GILBERT, Ariz. — Kelvin Lewis and Afonso Slater were friends in Mozambique before they were adopted by families who lived nearby each other in Arizona.

Now, they’re set to embark on their next move together as well, this time to Brigham Young University in Provo. The friends were admitted to BYU for the fall and plan to room together at some point, as well as serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sometime in the near future.

Both Kelvin Lewis and Afonso Slater, who are now 18, ended up in an orphanage at a young age after losing parents to AIDS.

“They were always together,” said LaCinda Lewis, Kelvin’s mother. “They were arm-in-arm ... It’s as if they weren’t just friends, they were family for each other. I didn’t realize this until recently, but they actually knew each other before the orphanage and their mothers were good friends.”

The adoption process

The journey to a successful adoption was a long one for everyone involved, taking nearly six years for both families. The Lewis and Slater families both lived in Gilbert, Arizona, but didn’t know each other very well. They started their efforts to adopt the boys independently, but became familiar with each other during the process and began to work together.

The process was especially difficult because Mozambique does not have an adoption agreement with the United States, according to LaCinda Lewis. She said she first heard about her son when he was 4-years-old in 2002 from her daughter’s mother-in-law Cindy Packard, who runs Care For Life. She met him when he was five, but he wasn’t able to come to the U.S. until 2008 when he was almost 11.

“During those five years, every night I would say my prayers that I would be adopted,” Kelvin Lewis said. “It almost became like a repetition, kind of. I would just always be praying, ‘Please let me be adopted.’”

LaCinda Lewis said she fell in love with her son immediately, but was naive about the adoption process. She ultimately made five trips to the country without being able to bring him home.

“Every time she came I thought I would be able to go with her,” Kelvin Lewis said. “Then the moment where she would find out she couldn’t take me — it was very emotional every time, I won’t lie. Tears were definitely shed between us. I became a little discouraged, but tried to see how in the end it would all come together.”

Coming to Arizona

The Slater family faced similar difficulties as they worked to adopt Afonso and two of his siblings, but in 2008 they were able to travel to the U.S. and finish the adoption process there. Kelvin Lewis arrived in the U.S. later the same year.

“Before (Afonso) came we were staying with the same family, so I helped him pack to come to the United States,” Kelvin Lewis said. “So I knew he was here. I didn’t necessarily know how far he lived, I just knew that we would live close to each other. It wasn’t until I came here that we realized that we could go to the same school.”

The remarkable story of how the friends ended up so close together was picked up by numerous media outlets after first being shared in “The Arizona Republic.” However, those who were involved don’t think it was just chance that Kelvin Lewis and Afonso Slater ended up being neighbors.

“It’s hard,” LaCinda Lewis said. “I’m talking to the ‘Huffington Post’ and I’m talking to ‘The Daily Mail’ in the United Kingdom — I’m talking to people and they think it’s just such a coincidence. And I said, ‘You know, this is actually God-driven.’”

Kelvin Lewis said he considers it a blessing to have his friend nearby. When he first arrived in Arizona, Afonso Slater was acting as an interpreter since the boys’ native language was Portuguese.

“He was able to speak English a little more than me, so he helped me a lot with just simple communication things,” Kelvin Lewis said. “It was also nice having him around because I was not just a stranger somewhere, I had somebody who I knew and that I could relate with and actually have conversations with.”

Plans for the future

The two young men currently live about a mile and a half apart from each other and act like brothers, according to LaCinda Lewis. She said they do everything together, from playing soccer and going on dates to sneaking out of class to go out to lunch.

Just three weeks ago, the friends were awarded their Eagle Scout together. Kelvin Lewis actually completed the requirements two years ago, but wanted to wait for his friend to finish together, according to his mom.

They only have about a month and a half left of high school, after which they plan to head to BYU. The Lewis and Slater families both have long ties to the school, according to LaCinda Lewis. She and her husband both graduated from the university and her youngest son will be the last of their eight children to attend BYU.

Kelvin Lewis said he plans to work over the summer to save money for his studies. He still keeps in touch with extended family in Mozambique and plans to return someday as a doctor, according to his mom. The Lewis family created a non-profit to help find foster homes for children at the ASEM orphanage where the two friends stayed from 2003 to 2004.

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