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Resilience In God: Raul's Faith Journey- Part 4
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Resilience In God: Raul's Faith Journey- Part 4

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Hi friends! On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we have the last part of what Raul recently shared about his faith journey.  For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below.  If you would like to continue to stay up to date on Raul’s mission work, please find him on Instagram @missionsbyrt.  Also, if you feel called to financially support his most recent endeavor to get to Mexico, there will be information on how to do that at the end.  Thank you again Raul for sharing all the amazing ways in which God is moving in your life.  Once again Jeff, my husband, will help today with the voice of Raul’s story.  If you enjoy this post, please share it with others using the share button below.  With that, let’s dive into Raul’s story. Enjoy!

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After God told me to go into the mission field, I immediately prayed about what to do next.  As soon as I decided to act, the heavy spiritual weight, which started at the gym, immediately lifted off me.  It was time to take a step toward what God was calling me to do. 

When I previously went on mission to translate with my friend, we stopped by the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) ministry base.  It was located near where he lived. My church also had connections with that same mission.  I called the leader of the YWAM base the day after God told me to go into the mission field.  I knew they were constructing a building there, so I asked her if I could volunteer on that project.  She welcomed me to come and help them for few days. 

I arrived at YWAM and began my 3-day volunteer opportunity.  By the second day, the leader asked me if I wanted to stay at the base and keep volunteering past the third day.  I was not sure I was ready for that.  Even though my mom had a good job by then, and my family did not need me to support them financially, I still hesitated.  I was scared to leave things behind, and I was also in the process of trying to write my thesis at my university to finish my degree. 

When the leader at YWAM offered me an opportunity to stay, she had no idea that the Lord had called me to step into the mission field just a few days before.  I told her I needed to pray before I gave her an answer.  When I prayed and asked God, He was very clear once more.  He told me, “You should stay.”  I said, “Well Lord, if you are telling me this, I will trust you.  If this is your will, I can’t do anything against it.”  The next day I accepted the offer.

I volunteered at YWAM for the next 6 months.  I did construction, maintained the grounds, cleaned, painted, and participated in ministry.  While I was serving at YWAM, I received a call from my lawyer.  He told me it was time to acquire my permanent residency and get a Panamanian ID.  The cost for the process was $1,000 plus another $150 in lawyer fees.  At the time, I was volunteering and did not have any income coming in.  My bank account had $40 in it.

Even though I had no money, I took a step of faith, and went to Panama City to go through the process to get my ID.  My cousin, Diego, let me stay in his home.  While I was there, he told me that unfortunately he did not have any money to lend me.  Diego asked me how I was going to pay for this ID since I had almost nothing.  I told him that I was going to pray about it that night and maybe tomorrow there was going to be money somehow.  I did not know how that was going to happen, but I prayed.

The next morning, I woke up and there was $700 in my bank account.  It just appeared.  I did not know who sent the money because a name did not show up in my bank account history.  Then, later that very same day, I received a message from my friend that wanted to help me.  He sent me $383. 

Diego was in shock.  He could not believe that in one day I suddenly had $1,083.  However, I still needed around $100 to pay my lawyer fee as well.  Diego apologized again and said that he did not have any money to give as he was taking care of his wife and kids.  I told him not to worry, we were still praying.

It was a Saturday, so Diego and I left the house for a while.  It was amazing to see how God had already moved and provided.  By the time we arrived back at my cousin’s home that day, another friend had called me.  He told me that he wanted to help me out and sent me $300.  So, out of nowhere, I had $1,383.  I needed $1,150, and God had provided me with even more all in a single day.  It was a miracle.  

During that time, God was also making an impression on my cousin as well.  Diego used to live in Venezuela before he moved to Panama where he eventually became Christian again.  He married a Christian girl, went to church, and they lived a relatively normal life.  However, they always had the desire to move to another country. 

When Diego witnessed what God was doing that weekend and my faith in God, he was amazed.  Two years later, he and his wife decided to move to China to become missionaries.  Even though they are not allowed to openly say they are Christian there, they are still in China teaching those around them “values” in the school they are in.  God did many things through that miracle He did that Saturday.  

After I received my permanent residency, I went back to YWAM.  Once I completed my volunteer time, I decided to go back home to finish my thesis at my university.  Right before I left, the leader at YWAM asked me to consider doing their Discipleship Training School (DTS) once I finished my studies.  I told her I would pray about it.

The reality was that I was at a crossroads in my life.  I still had the desire to go to the Logos Hope ship and do ministry there, but now I had the opportunity to do YWAM’s DTS.  I was already in the mission field as God asked, but now I wanted to go on the ship as I had dreamed.  I prayed about it and wondered what I was going to do. 

I decided to call the leader of OM, the organization that ran Logos Hope.  He said that it would be good for me to go to DTS, finish school, and come to the ship after that.  So, for one month I focused on my university work and finished my thesis.  Afterward, I went back to YWAM and started their DTS program.

DTS was a 5-month program that included a 3-month lecture phase and a 2-month mission.  During the lectures we were taught topics that were relevant to the mission field such as world vision, the Bible, and mission frontiers.  For the mission phase, we went many places including Bocas del Toro, which was another province, the comarcas, and back to YWAM.  It was an incredible experience.  God was working through me the entire time.  I saw miracles and we had many opportunities to help others. 

We went to some of the farthest indigenous reservations to do ministry.  The Teribe people were one of the most isolated tribes.  They were in a very remote part of Bocas del Toro.  The Teribe still had a king that ran the reservation.  When we went in, we had to bow down to their king and ask if he would give us permission to come in.  By the grace of God, the king allowed us to enter.  We were scared to be there. We were told that if the king decided that we could not leave, then we had to stay.  There was no way to get out because the government and police did not go into that place.  We were with the Teribe people for four days and shared the gospel with the kids there.  It was an incredible time of ministry.

After we got back from our outreach, I decided to leave YWAM to go back home.  The day I arrived home, someone from the God Will Provide ministry called and asked me to be a translator at their kids’ camp.  I agreed and served there for a week.  When I arrived back home in Chiriqui, I sat down to have dinner with my mom to catch up.  Suddenly, my phone rang.  Nina, from Manos de Fe, called and asked if I could come translate for them the next day.  My mom looked at me, smiled, and said, “Go!”  When I got back home from Manos de Fe, God Will Provide called to ask me to come back out again and translate, so I went out once more. 

During this time, I began making plans to finally make my way out to serve on the Logos Hope ship.  It was a dream that I had since 2018.  It was October of 2022, so I had waited 4 years.  I was finally close and planned to join the ship in January 2023.  My church supported me, I received funds from people to go, and some were even going to pay for my ticket to fly out to Jerusalem to join the Logos Hope ship there.  I was finally ready.

But then, God spoke to me again that October.  I was taking a shower and God told me, “You need to stay.  You don’t need to go on the boat.” I was upset.  I said, “What?  No God.  I want to go.  That’s my dream.  That’s my own dream, I want to go on that boat.”  But He was clear.  God told me I needed to stay, to plant, and to reap.  I struggled and asked so many whys in that moment, but I stayed.  In November, I signed a commitment to serve at the YWAM base for one year.

I was serving, doing missions, and was very busy.  I had opportunities to go to Manos de Fe to translate and, on a personal note, God made a way for me to return to Venezuela over Christmas.  Someone bought me a ticket to fly there, so after 7 years, I was finally able to return to my country and visit family there.  It was amazing. 

When I returned from my Christmas vacation, I started working a lot.  There was so much to be done at YWAM and with different ministries.   We were helping 10 kids receive a better education, I was leading a group out to the comarcas, and I was helping with the 2-month mission portion of their YWAM DTS program.  We spent time with different tribes of people, visited houses, and did a lot of ministry.

The day I was going out to the comarcas, I looked at my phone and saw a notification on my Instagram account.  There was this beautiful lady that had requested to follow me.  I accepted her request.  Her name was Daniela. 

We started messaging and quickly learned a lot about one another.  She lived in a different country, in Cancun, Mexico.  We later found out that we had several mutual friends.  After a week, we felt super close, like spiritually close.  Although we only texted and had never seen each other in person or by video call, we felt very bonded to each other.  We didn’t understand how everything was happening so quickly.  We decided to independently fast for 4 days, ask the Lord what was happening, and then do a video call to share what we received from the Lord.   

When it was time for our video call, I told Daniela all the things that I heard from the Lord.  Suddenly, she said she needed to leave the call.  I was upset with myself.  What did I do?  But then Daniela called me and told me everything was okay.  She just needed a moment because she was overwhelmed.  Everything that God revealed to us about each other connected.  It was incredible because it was all the same.  We knew our relationship was good because it was being led by God.

After that day, I continued my mission work, and I also received my university degree in Business Administration.  Daniela and I continued talking, and I tried to apply for a visa to go to Mexico.  I was denied both times I applied.  Since I am Venezuelan, I was told that they required bank statements showing at least $3,500 in my account before they would consider my application.  I was in the process of trying to save and fundraise that money, but I was not there yet.  I could not get to Mexico.

Finally, I asked Daniela to come to Panama instead.  I was going to be translating at Manos de Fe and asked if she wanted to join me.  She agreed and a friend bought a ticket for her to come.  We finally met face to face.  It was amazing.  We both felt called to be missionaries and hoped to one day work with orphans and refugees in the Middle East, specifically Turkey.  God continued to align us.  Our love continued to grow.  

Currently, we are taking more steps of faith to be together.  In December, I hope to go to Mexico.  We are in the process of trying to fundraise the money so I can apply for a visa again.  My desire is to meet her family, propose, and get married there.  We are praying to see if God wants us to stay there or to come back to Panama to do mission work, possibly at YWAM or Manos de Fe. 

Meeting Daniela makes me reflect on when God told me that I was not supposed to go on the Logos Hope ship.  In the moment, I remember I was frustrated, asking the whys, and feeling like a dream I had was delayed, but I did as He asked.  Looking back, I can see that God had a greater plan.  Knowing what I do now, I am thankful that I did what He called me to do.  I don’t regret for a single moment that I stayed instead of going on that ship.  God brought Daniela into my life instead.  His plan was better.

The last thing I wanted to share is a different story of faith.  It was that of my Uncle Arnoldo Jose.  He was the only one in my family in Venezuela that was Christian.  My entire life he told our family to turn to Christ, but we ignored him.  He was like a prophet saying, “Repent, repent, repent.”  None of us paid attention at the time.  Many years later, when I became Christian, I asked him why he never gave up on preaching, sharing the gospel, and showing us the goodness of God.  He told me, “I believe that my mission on earth is to evangelize to all my family and bring them back to Christ.  After that, I can die.”  When he passed away in 2019, my entire family on my mom’s side had all become Christian, and 4 of us, two cousins, my mom, and myself, all became missionaries.  Praise God.

Raul, thank you again for sharing your beautiful story with us.  If you felt called to help Raul get to Mexico to be with Daniela, you can message him through Instagram @missionsbyrt or give through paypal @raultorresbric.  They are so close to their goal, so anything would be appreciated.   If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with others by hitting the share button.  If you are not already a subscriber, consider doing a free or paid subscription so you don’t miss any content and to support my work. Thank you!

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Introductory music credits: Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/tyler-edwards/outlander License code: WCLTTYPQVG1T6F1K

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