Stories of Hope: Keicy

Image Above: Keicy (left), Irela (middle), Irela’s son Mattias (right) Last year, Keicy Marin was a 10th grade student in… Read more Stories of Hope: Keicy

Image Above: Keicy (left), Irela (middle), Irela’s son Mattias (right)

Last year, Keicy Marin was a 10th grade student in Irela Rodriguez’s Ethics class at the Instituto Bern in Panama City, Panama.  Irela is the wife of Cesar, and together they have been serving with SportQuest since 2012.  They also have the opportunity to partner with the Instituto Bern, a bilingual private school, where Cesar serves as a sports teacher and volleyball coach and Irela teaches Ethics and Bible.

Sitting in Ethics class, Keicy began to grow curious.  She had never had a teacher before that used the Bible to teach Ethics.  Growing up in the Catholic church, the Bible was not something she had learned to apply to her everyday life and choices.  She started asking Irela questions during breaks and after class and wanted to know more about the Bible.  Eventually her questions got deeper and deeper, and Irela didn’t have time to address them in class, so she invited Keicy to get coffee and discuss things in more detail.  Keicy was excited to learn more from Irela, and they began meeting each Friday for one-on-one discipleship.

Three months later, there were noticeable differences in Keicy’s life and she couldn’t help but question many of the Catholic traditions she had been brought up with.  This made her mom angry, and her mom told her not to meet with Irela anymore.  Irela encouraged Keicy to respect her mom’s wishes, and they stopped meeting; however, Keicy kept asking Irela questions in class and talking to her through WhatsApp.  Then, she found out that Cesar always did a Bible study during volleyball practices so she joined the volleyball team!  This way she could obey her mother and still learn more about the Bible and grow in her faith in a sport environment.

Here’s what Keicy had to say to Cesar and Irela recently:

I want to thank you for all the time you’ve spent with me in the Bible studies. The studies have strengthened me spiritually, it has helped change many things in my life, and has been an incredible and unforgettable experience… When I grow up I would like to do the same for someone else.

Keicy won’t have to wait until she is older — God is already using her to teach others what Cesar and Irela have taught her.  Her classmates started coming to her for advice and sharing personal things with her, and she is giving them advice from the Bible just like Irela has done for her.  Her classmates listen to her and respect her, and even some of the teachers have commented to Irela about how much Keicy has changed.  One young man saw the difference in Keicy’s life, and so he asked Cesar and Irela if they would listen to his questions about God.  Now Cesar is meeting with him and discipling him — all because he saw the impact they had on Keicy’s life!