Mello is unlike any other student I’ve ever met. He came to Campus Life last fall at Mira Monte High School. I had gone with Rebekah to help promote Mountain Top, our boys fall retreat. When I invited Mello to camp, I had no idea how our stories would intersect but I’m so happy they did. Mello is unique. He’s funny but serious, he wears slacks on camping trips, is into agriculture and multimedia, and he brings his own BBQ/Hot Sauce to every event he’s invited to (and I mean every event including camping trips). Mello brought a lot of joy and humor to that first weekend retreat. It was our first year back from COVID and I didn’t know how many students would be open to the Gospel. Although Mello didn’t make the decision to accept Jesus that November, he decided he wanted to be part of the Campus Life family. He was an active student at Mira Monte Campus Life, he attended many of our events: pool parties, all-nighters, pizza parties, and most recently our week-long summer camp in July.
I was ecstatic when I found out Mello was going to be in my cabin. I’ve watched this student and interacted with him at so many events and I knew we were going to have a great week. Although he was silent for most of our cabin times, I knew I had his undivided attention. I knew that the relationship we had built his entire sophomore year had granted me the privilege to speak into his life. It was the right time the right place! His English teacher was our guest speaker, and she explained the gospel in a way that he had never heard before. And when it came time to make decisions Mello felt it was the right time to say yes to Christ. I was surprised but so excited that he wanted to give his life to Christ. He had silently been taking in every Bible story, every scripture that we shared and every testimony and on the last night of summer camp Mello said yes to Jesus! If it wasn’t for his English teacher inviting us on campus, Rebekah faithfully running Campus Life at Mira Monte, and me including him in everything Campus Life had to offer him, who knows when Mello would have said yes to Jesus. We all have a part to play and I’m glad I said yes to my part. It’s allowed me a wonderful mentor-mentee relationship where I get to meet with him, support him, invite him to church, workout with him, and take him on the occasional Sonic trip. I’m so grateful God has brought Mello into the Campus Life family and into my life. He’s a one-of-a-kind man, and now he’s a young man that belongs to Jesus.