Hi! My name is Jonathan Calvo, a 26 year old missionary from Costa Rica. Ever since I was a teenager I had this great feeling to seek God in a deep way. It was not enough to solely hear about someone else's experience with God, but I wanted to experience Him fully. I wanted something else, something personal.
When I was 14 years old, my friends and I had this ritual of going alone to my parent's vacation home. One night while we were at this house, we felt this great fear and deep scary presence. We decided to pray and take authority on this presence. After the prayer, the presence fled, and we began to pray for each other. The presence of God than began to envelope the room and my friends and we were drunk of the Holy Spirit, laughing, and falling down all because of His presence. That's something that marked our life. Nobody was there to tell us how to pray, how to worship, or how to cry out to God, but we just did and God met us that night. I wanted to fall in love with Him. I wanted to serve Him.
I grew up in a Christian family. My family yearned to to love Jesus and surrender everything to Him, but when it came to money and my future, they taught me that I should study, get a good job and secure my future. I did. I graduated as a Software Developer and I worked for 4 years in the industry. After those 4 years I fell into depression. My mom told me I should visit a psychologist, so I did. I had this thought about how the Bibles talks about freedom and joy and about a Father that takes care of His children. However, I was working a job I didn't like, and the only reward I was receiving was money. I was slowly dying. my dreams were dying, and my purpose was dying.
I said to God, "If this desire to know you more and serve comes from YOU, I'm going to take 3 months and give them to you." I talked with a wise missionary couple that I was helping once a week. I asked if I could work with them long term without any pay. I was desperate, I could no longer let the fire inside of me harbor. I needed to know if it was from God or if it was just a nice thought about serving Him. The missionary couple told me that they were praying for someone to help them with the language and the culture, so they offered to pay for my basic expenses. Those 3 months blossomed into 1 year. After a year I had this feeling that something else was missing. Things were going well in that ministry, but I felt like I needed to take another step of faith. I prayed and talked to my pastors and the missionary couple about my new desires. God answered by cutting off the budget that had been supporting me.
After a series of events, I decided to embark on a 5 month discipleship training school with Youth With a Mission (YWAM). I was excited for this new season of my life, but for YWAM I needed to raise support, something that I had never done. My country of Costa Rica is not accustomed to supporting missionaries. We have many missionaries in Costa Rica, but there are few Costa Rican missionaries. I was living with my parents at the moment and I had to face my dad about my future. The first time I quit my job to do local missions he had not approved of my decision because he had paid for my studies and he wanted me to have a good job, a good pay, and a house like my brothers. He wasn't very supportive of my decision to do local missions, but he respected my decision. This time it was a little different because I had no pay for it all. However, something changed in my dad. While I was anxiously explaining my next endeavor with YWAM he asked me if I would receive pay. I told him that I would need to raise all of my own support and I would need to trust in God. He said that if this is God's will then He will provide. I was in shock! Something had changed in my dad. Praise God!
While I was in YWAM I was praying for my next step after the school. My pastor told me about VLI in Ohio. I began praying. I knew no one from Ohio except a pastor that had done mission's in Costa Rica. Pastor Brian had brought his church to the community that I used to work with. I sent Brian an email asking about the area and where his church was located. To my surprise the church was only 10 minutes away from the VLI and not only that Brian was praying about starting a ministry with the Latino community in the area and he hadn't found the person or people to start it. During that week God showed Brian 3 different things that he should keep thinking about starting the ministry.
To me, all of this sounded perfect! I had to raise support, talk to my dad again, apply to VLI, and find a place to live, a car, and connect with the right people in the area to make this dream happen. I prayed for a flight and God provided me with a stand by ticket. Brian, the pastor at New Life church invited me to stay at his house for a week in December so I could connect with people during that week. I sent my application to VLI, raised the support for my ticket, and for some extra living expenses while I was going to be there in December and here I am trusting God. I know He has my life in his hands and I know He listens to my prayers and He answers them. I'm experiencing Him personally.
I don't know the future, but one thing I know is that I want to know Him and make Him known. I have a passion to inspire Latino people to believe in themselves and to walk by faith. I also feel challenged to reach the people who have everything that this world can offer, but they don't have Christ. They have heard that the gospel is for people that are sick and in poverty, but they haven't heard about a relational God. I also have a hunger to see people healed by God's grace, see miracles, and see a new generation with a real passion to make a difference in this world not only inside a church building, but in society, government, schools, and family.
I'm ready to walk and believe. Peter said to Jesus "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." Matthew 14:28
I want to walk on water.
