GAVINO'S TESTIMONY

I was born into a single-parent household. My mother and I are of Latino descent but lived in a small town in Ohio. Catholicism was our “FAMILY RELIGION”, but my mother had gotten saved in college. From the time my mother got saved to the time of having me, she had a lot of dark moments where she questioned God. When I was six we started to faithfully attend a Baptist church where she got right with God and surrendered her life to serve God. At the age of nine, we moved to Monterrey, Mexico, as missionaries where we lived in the home of Doyle and Dixie Johnson. I spent a lot of my time around ministry people-- pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and teachers. I knew how to play the part of a Christian, but I was as lost as any other sinner. I would tell my mother that I wasn’t saved, in order to get out of major discipline. We would pray, and I would avoid punishment, but later my mom began to catch on to my game. That threw a wrench in my plan. I sat under a lot of amazing  preaching, sometimes being convicted but nervous about what others would say or do. I thought,” I am a missionary’s kid; I’m good enough to go to heaven.” 

One day we were going to an anniversary service for a church that was started a year before. The guest speaker was Pastor Dave Smith who was accompanied by a group of men from his church to see the Johnson's ministry. I was super excited to hear his energetic preaching. Though I can’t remember what he was preaching about, I can remember the small, primitive church was packed. He asked everyone to bow their heads and to raise their hand if they were saved. I knew I could not raise my hand. He said, “ Everyone in here that did not raise your hand, hell is waiting for you! The torment and fire there will never stop, but Jesus wants to save you!” As I went home with the group that night, I was under heavy conviction. I felt Bro. Dave had noticed my unraised hand, but he never said anything - just gave me a slight hug before we went off to bed. Everyone else went to sleep, but I lay awake thinking, “Hell is waiting for me but Jesus wants to SAVE ME!” Finally, a few hours later, I woke up one of the men in the room. I told him that I was not saved. He took his Bible and started to give me the plan of salvation. I stopped him after the first verse and said, “I have these verses memorized; let's just pray.” I broke down, cried, and begged God to SAVE ME! I slept like a baby after that! The next morning when I told everyone about my decision for Christ, Bro. Dave told me he had noticed my unraised hand at the service and had begged God not to let me sleep until I got it right with HIM! I am grateful to God for all HE has done for me.