The testimony of a regular guy living his life for Jesus and how his family sold everything to become missionaries in Guatemala

I grew up Catholic.  I can’t say that I ever had a relationship with God as a kid.  I knew God and I feared God but I never had a relationship with Him.

I attended Colorado State University for four years, really just living to enjoy life.  All I cared about was myself.  I didn’t care about my neighbor, I didn’t care about the girls I dated, not really and I didn’t care about God. 

During my senior year I found out that my girlfriend at the time was pregnant.  Twenty two years ago I married my girlfriend and became a daddy.  It was an amazing time of my life.  It was a very hard time of my life. 

A few years into our marriage we were invited by a friend to go to church where I was inspired to give my life to Jesus.  I didn’t know at the time but it was just the seed of my future relationship with God.  Asking God into my life, declaring that He is the one and only God, repenting of my sins was just the very beginning.  I had so much to learn.  I had some very hard roads ahead of me.  But the seed was planted and Jesus wanted me.

At the end of the day we were married too young.  We didn’t love each other.  We fought.  We were in very bad financial shape.  We were broken.  Five years into my marriage I found out that my wife had been seeing someone else.  It was and is to this day, the most crushing feeling I have ever felt. We divorced in 1995.

Upon our divorce I began getting very involved with Timberline church.  I was determined to raise my now 5 year old daughter and be the best dad possible.  I know I have failed in so many ways but I always did the best I could with the information I had.  I realized that a lot of the pain I had felt from the divorce was because I was so concerned for my daughter Demar.  We shared custody and my daughter spent every other week with me. 

Demar and I having lunch together in Antigua, Guatemala 2013

Now that I had been brought to my knees, now that I felt I was starting from the very bottom rung, now I really wanted a relationship with God.  I needed God.  At that point in my life I think I was just going through the “Christian” motions.  I’m sad to say that. 

I recommitted to God in 1995 and began a walk that I would not turn away from.  I have re-married and have been with my wife for almost 15 years!  We have 3 little ones ages 9, 11 and 12.  My now 22 year old daughter is attending UCCS and she is AMAZING.  We are a family who is on fire for God.  I love God like crazy and I love that I get to experience Him with my amazing family beside me.

My wife grew up with Jesus in her home for most of her life.  When we married she told me all about the amazing mission trips she was a part of.  We have talked about becoming missionaries but “life” always seemed to get in the way.  My mission field has been right inside the four walls of my house for the last 13 years.  I have been raising my kids in a healthy, loving, Christian home.  I don’t regret it.  It has taken me this long to feel prepared to take this step.

My wife and I were living a pretty incredible life.  She was a stay at home mom and I was a successful business owner.  Our kids were doing well in school and everything seemed to be perfect.  From the outside.  On the inside, I was feeling suffocated.  We had SO MUCH STUFF in our life and it never seemed to be enough.  There was a hole of dissatisfaction that could not be filled.  There was nothing we could buy and nothing we could do on our own to feel complete.

I made a commitment to stop praying.  Sort of.  I stopped praying for God to “take care of me and my family”.  I stopped praying for “healing” and for “safety” and for “success”.  I stopped praying for everything I had ever prayed for.  I traded all those prayers for one prayer…I prayed that I would fall deeply in love with Jesus Christ.  That I would know how passionately He loved me.  That’s it.  Don’t get me wrong…I pray with my kids at night before bed and in the morning before school and when friends and family ask for prayer I absolutely pray.  But when it’s just me and God, I desperately seek God’s love.

During this period the Holy Spirit began to stir.  Maybe for the first time ever.   “God, show me how I can love you completely.”

“Will a man rob God?  Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offering.’  Malachi 3:8

WHAT???  THAT’S the scripture God gave me?  That’s not what I was expecting.  But, sadly, it was true. 

My wife and I took a very close look at our finances and decided on four things that day.

1. Tithe.  First.  Not what we can. 10%.
2. Honor the Sabbath.
3. No spending other than consumables like food and things we use around the house.  For one year.
4. No restaurants.  For one year.

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malichi 3:10

It’s the only place in the bible that God asks you to test him.  It inspired me.  I wanted to show God how much I loved Him.  As I was getting to know God, I began to fall in love with God.

In October of 2011 I decided to go on a short term mission trip.  There was no booming voice from above.  It was just me and God and the Holy Spirit. 

The trip to Guatemala was to help at an orphanage that Timberline church wanted to work with more closely in the future and to help at a feeding center run by Pastor Areceli, a 63 year old woman with more energy than most teens I know.  No, seriously.  I’m not kidding.

Two days into our mission trip I woke up wondering WHAT AM I DOING HERE???  The kids at the orphanage were healthy, being fed and being cared for.  I felt a little arrogant swooping in, spending time with them, and then leaving back to my perfect little life in Windsor, Colorado. I just felt that I could have sent the money I spent on the trip instead. 

Again, I prayed, “God, how can I love you more deeply?”

I shared my feelings with my wife and 11 year old daughter that morning over a cup of coffee over the internet.  My daughter Cecilia told me, “Daddy, I think God is so proud of you for loving on those kids for Him.” 

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40

The day we went to the feeding center I began to see God’s plan more clearly.  There were almost 200 hungry kids praising God.  Thanking God.  Loving God.  And they had nothing.  Some kids ate one meal that day.  The meal we were serving them.  My heart broke.  I had been praying every day for over a year that God would show me how deeply He loved me.  I had been praying that I would fall deeply in love with Jesus Christ.  That day, I did.  The Holy Spirit was ALIVE in those kids.  God’s love was so absolutely crystal clear and my heart WAS FULL. 

My family climbing Volcan Pakaya - Guatemala 2013

So, yes, on the outside it may seem like I went on a 6 day mission trip to Guatemala, came back and made a crazy decision to sell everything and move out of our little town of 13,000 to a city of more than a million.  But that wouldn’t be the whole story.  God has been preparing us for over a year and he making our path clear.  We can’t wait to get to Guatemala to love and serve Jesus. 

If you would like to support what God is doing through us in Guatemala, click here.

If you have questions and would like to Skype or talk on the phone, do not hesitate to contact me directly.  You can email me at georgesisneros@gmail.com or call 970-449-9449 any time, (it's a local call for you.)  We would love to tell you about how God is using us in Guatemala.

Follow our Journey and read Vonda's blog at www.GodCalledUs.com.