POST by JOSE: The Ladies in My Life

Jose cooking dinner in the Ohio Valley (West Virginia)

Hello my name is Jose Ballardo and I would like to tell you a little bit about how Jesus came into my life and how I accepted him as my Saviour.

My life in the past: I hadn’t yet accepted Jesus in my life. When I was 10 years old I was very spoiled by my mum. She worked hard and spent most of her time with my brother. I had a babysitter that took care of me. My mum gave us everything we wanted and we were very happy because we had everything we asked for.

Bad friendships: Over time, things became worse for our family. My mum got fired from her job and we didn’t have enough money. I would watch my mother cry because sometimes we didn’t even have food at home to eat. When I was 12 years old, I made some friends who were going through the same economic circumstances as me.

Bad decisions: My new friends were poor and knew my life. I felt comfortable being around them. Yet I saw that they would go out well dressed and with elegant style. They would say to me, “Do you want to look like us?”

I looked at myself and thought about all the poverty we were lived in. I said “okay, I would like to dress like you.” They said, “Good, let’s go steal some stuff… We are going to teach you how to do it!” So I followed them.

We walked to a specific location and then my friends said, “See the lady who is walking along the road? We will follow her and you're going to grab her around the neck and you’re going to throw her down to the ground and then steal all the money she has.”

I started to think about it, because the lady was very old and it seemed like a really bad idea. However, desperate times call for desperate measures and so I agreed to the plan. “Alrighty, I'll do it. I have nothing to lose…” So I approached the old lady and robbed her of the money she was carrying. I then ran fast and far. When we regrouped, we split up the money somewhat evenly and I felt full of adrenaline.

After the “old lady” incident, I started getting into fights with other people. I viewed it all as a game. However, my mum did not realise what had happened or any of the bad stuff that I was now doing. I would skip school to go and get into trouble with my so-called “friends.”

FLAWS THAT ENTERED MY LIFE: I would escape with my friends and they began to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, but I would only watch them. Then one day they said, “Jose, try this… You’re going to like it a lot and it will make you feel better, and you will forget about your troubles…” I asked them, “What is it?” They intelligently explained “It’s Marijuana.”

I started smoking the Marijuana and then began to feel really weird. After that I didn’t try it again, but I did try alcohol and cigarettes. Thank the LORD my body would reject these different drugs. I would ask my friends, “Why would you consume these drugs if you act like idiots after using them?” Their only response was to laugh at me.

The Sadness and suffering of my mother: as the time passed I would spend my time doing bad things. All I would think about were bad things and I listened to a lot of Satanic Rock and very violently music. I internally felt that my life was rubbish. I even came to a day where I cursed and insulted God’s name and blamed him for all my problems and thought about killing myself.

However, in these moments of rage, something would stop me. I would get really angry and I would yell and offend my mum and she began to cry because I treated her badly and would yell at her.

She had begun to notice me hanging around with bad people and doing bad things. I would never have acted like that in the past. My mother became very sick because of the problems I was causing her. She asked me, “Son, please change? Please go to church and seek God in your life?” It was funny to me and so I would laugh at her, “Who is God? For me God is like a whatever…”

Jesus touched my life: I was still into really bad things but one day a lady came and said to me, “Son, can I talk to you a little bit about Jesus?” I was 17 years old and I said “Okay, sure – why not…” This lady started talking to me about the Lord, and about the love he has for us.

She explained to me that Jesus sacrificially gave his life to save us and I hadn’t really known much about Him before this. When she had finished reading the word of God, she told me, “I’m inviting you to church tomorrow and if you don’t come I'll come get you and bring you myself.”  I told her I’d go because I had nothing better to do.

The next day I went to church to see what it was all about. When I entered, “wow” - I felt something different. I felt a heat in my whole body that comforted me and made me forget all my problems.

We started to sing and praise God. After that day I started going every week to church. God began to walk in my life. All the evil things I’d done were forgiven and I didn’t have a lot of problems in my life anymore.

Growing In Jesus: God has healed and changed me. Now I am a missionary and I give my testimony for the glory and the honour for God. Every day I pray for all the wonderful people that I have met on these trips.

My mother is healthy and everything is all falling into place, even though sometimes I fall down, God is there to pick me up and he says, “Come on son, I’m here with you. My hand is holding you.” In each church that I go to, I meet wonderful, nice people and I know that God has changed them like he has changed me.

This story was written by a Nicaraguan youth, and was voluntarily given to Capital on the Edge for publishing. The subject choice was his entirely. He has elected to write about his experiences for the glory of God and so that others may learn from his experiences. The translation of this work is performed voluntarily and not professionally, hence there may be some errors. Any decisive deviation from the text is in consultation with the author, and is done so to make clear the life events written about and to provide further information so that the story is more understandable.

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Jose & Eliezer at Niagara Falls

Jesús en mi vida y como me a cambiado

Hola mi nombre es jose ballardo y les quiero contar un poco de como Jesús entro en mi vida y lo e aceptado como mi salvador.

Vida pasada: En mi vida pasada cuando no había aceptado a Jesús cuando yo tenía 10 años era un chico muy mimado por mi mama ella trabajaba mucho y pasaba solo la mayor parte del tiempo con mi hermano y la niñera que nos cuidaba mi mama nos daba todo lo que queríamos y éramos muy felices porque teníamos todo lo que queríamos.

Malas amistades: Con el tiempo las cosas se fueron  poniendo peor a mi mama la habían despedido del trabajo y no ajustábamos con el dinero habían mas deudas yo solo miraba llorar a mi mama porque abecés nos hacía falta la comida en el hogar. Cuando tenía 12 años conocí a unos amigos que pasaban por la misma situación que yo.

Malas decisiones: Ellos pasaban por lo mismo y me sentía cómodo con ellos, pero yo miraba que caminaban bien vestidos y muy elegantes y ellos me decían quieres ser como nosotros, yo me miraba y pensaba en la pobreza que estábamos pasando y les dije ok si me gustaría vestirme como ustedes y ellos me dijeron vamos a robar  te vamos a ensenar como hacerlo y yo les seguí y me decían te vamos a explicar vez aquella señora que va caminando la vamos a seguir y tu la vas a sujetar del cuello y la vas a tirar al suelo y le sacas todo el dinero que lleva y llo me puse a pensar por que la señora era muy anciana, pero después me dije ok lo voy a hacer no pierdo nada y vine y agarre a la señora y le quite todo su dinero y salimos corriendo y nos repartimos y yo me sentía con aquella adrenalina.

Después de lo sucedido con la señora me anduve metiendo en peleas con los demás yo lo miraba como un juego hacer todas esas maldades, pero mi mama no se daba cuenta de lo sucedido y de nada de lo que hacia, yo me escapaba del colegio por andar haciendo maldades con mis supuestos amigos.

VICIOS QUE ENTRARON EN MI VIDA: Yo me escapaba con mis amigos y ellos comenzaban a tomar y a fumar cigarrillos y llo solo los miraba y un dia me dijeron jose prueba esto te va a gustar y te ara sentir mejor y olvidaras todos tus problemas y yo les dije que era y ellos me dijeron es marihuana y yo les dije que si y la comencé a probar y después me comencé a sentir muy raro y después de eso no la volví a probar y después probé el alcohol  y los cigarrillos pero gracias a dios mi cuerpo los rechazaba, y después yo les decía a ellos que para que consumían ese tipo de cosas si se miraban como estúpidos y ellos solo se ponían a reir.

Tristeza y sufrimiento de mi mama: Haci paso el tiempo y yo solo pensaba cosas malas y escuchaba rock satánico y músicas con mucha violencia y yo sentía que para mi la vida era basura hasta llegue a maldecir e insultar a dios y lo culpaba de todos mis problemas y pensaba en quitarme la vida pero siempre algo me detenía me ponía tan enojado que ofendía a mi mama y ella se ponía a llorar por que yo la trataba muy mal ella se había

 dado cuenta que andaba en cosas malas porque yo antes no me comportaba aci ella se ponía muy enferma por los problemas, le ocasionaba  muchos problemas ella me decía hijo por favor cambia por favor ve a la iglesia y busca de dios y llo solo me reía y le decía quién es dios para mi dios ni es nada le decía.

Jesús toco mi vida: Yo seguía en las cosas malas pero un dia se acercó una señora y me dijo hijo le puedo hablar un poco sobre Jesús yo ya tenía 17 años y llo le dije si está bien y me comenzó a hablar sobre Jesús sobre el amor que nos tenía a nosotros que dio su vida para salvarnos y llo no savia nada sobre Jesús y cuando termino de leerme la palabra me dijo mañana te invito a la iglesia y si no vas yo te voy a venir a traer y yo le dije que si no tenía nada que hacer.

Y al día siguiente fui a la iglesia para ver de qué se trataba y al entrar wow sentí algo diferente sentí un calor en todo mi cuerpo que me reconfortaba y hacia que olvidara todos mis problemas y en ese instante comencé a cantar y alabar a dios y después de ese día comencé a ir más seguido a la iglesia y dios me iba cambiando mi vida y todo lo malo en mi lo perdono y no tenía muchos problemas como antes.

Creciendo con Jesús: Dios me sano y me cambio ahora soy misionero y doy mi testimonio para la gloria y honra de dios cada día oro por todas las personas maravillosas que e conocido en estos viajes gracias a dios mi mama es saludable y todo está saliendo bien aunque en veces tropiezo y caigo pero dios está ahí y me levanta y me dice animo hijo estoy con tigo mi mano te sostiene, en cada iglesia que voy conozco personas bellas y amables y dios a cambiado sus vidas como a mi gracias a dios y a ustedes por esta oportunidad de estar aquí.  DIOS LOS BENDIGA