Machete Attack  

God is faithful as he takes care of his little children

  17 year old Obed, one of our male 1st year students who was addicted to marijuana, used cocaine and was a gang member.  God touched his heart and he decided to come to the institute thanks to the intercessions of his mother and the Zicatela church, and the changes his sister Mary allowed God to do from last years Institute class . He was terrified of what would happen if he quit the drugs but the moment he came into the institute he lost all desire to do drugs and had absolutely no withdrawal symptoms. By the 3rd day during the Wednesday night service he surrendered his heart to the Lord and there God met him. He cried his eyes out as he forgave his mother for destroying his family's life with her past drug addiction and drug trafficking and then God tenderly revealed to him that He was his father and would take care of him.  

 One day he was working out on the street taking food to a customer of the institute's cafeteria, when two enemy gang members from his past came up to him and began provoking him, he stayed calm even when one of the guys tried to swipe him across the face with a machete. When he came back to the church and talked with John he told him that some people saw what was happening and shouted that they were going to phone the police, so the gang members fled. Obed said that he was fine since the side the machete only hit him hard on the back of the head, but that he wasn´t bleeding. John then sent him back to help inside the cafeteria but his fears of them coming back to get him got the best of him so he disappeared on us or like we would say he took off without permission. We didn't know what happened to him thinking that maybe he rounded up his old gang members to go fight.  That evening we received a phone call that Obed was safely at home.  His mother told us later that he said, "Mom I don't belong here, I need to go back to the church." At night we stopped by the church and there Obed was sitting under the tree, like a lost puppy waiting for us. The first thing he said was "Pastor John please forgive me and whatever discipline you want to give me I will accept it. Well with that kind of attitute what could John say. He just gave him a discipline of serving on his free day, Saturday at the Elders and Pastors meeting which he did, with an excellent heart.   PTL!