One of the most dangerous migration routes in the world runs through Costa Rica. Every day, SMG employees Marco and Damaris meet people who have left everything behind to escape violence, poverty and a lack of prospects. Many of them come from Venezuela. Their journey took them through the dreaded Darién jungle and through countries full of corruption, cartels and violence. Rejected at the border to America, they turn back. Hopeless and disillusioned.
And this is exactly where Marco and Damaris meet them.
They distribute food, clothing and medicine, listen to people, pray with them and organize an open-air service every Sunday. They not only want to provide help for the body, but also hope for the soul.
One of many is Venezuelan Luis. Barely 18 years old. He has been traveling alone in various South American countries since the age of 14, always on the lookout for work. His dream: the USA. Like thousands of others, he set off. Months later, he stood before Marco and Damaris again – failed, sent back, stranded in a ghetto.
Marco and Damaris helped him return to Venezuela. Paperwork, embassy, travel, fees – a long way to go. But back home, the familiar struggles awaited him: arrest, corruption, no work, no prospects. Yes, only Jesus could be a living hope for him.
Today Luis is on the road again. New borders, new risks, new search for work. How will his story end? Will he open his heart to Jesus? Only God knows. He sees Luis and he stays by his side.
Mission does not mean experiencing perfect happy endings. It means being there where people break – and showing them Jesus. To be Jesus to them.
Perhaps God is also calling you to tell such hopeless people about Jesus. Maybe not here, but somewhere. Maybe not sometime. Maybe now?
Read Luis’ full story here: https://smg.swiss/de/mission-report/ein-gesicht-unter-tausenden
A story from SMG.
