Every Wednesday we go to a church in a town about 20 minutes away. We help out with this discipleship program called Project Zion, where Pastor Mauro is the leader of the church there. Today we got to hear his story. This man started working on the streets when he was around 7 years old. To earn money, he would usually sell fruits and/or whatever he thought people would want to buy. For a while he lived in a house with a lot of family, but as time passed he started to sleep on the streets. At the age of 8 he and some other kids that lived on the streets started to get into drinking. Yeah, he started to drink at the age of 8. Sometimes if he couldn’t earn enough money for food he would open up some garbage bags at the town dump and eat whatever was there. From what I could understand, he somehow ended up living with a stepfather from ages 12 to 14 who made him and the other kids pay rent or they couldn’t sleep in the house. At about 15, Pastor Mauro became independent making a living by doing construction work. Then at 16 he met his wife and they had their first kid that same year. After that, he began a business selling fake IDs and documents so he could support his family.
A few years down the road Mauro had a friend who told him that he would be playing music at a church one weekend. Mauro thought that was weird because he knew his friend played secular music and wasn’t involved in the church. Long story short, Pastor Mauro went to church and kept going to church. Then one day when he was there, feeling completely helpless and alone, he explained to us how he saw and felt the hand of the Lord grab his hand. Since then, he went on to learn the Gospel and become a pastor. So now he is obeying God’s call on his life by starting and running this church and raising up disciples in the community. So yeah, that’s the type of incredible people we get the privilege of partnering with. Pastor Mauro’s story is one of the most encouraging and inspiring stories I’ve ever heard. But to me, it is so incredible how people from any walk of life can be touched by God and be used in ways they couldn’t even imagine. So please keep Pastor Mauro and Project Zion in your prayers because God is doing breathtaking things in that community and it is such a privilege to be part of it.
