Elijamere’s Story

Elijamere had first come to Vagabond programming when he was ten because his older cousin went at the time. “I’ve never heard of half of these games before,” he admitted. After the missionaries gathered everyone and shared a message about the Holy Spirit, Elijamere hopped in the van to go to his friend’s house, counting down the days until the next youth night. More important than the games, the welcoming and wholesome community drew him back time after time.

An uplifting and welcoming community was something he lacked in his day-to-day life. When he was young, he and his brother lost their mother to an overdose. Life with his father proved to be a struggle, as he didn’t give him the support or care that he needed as a young man. Mere and his brother would often worry about who could host them. Sometimes he found himself with no options for where to sleep and he sadly wondered, “Does anyone even care about me?”

Growing up in Steubenville was hard, but the friendly faces at Vagabond made it better. Only knowing chaos and distrust, Mere found himself struggling to trust the missionaries at first. Eventually, he decided to let them into the deeper parts of his being and allow his missionary JohnPaul to help him to tackle his mental struggles.

“Do you think I’m an angry person? Do you think I want to hurt anybody?” he asked JohnPaul and another missionary, Mark, after he became angry at youth night and they had to pull him aside. Through many conversations about his self-worth and PTSD, Mere now sees Vagabond to be trustworthy; they love him and do not fear him.

July 2024 rolled around and the teens took a trip to Georgia for summer camp. As a result of Mere growing in trust, he was able to participate in the week and hear what God had to say to him. And as he packed up to leave at the end of the week he brought with him new knowledge of who God the Father is.

God has been speaking to Mere tenderly with an all-powerful love, to the point that Mere decided that he wanted to get baptized and selected JohnPaul to be his godfather. With all his growth, he has become a light and example to the younger teens in Steubenville.