Lester’s dream is to play baseball.

The 14-year-old in Nicaragua plays for hours each weekend. Last season, he hit 15 home runs. He plays catcher, and his dad supported him by buying all the equipment he needed to play.

But then his dad left.

“I was about 10 years old,” Lester remembers. “He was fighting with my mom because he had another woman. When he left home, it affected me in my relationships with others.”

The pre-teen was walking down a path of destruction. He was vulgar and foolish, and almost got caught up in smoking. His mother worked while his grandmother took care of him and his siblings. “My dad returned, but things continued the same,” he says. “Sometimes I reacted poorly to my mom when she decided to take my dad back.”

Then, his dad left again, this time for good. It affected Lester even worse than the first time.

Lester’s attitude shifted in all aspects of his life­­—school, home, and baseball.

“I became undisciplined in the training that I needed to qualify for the national team in my category,” he says. “One day while training, I got an ankle injury. I spent a year and a half without returning to the league.”

The injury was a devastating crisis for Lester. He had no outlet for his emotions. He was invited to church several times, but he was hesitant. “I felt ashamed to go to church because of what had happened with my dad,” he says. “I thought they would make fun of me.”

But thankfully, Lester was wrong. He finally attended the church and was put into a Project Philip Bible study with other young people. “In this small group, I began to study God’s Word and the Lord began to heal my heart from bitterness and resentment,” he says. “The group made me feel part of a family.”

God used the Bible study to show Lester he was choosing the wrong path. “It was as if God was telling me that He put two paths before me, the path to life and the path to death. I was the one who had to choose,” he remembers. “It reminded me of the discipline it takes in sports to scale from one level to the next. I decided to be disciplined in sports and to be disciplined to honor God with what I do.”

Lester received salvation and began to follow Jesus. By the grace of God, his mother received salvation. Later, his father did, too.

The young man is grateful for your continued support. “Please do not stop sending the materials,” he says. “They have been God’s instrument to help us change our lives and correct the course. I appreciate your support. May God bless you very much for everything you do for us.”