I am writing this at the halfway point of the life skills training program at Battle River Camp and many wonderful surprises have happened since coming here. But first, a little about my background and how I ended up at the ranch. I grew up in a dysfunctional family where my father had serious addictions to drugs and alcohol, which led him to leaving me and my sister. My mother also had her addictions so life was hard. Thankfully, today my father and I have a better relationship. Praise the Lord! He has been clean since September 2 of 1995. My mother unfortunately has been continually struggling, and so I pray for her and ask for your prayers as well.
At age 13 I began smoking cigarettes and marijuana, drinking alcohol and getting into trouble with the law! I was a troubled teenager having the, ‘‘I don’t care attitude,’’ disrespecting authority, elders, myself and not only that, our wonderful Father who has created me. I would only get worse from then on; eight years of probation for my crimes and always going to the extreme of trying all kinds of drugs. These drugs would bring me to my bottom of bottoms, hurting people to get my next fix, begging people for money in downtown London, Ontario. Stealing, lying—anything to get what I wanted and when I wanted it. I became so broken inside, seeing what I was doing to myself and to others. When I was serving more time in jail for another crime I had committed in January, 2012 I had started to pray to God again. I began asking Him to show me and guide me on the right road. I had been learning and also knew inside my heart that God could somehow change me. I had read other testimonies about people way worse than me being totally set free by His divine power. I could feel it, but knew that was a commitment I had to be totally ready for. I was selfish and didn’t want to let go of everything. I thought to myself, “I’m still young. I want to have fun.” Well, shortly after I had miraculously been released from jail I was straight back to what I knew best. While I had been in jail, though, I met a man named Tim H., an aftercare worker for New Life Prison Ministries. Tim would try to meet with me on a regular basis; he would always show me the love of Jesus. Knowing he was a faithful man of God, when we would meet I would be so convicted I knew I had to change! I knew that I wanted to be like Tim one day!
So I started to make contact with Teen Challenge Saskatchewan. After previously leaving Teen Challenge in London, ON before completing the full program, thinking I could do it on my own, I knew I couldn’t go back to London TC. So I left Ontario knowing that if I was far away and had no distractions whatsoever, that I could spend one complete year at Teen Challenge seeking God so He could raise me up and use me for His Kingdom. So I battled through the tough times at Teen Challenge learning how to cope and use my skills. Learning how to deal with life skills in a more positive way always being in communion with Christ. Having good fellowship with my other brothers that were making that step to living the new life Christ offers. In my last three months, as I was getting close to finishing my program I began to search out opportunities.
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