- Northwest WA Regional Office
PO Box 3052
Anacortes, WA 98221
(360) 708-7584
Director Joel Pemberton - all communities
Joel Pemberton, NW WA Regional Director
SHOCKED!
I used to be shocked by our teens... for example, I was shocked when a teen told me that cocaine (which he was using) wasn't a hard drug, just a little harder than pot.
Oh, and I was shocked when I heard that a pregnant teenage girl was living with her mom's X-boyfriend because her parents basically abandoned her.
And, I was shocked when a kid informed me that his parents were divorcing - the last set of parents together out of 18 skater guys that I surveyed four years ago.
Oh yeah, and I was shocked when I heard that one of the dudes in our Skate Club molested his little sister-in-law.
Actually, I was even shocked when I heard that a teen girl couldn't eat anything hard because her mouth was burnt from smoking meth.
I guess I was pretty shocked too, when I found out a kid who hung out at the YD quite a bit was arrested for breaking and entering and robbery then becoming a possible rape suspect.
But I'm not shocked any more. It's not that I am calloused or insensitive towards these kids, my heart breaks for them. But this is the world that many teens live in.
They need your prayers, they need Christ to transform their lives, and they need adults to love them for who they are.
That's why YD is growing into communities where these kids are. Stepping into relationhsip with them in their tough situations. Trying desperately to show them that we love them and that God does also.
Please join us with your prayers for these teens.