Last year, we wrote to you about a woman who came into our church named Cecilia. This woman was a prostitute and drug addict who found the Lord while serving time in prison. When she was released, she shared her testimony with everyone she met, and her faith seemed genuine. She, her mother, and her two sons began attending church faithfully. However, after Joshua and I left for the states, and the other missionaries left also, her faith fell apart along with the faith of her mother. She turned back to prostitution and drugs, and her mother fell back into alcoholism. Her mother, who already had custody of the two boys, moved to the nearest city to care for a sick family member.
When we arrived in the villages, the sister of Cecilia wasted no time in filling us in on this sad situation, and began subtly insisting that it was imperative to remove the boys from the city and return them back to the village. The youngest, who is 10-years-old, desired to move back to the villages immediately with us, but after much conversation with the family, everyone was in agreement that the oldest, the 16-year-old, needed to return first.
Pascual is a typical 16-year-old: a hormone-driven young man who loves girls, rap, and lots of hot sauce! He came to live in our home on February 11, and after a week with him, he has finally dropped his walls of embarrassment and timidity with us. It was indeed imperative that he left the city, for two reasons: one, he was following in the footsteps of his mother, hanging out with friends who were into drugs and staying out in the city for all hours at the night; two, once he arrived in the villages, we learned a disturbing new truth – he is terribly behind in schooling.
Because Pascual has lived a transient life with his grandmother, mother, aunts and uncles, and father, his life has been an ever-moving turbulence. For two years, he was without any schooling, and thus, is a 16-year-old 7th grader.
Joshua immediately decided that we would homeschool him to bring him back up to speed, but the Mexican government makes it illegal for a student to not enroll in some type of government-overseen program. We also searched the possibility of entering him back into Junior High, but were informed that he still had two years left before high school, and that even if he graduated Junior High, no high school will accept an 18-year-old freshman.
Pascual is now studying under the GED-equivalent program in Mexico, named “I.S.E.A.” He homeschools in 7 subjects, and each Saturday, takes exams to evaluate his progress in his studies. Once he completes the exams, he will move to the next “grade” of work. Pascual is very excited about the possibility of finally entering high school, and tells us so nearly 6 times a day!
We have much joy with Pascual living with us. However, the sudden shock of teen parenthood has been somewhat difficult. Keeping old friends away from the house who will draw him back into porn and drugs have been a challenge, as we seek to show him love while also being firm. Making sure the music he listens to is clean is also challenging, since our understanding of the Spanish language is still somewhat limited. We have many arguments about how he doesn’t want to attend the church meetings or go visiting with us to the homes of the Christian brothers and sisters. Most challenging of all has been learning to be disciplinarians in times when we want to laugh our heads off: like when he painted glasses, pants, and a shirt on the dog with a pen, and then hid ran away and hid when he realized it wouldn’t wash out!
We appreciate your prayers as we continue growing in our family with Pascual. We have a desire for his brother, Alexis, to join us in the villages, but we are both in agreement that this will only be if his grandmother wishes him to come. The boys also have a sister living with another grandmother, but she is already here in the villages and seems to be doing very well with her family.
When we arrived in the villages, the sister of Cecilia wasted no time in filling us in on this sad situation, and began subtly insisting that it was imperative to remove the boys from the city and return them back to the village. The youngest, who is 10-years-old, desired to move back to the villages immediately with us, but after much conversation with the family, everyone was in agreement that the oldest, the 16-year-old, needed to return first.
Pascual is a typical 16-year-old: a hormone-driven young man who loves girls, rap, and lots of hot sauce! He came to live in our home on February 11, and after a week with him, he has finally dropped his walls of embarrassment and timidity with us. It was indeed imperative that he left the city, for two reasons: one, he was following in the footsteps of his mother, hanging out with friends who were into drugs and staying out in the city for all hours at the night; two, once he arrived in the villages, we learned a disturbing new truth – he is terribly behind in schooling.
Because Pascual has lived a transient life with his grandmother, mother, aunts and uncles, and father, his life has been an ever-moving turbulence. For two years, he was without any schooling, and thus, is a 16-year-old 7th grader.
Joshua immediately decided that we would homeschool him to bring him back up to speed, but the Mexican government makes it illegal for a student to not enroll in some type of government-overseen program. We also searched the possibility of entering him back into Junior High, but were informed that he still had two years left before high school, and that even if he graduated Junior High, no high school will accept an 18-year-old freshman.
Pascual is now studying under the GED-equivalent program in Mexico, named “I.S.E.A.” He homeschools in 7 subjects, and each Saturday, takes exams to evaluate his progress in his studies. Once he completes the exams, he will move to the next “grade” of work. Pascual is very excited about the possibility of finally entering high school, and tells us so nearly 6 times a day!
We have much joy with Pascual living with us. However, the sudden shock of teen parenthood has been somewhat difficult. Keeping old friends away from the house who will draw him back into porn and drugs have been a challenge, as we seek to show him love while also being firm. Making sure the music he listens to is clean is also challenging, since our understanding of the Spanish language is still somewhat limited. We have many arguments about how he doesn’t want to attend the church meetings or go visiting with us to the homes of the Christian brothers and sisters. Most challenging of all has been learning to be disciplinarians in times when we want to laugh our heads off: like when he painted glasses, pants, and a shirt on the dog with a pen, and then hid ran away and hid when he realized it wouldn’t wash out!
We appreciate your prayers as we continue growing in our family with Pascual. We have a desire for his brother, Alexis, to join us in the villages, but we are both in agreement that this will only be if his grandmother wishes him to come. The boys also have a sister living with another grandmother, but she is already here in the villages and seems to be doing very well with her family.
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