Testimonies
from YouthWorks-Detroit
.
“I have never seen the
Lord working so clearly before”
.
Testimony
from Antonio Leiva
Hey! My name is Antonio Leiva and I just
finished my sophomore year of college at The
Ohio State University. While I grew up in a
faithful and practicing Christian home, it
wasn’t really until I started college that I
decided to pursue my faith more seriously.
Needless to say, God didn’t waste any time
reaching out to me. I quickly got connected
with a Catholic organization on campus. I
joined a Men’s Group freshman year and
eventually committed to living in a Men’s
Household during my sophomore year. While the
journey has definitely been worth it, I can
also say it hasn’t been easy. This is probably
my fault though, as I am stubborn and have
insisted on holding on to my worldly desires
and securities for comfort instead of relying
on the Lord.
Detroit
Summer Outreach (DSO) has given me an
opportunity to change that. After I was unable
to find the internship in engineering I was
originally looking for, I realized this gave
me the freedom to use my summer for a new and
different experience. This reminded me of DSO,
which my sister participated in a couple years
ago. Everyone who I mentioned DSO to said
Detroit is amazing and changes lives, so I
decided to apply to the program. Now I’m here
and I’m glad to say it was the best decision I
could have made for the summer. Being in
Detroit has definitely put me out of my
comfort zone, which has pushed me to grow as a
person and has allowed me to give of myself
like I never have before. I’ve had the chance
to see all the amazing things God is doing
here in Detroit, and I can definitely say I
have never seen Him working so clearly before.
The best part is that this has all been during
training. I can’t wait to see what’s in store
for the rest of the summer.
Born and raised in Costa Rica,
Antonio is now about to start his Junior
year in Industrial and Systems Engineering
at The Ohio State University.
“Being in DSO has shown me
the endless mercy the Lord has”
Testimony from
Elisha Miranda
It wasn’t too long
ago when a sixteen year old Elisha found
herself in the middle of Detroit awaiting
who-knows-what during a mission trip.
During that mission trip the Lord showed
me a lot of things about service and what it
means to love. A part of that was opening my
eyes to Detroit Summer Outreach. My team
worked with some of the people doing DSO that
year and some of the young women really
connected with me and encouraged me to do this
program one day.
At sixteen I already knew there was something
exciting that these people were experiencing
that was other worldly. Their lifestyle was
different. Their summer was different. Their
love for one another was different. I
came off of that mission trip with fond
memories and a decision: I was going to do
DSO.
Fast forward to July 2016 after I’ve spent a
year of service in Lansing, Michigan with its
share of surprises, hardships, and
grace. I find myself in the Youthworks
Detroit Office at the halfway point of DSO
feeling absolutely content. There’s no other
way to describe the feeling of knowing that
you’re right where you’re meant to be.
Detroit Summer Outreach has changed me for
the better. It stretched me to the point of
breaking. It gave me relationships with people
that I didn’t know I could get along with let
alone love. And it showed me how the Lord
wants to continue to work in my life.
Being in DSO has shown me the endless mercy
the Lord has. No matter how many times I screw
up or feel sorry for me, the Lord has never
abandoned me. He gave me his heart, given me
people who love me, and experiences that will
be with me forever.
Detroit Summer Outreach has not been a bed of
roses. There’s been times when I’ve wanted to
curl up in a ball and sleep or other times
when I would rather not stand under the
blazing sun pulling weeds. But it’s been all
worth it. Every single harsh moment this
summer, the Lord has remained faithful by
giving me grace to withstand anything.
Elisha
recently finished a year of service in
Lansing, Michigan. She will be a freshman
in a community college in California in
the fall of 2016.
"What true unconditional love looks
like"
Testimony from Jake Stoll
Hi my name is Jake Stoll, I am a community kid
from Lansing Michigan (USA) and I just finished
my freshmen year at Lansing Community College.
One of the first days here, some of us went to
help Sister Judy hand out lunches to the
homeless. For those of you who know Sister Judy
is a Nun who hands out 130-150 lunches almost
every day for the past 10 years. Seeing the way,
she loves each and every one of them is amazing.
She knows them all by name and is really
involved in their lives, she could talk for
hours about each and every one of the people she
cares for. Seeing the way their faces lit up
when she talked to them really highlighted the
joy that she brings to their lives. She doesn’t
just hand out lunches, she loves and cares for
each and every one of them. She is the most
Christ-like person I have ever met: she truly
loves like Christ loves. She shows what true
unconditional love looks like and if anyone I
know becomes a Saint it will be her. God has
already worked a lot in me in me and has only
been two Weeks! I can’t wait to see what he has
in store for the rest of the summer!
I'm
a Work of Christ community kid from Lansing
and I am attending Lansing community college
pursuing an associates in construction
management.
"Embracing
woundedness and healing"
Testimony from
Emily Schafer
During my internship year in Detroit right I
worked as the Bezalel Project Director for YouthWorks-Detroit.
I was also a preschool aid at Sacred Heart
School and a volleyball coach. I found a lot
of life, joy and opportunities to rely on the
Lord through all of these. I do believe that
Jesus called me here to do these particular
things. Even more than this Jesus called me
here to Detroit to be healed, restored and
freed.
Last summer during Detroit Summer Outreach as
I served on staff Jesus started to slowly but
surely bring to light areas of brokenness and
woundedness in my heart and life. And as He
has called me here to live and work in this
city He continued to show me these areas but
also has begun to bring healing and freedom in
these areas. I have experienced a freedom to
be broken. Each of us has some brokenness but
sometimes because of fear of judgement, our
own pride, or other factors we can’t or we
choose not to see it and to engage it. I have
found here in Detroit a city with its own
share of brokenness a freedom to see and
embrace my own brokenness and
woundedness. This freedom to be broken
and wounded is not so we can stay in it
though. It is so as our brokenness lies open
we can invite our Lord into it and so hand in
hand with Him, with His redeeming blood poured
into these wounds, these broken places, we can
walk into and live in the glorious freedom of
the children of God.
So as I continue on this journey of brokenness
and woundedness, I have begun to taste that
healing, freedom and restoration that Jesus
has brought me here to bring me to. I am so
excited to see how he continues to use the
concrete everyday realities of my life here in
Detroit and working with our kids in Bezalel
to bring about this work He is doing and to
use me as a vessel to bring this healing,
freedom and restoration to others as they too
are to see and embrace their own brokenness.
For we all are earthen vessels, fragile and
broken, but in these earthen vessels we hold a
treasure, the treasure of God in us! (2
Corinthians 4:7)
Emily
is originally from Indianapolis, Indiana,
USA. She graduated from Ohio Dominican
University in Columbus, Ohio with a BSE in
early childhood education and minor in
Theology. She has been a
part of Youthworks-Detroit Summer program
in 2011, Summer 2015, School year
2015-2016, and Summer 2016. She will start
a Candidacy Program with the Daughters of
Holy Mary of the Heart of Jesus this
August in Steubanville, Ohio.
Photos
by Yvette Rock
See past related stories from
Detroit Summer Outreach and
YouthWorks-Detroit:
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