Every child needs a family.For some, Hope Unlimited is all they have.But we try to help each child maintain community ties, preparing them to strike out on their own one day.During summer and winter school breaks, we look for ways for the kids to spend time in their communities with once-estranged family members.

Of course, before sending the children off we carefully review each living situation. Generally, the family members must have shown enough interest to have visited at least 3 times—even if we had to drag them out initially.

But only half our children get to leave during break! Some have no relatives or family friends they can stay with. For others, leaving might present an unacceptable risk – either due to being "marked" by gangs, addictions they have, or even weak characters unable to resist being led into trouble.Sometimes it's a hard call. But we know that it can be a life or death decision.

The kids that stay behind are often sad when they see the other half go off.But we put together lots of fun activities and camping trips to make their time with us special.

Summer break just ended in early February.When the children come back from their community stays, we never know what to expect. They usually come back impacted:

Sometimes they are resentful about having to come back. And there are times they don't come back—at least not right away.It's a risk we have to take.

Sometimes the kids are "scared straight" and their behavior greatly improved because of the realities they witnessed.Life in the slums can be very hard, they find out, with no skills to offer, and with families potentially bereft of a Christ-centered morality amidst the surrounding hell.

Sometimes children come back with temporarily worse behavior—our work undone by bad habits and bad attitudes they picked up. They are sometimes psychologically traumatized, exhibiting this in a variety of unhealthy ways.

Though we face the risk of losing a few kids after vacation, we gotta give it a shot.Losing kids can even be a good thing: the child finds out that they are able to reconcile with their families.Sadly, however, it usually does not work out for long.Our wish is for every child to have a stable family. It is unfortunate when Hope Unlimited is forced to fill that role. But we do as good a job of it as we possibly can.

After this last break we were thankful that every child, but one, returned. Sonha did not come back. She remains in a very troubling situation. I will share more about this later.

During a staff meeting, I asked the staff about some of their experiences with kids who had returned from vacation.I want to share with you some vignettes the staff shared with me.Some of the stories are happy, and some are sad. But all are telling, and all are deserving of prayer—in gratitude, or supplication.

Having given this long introduction, over the next days I will share some of these "back from summer break" stories with you. If I send them all at once it will become too long. The stories I send will try to draw from each category – kids that could not leave, kids that came back resentful, kids that came back grateful, and kids that had good or bad experiences.

Below is a story written by Pastor Derli, about a student that had a good experience:

Summer Break 1:

FIRST FRUIT

(Told by Pastor Derli)

Cleberson is a polite and conscientious boy. Following every school break, he always makes sure to come by and provide me with a complete report on everything that took place during his community stay. This time he was especially excited to come by and give me his report. . . .

(Editor's Note: Cleberson grew up on the streets. His mother was mostly homeless, gathering recyclable trash to sell and leaving her little boy to fend for himself while she worked.The authorities eventually removed Cleberson from her custody, and he was adopted. As so typically happens, he did not adapt well with the adoptive family and they decided not to keep him, returning him to the youth authorities who put him in a shelter, after which he came to us. Perhaps the family's rejection had something to do with his condition: Cleberson developed skin cancer, and today has a partially disfigured face.)

Cleberson seems grateful for our taking him in. In the offering plates during worship services he always drops in little notes written on folded scraps of paper, which say "Thank you" and, "the City of Youth is the best thing that ever happened to me." In addition to being grateful, he is also respectful: Cleberson wears a cap to cover the scars on his scalp, and does not like to remove it. Given his condition, however, he was given special permission to keep his cap on in the cafeteria.But do you know, he insists on removing his cap at every meal, saying it is more important for everyone to follow the rules and be obedient.

We believe his attitude is related to something that happened one Sunday last year: at the end of the worship service, Cleberson came forward and knelt down to receive Jesus in his heart.I had given him a Bible, which I borrowed back to write in a special inscription. Cleberson used that Bible more than any kid I have ever seen!It is full of notations and underlinings, and he would carry it with him everywhere, guarding it like a treasure. Eight months later, on Nov 28, Cleberson was baptized.

Last week I finally sat down with Cleberson so he could tell me all about his community home stay. He had stayed with a kindly but very poor aunt. I settled back in my chair as Cleberson perched himself on the edge of sofa. "Pastor Derli," he started off, "Remember when you baptized me two month's ago? I have already reaped my first fruit!"Cleberson related that he begin to talk to his Aunt about God. Shortly before he was scheduled to leave, she told him that she had noted the difference in his life, and that she wanted the same thing for herself. Cleberson led her in a prayer of confession, and she invited Christ into her own heart!

After the prayer, Cleberson told his Aunt that he was going to make a great sacrifice for her, because of the great sacrifice that Jesus had made for us, as an example for us to do likewise unto others.He told his Aunt that he was going to give, to her, the BEST present that he had every received in his life. His precious Bible. I knew how much that Bible meant to him.But looking at his face, he didn't seem too sad about losing it. Now that it had served its true purpose, it seemed to mean more to him than ever.

Cleberson says that when he graduates, he wants to come back and help us as a volunteer, using the skills that he learned in the courses. He has bigger plans further down the road, however: he always talks of his dream to be the president of Hope Unlimited some day. He'll have to compete with Thayan.

Concluding, the sincerity of Cleberson's conversion is noticeable.He was calm even when he first arrived, and didn't cause much trouble, but he was always very sad. And of course he did not know the Lord.Today he always seems exuberantly happy. He seeks every opportunity to express his gratitude for being accepted at the City of Youth, even to strangers, and he especially likes to tell everyone he meets the exciting news about his NEW BIRTH in Jesus!

That we would all be so bold. Once again, I find myself learning from the children. I guess that's not a bad idea: I've heard somewhere that children possess the secret for entering the kingdom.