A few days ago I had the privilege to experience firsthand what obedience and sacrifice look like.  Even as a missionary who has experienced the hand of God in many miraculous situations, I was awed at how he works in the life of his followers.

My wife, Emily, and I welcomed nearly 200 teenagers and adults to Guatemala City, Guatemala for a week-long Maxima Mission event.  Maxima Mission seeks to reach communities for Christ using evangelism, compassionate ministries, work projects, and children’s ministries.

During this event, the participants were able to hear many wonderful speakers who challenged them to follow the call of God on their lives, surrender everything to him in abandon, and serve as Jesus’ ambassadors in their communities and around the world.  On one occasion, Vanessa Cruz, a volunteer missionary from Nicaragua sent to plant churches in Spain, shared her testimony of how God had called her and prepared her as a child and young adult for his missionary service.  She humbly admitted that, although her church and many churches around the region had been faithful in giving beyond their means so that she could be sent to Spain, she had still not been able to raise the total amount for her trip and her ministry in Europe.

One day after the Maxima Mission event ended, I received a call.  Danilo*, a 15 year-old who had participated in the event, began to explain to me how God had changed his heart during the previous week.  The phone connection was poor and I struggled to grasp what this young man was telling me, but I gathered that he also wanted to donate his computer so that Vanessa Cruz would be able to use the funds earned from the sale of the computer for her ministry in Spain.  I was astonished at this, but told him that I would come by his house to chat with him and his mom the next day, and to pick up the computer.

I know this family fairly well; in fact Danilo’s mom, Maria, is the pastor of one of the 10 new church plants that were launched during the Maxima Mission event.  This family has very little.  Danilo’s mom and dad separated 11 years ago, and making ends meet has consistently been a struggle for them. I assumed that the computer that Danilo was going to donate was at least 15 years old and in fairly poor condition.

Imagine my surprise when I entered their living room the next day and saw a beautiful new computer with all the bells and whistles!  I looked around.  Dilapidated furniture, aging concrete floors, and walls that had not been painted in years surrounded us.  And here on a rickety table used for sewing, sat a new computer with speakers, printer, etc.!  Did this teenager understand what he was doing? This computer represented nearly all that this family owned.

Danilo began to tell me that his father had given him this new computer as a gift for his birthday a year earlier.  It was a great sacrifice for his Dad to give him the computer and Danilo and his brothers had used it to write papers for school, listen to music, etc.  He showed me the receipt from one year earlier and my eyes grew large as I read the amount—U$1,350.00.  Maria was crying throughout this entire conversation and kept reiterating that she was so proud of her boy, even though she knew what this would cost their family.  I looked Danilo in the eyes and asked him if he understood what he was doing.  He looked me straight in the eyes and told me, “I know God is telling me to give you this computer.  I want you to sell it and give all the money to the missionary from Nicaragua.  I have talked with both my mom and my dad and they are in agreement with me doing this.  I know what I am doing and I am very glad that I can help someone who is in need.”
   
What can this 15 year-old teach our region about sacrifice and obedience? Vanessa is one of 7 youth from our region voluntarily giving 2 years of their lives to minister in Spain and the Middle East through Projects Isaiah and Caleb.  Many countries in Mexico and Central America have received missionaries in the past century and now—especially in the past decade—we are seeing missionaries being sent from this region to other countries!  But sending our own missionaries requires sacrifice in prayer, time, and yes—in finances.  If a 15 year-old can give almost all he has, what can we give? What does God want me to do for the kingdom?
   
*Because of this family’s desire to remain anonymous in their donation, their names have been changed in this story.