December 2, 2014
Aldo is one of the newest faces here at Breaking Chains. He showed up at our door recently with a woman from the Mogote Church of Christ, a local church with whom we work regularly. The woman explained that Aldo, after having a bad experience staying with some friends of friends, began spending the night sleeping on the floor of the Mogote church building. He didn’t have any family to speak of, so she brought him to us to see if he could possibly stay with us for a time.
We are always wary of immediately accepting new individuals simply because we haven’t gotten the chance to know their personalities or their backgrounds. We don’t know how they get along with others or how they respond to authority, what drug issues they may be dealing with or even if they’re just looking for a free ride. So we were a little hesitant before hearing Aldo’s story.
It turns out that Aldo grew up in Emmanuel, a children’s home with which we are familiar, from a very young age. He stayed there until he was 18, at which time he could choose to either stay at the children’s home and work there or move on. He chose to move on and see what was out there. One of the cool things about Emmanuel is that the children learn English, so by the time Aldo left he was essentially fluent. After leaving Emmanuel, Aldo spent some time working as a translator for the U.S. brigades that came through Tegucigalpa doing medical clinics. He was paid for his work, but he admits that he didn’t save his money in a wise way. So after the summer brigades left, Aldo eventually ran out of the money he had made. Not knowing where to go, he stayed with some friends of friends for a time who turned out to not be the best crowd, then stayed at the church in Mogote and eventually found his way to us.
Aldo is a young man with extreme potential. He is incredibly intelligent, kind, personable and drug-free. And his skills in English open up a host of different opportunities. With Aldo, the challenge is really just motivating him and helping him find opportunities in the city where he can take full advantage of his skill set. Right now, he is determining his next step. He has talked about studying at the university in the city, getting an job, or even enrolling in a two-year seminary program.
We are anxious to see the ways in which God guides Aldo moving forward and we ask that you join us in prayer for him. Aldo has never been to beach Christmas with us, and we are excited to share it with him. Please consider sponsoring this teen with a bright future.