Mario Ajcip grew up in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, in the crossfire between the Mara Salvatrucha and Dieciocho gangs. His father was an alcoholic. He learned to fight before he learned much else, and he rose in the gang until the day he was ordered to execute a rival.
He could not do it. Standing there, able to pull the trigger, something held him back. "There was something in me that I can't explain why I couldn't do it," he said. "Now I understand that the prayers of my mother had effect."
The prayers he did not know were working Not long after, brothers from the Door Church came to a friend's house. A man named Alex Delgado met Mario at the door and spent more than an hour telling him about Jesus. This time Mario listened, and he gave his life to Christ.
The change was total. He cut off his long hair. He opened a Bible. He enrolled in art school and became an art teacher. Now he goes back into the dangerous neighbourhoods he came from, using soccer, rap, and break-dancing to reach the kids who are where he used to be. "Today, I can say I'm somebody," he said, "not for what I have, but because God gives me a reason to keep believing in the future."
The hand that was made to kill now paints, teaches, and points young gang members to Jesus. His mother's quiet prayers were working the whole time. Someone may be praying you home right now too.
