If you had asked Resonate Global Mission volunteer Josué a few years ago what he was planning on doing after college, he definitely would not have said “missions.”

“I had spent my whole life serving in church, and I was finishing my university studies. Honestly, I was looking for a job in order to have an excuse to pull away from serving so much in church,” said  Josué.

But God had other plans for  Josué. After he finished his education degree, Josué, who grew up in El Salvador, joined Resonate Global Mission’s Cohort of Missioners to gain professional experience and explore other regions of Central America.

Rachel Beveridge, the coordinator of the Cohort based in Guatemala, explained that recent graduates in Central America feel intense pressure to get a high-paying job, particularly in the health or business sector. Your support helps Resonate partners in Central America provide valuable experience and a new perspective on calling to young people as they seek God’s guidance.

Curiosity about what young people like him were doing in Central America drew Josué to the Cohort. Living and working with other Missioners helped him overcome his shyness and changed his perspective on the lives of those around him—and his career path.

Through Resonate partners, God transformed Josué’s dreams and goals. Josué partnered with CLAVES, a ministry that focuses on childhood and adolescent sexual violence prevention.

“I live in a very dangerous and conflictive neighborhood and—having seen lots of violence, injustice, corruption—I had become very calloused,” he said. “Daily living in that type of environment made it seem normal. The Cohort helped me to recover my sense of empathy and sensitivity for both those who commit these grievances and those who suffer.”

Now Josué is helping to run CLAVES events and is happy and fulfilled in his work.

“In the Cohort I finally recognized that this is my calling, despite having spent my life fighting against that idea. The more I wanted to pull away, God got out in front of me with opportunities to work on behalf of children and adolescents.” 

Rethinking calling and re-imagining possibilities is what the Cohort is all about, Rachel noted.

This article was originally published on crcna.org.