Revenge & Forgivness

Yesterday began as a normal ministry day at the mercy ministry drop in centre. We have 2 short termer individuals from Canada serving with our team so yesterday we took them to a squatter community to visit three of the families that attend the ministry. One of these homes was that of Bibe (Christopher). Bibe is the youth who is featured in the IT Canada Momentum article. The link for that article is above. When we visited his home yesterday we had a good time talking with him and prayed for him and his family. We had lunch at another home with a few of the women how volunteer at the centre. We then returned to the drop in centre where the youth were eating their lunch. Greg and I went up stairs with Gila (the minsitry leaders wife) and all of a sudden we heard a bunch of commotion downstairs. We ran down stairs and saw blood gushing from Eric's (one of the youth) face and John (the ministry leader) had Bibe pinned in the corner. Out of anger Bibe took a rock and hit Eric in the face right beside his eye three times. I took Eric upstairs and cleaned up his eye and Greg helped keep everything under control. We later took Eric to the hospital to get four stitches. When the youth arrived earlier that day John sensed and suspected that a fight might break out (Bibe, the leader, was with us at the time of the talk). He had a big talk with the youth and they decided they wouldn't fight. There are two different "gangs" that are from two different areas that we minister to and nothing like this has ever happened before. Fortunately when Bibe lashed out his gang members didn't fight with him but actually tried to hold him back. It was upsetting at first that this happened at the centre because it is suppose to be a place of safety for everyone but it really is a blessing that it happened here. If this would have happened on the street there may have been no one to stop them from fighting. Bibe actually had a knife with him but he didn't use it. The reason Bibe did this was because two Sunday's ago Eric was with someone named Dennis at John's church. This Dennis guy stole Bibe and Melissa's wedding rings from their daughter (she was wearing them on a necklace). This is what revoked the anger in Bibe and this was the only way that he saw possible to repay what was done to him and his family. Bibe was improving so much and the Mercy Ministry has been mentoring him and is sending him to school for a Cellphone Repair Technician course. Controlling his anger is one thing that Bibe has been praying for. The scars of life go so deep in these guys and it is going to take a lot of discipling and a lot of teaching them what it means to be Christlike to change them. After a long day, prayer, and reconciliation, Bibe apologized to Eric and Eric's mom. Our prayer is that this will not cause any hostility between these two groups.

Please keep praying for life change in these guys. Many have come a long way but there is still a long way to go and Satan is always there ready to attack and bring them down. Yesterday was another day that confirmed to us the huge need there is for a rehabilitation camp for these youth. Pray also for the workers who are involved in this ministry especially John and Gila. Pray that God will give them continual wisdom, understanding and protection.

That was the shortened version of what happened. There are so many other details, thoughts and feelings that we would really love to share with you all but it is so incredibly hard to write.