Tomaine's Testimony & more...

Tomaine says:
I am the 2nd oldest of 6 kids with a single mom. Tight family&close..not to be messed w/ mom had 2jobs and life was tough. Crazy fighting..stealing. After getting evicted the summer of 99 we moved to a neighborhood. One day I saw Pastor Eric moving into a bldg. A few days later,I was ona corner up to no good. Pastor Eric came up & told me to come to kidz club. Sitting on the tarp & got up.. I knew now that it was God tugging on my heart.
At the age of 9 I started doing ministry. I saw Ms Michelle doing the food pantry and started helping her. For 2 yrs we did it together and there was no one else helping us.
At 13 yrs old my sister shared that she was pregnant with twins. One day I got a phone call that she lost the baby girl.. My sister was induced and 5 months later the baby boy died. I started thinking about the 4 most important things..That Jesus loves me.. I struggled... Later Pastor Eric & Ms Michelle told me about Masters Commission in Ca. A few weeks before I was supposed to go my mama got sick. She was so sick. She had an infection in her foot and the Dr had to cut off her toe. Because she didn't go to the hospital at first, they had to cut off her foot..the infection spread more. They had to cut off right off below her knee. I thought God"How can ypu say you love me? This mis my mom! My mom! First you take away my neice & nephew and now this..this is my mom."
I still had Masters Commission coming up. How many of you know that the devil tries to trip you up? By the time it was time to go, I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay in my comfort zone. Then this one woman gave money to Pastor Eric for my trip to L.A.

So I go to L.A. The first month was cool...the 2nd..aw man! They had hell week where they wake you up in the middle of the night. They left a note that said where to go with no shoes. We sat ina room in the dark for 3 hrs...I came to get closer to God. We went back to get shoes on,made us do leg lifts..How does this get me closer to God??For breakfast we got a 1/4 of a muffin &shot of O.J. What is up w/this?? Then we went to a maze and blindfolded me. Little did we know that there was no exit. The only way was to ask for help. I found the way out and thee put me back in the maze until everyone figured the way out...4 hrs. We then walked 10mi. to the hollywood sign and 10mi.back. After getting back to campus I thought this is stupid! We then (at night) had to carry eachother up the biggest hill I've seen in my life! We were told if we could get through that we could get through anything....
Months into the program, I struggled with the program...curfew,scripture memorization, waking up at 5am.. I wanted to be done. I broke things in my room. I was so angry. I called my mom & told her that I wanted to come home. I hated it. I despised it and mentally & physically checked out. In March, Pastor Eric & Michelle came out for a visit and encouraged me and then went home.
One night at the program, there was a night called fight night..If you are angry why not fight it out.. I thought this may be cool..
Someone handed me the gloves and I put them on. I hated my father, I hated the program. God why am I here? I let it go. I kept swinging....I cried..and that night, God showed me why I was there..It was to fight for others!
I aced my final and graduated. When I walked that stage, I felt accomplished. I gave my director a hug&he said "you did it!l.it was amazing.
...Dont let the things of this world to distract you with what God is trying to speak to you about. Some of you are going to get it and some of you are going to get it. I missed it for 7 months because I missed it..until I finally got it.

****When Tomaine came back to Buffalo out of Masters Commission, he told Pastor Eric that he wanted to do something..that's how Project Provention got started. There are kids that get taken away from their parents because they don't have beds..not because their parents are on drugs..they aren't. The Dream Center knew that there were families in need so a few days later they bagged groceries and took it to their house. The next week there were 8 families, and then 12, etc. Tomaine has completely furnished homes. Social services have come in and families have been able to stay together. Social services is now sending families to the Dream Center. They had a warehouse donated and supplies now being donated. It is an incredible ministry.
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