We Go Up That Mountain Expecting Miracles to Happen
Her name was Valerie. She was fighting two major life battles and was really close to losing them both. One was against cancer; she had lost all her hair and a lot of her weight. Her strength had gone and her body was plenty evidence of that. The other battle was against Santeria, an Afro-Latin religious practice rooted in witchcraft. Her boyfriend, Edward, was a Santero (Santeria priest), and had been strongly recruiting for her to be initiated. She was slightly involved and just beginning to dabble in it, but he wanted a full commitment. Her soul was at stake.
Valerie came up to Camp Deerpark with Pastor Raymond Ramos of Recovery House of Worship (RHOW), based in Brooklyn. Since the year 2001, RHOW would bring up their members, which consisted mostly of reformed gang members, ex-convicts, former prostitutes, recovering addicts and the like, for retreats at Camp Deerpark. Pastor Raymond had witnessed many of his church members experience extraordinary change on “the mountain” and Valerie’s story was about to become another one of those many.
It was during that visit to Camp Deerpark that Valerie heard the gospel and accepted Jesus Christ into her life as her Lord and Savior. Even more so, she witnessed the gospel in action through the warmth and service of the staff. When she got back to the city, she decided it was time to clean house. She got rid of all of the idols and statues in her home. Of course, Edward wasn’t too pleased with the new Valerie. But the cleaning had gone even deeper than expected, when doctors told Valerie that her cancer had miraculously gone into remission. The healing Jesus had brought into her life was real.
Not long after, Valerie decided to be baptized. Reluctantly, Edward attended the event, and agreed to capture it on video for her. However, as he witnessed Valerie being baptized, he felt a sudden desire to be a part of God’s family too. Edward set the video recorder down and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior on that very same day.
Today, Valerie and Edward are happily married ministers of the gospel and members of RHOW. Together they continue to attend Camp Deerpark retreats several times a year, and work alongside Pastor Raymond Ramos in leading people to Christ.
Pastor Raymond says, “This story repeats itself over and over again. When we go to Camp Deerpark, we go up that mountain expecting miracles to happen. We have seen miracles in the lives of drug addicts, alcoholics, and people in need of change. The staff at Camp Deerpark has always been very gracious with us. Even when we didn’t have all the finances lined up, they continued to work with us. Camp Deerpark is a cornerstone, vital to the work that we do.”
—Written by Celmali Jaime Okonji, program director in 2006–7, attended Evangelical Garifuna Church and King of Glory Tabernacle, both in the Bronx.
Raymond Ramos is Pastor of Recovery House of Worship in Brooklyn. RHOW is a ministry dedicated to serving families affected by all types of addiction. Not only do they help people find sobriety, they help people find Christ. RHOW leads yearly retreats at Camp Deerpark, usually in October.