Domonica

Many things have changed in my life over the past year and a half. My biggest personal accomplishment has to be the completion of my first year at the College of Saint Rose. I'm still living with the Lightcaps and consider them to be my family. Even beyond being my family, they are my Mom and Dad, which to me is huge because I have never called anyone by those names before in my life. God has always done amazing things in my life, even when I was naive and would blind myself to His gracious ways. I have come to realize that I am not perfect, I do mess up, but with His help I have become a better person, a happy person, and I see myself living more for Him everyday.

Before moving into the Lightcaps with my daughter Zanaiya, who just turned 4, I had been going through a lot of personal, and spiritual hardship. One of my main problems was letting go of control of my life and letting God lead me. When you're put into a world and given hard circumstances without much guidance, it's hard to believe, or feel that there is another person bigger and greater than yourself that has a plan for your life. I was unaware that God's plans for me were greater than any plan I would have thought up on my own.

This summer I have the amazing opportunity to work with YFC's City Life Program, mentoring middle and high school students. many of the students face the same difficulties in life as I did. I plan on becoming their friend for the summer and helping them to see that in God they will have a friend forever. I would love for someonme else to realize that they don't have to go through this life alone, and hopefully they will gain a better understanding of what it is to have a relationship with the Lord.

In order to cover my expenses at YFC, I need to raise $5,000. One June 6, I will be participating in YFC's annual Step-by-Step walk. Please would you consider making a donation to my walk? Thank you for helping me make a difference in someone's life just as the people at YFC have made a difference in my life.

Domonica

A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

Two weeks ago a young father to be showed up unexpectedly at our Teen Mom’s meeting with his 15 year old pregnant girlfriend. We had never met either of them before but that night God presented a smooth introduction. The young girl was quickly welcomed by 2 of our older moms who have already given their lives to Christ. The 15 year old hit it off with Domonica, the young mom that lives with us. Domonica and Ebony helped T feel right at home. Upstairs, I (Ray) was standing guard at the entrance (a necessity since some of our girls have come out of abusive relationships). It was there that I first met J. Remember the verse, “Jesus, looking on the young man, loved him.”? That’s what happened that night. J is very shy but we talked for almost an hour about where he was going in life and what kind of a man he wanted to be. He was extremely open and relaxed in talking about the things of God. He believed, he said, that Jesus was the Son of God, died for his sins (of which he confessed many) and rose again. The question for him was whether he would make Jesus the Lord of his life. He is still grappling with that as he reads through the Gospel of John that I gave him. We prayed together that night and went our separate ways.
On the Saturday before Easter I remembered him saying that he and his girl friend would like to start going to church. I called and invited them and at 8 am on Resurrection morning picked them up and brought them to church. They stayed for my Bible class and were warmly welcomed as we talked about the power of the resurrection.
They will be back and we will continue to follow up with them and all the teens and early twenties that attend. Please pray that these two in particular will surrender their life. Neither comes from a stable home situation and the challenges they face are huge. Pray for wisdom for us as we deal with this and many more complex socio/spiritual situations.

TWO GREAT NEEDS

We are in the midst of planning our budget for YFC for July 2009-June 2010. This summer we would like to hire Domonica to work as an intern in our City Life program. Domonica lives with Ruth and I and we have watched her Spiritual and emotional development over the year and a half we have known her. She will be 20 years old this September and is gifted in working with younger teenagers. She has been a chaperone on several retreats and we have really come to appreciate the rapport she has with city kids.
A second need is to increase Ruth’s hours or rather to pay her for the hours she works. Ruth routinely puts 30 or more hours a week but has only raised funds to cover 20 hours.
For these two needs we need to raise $5,000 for Domonica and about $40,000 a year for Teen Parents. Ruth currently has about $25,000 a year pledged. Perhaps there are some of you who like Ruth and I, will pledge $100 a month for 5 months to cover Domonica’s expenses. Perhaps you could give a one time gift to our Step by Step walk. We are in need of others to pledge monthly for Ruth’s ministry with Teen Parents and for others to give a one time gift to our SBS walk for Teen Parents. Please consider helping us out as we seek to reach kids with the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. As I have said in previous letters, your gifts will be used on the front lines of God’s work with lost teens.
May God bless you richly.
For Christ and the kids,



Ray and Ruth