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This summer one of our interns, Josh, shared his testimony with Pastor Luis. With Josh's permission we are sharing with you:
On June 18, 2015, I truly gave my heart to Jesus. I was born and raised in a Christian family, I have been going to church every week since I was a baby, and I was baptized when I was 14, but that didn't mean that I was truly a Christian. My parents are also both ordained ministers in the Wesleyan Church.
The summer of 2015 was the first time I went to Guatemala. Before going, I had gone through some very hard times in my personal life. They were so stressful and painful that it almost pushed me away from God completely and made me question his very existence. Thankfully, I still had a little bit of hope left (thanks to my parents) and I pushed myself to go to Guatemala. It was, singlehandedly, the 2nd best decision I have made in my life (the first was truly accepting Jesus).
On June 18th, at 8 am, pastor Luis was giving his morning devotional before we were about to have breakfast, but this devotional was different. Even though he was talking to everybody in the room, it felt like he was talking directly to me. Everything he was saying was true in my life, an it even hurt to hear him say the things he was saying. The part that got me the most though was when he said "you can go to church everyday and have Christian parents, but that does NOT make you a Christian." I always knew that was true, but this time I finally realized that I was that guy that he was talking about.
At the end of his devotional, he asked us to put our heads down and raise our hands if we wanted to start a new relationship with God. My heart was beating so hard and fast it was like had I sprinted three miles and swam across an ocean. I took that as a sign from God that I was making the right choice. Pastor Luis said amen, then told the people that raised their hands to talk to their team leaders. I walked over to my team leader (Lori Stanger) and told her the good news.
She then looked at me, with tears in her eyes, and said "I knew it was you."
This is my testimony. Ever since then my life has changed drastically and has been full of blessings, both big and small. Lots and lots of trials too, but those are just blessings in disguise. Thank you Pastor Luis for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of your team; a team that spreads the Word of God to hungry children (both physically and spiritually) and abuelitos and turns them into shining beacons of hope, spreading God's words and teachings through the mountains and villages of Guatemala. Thank you once again and I hope that, God willing, I'll be able to came back for way more than 3 weeks next year. I will be praying for you, the Impacto staff, and the kids from Happy Tummies and Abuelitos.
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