What's Your "WHY?"
Over the past two years, Cherene and I have been led to seek out the best way to define our "WHY." This is the reason we do all that we do. The drive behind our purpose in ministry. A statement that explains how we measure our involvement in any adventure, and it outlines for others the boundaries of the course that we journey on each day.
Our WHY states:
To Equip, Support, and Connect current and future generations of pastors, missionaries, and church planters as we take the Gospel to the nations.
Building relationships of trust, care, and love with these leaders not only fulfills my WHY, but it fills my heart with great love and thankfulness that I am called to encourage such amazing men and women. We believe that it is their Biblical mandate to give leadership to the Body of Christ in their community for the purpose of taking the Gospel to the unreached.
I want to share a little bit about one such man. A man that has encouraged and challenged me every day that we have had the opportunity to spend together. A man who has become a piece of me, and who has along with his family, have taken a very special place in my heart.
Cayetano Telon
Cayetano is a new believer. It was only in November of 2015 that he surrendered his life to Christ and started to follow the Lord with passion. His spiritual journey begins with his wife Velma as she began building a relationship with Mitch and Amanda Munoz, our young missionary church planters. After a short time, Amanda asked Velma if she would mind if they brought dinner to their house for her family and have a chance to meet the rest of the family. It was at this meal that the Munoz ask if she would be willing to host a little Bible study occasionally for other villagers to come and learn about God's Word.
As Cayetano tells the story, "When my wife asked if she could host a Bible study at our house, I told her it would be fine as long as they don't disturb me, and don't ask me to participate with you." So over the next few months, every time the group met at the house, Cayetano would sit in the next room, and try his best to ignore what was going just on the other side of the wall. Cayetano admits now that the Holy Spirit was just bugging him and using every Scripture and prayer spoken in his home to draw him to faith and an understanding of his need for the Savior.
After many weeks, and the tugging at his heart by the Holy Spirit, Cayetano decided one day that he would join the others in the Bible study. Mitch explains that he and Amanda were so thankful to have a convenient place for the small group of adults to meet, but they were praying that Cayetano would join the others meeting in his home for the study. When Cayetano joined the group everyone was excited to see their prayers answered. They continued to pray that the Lord would draw Cayetano to Himself through the Word of God. That is exactly what the Holy Spirit did, and so much more.
Just a few weeks after joining in on the Bible study, Cayetano asked Mitch if he would answer some questions he had about the Bible and Jesus. Through a back and forth conversation, Cayetano confessed his need for a Savior and expressed that he had faith to believe that only Jesus could save all men from their sins. That day he began a relationship with Christ, the same way that the Munoz built a relationship with his family. Intentionally and consistently since that day Cayetano has sought to know more and more about who Christ is in his life. He desires to show others the change that Christ has made in his life and help them to know the Biblical truth that they too need forgiveness from the Savior. Cayetano, Velma, and their oldest daughter were baptized by Mitch and Esau shortly after coming to Christ.
It may have only been a few months, but as early as March (just 4 months later) the impact that he was having through his new life as a believer was very tangible. A transformation had taken place in his heart and was taking over his actions, attitude, desires, love for others, and love for God's Word. He served the missions team this spring with all the wisdom and effort of a person who was many years longer in their spiritual journey. By end of the week with this group of high school students, Cayetano was sharing with them dreams of a church, and his desire to talk to others in the village about Christ. He asked for Bibles for the study group, and to take to other families as he visited them. He was going home to home, person to person, asking questions about their needs and asking about ways that he might be able to pray for them.
As the year progressed and the summer groups began to minister in the village, it was so evident that Cayetano was growing in his understanding of God's love, his willingness to serve others, and his passion for seeing others know Christ and His saving power. He and Velma were praying every day that their children (five in total), their family, and their neighbors would have an opportunity through the missionary groups to hear the Gospel and be given a chance to respond. But Cayetano put more than prayer behind his desire to see others know Christ, he began to take action, thinking through who would talk with a group of Americans, and who would invite them into their home. As the groups looked to take direction from him, it was evident that he knew each need, and had prayerfully considered which family to send a group to visit, take a food bag, or just have prayer with them.
His planning and efforts to connect with the others in his village would be plenty of work, even for an experienced pastor or church planter, but Cayetano is a share-cropper by vocation and a mason by trade. To feed his family and take the Gospel to the village meant that he would have to somehow spend the summer balancing work in the field with his crops, working with the mission teams, and investing in relationships with others in the village.
Because of my role in leading the teams, it afforded me the opportunity to work alongside Cayetano doing physical labor for community development and assisting in following the list he had made of families to take food bags. He even surprised us one day by walking to the neighboring village to meet with the mission team and assist them in following up with others who expressed interest in being baptized as a new believer in Christ. He told us that day, "Tending to my crops in the field is very important for my family, but taking the Gospel to my neighbors is more important for them and their eternity."
"Tending to my crops in the field is very important for my family, but taking the Gospel to my neighbors is more important for them and their eternity."
We ended our time together this summer working on fastening a tin roof onto a new structure for the Bible study to meet. We had been working on the building all week. As he climbed down off the completed roof of the new building it began to pour rain. It was time to go, and the rain was encouraging us to get down off the mountain. I walked away after a firm embrace from my friend, with tears flowing down my face like the rain falling from the sky. I was sad to be leaving my friend, knowing it would be months before we saw each other again, but more than that, my tears were the overflow of joy that filled my life from a relationship with such a great man and his family.
In all my years of ministry and service here in the US and abroad, the Lord has given me many friends, but often times these men never get to know my family much less their names and ages. With my and Cherene's role at Mobilizing Students, we have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the Telon family, and the opportunity to take our kids to Guatemala and work alongside Cayetano and his family for a week. Landon worked to help him lead a small group on a building project in the village and also spent days doing physical labor together. Kaleb helped with distribution of food bags and walked hand in hand with Junior (Cayetano's youngest son) all through the village. Savanna and Marissa worked most of the week in other villages but were both able to come help with the kid's ministry two different evenings hosted at the Telon's home. What a joy and privilege to have your own children know your friend, and to be friends with his family.
I guess you could even say, that God gifted both Cayetano and myself with the perfect match of wives and kids so that we would understand each other so well. Cayetano, Velma, and I even have our birthdays three days in a row. The Telons and the Melendez both have five children, three girls, and two boys. Cayetano fell in love with Landon that week working in the mud, and I love his boys, always selfishly having them help with my group as we work with kids, walk the village, and just sit to have lunch.
But probably the greatest joy was to have the whole Telon family join the group one evening at the hotel for dinner, swimming in the pool, and sleeping in their own rooms for the night. The kids rummaged through stacks of clothes that previous teams had left behind to give away, the made goodie bags with crafts and small toys, and they swam for hours in the pool screaming with delight every few minutes. At dinner, the team each took one family member to sit next to and served them dinner as the special guest. The table conversation between the Telon family and the team was very elementary consisting of less than forty words of common understanding. But that night..... The Holy Spirit did all the translating, and He used every smile, laugh, caring touch, hug, "Gracias," and "De Nada" to fill our hearts with a memory that none of us would exchange for all of the money in the world.
But it was at an event later that week that took place which demonstrates best, the calling on Cayetano's life to be the spiritual leader of his home, village, and surrounding community. Mitch and the team made arrangements to have a baptismal service for seven villagers from three different villages who each had expressed a desire to follow the Lord in baptism. This is a big step for each of them, as they would now be recognized and labeled as a Christian in the village which is dominated by Catholicism. At the service, the group wanted to do a foot washing ceremony before the baptisms, and then would share the Lord's Supper with everyone in attendance after the baptisms. Singing and a message, with lots of prayer time mixed in, concluded the plans for a special service and a memorable experience for all. It wasn't until everyone gathered at the pool, that they witnessed Cayetano taking on the mantel of leadership for his community in the most tangible way. He got down and washed the feet of the others preparing to be baptized. He humbled himself with joy and served and loved his fellow villages and believers through a physical demonstration of love and respect. He then got into the pool himself to baptize his oldest son, Kevin. Again taking a step of outward action to display to others his role as the spiritual leader of his family.
My only regret is that I had to watch the baptismal service via live video because I was on my way to Puerto Rico to meet teams in San Juan. But I still was able to witness this moment of my friend taking on the role of pastor, serving and loving his community. I am thankful for the opportunity over the last year to building a relationship of trust, care, and love with Cayetano. It fulfills my WHY, but it also fills my heart with great love and thankfulness that I am called to encourage such an amazing man of God. A man that has encouraged and challenged me. A friend who has become a piece of me, and who has a very special place in my heart.
Cayetano has found his WHY, and it is evident in his actions. He has found his purpose through the power of Christ in his life. What about you? If I were to ask you to share your WHY, could you give me a quick, brief description that describes your passion in life? Would it be rooted in your Faith, formed by a life transformation that has taken place in you?
Would you share yours with us? Love to hear your WHY in the comments below, it may encourage others just like Cayetano.
Mateo Melendez
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