Sam came from a very broken and dysfunctional family and was in the gang called Crips. His best friend died in his arms from gang warfare. He came to the Lord at the Oasis several years ago; we let him move into the Oasis to teach him how to work, develop spiritual character and life skills in him. He met his wife through the Oasis' mission trips and they both graduated from Southwestern University.

One of our most exciting stories is about two young girls from our Kidz Klub program that would go home and teach the parents what they were learning. Suddenly, the family found out that their building was going to be demolished, so the two girls started praying that God would give them more space. The entire family lived in two tiny rooms. The developer gave them a choice to get a designated amount of money or to be transferred to another building. They chose to transfer, which ended up being 4 bedrooms, full kitchen, living room, and underground parking for $814- which is a miracle in LA!

Mynor is a young man who started coming to the Oasis of Hollywood Kidz Klub program when he was only 8 years old. He is one of 11 brothers and sisters. All of the children were placed into foster care homes because of many problems in the dysfunctional home. During this time, Mynor' mom passed away from liver failure. Life was very tough, but through the Oasis staff, he was the first one in his family to graduate high school with honors! He came on staff at Oasis and is now the youth director, offering the same encourgament to other Hollywood teens so they can break the dysfunctional and poverty cycle.

Aiden, his mom, and two other brothers had lived in one little cheap hotel room when he first started going to Club Zion, our friday night teen club. He always had us drop and his brother off about a block away so the other kids wouldn't see that they lived in a "seedy" hotel. His mom allowed him to move into the Oasis while finishing high school. After Aiden graduated, he joined the military where he served many years.

Benjamin was kicked out of summer camp because he got caught with marijuana. A leader asked him, "What was going through your mind on your way home after getting kicked out of camp?" He responded by saying, "What the heck am I doing with my life." He then began to genuinely search for God, and it wasn't even 6 months later when he truly gave his life to the Lord. In this last year, Benjamin went from begin in gangs, doing drugs, tagging, and mugging people on the streets to reading God's Word every single day and sharing Gospel with his friends.

"When I was 16, I first started going to Oasis after a friend of mine invited me to the Christmas event because of food and we were able to skate in the parking lot. I still remember the food that was served that night, BBQ chicken; best dang BBQ I've ever had. Home was terrible, I tried my best to stay out as late as I could before midnight. My mom and I always had arguments and stressful talks. We were both angry towards each other. Each night there was always something new to be mad about and we would start screaming our heads off. I did drugs and that didn't help my life at all."