updates

The girl that was staying at my house for a few weeks is doing well and staying with another woman from the church right now.  She slipped up and spent a few days on the streets with her boyfriend but was open and honest with us about her choices at the time.  And really the whole thing just helped us to understand her thought processes and needs better so that we can help her in a more productive way. 

The boys that Nate and Javier are apprenticing in carpentry have been up and down.  The boy who was making the most progress a week ago has fallen pretty far down.  He left the home he was staying in and decided he wanted to work part-time instead of full-time.  And then yesterday, he didn't show up to go to work at all.  This boy is a little different than the others because he doesn't really ever do drugs. He's a good guy who could go far in life with just a little bit of help, but he's been on the streets for a decade. Transitioning away from that life is difficult and takes time.  

The other boy, who has doing really poorly a week ago, seems to be doing well so far this week. He's battling a serious addiction to drugs and street life, so much so that the idea of sleeping in the night shelter (a requirement for working at the shop) is almost too much for him. We spent a while talking yesterday, and he kept telling me that he just couldn't do it...  Sleeping in the shelter without drugs was too hard, and he knows that he can't work if he doesn't sleep there. So Nate and I were both praying for him throughout the afternoon, and when I went to visit the shelter last night, he was there!