La historia de Estaban (Stephen's story)

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, Who makes things grow.  The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.  For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."                      1 Corinthians 3:6-9

I would like to introduce you to a young man named Estaban Santos.  His family is from Calacali and he is one of our active facilitators.  In fact, so are his two brothers Santi and Wilmar.  We call them the "Santos Brothers" and I can't say enough about their contribution to our ministry at El Refugio.

Estaban's story started years ago when he was 8 or 9 years old and he attended one of the VBS held here on property by one of the work teams from the states.  This was the beginning for him, the seed was planted, where he first heard "La Historia de Jesucristo" or the story of Jesus Christ. 

Years went by and Estaban became a facilitator and then attended our first session of "Aire Libre" (far right).  Over time the saving message about what Christ did for him went deeper and deeper into his heart until it all made sense and he decided to accept Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

Estaban decided to make his testimony public and follow the Lord in baptism.  His story comes full circle, because he was baptized in the jungle with one of our work teams from the States.  Rick Borman (right) and Juan Carlos Cevellos (left) were the ones to baptize Estaban because Rick was there in the beginning and Juan Carlos is the person who, over the years communicated and clarified the gospel to Estaban.

"having been buried with him in baptism..."  Colossians 2:12a

"...and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."  Colossians 2:12b

This is the testimony of one life touched by the ministry of El Refugio.  Last year alone, our ministry  hosted over 2000 people who passed through our ministry gates.  They came on work teams from the states, attended retreats held by churches or participated in one of our events hosted by the programming  team.  They are students, leaders, youth pastors, people of all ages,  and in each of their lives, it is our call to be obedient to the task God has called us to do, and leave the results to God. 

"...but only God..." 1 Corinthians 3:7