send him to camp and she responded that due to their economic situation she was not able to send him, to which I immediately responded that we could find the money, but that the only thing we needed was her permission and him on that bus. I did not hear from them until three days before camp, he had decided to go! David is a quiet kid who has difficulty showing his emotions, never the less camp allowed him to feel important and loved. After our return he texted me the following message “holaaa solo queria decirte que muchas gracias por haberme invitado gracias a ti mi vida tomó un rumbo diferente en los pasos de Jesus.” (hiiii I just wanted to thank you for inviting me, thanks to you my life has taken a different path in the steps of Jesus). David had made the decision to follow Jesus!

When we say that every kid matters, we don't realize the implication that simple phrase has. Whether it be taking the time to go to schools, handing out flyers, being persistent with kids who seem to have no interest in what we say or waiting for almost a year to see the fruits of our labor; every seed we plant will bear fruit. I learned that nothing is too much when it concerns a kid's life and seeing David make the decision to follow Jesus makes it all worth it.

Dayana Reyes

A Young Life Leader

Cuenca-Ecuador