By: Tanya Rule
I remember a day when this dark, handsome “moleston”–in English we’d refer to someone who likes to agitate, who would challenge me to lose my patience. One quality I have, that has been my anchor as a mother to 12 children, is my ability to overcome challenges and be patient. This is a skill I used to pray for many years ago that through many trials I have learned to master as a mom. However, my patience would always seem to be maxed out when it came to Marcos.
If you ever visited the orphanage at Hope of Life, five years ago, you would have probably met him. He would welcome most visitors with his charming smile and was very skillful at getting all the candy he wanted from them. When the Lord called our family to be full-time missionaries at Hope of Life, I believe, it was precisely for children like Marcos.
In the beginning, Marcos used to drive us crazy by bothering and agitating everyone in our home. He struggled grievously with bad conduct at school and disrespected all his teachers. For many years, he attempted to finish the first grade. Instead, he would get kicked out of school for many reasons. Marcos had many reasons to be angry and “molestar”. Not only was he struggling academically, but many classmates used to pick on him and discriminate against him because of the color of his skin. My heart grieved for him! I saw nothing but potential and the making of a star! I knew he needed a little bit of love to gain enough confidence. He desperately needed to know someone believed in him, so he could believe in himself.
It was then I decided to fight for him in every way. I promised to love, protect, teach, and guide him to become the young man God called him to be. The first year, I committed to schooling Marcos at home. I realized his ability to learn the alphabet and recognize numbers was extremely challenging. My capability of helping him was beyond anything I could do on my own. I sought for help, and for more than a year Julie Nash and Lauren committed to personally tutoring Marcos. We all worked together as a team to find ways to help him learn. We implemented a reward system to encourage him in his efforts to study. However, his efforts to learn and recognize letters was still a slow process.
The special needs teacher began to personally tutor Marcos for two hours a day. However, he would still require daily educational reinforcement at home. We soon learned Marcos struggled from a severe case of dyslexia. On top of that, add all the emotional trauma that comes from growing up in an institution–even an awesome institution such as Hope of Life still doesn’t compare to growing up with a mom and dad in a safe, healthy environment. But giving up was still not an option!
After much perseverance and prayer, Marcos has finally learned how to read! Two weeks ago for the first time, I heard him read the Bible. Tears of joy ran down my face as I felt like I had finally accomplished something remarkable. I felt like a miracle had taken place!
Marcos has many talents! I taught him how to crochet around a year ago. Come to find out, he is a quick learner and is extremely good at crocheting. In fact, he enjoys it so much that he voluntarily committed to crocheting a head band for all of the moms as a surprise present for Mothers Day. Marcos has been living with us for almost four years now and is our most loving, generous, loyal, hardworking child.
I remember an overwhelming, busy day when I accidentally dropped an egg on my foot. Marcos quickly came to my rescue and said, “Let me help you!” He kindly wiped the sticky, egg mess off my foot. I remember feeling like Jesus himself was washing my feet. From that moment on, he became my “Prince Charming”.