Ricardo, who works in our graduate department, received this testimony from Marcelo José.   It is a story with ups and downs, but certainly a testimony to the fruit that came from the work God is doing at the City of Youth.  Despite the difficulties, this young man found victory in Jesus!

I was born with heart problems and was admitted to the hospital, where I was abandoned by my mother while I was still an infant. 

Life continued on, and I eventually got in trouble and was sent to a juvenile detention center where I stayed until I was 11.  My mother, along with a friend, found me and got me out of the detention center and took me to live with her.  I thought it a bit strange.  After a while, she moved in with a guy who was a drug trafficker and involved in robbery. 

I wound up getting involved with the wrong things – armed robbery and such. But after a while, I started to fight with my stepfather and went to live on the streets, where I would steal food and sleep on cardboard.  Sometimes the police would show up in the middle of the night and throw water on me.  I wasn’t considered a human being.  I didn’t shower or cut my hair, and I ate food from the trash.  I was on the streets until I was 15, when a man named Sergio came to talk to me, offering to take me to an institution.  I didn’t go because I was afraid.  I thought he would take me back to the Detention Center, where I had suffered much.  The next day, he came back and took me to get a haircut and take a shower.  He sent me to a judge, and I became scared again.  He saw my situation and asked me if I wanted to get off the streets.  I said yes, and began to sob because I couldn’t handle the life I was living anymore, and my biggest dream was to have a family. 

I was sent to the City of Youth, where I arrived very happy to have left the streets and gone to live with other boys from the same situation I had come from.  I did many vocational courses – electric, wood shop, etc.  

As time passed, I began to get in trouble with the hall monitors and instructors.  I wasn’t obeying and would fight with everyone.  I was taken to Pastor Uelide´s office, where he tried to speak with me, but I didn’t change my behavior.  In fact, it got even worse and I almost had to leave the City of Youth.  Sergio was notified, and he asked the pastor to hold on a little longer.  Uncle Philip came to talk with me, and took me to play basketball.  As we played, he talked a lot with me.  He hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and said that he liked me, and I needed to change my life.  I had never before received a hug or a kiss, and for the first time I felt the love of a father.

I finished the program at the City of Youth and returned to live with my mother.  I continued going to church, but after I lost my job, my mom began to yell at me.  I had to move out of the house, and with the help of some brothers from the Church, I was able to find another job.  I went to live in one room, and worked as a lab assistant at the local university (UNICAMP).  I took a course on Pathological Anatomy.  I worked for six years at the university before finding another job as a production assistant.  At that time, I got involved with the wrong people and started to use drugs and alcohol. 

Around the same time, I met Viviane and we began to date – against the will of her parents and friends.  But even so, we got married. At the beginning, our marriage was very difficult.  We went through many trials, and I began to miss God.  So I returned to church.  At first, my wife Viviane wouldn’t go with me, but she later began attending.

At a certain time, I became very distressed, because we didn’t have a place to live. That’s when we began to pray together, and God blessed us with a house from a government housing program. 

Today, thanks to God, I am well.  My dream of having a family has come true.  I have two sons, David and Jonathan.  I attend church and am currently working as an assistant electrician.  I am taking an electro-technician course, and in the future want to do electrical engineering. 

I thank God for placing me at the City of Youth.  I don’t have any way to give back for such a huge blessing, but I am always praying for Hope Unlimited.