Editor’s Note: J.B. Cruz, 28, of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, spent the past two years as a volunteer in the Middle East, from July 2007 to July 2009. He was in the experimental first wave of volunteers from the South America (SAM) and Mexico and Central America (MAC) regions sent to the Middle East through Project Isaiah. In total, three volunteers were selected to help advance the church in the Eurasia Region’s Eastern Mediterranean Field. To learn more about these projects and their results, read the article in NCN News.
Cruz talked with Engage magazine about his experiences in the Middle East, and what he plans to do now that he has returned home to Guatemala.
Engage: How did you first realize a call on your life to missions?
Cruz: It’s very curious because it didn’t start, “I have to go to missions.” Every time I went to church, I was just praying to God, “Please God, use me and do whatever you want with me. My life is your life.”
At that point I started serving at the local level with NYI (Nazarene Youth International), SDMI (Sunday School Discipleship Ministries International) and NMI (Nazarene Missions International). Then I remember I heard this guy preaching—Scott Armstrong. He was preaching about Luke 9: 57-62. I remember hearing a call to serve the nations and I remember I just felt this push to step forward and say, “Here I am. I want to serve Him.”
Engage: After you were accepted with Project Isaiah, how did you prepare and raise your support?
Cruz: I was just praying and just feeling God’s peace in my life. I had to resign from my job and tell the people at my church about all the help I needed. It was really hard because some people literally called me stupid—people around me. Even some Christian leaders told me, “You don’t have to go there. I don’t believe it’s your call. You shouldn’t go there.” But it was because they were afraid something would happen to me. It was a big struggle. Raising the funds was also hard.
Engage: What was your assignment in the Middle East?
Cruz: Our goal was to make connections with nonbelievers.
Engage: How did you do that?
Cruz: I was there as a student trying to learn Arabic and trying to learn the culture. I was working as a volunteer in a school for handicapped kids. That was something very special because I was the only guy in the school, and plus, I was the only Christian guy working at the school. The kids were so special—we had Down’s Syndrome kids and autistic kids. I would lay on the floor and let all the kids jump on me and play with my beard. It was really amazing. Sometimes when I was holding them I would say in their ears, “Jesus te ama” (“Jesus loves you” in Spanish). You never know how God is going to work.
I was also working in a hotel, and I was trying to show people as much as possible [that I was a Christian]. They will realize the way you act that they treat you differently. You will find the doors open to share. I have seen God move in this way.
The concept they have of Christians and Christianity is very different, it’s mistaken. …. Sometimes we didn’t need to be preaching with a Bible in our hands, but because the way they saw us living the lifestyle as a Christian they said, “OK, these guys are different.”
Engage: Did you stay in one place the whole two years?
Cruz: There’s a hospital in the north, and we were working there also. I spent about four or five months in the north of the country. We were moving from one place to another for security. We realized that the secret police knew about us and they were keeping track of us and what we were doing. It was hard because you have contacts in one place, but when you are moving you can’t keep a relationship with them. That was the hard part; it was hard to meet the contacts.
Engage: Tell about some of the people with whom you built relationships.
Cruz: Just before we got back [to Guatemala], we decided to help a friend with his ministry with [workers from a nearby country]. People treat them really, really bad; the heaviest work is for [these immigrant workers]. We went to their houses. By houses I mean really small rooms without good ventilation, a few mattresses and, in some places, five or six people living in a small room. We were sharing with them.
Every time we went to their houses I used to buy those big Coke bottles because they love Coke, and we’d share. They were like, “Please don’t bring that.” They were ashamed because I was the guest. We’d sit on the floor and they were trying to find something for me to sit on––a chair or a pillow. I said, “No, don’t worry, I will sit on the floor with you.”
When we told them we had to leave the country, they were so sad. “Don’t leave, please stay with us. Why do you have to leave?” It was nice to see God was using [us] and He was creating this bond with the people over there. Every single person we met over there said, “Why are you leaving?” and people would look for a job for us just to keep us there. They became a part of my life and I love to be in touch with them.
What was amazing—I have to praise God—we were so blended with the people there, we went in and God was opening the doors for us. We went to their houses, we were part of their families—very close friends with these people.
Engage: What was the most important thing you saw God accomplish?
Cruz: We may not see a huge transformation right now, but we’re sure God used us to plant the seeds over there. I can’t tell you a time, but I know there is going to be a day when God will harvest those seeds over there. I just know they were sensitive to whatever we were saying. I know God touched them, but we were just instruments, just tools moving from one place to another. I can feel it; I am sure.
Engage: What significance does this project hold for the Church in your region?
Cruz: As a church, we know now it is possible for us to go there, for the Latin church to send people there. There is a whole huge field waiting for the Latin church over there.
In the place [where] I worked [in the Middle East], right before we got back here, I saw the newspaper saying Spanish is becoming the second most popular language in that country after English. People want to study it. God is showing us the way. Actually, we were teaching in Spanish for a few months over there. I think the message for the Latin church we are bringing—it’s not, “Look at us,” but “Look at the field—the field is there and it is open for the church.” Maybe it’s not easy and not cheap, but nothing is impossible.
There are 11 Nazarene churches over there—Arab Nazarene churches. That’s a blessing. I want to let people know, even though it’s a hard place, a hard land, the church is alive. It’s coming from hard times but it’s alive and hungry. It’s interested in growing, in being in a personal relationship with God. So people can keep praying for these churches also. Many of the pastors have been under pressure from the government.
Engage: What are your plans now?
Cruz: Right now I’m just asking God what to do. I have many ideas about things to do here. There is a huge need here, there’s so much to do here. And also my personal life—I need to finish college, but the thing is, I need also to work like a secular job to pay for college.
Engage: Would you like to return to the Middle East or participate in missions again?
Cruz: I’m really open. If God shows me the way, the same way He did this time, if I see God opening the doors and I see God providing everything, I will go. I don’t have any objection to whatever He wants.