How are you? - Good
We're talking about how each of us has a different background,
each of us is from such a different place
to me it's amazing when I ... kind of... look around.
and think about were people have been
and were they're at now.
[...] even for myself, being on the streets and now
having a teen ministry or youth ministry,
and then a looked at you, Lenny, and it cracked me up, because
I know a little bit about your background
[teenagers laughing] ...nothing, you cracked me up...
...I know a little about your background...
Right now, I know that you are in a Christian academy,
in the choir... I was gonna say
you have a really nice sports car, but it's wrecked,
so I'll leave that alone, all that stuff I know about you, but
I know also that you love God and I know all that
kind of stuff, but I know that wasn't always true for you
[...] Carol you don't know about Lenny's background at all, no?
Can you tell them how we met and where you came from?
The first time I met Cheri when I went down to Hope TV
...but...when I met her... I was in a project patch program
and it was just a treatment facility where I was sent
because I was doing really awful in life
I got into a lot of drugs when I turned 15 because
My parents were divorced; and my mom was just never home.
She always had a business convention here or there
because she works for the university
so she was never home. When I was 15 I just decided
I'm gonna live life my own way. And that was
doing drugs and being involved with all my friends
and doing what they did.
So I got into doing drugs... and stuff...
Before that I've been a captain of a football team,
and a basketball team in 8th grade and stuff like that,
so life just was like a complete turn around.
Can you tell us if this was a slow thing?
you know, because I think about that: How does that happen?
...was it just a slow process? - It was kind of a slow process.
Growing up in a Hispanic family and stuff like that... You
grow up in neighborhoods like that, it's an everyday thing. I
was really young when I started noticing what drugs were.
It was normal to see kids down the street doing drugs
and making drug deals. ...it was a normal thing to see.
- Where did you grow up?
In Toppenish, Washington... ...and it was just normal to see
that kind of stuff...and growing up with such a big family...
I had a lot of respect. People respected our family
because it was a big, well known Hispanic family,
they had also a lot of businesses.
You are gonna get respect from Hispanic and other race people.
You know... your family lives there, so you have respect.
So I was respected by everyone.
I knew were to get drugs and I knew how to get mass quantity
of drugs. And being 15 years old, I could be getting drugs
at a big city person
I could be getting for half the price and selling it for
my own price. So I was a 15 old kid
running around with $2000 a week,
a pager, cell phone... I had it all. I thought I had it all...
What did your parents say when they saw $2000, or a cell phone,
a pager...?
I hid it pretty much, I kept everything pretty much hidden.
One time my mom found the lining of my bed lined with
money. It was like $900. It was a sum in there...
...she found it... - I'm filling lemonade, mom!
Yeah, that's it... that's it... I told her I was working, mom!
I was proud to show my friends I had so much money.
I also used to show their sisters, and they all:
- "Lenny, how much money have you got?"
"I bet, chick, a lot more than you."
so I just pull out a lot of money that I had rolled up
and I said: "Look, ca we go out with you sometime?"
So I would take girls out and buy'em everything.
I was living a life at 15 years old. I was
going to home school because I couldn't go to public school
because they didn't want me anymore.
They kicked you out? - Yeah,
I did too much trouble so they don't want trouble like that.
I had family in that school, I would give the drugs to them,
they would give them to whoever needed them in that school.
But my main focus was adults.
I didn't mess with kids because it was small.
I didn't want $20 from a kid or something like that.
I wanted like $300, or I wanted a thousand dollars from someone.
I didn't mess around with the petty things.
You know, as you talk now I know you as Christian and really cool
I can't imagine...
Were you the same as far as the way you talk,
your personality? Were you harder?
...My main focus was myself. I was in touch with just myself.
I was really quiet. Moved around, did this...
but people knew, you know... I got along with them.
Basically, they respected me, they looked up to me...
and I just had a role that I had to play
I was really a bit hard sometimes, just to get business
taken care of. Sometimes I would just be friendly and be nice.
I've always been a nice people-person.
I was a charmer, you know... I could to talk to people...
There were always times in my life that my family would say:
he's gonna be like... 'cause I didn't have a father in my life
so the men in my family would say: he's going to be like me,
he's going to make money, he's a go-getter.
So I got that in my brain. Yeah, I'm a go-getter.
I'll do this, I'll do that. I'll do things... this way...
But then te main focus was: hustler, go-getter
My main focus: I'm gonna make more money than anyone else
and be young that's what I loved about the whole thing...
But I was empty. That was my daily routine.
That was life. Without it I don't know what I would do.
I didn't have any drive to do anything else
but to live the life, to be the man.
Have money and live it up. But it just wasn't for me.
So what happened?
All of the sudden: "This is too much money, I don't want
to do it anymore" [laughing]
[...] I've got what's called the "front" from my guy
and it was a big "front", like a couple thousand of dollars
and I had to get that... [...]
I was on the streets for 10 years so I know what a front is.
There are a lot of people who don't know what a front is.
- I don't know what it is. - A front is: you go to a person
without any money
You say you have no money. You give this to me and I'll pay you
when I sell it.
So I got a front for a couple thousand dollars
Everything was fine. I needed the guy, he respected me,
I respected him. OK, we will split whatever you make.
What I did I sold some of it but after that
I had lots of money, lots of drugs and then I went party.
So I went and partyd with everything.
- Hmmm. They don't like that. - Yeah, they don't like that...
I wasn't thinking. I was totally into the partying things so
I came up with money but not enough for him, just enough for me
He called me one day and said: "Get my money." I told him no.
He answered: "When we see you next time, we gonna kill you".
I was like: Yeah, all right. - Did you believe him?
Yeah, I believed him. In stuff like that, you know someone
will do that. I was hard and said I don't care if they kill me.
But then I got serious because they called my mom
and told her: "When we see your son again, we will kill him"
So I ran away, but actually it wasn't like running away.
I just left, because no one could control me
but just myself.
You couldn't tell what to do.
And they were afraid of what I could start or what I could do.
But I wasn't proud of that. I knew inside that there is
something lacking in me...
So this whole time...this was Monday... all this stuff fell.
The whole time my mom was getting something together for me
to go to Project P.A.T.C.H, but I told her I will never go.
Joe got into an accident and he was recovering from that
and his parents needed to move. Joe's dad came down
and said: "We need you, son, we need your help, because Joe
can't lift no more than ten pounds. I said I will come back,
the steam all died down, I think I'll come back, get situated,
get my groove on and get everybody paid off...
So I got there to Joe's (place), I didn't have any drugs.
So that Friday night, we packed everything and mom pulls up
in the car. I asked her what was she doing there.
"We have something to tell you. You're going to P.A.T.C.H.
I said you tricked me, to get into Idaho, so I can't get back
to where I needed to be. [...] That day, she got 3 calls:
from the probation officer, one from Joe's mom and one from my
uncle who knew these people first hand. He said: get Lenny
out of town, because they were coming for him on that Friday.
So my mom got me out of there and I guess they came but we
were gone. I'm pretty thankful to still be alive...
- As a mom, I would do the same thing: you can't kill my son...
I can imagine your mom being so freaked out...
...what do I do, how I handle this, how I take care of him now
he doesn't even want me to take care of him but
I love him! -She came and I was like: Mom.
I'm not going to PATCH, I have too many things to do.
She looked in my eyes and she said: You're going. A mom
just gives you this look: you're going and I, like a dog, put my
tail between my legs.
I was in the car, no questions asked and we got there...
So what is PATCH exactly?
It stands for Planned Assistence for Troubled Children.
Tom Stanford is the one that runs PATCH
He had talked with my mom
and told her he can get me in there.
Is it like a hospital?
NO. It's like a home, a home away from home.
When I arrived there, I told myself I've already seen this
place before, but I didn't recognize it because of all the
drugs in my body, I've seen this place on a pamphlet...
There is a river running through it. Wow! What a place!
But at that time I was clouded about the whole thing
It was pretty harsh to be there. First I didn't want to be there.
In a fight, I had my face split open by a kid that threw a stick
at me because I just pushed them and it stuck in my face.
They did reconstructive surgery on my face.
I was like: this place isn't for me, my mom doesn't know what
she's doing. That night they sent the maintenance director to
wake me up to tell me we are leaving.
I refused, so he picked me up in a blanket
and threw me in a van.
That was at 3 o’clock in the morning.
He told me to keep the blanket, to keep myself covered.
It was pretty strange.
What did they do? What was that about?
They put someone else in there and we woke up at
Sawtooth National Park,
in the Sawtooth National Mountains.
He said: Guys, get up, put your cloths on, we are going hiking
I guess we're going back-packing to get out from there.
He said that the hardest thing to hit there was a tree.
You hit that tree and it won't mind,
'cause we just totally destroyed the dorm where we were living
So we went up in mountain. I was hating it.
I was a city kid. I told him I'm getting out of here,
I'll will run away... and he's all:
What direction do you think PATCH is? What direction is
home? I pointed a direction and he started laughing.
So you were stuck.
I said:"I'll go that direction!" and he answered: "Have fun!"
You know, it was a real experience, because
I thought we're gonna be there for a week but we were
there for 31 days.
Then we started the 12 step program [...]
...and to this very day I think the old Lenny is still looking
to find PATCH in that one direction.
I just stepped aside and got better,
I renounced to drugs and got them out of my system.
And I really started focusing on what I wanted from my life.
And being in the mountains, away from everything was
the best place to be. There was no distraction: no phones,
no temptations to do something. I was in the mountains
and there was nowhere else I was going
only going into a glacial lake or something, you know...
I have a thousand questions.Does anybody have a question about...
I'm thinking of stuff like...
How did you find God and come back to God?
Can you ever go back? People are still looking for you?
I believe they still are. They don't recognize me but
someday someone will figure it out...
If I did go back, I'd be living at the cemetery.
You know, there is no other way. I could never go back...
They don't have a clue where I am right now
It's really hard to say... I'm still in hiding
But it's true. There is no way around it.
You're talking about all the money and having a good time
at being 15. Coming from ...
I've grown up in a Christian family, so I've always thought
about being in that kind of situation would be fun...
- Exciting... - Yeah...
- Uhm... It is, at the time you think it is.
Having $2000 in your pocket is a big thing, you know...
To have the choices... Many of times I've wished
my parents weren't around and where I could do whatever I want
but just from hearing what you say is turning me around
in a different way.
Yeah, it's hard to tell people, yeah, I did have that much money
but the money didn't mean anything. Life didn't mean
anything then, until I went to PATCH and I made a turn around.
I was truthful to myself about the whole thing.
because a program can change you from the outside,
you know, you can say: I'm changing,
but only with God's help you can change inside and get better
and that's what really turns people's heads
you know, you don't know what you're talking about, but that's
not the life for me.
I've lived that life and I know what it's like.
I know what it's like to not have a place to call home.
It's hard to say when you have family at home that loves you...
Even the dog! I miss my dog! I went home one time just to check
on my dog 'cause I had a nightmare that he got killed...
It was something that I lack. I wanted the family.
I wanted everybody else's family because they didn't want mine
because they were never home. But that wasn't their fault.
They were making a living so I could stay alive, have cloths
on my back, food on the table. But I didn't understand that.
I'm glad now that I can turn around and say: That was my life
then and it is not my life anymore."
I'm doing youth ministries and stuff like that
and I'm happy I went through what I went through,
because it was a stepping stone for me to say: I don't want to
be that way, I can be
a successful person and not have to sell drugs.
I can help someone else by telling what I've been through
in life so I may inspire someone else to turn around
and I just think I have hope.
You know, what was really interesting, not long ago I saw
you talking at a Jam's state camp meeting, you were talking to a
group of juniors,
and I was watching you, you were reading your favorite
scripture. And I thought - what a difference from project PATCH
to sit in there with a group of 10-11 years olds
talking about God... and...
What scripture did you read?
Jer. 29:11-13
Do you remember it?
Yes, God's saying to His people that "I have plans for you,
I made you, I have plans for you to prosper.
Not to be down. He has plans for me to prosper. And I'll be there
when you call upon me with your whole heart.
He doesn't want the half of it, but He wants everything.
I had problems with that because I wanted to give increments.
I was trying to do a deal with God.
But God doesn't work that way
He is the only God and you don't say: I'll give you a share
here and I keep the rest, He wants it all and He will give
you those benefits back and multiples that your
mind can't even imagine.
Can you talk more about it? We think that He may give it back,
or this is our duty to give to God. But the fact that He
makes our lives so incredible. I know yours is also incredible
- Yeah! At that time I didn't think life could be that way.
There was some struggle to give all to God, your securities,
So you feel insecure about a lot of things like trusting people,
because you're hollow, you're building everything back up again
God slowly started to give me all those things and opening
up new doors, He said: "Lenny, I have plans for you.
You do not know what these plans are yet
but your eyes will open on these plans and if not a doctor, Lenny
it's going to be something that people will know you...
You wanted to be a doctor, right?
Yes, but if that's not what God is telling me do to, that's OK.
I understand. I just want to be somewhere where I'm happy and
I'm making other people happy. That's all I'm worried about...
Wow! It reminds me a little bit of Carol who's doing ministry
work too. You have the sense of giving back to God.
She almost...nourished or healed by reaching out and giving back.
My mom always told me ever since I was little boy: - I'm your
mother here and stuff like that. But God gave you to me...
You're special.There's something about you, you're a prince.
"You need to find that, Lenny. You're something special to God.
You are going to help Him help other people here"
He can't be there to help everybody verbally and come in
through everybody, but He can come and shine through you.
Let Him reach out other people through you.
He can act through you as long as this is your will,
and you leave your heart and your mind open to Him
Do you really believe that?
I do. And I'm doing it now.
The reason why I asked is 'cause I believe it also with all
my heart. But I think the most powerful feeling is to see God
use you and somebody is touched or changed,
and you think: Wow, He can use me!
You know, that sense of being used by God is a powerful thing!
I'm enjoying working with youth. Now I'll be working
at a Christian radio station here really soon.
- Doing what?
- Being a DJ.
- So, is it the same place you were working at?
- Yes, we will be working together.
- Yes, it will be really nice.
I listen to your broadcast, K.T.S.Y. and every time I hear
I have the radio on and I hear your voice I say:Ah, I know him!
It is a very cool thing. - It is, things are going great!
So, I will know everybody there.
Yes, you will know the whole crew.
Yes, life's been really good. And it's looking up from here...
You are in a choir. Can you talk about that? You just got back
from Palm Springs. - We have an award winning choir
Jamsai Academy.
We entered the contest against 93 different academies
in all North America. We got a letter back saying that
we were placed in 5th place and we were in the finals.
That was the last our school heard from it for about a month.
Then our principle John Gatch got a call a month after that
and we found out that we won $20.000 grant to go to Palm Springs
Who is in the choir? Four of you Joe, Lenny, Math and Winter.
$20.000 grant, wow! Were you guys excited?
Yes! It was a fun trip!
It is the highlight of my senior year. It was so worthy!
Where were you exactly? You went to Palm Springs and did a show?
We had different trips: a tour in Southern California [...]
When we won the grant, they wanted us to have fun...
We went to Knott's Berry Farm. We ate out. They gave us
money every day and sponsored us to just go have fun for
winning and then we had a performance at a resort.
they were getting together all Seventh Day Adventist people.
We basically had fun the whole time.
They showed for us around.
God, is so fun! Let me ask you a question. Try to imagine
anybody that knew you in your other life, if they saw you in
a choir in Palm Springs, what would they think?
Crazy...I think I've earned their respect for them because
I was willing to get up and get out
A lot of people are still afraid to get up and get out.
They are asking themselves what is after stepping out,
I was like: I'm not gonna be happy if I do anything else.
I used to think that people who are sober are stupid.
You don't think beyond that, but
I'd just like to tell people, there is hope after that.
- So are you happy? - Yes, I'm happy...
There will always be struggles in life and I understand that,
I just have to keep my eyes up and make sure God is in control
and not Satan.
You have to know that God leads you to places for reason and not
to shut Him out. - And to know that He is bigger
than all your issues, bigger than all your needs.
He can take them from you. He's willing to take the pack
full of rocks. He is ready.
He says:"Your sin is as far away from Me as is the East is to the
West. " I can't see it anymore. It is not anything.
I think of Mary Magdalene, the demoniac and different
stories in the Bible when somebody was totally changed...
I only know you on this side of that story and I can't imagine
you being anything but this incredible talented, handsome
young man that is making an influence on people's lives.
I'm amazed that God is able to, above anything we could think
about, or plan. Even above what our parents can hope for.
About what your mom can hope for.
God is able to go above that and not be afraid of your
gang involvement
or your drug involvement or any of the damages that happened,
any of the things that you learned while you were out on
the streets or on drugs. I talk to people all the time that
don't believe that God is big enough to deal with their
problems or that He loves me after I've been so messed up.
I love to hear stories like Lenny's because it says that
God loves us no matter what. No matter what we have done,
we are not too far away for God to come and say:
"Please come back. I love you! We can fix this, we can heal
this" Thank you for joining us on Teen Pathways and remember
Jeremiah 29:11. God has plans to prosper us, and give us hope
and give us a future. What an incredible story!
Thank you again for joining us!
Captioning and subtitles by Christian Media Services