Mar 15, 2023 Encouraging Ronnie to Follow His Calling

Ronnie is a 14-year-old boy and was there every single night, helping us pass out crafts and helping the children participate, said Linda, the children’s program leader at the Jorgillo church site.

Melanie, Linda’s assistant, noticed something different about him. When we asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he wanted to be a pastor. He was very attentive for someone his age. At first, he was very timid, but then he let it all out, and then it was as if a light switch went off, and he began to participate.

In a sea of sometimes 100 childrenÑin the back, Ronnie would be sitting quietly, trying to sing along to the songs with the other little kids.

When it was craft time, he would immediately jump up to ask if he could help.

He even got his friend Gabriel to come to help us, Melanie recalls. He was trying to be a good influence on his friends. He was the only teenager who really stepped up, and I think some of the boys were making fun of him for doing so. You could see the internal battle of wanting to work for the Lord but then also not wanting to be made fun of.

But because Melanie and Linda noticed him, they encouraged his growth. Despite his peers making fun of him, he still served. We can only pray that our confidence in him continues to encourage him to serve and teach others to love the Lord as he does.

On our last day in the Dominican Republic, the pastor called all the Quiet Hour Ministries volunteers onto the stage. He said that today wasn’t goodbye, but that one day we would all be together again in heaven and be able to see all the fruits of our labors.

Doing mission work comes with the understanding that the short time you come in contact with people may be just a small part of their story. Sometimes your presence in their lives maybe not be a whole chapter but a page or even a paragraph. But every little interaction matters; you never know its lasting effects.

In this lifetime, we may never know what comes of the seeds we planted in Vallejuelo. We can only pray that those seeds continue to grow into a vine that can create other seeds.

So, we pray for people like Ronnie that the seed Melanie and Linda planted in his heart during their time with the children continues to grow and that he becomes the pastor he dreams of becoming.

As it says in 1 Corinthians 3:7, So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. All we can do is plant and water; it is He who works through us.