The Story of Emanuel

 Emanuel was born and raised in the Colorom neighborhood. He is 15 years old and already has a tumultuous life behind him. In the Colorom neighborhood, it is mainly about surviving rather than living. This is also true for him. We met him two years ago, and from the very beginning, we were touched by his situation. It was moving to see how he took care of his little brother, who was just one year old at the time. In this article, we tell the story of Emanuel.

When community center Lumina opened, we immediately invited him. He was a bit reserved and cautious, which is true for nearly everyone in this neighborhood. Martin invited him to have something to eat. Every time we saw him walking by, we tried to have a brief chat, although this was sometimes difficult due to our limited Romanian and his limited English. After a few weeks, he started coming faithfully every week to the youth group at community center Lumina. He attended a church camp with a few boys, and we witnessed a remarkable transformation in him. He shares his story below.

My name is Emanuel, I am 15 years old, and I live in Colorom. I come from a family of six. I have two sisters and a little brother. I heard about community center Lumina and that there were youth nights with fun games.

It’s very fun to be there. Besides the games, there is also Bible study and prayer. I learned about God and the forgiveness of your sins. I was used to using drugs and did almost anything to get hold of drugs. God showed me that it couldn’t go on like this. I never want to go back to how I was and am now back in school. I have a new life with God and will never forget that He is now in my life.

The message I want to share with people is: You don’t have to change to come to God; He changes you.