My adopted Mother, when they went over to Latvia to pick me up. The psychologist that was over there warned her that I had a lot of issues. I was very distant from a lot of the other children. I was a very big loner. As I grew up I was bullied a lot due to the fact that when I came to Montessori or went to Montessori in Kindergarten and to First and Second grade, I didn’t really speak English very well. So I had to relearn English which made me stick out like a sore thumb. Had the bad accent and got bullied from there. Then it just seemed like as every year moved on, the new schools that I went to. I went to a new school almost every year. I got picked on because either I was the new kid or I had something wrong with me that made me stick out like it was the accent and I have a clubbed foot. I have always had the clubbed foot. That made it very easy for young kids to point the finger and laugh at me or mock me because of my name. The kids used to make fun of me and call me Rikhard the Retard and stuff like that. It was just like a common thing growing up, just being bullied. I almost got into a fight with one of the boys even though I am not a very aggressive or violent person. I never really was, at least not at school, even though I did pick on my Sister. I used to hit my Sister a lot. It was like I took a lot of that rage that I had from going to school and I took it out on her. That’s one of the things that I do regret growing up. I became very depressed. I was very negative. I attempted suicide a couple of times. When I was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years old. I got arrested on my nineteenth birthday cause I got caught drinking under age. So, instead of a year in jail, they gave me a year of probation. I moved out to Texas. That’s where my life really changed. That’s where I really got to know Christ. I learned through my relationship with God to forgive. That is something, due to the fact that the mercy that God has shown me through my life, at least in these five years of being a follower of Christ, I have really learned the definition of forgiveness. I find myself being very merciful and very forgiving of other people that hurt me. I was coming back from a party that I had been to. Granted, I had been a Christian for maybe a couple of months and these three men come out of nowhere. I hear a car in the distance and it pulls out. It like peels out! It runs right up next to me. Three Mexicans come from out of nowhere and asked me for money. I’m like; “I don’t have any.” Bam! They hit me in the face with this metal baseball bat. They asked me again; “Give us your money! Give us your money!” I’m like; “Dude, I don’t have any money!” They hit me in the face again. I was like; “Dude, I don’t have any money.” So, I’m falling to my knees and said; “I don’t have anything to offer you.” So, I gave them the back pack that was on my back. I said; “Here, take it. That’s all I have to offer.” Then they hit me one more time and then they ran off and they peel out. I remember as I got up and started walking to my aunt’s house, I remember it was just like; I remember I prayed this specifically. I was like; “Lord, forgive them for what they have done for they know not what they do.” They didn’t know what they did. They are just stuck in a world of sin, oblivious to the consequences of sin. Like everybody, like we all once were. I think God is just so awesome for that. You know, the ability to show me the mercy after all the things that I did and thought, watched and all the people that I have hurt with my words and my fists and stuff. Especially like my Sister who I have hurt. It’s just, it’s just amazing to me.
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