Micah Project

Summer 2002 Update

 David is the quiet one of the Micah Project.  Though a bright and cheerful young man of seventeen, David’s years on the streets have left a deep well of silence in him.  Occasionally, you can still see in his eyes the pain that those tragic years caused him.  You can tell by his look that he thinks often of his mom, a desperately poor woman who lives in a shack that teeters on the edge of a hillside slum, or of his brother, who has been in and out of jail because of his gang involvement.  In a way, David’s quiet character has an adult-like quality to it, having experienced the rough waters of life at so early an age.  Yet, it also carries the aspect of a little boy who stills fears being left alone to fend for himself in a scary world, as he had to do at the age of six.

 In our group of outgoing leaders, he is the one who is mostly likely to sit back and let others have the spotlight.   His normal response to an advance of friendship or a started conversation is a nervous laugh and a little smile.  If you can wade through David’s silence, however, you will find a sweet and gentle spirit that is more profound than the world-conquering hubris of your typical teenager.  But, you have to work hard in order to find that hidden place in David’s life.

 In the last couple of months, though, David has found a place where his gentle spirit can flourish.  In the Micah Project’s new ministry with the children and teenagers of Villa Linda Miller, David has begun to show a leadership ability that matches his personality perfectly! 

 David has been working with the kids since we began our ministry in Villa Linda Miller in April of this year.  Villa Linda Miller is a new community for 165 families that lost their homes in hurricane Mitch in 1998.  The boys and I met these families immediately after the hurricane, when they were living in temporary shelters with absolutely nowhere to go.  Because of the generosity of so many caring people, we were able to buy land in February of 1999 to help the families begin to rebuild their lives.  The families worked hard to build their new community, and finally inaugurated it in November 2001 (see www.villalindamiller.thinkhost.com). 

 Early this year, we began to feel the burden to work with the children and teens of Villa Linda Miller.  Alcoholism, abuse and infidelity are all too common problems, and in too many cases, it is the children that suffer the consequences.  Additionally, many of the children and teens are not in school.  In April, the Micah Project hired Johnny Ordoñez to help us begin a ministry among the families at Villa Linda Miller, in order to bring the love of Christ and a new hope to them.

Johnny is a superb influence on our boys, and he has mentored them  to take the reigns of this new ministry.  For the last three months, the boys and Johnny have gone out to Villa Linda Miller, which is about five miles outside of Tegucigalpa, in order to work with the children three afternoons a week.  Each day, they do Bible lessons, songs, games, crafts and other dynamic activities with the children.  The boys are responsible for teaching the classes and for all of the planning which is required!

 It was then that David was assigned to work with the two-to-four year olds.   Upon retrospect, it seems that this decision was God’s way of using David’s shy character in a new way.  For, the quietness in David that makes him shy around adults is the very same quality that makes him approachable to toddlers!  His little charges truly love him.  They come voluntarily every day for his class, either alone or with the help of older siblings.  From what I have observed, they think of him more as a living jungle-gym rather than a teacher!

 I asked David the other day what his favorite moment has been in his class.  He said that it happened during his very first class with the youngsters.  He had asked the kids to bow their heads so that he could pray at the beginning of his class.  To his surprise, they began to repeat after him every sentence of the prayer!  Although it seems like a simple thing, that one act drove home to him what a great responsibility God had given him in these children’s lives. 

 David talks especially about a little girl named Rubelia.   She is a child of a single mother, and she has begun to look to David as a father figure.  David says how surprised and touched he is that she has so much confidence in him.  The first week in June, we were out at Villa Linda Miller every day with a medical team that came from Houston to run a clinic for the families.  It seems like every time I walked outside that week, Rubelia was demanding another piggy-back ride from David!

 It warms my heart to see David’s personality flowering in this new ministry, even as he begins to impact these young lives.   It is also a lesson to me.  We had always looked at David’s shyness as something to improve upon.  Yet, it was that very character trait that God used to allow David to build loving relationships with these children.  This reminds me of what a blessing it is to me to be able to work with each one of our boys as individuals, as special and uniquely talented children of God.  My goal is that the Micah Project would continue to offer each one of them opportunities to flourish in the path that God has planned for them!

 While I have had three or four years to be able to get to know many of the boys, with our new boy, José, the process is just beginning!  This 14 year-old came to us in April, after reaching the age-limit for the orphanage in which he lived.  His story, as with the rest of our boys, is steeped in tragedy.  His mom abandoned his alcoholic father several years ago, leaving José, as the oldest son, in charge of his four brothers and sisters.  José left school in order to shine shoes on the streets, hoping to earn enough money to keep his family fed.  Eventually, he had to flee his home with them to avoid alcohol-induced wrath, and he became his siblings’ sole protector--on a street corner in Tegucigalpa.

 Since January, Jose’s younger siblings have lived in an orphanage in Tegucigalpa.  He himself lived there for awhile, but as he reached adolescence, he had to find a new place to live.  We were overjoyed at the prospect of accepting him into our family!   He looks up to the older boys in the project, and they are a good influence on him.  Right now, he is a sponge, soaking up the lessons that the other boys have learned through their years with us.  When I think of how much the older boys have flourished in the years we have known them, I am excited to see what God has in store for José!

 As a friend from the U.S. wrapped up his visit last month, he said “You know that these boys are treasures, don’t you Michael?”  My answer is a definite yes!  To me, it is a great privilege to be able to witness the great flowering that David has had in his life recently, just as it is an honor to be able to be at the ground floor of a new work in José’s life.  I hope that you all feel blessed as well by what your prayers and support have wrought in the lives of these boys.  And look how your support is being multiplied in so many lives!  The boys teach over 80 children a week in their new ministry at Villa Linda Miller.

 As I finish this report, I am looking at a picture of David with two of his little students at Villa Linda Miller (I’ve placed this picture on our website at www.micahcentral.org/David.html ).  Knowing David as I do, I can still see on his face in this picture the gentle and quiet spirit that will probably be a part of him for the rest of his life.  But I see something new as well: a new ability  to express his love and a new confidence in the talents that God has given him.  This young man, who once was a scared little boy so afraid of being abandoned once again, is now a powerful and loving influence in the lives of many young ones.  To me, that is the miracle of God’s transforming love in David’s life!

 Thank you for being part of this transforming work!

 Your brother in Christ,

Michael Miller