Coming Full Circle

Have I told you that God used a missionary to reach me? Not only did he share the Gospel with me, but he also discipled me for three years, encouraged me, and gave me advice on how to start my formal education at a Bible institute. Allow me to share with you how all this happened.

In the late 80’s I was finishing high school and had a lot of problems due to my rebellion and my relationship with other young people in gangs. I remember a young, skinny, tall, blonde guy that came to Mexico with a program called Spearhead (now Avance). His name was Tom, and Tom would wait for me to walk past the bus stop, and sometimes he would even wait at the door of my house. As soon as he would see me, he would start to share his faith with that unmistakable American accent. He would always tell me that Jesus loved me and that He wanted to give me a rich and abundant life. In return, I would make fun of him, or I would threaten him, telling him that if he didn’t leave me alone he would receive a beating from my gang. Tom would answer, “It doesn’t matter if that is what is necessary to bring you to Jesus.”

The truth is, we, myself and other kids, didn’t know how to stop him from “bothering” us, so I asked him what it is he wanted from us just so he would stop pursuing us. He told us if we went to see a movie with him then he would leave us alone.  The following Sunday night I found myself in the front row of the movie thinking that as soon as the movie was over, I would disappear and never see him again.

But it didn’t happen that way. At the end of the movie I didn’t disappear. Instead I was crying like a child on my knees, asking the Lord to forgive my sins. Tom hugged me and said, “Welcome to the family of God, brother.” After this day, for the next three years, Tom discipled me and showed me what it means to follow Jesus, including denying my own life if necessary.

Almost 25 years have gone by. After years of serving the Lord, I find myself on the path to go to a Muslim country to show the light of Jesus with my wife and two children among the unreached. Praise God!

By: Jaime serving in the Middle East/ North Africa