It was two in the morning when I awoke with a splitting migraine. Sleep was now impossible as the pain overwhelmed me. I frantically got up from my bed and entered the living room to pace the floor back and forth while the nausea wore off. It was my custom in moments like these to talk with God. I started to spill out all my anxieties and my worries telling him everything on my heart. When I had come to the end of myself, I resigned to crying. It was then that God told me in a strong voice, “Why not move to Honduras? Move to Honduras!”
This was not as strange of a request as you may think. I had taken several trips to Honduras beginning in 2001, when I went on a Missions trip with my church. In 2003 on another mission trip, Joel (my best friend) and I came across Cocal Gracias, a community located on a city dump in Puerto Cortes, Honduras. The people living in this community were largely uneducated, poor, and made a living by rummaging through the dump collecting recyclables to sell. Joel and I started a video project the following year, hoping to document their lives and raise awareness of the situation. The goal was to raise money to build a vocational school for them. With the documentary almost finished, God called me to live in Honduras full-time.
The morning after God told me live in Honduras full-time, I woke up and matter-of-factly told all my friends and family that I was moving to Honduras by the end of the year. Some thought me crazy. Others wondered where Honduras was located. Others, who had similar experiences and callings by Christ, encouraged me to follow His lead. In October 2006, after closing my photography studio, storing personal items in my parent's garage, and finishing my last contracts, I flew to Honduras. I did not know the language, only had a few contacts, and arrived with only what I could carry--two bags with clothes and my computer.
A local pastor offered to house me until I could find an apartment. His daughter donated her room to for the cause and I in turn slept in her pink room for three months. It was this pastor who taught me to listen to God. He showed me how to relate God like one relates to a friend. I decided to try it out asking God several questions to see his responses. My first question being, “When would I get married?” God's response, “When you are 27 years old.” I laughed. I was twenty-four and in no way ready to marry until I reached 33 at least. My second question: “When would I find an apartment?” God replied, “In January.” January seemed too far away at that point and I was anxious to have my own space, so I went out into the city looking everyday from mid-November to the end of December. It was January 2nd that God sent a friend named Karen to show me an apartment in a part of town I did not know--so much for searching on my own. I stood on the steps of the front door when God told me this was to be my home. I rented the apartment that day.
I spent a year volunteering on Mission teams and learning Spanish when God finally saw fit to start construction on Ministerio La Voz. We had three months to start building and ten dollars in our account. Joel, my partner in ministry, and I fretted over the pressure of making ends meet on the project. We had tried raising funds for a year without a single donation other than from our parents. I read Matthew 18:19, “I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” I called Joel. I told him we were going to agree to pray for the cost of the first building and see what God does. After praying for a few weeks, I told God that we needed the money it would be nice to have the money for the construction early so that we could buy the materials. The next day was a Sunday and Joel set up a booth at our home church in San Diego. Someone who was not a member of the church came and wrote a check for $5000. Joel also checked our P.O. Box, which was typically full of junk mail and found checks from several people totaling $7000. In that one day, God provided $12,000, something we had not accomplished on our own in a whole year of promotion. We started construction on January 8, 2008.
As construction progressed, every time we needed funds, we did the only thing we knew that worked, we prayed. Every time, God provided the funds or the team to help continue the construction. Around this time I also was getting to know Karen's sister Rina (unbeknownst to me she was to be my future wife). Rina and I had been acquaintances for a year when God told me to date her. At first I refused (was I crazy? My wife is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen!). I refused because I wanted to make sure I was only focusing on God's will. He made it clear that she was his will. We started dating and after six months, God told me to marry her. He then provided the ring to propose to her, since I could not afford one. He sent Rina her wedding dress, which fit her perfectly. He also told us to marry on a day in December, which turned out to be the one and only sunny day that month. After so many confirmations, I knew I was in God's will and got married eighteen days after my 27th birthday.
After building Ministerio La Voz, I thought my time with Cocal Gracias was up. It was always assumed that a local church would take over the management of the center and the technical classes but God had other plans. I refused to work in the center any longer. Meanwhile God worked on my heart until I knew Cocal Gracias was where he wanted me to be. In 2009, I told God I had no idea how to run a ministry. He responded by sending me three teachers and 40 students to take classes. We worked and worked and then the money ran out and everything shut down.
I asked God, “What happened? What did I do wrong?” He told me that we were to be a ministry, not a humanitarian effort. We had been teaching technical classes, but we had not invited God to be a part of it. We immediately shifted our focus to the spiritual over the physical. We prayed and prayed and once again God sent four teachers and students and told me step-by-step how to reorganize our work so that we would be in line with his will. In 2010, Ministerio La Voz was born, providing bible studies and vocational training to all whom God brought to our doors. Since reopening in 2010 we have taught and ministered to over 300 students! We have a women's bible study that meets three times a week and we look forward to developing a men's bible study and a weekly worship service. We regularly host Mission teams, medical brigades, and have received donations including 400 pairs of shoes, 10,000 pounds of food, and 25 bicycles, which we distributed to those in need. We have collaborated on the construction of three houses for needy families and look forward to building more homes for those in need in 2012.
In 2011, God grew our Cocal Gracias family by calling others from the United States to work with us. Many relationships have blossomed over the past year and we are excited to see who else God may bring into our lives. As one of the results of these relationships, in 2011 Cocal Gracias was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
Our experience has taught us that God is in control. Apart from him we can do nothing but by focusing on his will we can accomplish above and beyond all that we could hope for or imagine. He has been in charge since the beginning and it is our job to make sure we put him first, following him as our Lord and Savior.
Brian Rurak
