Take your place
in history

When Diego nears the coast today, the smell of salt air takes him back more than 20 years to a time when he was 14 and striking out on his own to find work on the banana plantations.

When he arrived at his destination, the hardworking teen quickly landed a job. Just as quickly, he also landed new friends … in a local gang.

Today, fading tattoos on his body mark his two-decade journey serving this brotherhood. He’d not planned to live a life of violence, crime and alcoholism. But after a time, he didn’t want to hear about any alternative.

“My mind was just too rebellious,” Diego says. “Many people talked to me about believing in Jesus. I had been in jail in Guatemala in 1994 and even before.”

Finally his lifestyle led to a crisis. Diego’s belly began to swell. Before long, he was doubled over in pain that grew worse and worse. A trip to the hospital brought some relief, but also a disturbing diagnosis.

“It’s cirrhosis,” the doctor said. “And it’s incurable.”

“So I looked for some other ways to heal my life,” Diego says. “I never found any. I suffered for a long time. Then I remembered about God. I looked for Him to see if He really existed.”

Diego fasted and prayed for three days.

“Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — I prayed for two hours a day,” he says. “I talked to God and asked Him to forgive me. I was in much vice. I was lost and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have any escape. So I said, ‘Lord, if you really exist, heal me, because I can’t take it anymore. Otherwise I will kill myself. I don’t want to suffer anymore.’”

On the third day, God answered Diego, healing the cirrhosis and freeing him from addiction. Diego gave his life to Christ that day. “I automatically quit drinking,” he says.

That was eight years ago.