Rodolfo - a living example of the Holy Spirit's transforming Power.

This story, told by Mirna, the wife and fellow ministry partner of SOI El Salvador DIrector Humberto, will touch your heart!

“I want to tell you about the life of little Rodolfo, because he has walked for a long time in our ministry. Rodolfo was born in Nuevo Cuscatlán, on October 8, 2008, in the house of a midwife, who lived in a nearby community called El Pajarito, in fact, all his siblings were born the same way, only the last baby was born on the hospital in the city of Santa Tecla, they preferred a midwife coming home because the conditions are better when bringing a baby into the world and at the same time the other siblings are at home by the time of delivery. He is the fourth of the 7 children that Maria, his mother, has had.

“The life of the Cornejo family has been quite hard, with a lot of heavy work, because they have scarce economic resources, the hut where they live, they have built it themselves with big effort, everyone has collaborated, the first construction was made of sticks, and old tin sheets, they even built it from Bahareque, which is a construction system used by poor families because of its low cost, it is based on bamboo stick and mud, they have been building it little by little, with many difficulties, especially by their parents. They are people who did not prepare academically and therefore have never had a formal job, but they do small activities for little money.

“Rodolfo's older sister expresses that he was a very restless and quite terrible child, he did not obey easily, although she recognizes he was a child who liked to work in the fields with his parents, in fact, when we met him he had a vocabulary quite rude and a fairly strong character that got angry easily and if someone attacked him he would respond the same, quickly.

“Rodolfo's father has lost some jobs because, he has been an alcoholic, and spent several days consuming without leaving the house at all, which has made María and her children do small jobs in the community and in the field for a few coins, Rodolfo, or “Fito” as his brothers call him, usually goes with his mother or father to pick fruit, or pieces of wood to be able to use them at home or sell them, because in that area they cook with wood.

“Before, the children of the La Cuartería community, which is where our little one lives, everyone and even the young people met to play in a small nearby field, where they gambled, and whoever lost had to give something, or they played on the road while not cars pass by, exposing themselves to an accident, but that was what they do for fun, playing and playing because there was nothing else to do.

“The youngest children of the Cornejos could not go to collect sticks because they had to take care of the babies, because in that house there is always one baby every year! While the oldest go to the fields to do some work with their parents, they often spent most of the day away. And as the hours passed by, they went to the neighbors to ask them for something to eat, because they were hungry, and at home there was nothing to eat.

“One day I was talking to a person from that community, that lady told Maria that Sports Outreach (SOI) has a child sponsorship program, called EmpowerMe and that we we were looking to help children with big needs, and she precisely told me about the situation of Rodolfo and his siblings, since she frequently gave them food and their condition saddened him, we went to meet him personally and we realized the very poor condition in which they lived, we collected the information about him and his little brothers and sisters to register them and explained to Maria that to be chosen in that program, she had to pray a lot because it is the donors who choose the sponsored ones, and God who knows the needs they have in His time will answer them, in addition, we shared that we wanted to open some craft workshop for children and young people, even adults from that place, and that there we would talk to them about God and His love, and that they would learn to obey his Word and the children were interested in participating, we explained who we were, what SOI do and the mother expressed pleasure with what she was told.

“Shortly after starting the workshop, Maria’s first son was chosen to be sponsored, our Lord knew of his needs, little by little others of them were chosen, including Rodolfo, there are four in total, today they can eat better and something that we are happy for is that our little friend has shown a change, very big transformation in his behavior, we see in him beautiful attitudes that were not seen before, he has learned to live in peace with his neighbors, he has learned to share with others even having his own needs, I want to tell you an anecdote about him, one day for Christmas, Rodolfo had the blessing of receiving from his sponsor several gifts, including 3 very nice toys, and for him who has several little brothers that was great, but while we were delivering the sponsors’ letters, he was able to observe that a boy named Frank a little older than him and who is in a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy, only received a Christmas card and a letter, so he approached him and gave to Frank one of his toys and even let him choose the one he wanted, it broke our hearts to see such a noble gesture on his part and something nice is also that he did not receive any reproach from his little brothers for what he did. Rodolfo is one of the most constant students of the handcraft workshop, he arrives with joy and sometimes before he has to carry water for his house or for other neighbors who give him a couple of coins for doing that, he hurries to do it because he does not like it miss classes.

“When asking other children about his behavior they say that he has changed, that he is no longer spoiled as he was before, that he looks more cheerful and that he has a lot of fun. Last year we participated in the Claro Soccer Cup championship, and he connected in an incredible way with other boys, always from the region but who he did not know, we could observe him very respectful and super hard-working that despite being the smallest in stature he showed a lot of courage by playing so much that later his teammates asked for get in the team, and if he was late they said let's bring him, because he also showed consideration for those who made mistakes, since he did not start to complain to them as others usually do, all that made them see him with sympathy and we in particular are happy to see how Christ is working in his life, in his heart and in relation to other people.

“It is nice to see Rodolfo, when he is in his workshop class when it comes to sharing the Word of God, how he is attentive and pays attention. In the first meeting we had when making the call to receive the Lord, he was willing to do it, from so he has been willing to let himself be guided by God, he has had ups and downs in the process like everyone else, and especially considering that he is a child, with many limitations, living in a hostile environment where people tend to apply the famous expression of "The law of the strongest".

“It is beautiful to see how Jesus transforms people and helps them to be better, in every way, it is incredible to be able to realize that someone with so many needs at home, can tell you, sister, do you want oranges? mangoes or any other fruit that have at home and when you say yes and you go for one, he receives you with a bag because they have no misery to share and you even feel sorry to take from them when you see that they need it and you are taking it away, but that made me remember the widow who gave her two mites and it was all she had, that's how we realized that we should receive from them because that way they too would be blessed.

“Rodolfo’s interpersonal relationships have also improved a lot and we have been able to observe that when someone wants to fight, he keeps quiet, walks away or looks to one of us for help him not to continue the argument. It is a child who when we arrive, either to the SOI handcrafts workshop team, or when we arrive with groups of missionaries from anywhere, he is one of the first smiling faces that come out to receive us, with great joy and eager to work and learn from God.

“I really liked writing about the life of this young boy. Well, it has been a beautiful experience being his mentor sharing with him and leading him in discipleship, it is gratifying to see how the Lord restores hope and transforms people's lives, and to realize how he answers our prayers and how He works in the families we serve. Rodolfo is a living example of the Holy Spirit transforming power! Hallelujah!”