Nicky Cruz

THE STORY OF HIS LIFE LIFE AT HOME Nicky grew up in Puerto Rico with his family. He had a large family with sixteen brothers and one sister. His parents were spiritualists. They believed they had power over good and bad spirits. People paid them to communicate with the spirits, which scared Nicky. He wasn’t happy at home, his parents didn’t have time to play with him which meant he didn’t get along with them. Nicky once caught his father taking money from his mother which lead him to spending the night in the shed full of pigeons. One day Nicky’s parents were in the living room with other spiritualists. One of them complimented Nicky saying he was cute, then his mother started shrieking at him and pointing saying that Nicky wasn’t her son and was in fact a child of evil. This made Nicky feel as if no one loved him and is one of the reasons Nicky made the wrong decisions. He started getting into fights and soon enough, was sent to New York to live with his older brother, Frank. IN NEW YORK

When Nicky arrived at New York many gangs filled the streets. But there was one gang which ran the streets, there name was the Mau Mau. The Mau Mau was the most feared gang in New York. Only weeks after coming into New York Nicky ran into a gang called ‘Bishops’. They surrounded him while one of them held a knife in front of his face. They let Nicky get away only because he was new and just came from Puerto Rico. MAU MAU

Nicky Cruz got invited to a party . The leader of the Mau Mau gang, Carlos, came up to Nicky asking if he wants to join his gang. However he had to either be beat up by the best members or stand against a wall and have a knife thrown at you. Nicky chose to be beat up. He was punched and kicked but stayed for minutes. They finally stopped which meant he had joined the gang. LIFE BEING APART OF A GANG

Over the next two years of his life Nicky got into many fights, robberies and gang activities. Nicky became horrible. Carlos soon got arrested which meant that Nicky Cruz was the new deputy leader. However after only six months he became the gang leader.

By the age of 18 Nicky had been arrested 21 times,and had spent days in prison cells 12 times waiting for his charges. During his 2 years of being leader the Mau Mau had killed 17 people. DAVID WILKERSON

David Wilkerson was an American Christian evangelist. He was a preacher who used to go around gangs reading the and saying loves them. This is how he met Nicky Cruz.

When David and Nicky met, at first Nicky was hesitant but David Wilkerson had invited the Mau Mau to a meeting which he agreed to go to. Nicky and a few others went onto the stage because they wanted a new life, wanted to clear their sins. After doing this Nicky felt all the anger inside of him go away. He felt like a new person A CHANGED LIFE

Nicky Cruz began reading the Bible and went to a Bible College. During this time he met his future wife, Gloria, who went to the same college.

After finishing college Nicky went to work in a Teen Challenge Centre in . Here he helped young people who needed special help. Nicky tried to help drug addicts and other people who had problems. In August 1964 Nicky Cruz left the Teen Challenge Centre and in the following year he created his out Outreach for Youth home in California. Many people gave him money to help start his home. In years to come Nicky visited Britain where he tried to help young people and always said the same message ‘Give Christ a chance just like I did. I know he will change your whole life.’ He then went on and made TRUCE which stands for ‘To Reach Urban Children Everywhere.’

To this day Nicky still talks to thousands of teenagers helping them to choose the right paths in life.