From Fighting to Grace: Jonathan’s Story

I was born in the middle of an era in the Dominican Republic. There was a lot of crime,  people being killed. That was our reality.  

My mum used to work in a factory. She was making like a dollar a day. I didn't eat for days. I do remember going to the streets to sell juice and empanadas. We couldn't eat it because that was the only money to pay the place where we were. 

It's always tough for me to be reminded of the specific moments of my childhood marked by pain and suffering. The truth is that I was a rough kid and I made life rough for many people around me.  

To my shame, I wanted to be a gang member. These guys selling drugs in my neighbourhood had nice clothes and nice trainers and nice shoes— and every day, I was on the streets looking for cardboard to put it inside my shoes in order to walk.  

The one thing that I learnt was to be aggressive and to fight.  

You learn to hide your emotions. There was so much trauma and there was so much brokenness in my life, and my mum said the reason we are in poverty is because there is not a man at home.  

Why things didn’t change immediately

Things didn’t change immediately in Jonathan's life

When I got into the Compassion project, I was seven years old.  

 The church was like a house where I felt safe, where I had food. But I don't want to portray the nice story that things started to change immediately.  

I was fighting in the project for five years.  I gave them all reason to kick me out.  

The worst fight happened when I was 12.  

I was buying something to eat outside of the project and another boy came and pushed me. I punched him into the sidewalk and immediately, his eyes got opened and his mouth, and so he ended up in a coma.  

 I was taken to the Compassion project director, and I was sitting there, crying.  

 I knew the end was coming.  

Dulce took my face up and she looked at me and she said, "Jonathan, why you fight?  

"You don't have to fight. We love you."  

And that's the moment  that I started reflecting on the path that I was taking.  

The project showed me God’s grace

 By the grace of God, my friend woke up from the coma.  

What I rightly deserved was to be kicked out of the Compassion project and they didn't do it.  

The same way, Jesus died on the cross, without us deserving any grace at all.  

That was the gospel, right there.  And that's the turning point in my life.   

What Dulce decided to do changed the rest of my life. I grew up picking fights all the time. When anything went wrong, when I was upset or angry. But Dulce at the Compassion project decided to fight for me. 

Learning that I had a loving [heavenly] father shifted everything for me. Instead of fighting with people, I learnt I could fight for them. 

Becoming an advocate 

Godly men helped mentor Jonathan

After getting baptised, I got many opportunities. There were godly men who portrayed me the humble heart of Christ.  

They saw the material for a leader to be made. I got the opportunity to join Compassion and it was a blessing to me.  

Right now, I serve with Compassionate International as manager of Supporter Engagement, but I also work in public relations for Compassion here in the Dominican Republic.  

I believe God brought me to Compassion to educate people about how to have a voice for those children without hope. The impact goes beyond sponsorship itself. Supporters empower local churches to be what God wants them to be — to be the Church, spreading hope. 

Fighting for the most vulnerable 

Today myself and a group of other Compassion graduates run a programme for troubled youth. We share the gospel, do teamwork and leadership activities. Many of these youth have been kicked out of all the places that will otherwise have helped them: schools, communities and even their own families.  

Each of the leaders who run the camp grew up in extreme poverty. Engineers, doctors, teachers, software developers, counsellors, mums, business leaders, offering their time to helping children. In many cases, the volunteer men are the only good male role models these boys and girls have been around. In their own homes, their dads were either absent or abusive.  

This youth have had few men look them in the eye and say, God loves you. You are special to him and to me.  

A movement of compassion

As well as the support from Dulce and the staff at the project, while in the programme I had a sponsor named Jamie.  

By God’s grace, after years of exchanging letters with her, I had the opportunity to meet her. At the meeting, we laughed and we cried. We were overcome by gratitude for the relationship God fostered between us.  

Jamie looked at me and said, “Jonathan, I never could have imagined that a simple mother like me could have such an impact in someone’s life.” I responded, “Jamie, discipleship is always a supernatural work. God uses the simple to achieve the profound. Jesus did this with his disciples.” 

My sponsor stood alongside Dulce and the team at the project who showed me love over years. When I think of them, I’m reminded of Jesus’ command to “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). They sacrificed resources on my behalf, and it was powerful.  

Is Jesus leading you to move? 

Jonathan’s life was changed because someone chose to move with compassion. Now he’s doing the same for others. You can too.  

When you sponsor a child, you enable a local church to provide practical support and the hope of Christ to a child living in poverty.