Discipleship Fridays

At the Jesan Center it's extremely important to us to get to know each child personally. To know their life stories no matter how broken it might be. On normal drop in days we have any where from 10 to 25 kids ranging in ages from 5 to 20. It have been difficult getting to know some of the older boys and finding out how we can serve them best due to the ever increasing needs of the younger children and the ever increasing quietness of the teen boys. However, praise God for He had a great plan on how to change this fact! 

One day our oldest boy, 20 years old asked if he could make a garden at the Jesan Center and there birthed the idea of Discipleship Fridays. Every Friday the older boys ages 16 and above have the opportunity to come to the center and work with our intern, Noel, on the garden and other small projects. We have had this program going for about a month and it has been very fruitful! 

A boy that I used to be afraid of (yes, me afraid of one of our kids) is now one of the most trustworthy and reliable kids we have! He faithfully comes to tend to his garden every day working from the time he arrives to the time he leaves, about 6 hours only breaking for lunch and a quick shower. I am completely blown away about how this young man has transformed over the last several months of coming to the center and especially over this last month of coming on Fridays. He has a sense of purpose now. He now has reason to make good decisions, to shy away from the drugs and gang violence. The Jesan Center has given him an opportunity to make better of his life and he is holding on like no other! The meaningful work partnered with the new friendship with our intern has done marvelous things for this young man and it is our hope that we can continue to use Discipleship Fridays to get to know more young men like him. 

Working hard at preparing the ground for the garden. We now had a cute little garden their and they are now working on building a fish pond.