William's Story

My life before Bettaway, I was the only child and she got remarried and we moved to Ellenwood. I graduated from high school and got into construction work which led into iron work and I went and I started doing iron work back in 1995 and I've been doing that since 95 off and on. Well when I was a teenager, I smoked through my teenage years. I would go back and forth from cigarettes to Copenhagen and the only drug I experienced was I smoked marijuana before I came to Bettaway and I did drink alcohol but it wasn't anything like damaging or anything. I just I did it because I liked it. I wanted to. I realized I needed help. I was sleeping at my church and the pastor came to me about three weeks after I was there and told me about Bettaway. My first day at Bettaway, they made me cut my hair. I didn't like that. They made me shave. I didn't like that. Getting up at 4 45, I was used to getting up early. That wasn't a problem really. The structure of the program when I first got in was getting up at 4 45. Like I said, that wasn't a problem. Having my clothes in a certain order, having my pants folded up in a certain way and I had something I had to get used to and being reverent. Lining up, going to eat breakfast in the morning time and coming back and doing chores. That's something I've never done. So a part of responsibility I didn't have and it did help me responsibly since I've been here to do the stuff that I've been doing here at Bettaway. One of my main things I didn't like was accountability. Having accountability a partner and having somebody to walk with, it just didn't make no sense to me. I didn't care for it because I've always been independent and I've never had anybody walk with me. The brotherhood here is very important here at Bettaway because out on the street when you hang out with certain people that get you tied up and doing the wrong thing, which will get you in trouble with the law, get you in jail. There's guys here that will motivate you into doing the right thing. They will pray with you and they will just be there for you and talk to you. Since I've been here at Bettaway, the most I've done here that I didn't do out on the street was pray and read my Bible because that has been a consistent thing with me is getting up in the mornings and having devotion to reading my Bible and praying every day, which I didn't do out on the street because I didn't take time to do that. The Florida trip was good. I enjoyed it to get away for a while for three days. I enjoyed being out on the beach. Bettaway has put me in a better routine of reading my Bible and praying more and being closer to God and having a better relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and God the Father.