Pua’s Journey of Wholeness
Pua bounced between foster homes and residential treatment centers throughout his teenage years. Despite these challenges, he still graduated high school and dreamed of becoming a paramedic or a cook. Pua tried to make a life for himself. He moved to Arizona and started working in food services, where he was introduced to marijuana and quickly became addicted. Still, he did well at work, and when he was 22, he met and married his first wife. Though their marriage wasn’t perfect, he did his best to be a good husband, not making the same mistakes as his father. However, in the end, he only had a short time with her. After just two years of marriage, his wife passed away from hemolytic anemia on May 7th, 2013.
Pua’s life was utterly shattered.
It took Pua a very long time to accept the reality of her passing. And when he did, he numbed the pain. For years he was lost in a meth addiction until the day he was pulled over in Tucson and arrested. When the haze lifted from his eyes and he sobered, he found himself in a mental health facility talking to another patient. And for the first time in a long time, he felt hope.
Natasha’s Journey of Wholeness
When Natasha was nine years old, she was removed from her home. She bounced around the system for the next three years, and her experience in the foster care system was horrific, enduring years of abuse from both peers and staff members.
“Six different homes. Each one was worse than the last. I was beaten, mistreated, used, molested, and raped. By the time I got to go home for good, I just felt out of place. I was screaming on the inside, but acted like I was fine on the outside.”
By the time she was 12, she had already attempted suicide three times and was addicted to drugs, alcohol, and self-harm. Her addictions continued into adulthood, but it spiraled out of control when her mom and best friend died. And within weeks of both traumas, her rent increased, and Natasha soon found herself homeless.
“I was fine physically, but mentally, I was in so much pain. I was high and broke with no way out and decided suicide was my best option.”
Natasha swallowed a bottle of pills and then drove to the hospital so her body would be found. By the grace of God, a police officer caught her driving erratically and rushed her to the hospital just in time to save her life. Natasha woke up a week later in the ICU, disappointed that she had failed.
She had reached a point where she felt completely devoid of hope. However, everything changed when she discovered what had been absent in her life. This marked the beginning of a challenging, and at times, complicated journey toward healing and self-discovery.
No Longer Alone
“What’s your name?” Natasha asked.
“Pualeialoha.”
She laughed.
“No, you don’t have to lie and make up a name.”
“No, really.” He grinned.
She smiled.
It wasn’t love at first sight—not precisely. But Pua and Natasha quickly found they had a lot in common—they had similar pasts and were lost in the same way, grasping for something to hold onto but not yet knowing what that missing piece was.
And after some time, they found out they were pregnant. But, by the time their son was born, the sobriety they had white-knuckled the past year came to an abrupt end. Their relationship deteriorated until Pua finally called the police on Natasha, and she was arrested due to an outstanding warrant.
Pua suddenly became a single father, and terrified, he decided to return home to Wisconsin to beg his mom to help him raise Jonas. On the way home, though, she told him she could not help, so he got off the bus in Chicago and began calling shelters.
Yet, not one shelter between Chicago and Milwaukee would provide shelter to a single dad with a child.
But God is good. A compassionate Greyhound manager saw Pua and gave him a bus ticket to Tucson. Once in town, he made his way to Gospel Rescue Mission—the only shelter he found that would not separate him and Jonas—and when he first walked through our doors on July 5, 2022, Pua felt a peace he had never known.
It was in this place that Pualeialoha met Jesus.
“Most of my life, I was lost and broken with no hope. The moment Jesus came into my life, there was meaning to my life, and I knew I wasn’t worthless.”
Pua couldn’t wait to tell Natasha about Gospel Rescue Mission and begged her to join him in the Recovery Program. She was skeptical but missed her son and decided she also needed help.
After she was released from jail and walked up to the Welcome Center for the first time, Pua and Jonas met her at the gates with tears in their eyes. That was the moment she knew. She knew everything would be okay.
But figuring out the how was the tricky part. Neither knew how to move forward, but they quickly realized they couldn’t build on a broken foundation, so they set aside their relationship to focus entirely on God.
“The first time they told me to take a parenting class, I was so offended. But I quickly realized how much I needed to learn… for Jonas.” – Natasha
Classes forced them to see with fresh eyes the brokenness of their childhood. They had to relearn everything. Neither of them had a good understanding of what a godly parent looked like; all they knew was addiction, dysfunction, neglect, and abuse that had marked both their families for generations.
“I’ve broken the generational bond because my son is never going to see the things that I saw. He’s going to be raised in a Christian home and be taught about God.” – Pua
When they each graduated from Recovery, they began working on their relationship. They had made so many mistakes but also got some things right. Still, their entire relationship had to change, rebuilt on the solid foundation of Jesus. And, on January 8, 2023, they were baptized together.
Then, on April 26th, surrounded by hundreds of their close friends, the church community that loves them, and their family, Pua and Natasha said their vows before the Lord.
They still have a rough road ahead, but they are taking this faith journey together. In Wholeness.
FROM THE DESK OF LISA CHASTAIN
Family can be messy. And while we all have our own stories of dysfunction in our own families, I am constantly reminded of how blessed I was to grow up in a home that was not marked by abuse, neglect, or addiction.
But for so many of our guests – this was their normal. Growing up, seeing mom or dad drunk or strung out on drugs was normal. Being victimized from a young age and treated like garbage your whole life is all they’ve known.
It’s not difficult to understand why they feel skeptical or unsure initially, and I can’t begin to express how grateful I am to have a staff that is filled with compassion, grace, and love for every person who walks through our doors. Our guests have endured so much, and it’s not our place to heap on judgment, but to show them the love of Jesus that can rescue them, restore them, and transform them into something new.
One thing Natasha said struck me:
“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an army to overcome addiction.”
Here at GRM, we are truly this army that comes alongside people coming out of homelessness and addiction – especially when they don’t have a stable, loving family, or healthy friends. We help them create a new, healthy lifestyle, so they can maintain sobriety and live successful, transformed lives. That’s what community is all about. We can’t possibly accomplish this without your help, and I am always humbled by the generosity of our donors to give so that others can be transformed and have the opportunity for new life. Thank you for your love, compassion, and generosity!
Thanking God for you,
Lisa Chastain
Chief Executive Officer
