Staying Right Where She Belongs

Dámaris assumed everyone in her home country of Spain knew Jesus as Savior.

How couldn’t they in a country with crosses, steeples and other Christian symbols everywhere?

As an avid surfer who grew up in Spain’s sunny Catalonia region, she served with a local surfing ministry, sharing Christ with fellow wave-riders.

But sensing a call to go where few people know Jesus, she set her heart on serving in Africa. 

Spain was home to people from all across the African continent, and Dámaris loved meeting them. But it was evident that few of the people she met knew Jesus. Her heart hurt for them. She began preparing to move to Burundi with an international ministry organization.

But then she discovered surprising statistics about her own country. She learned that only 1% of people in Spain are believers in Christ. 

“How many people are dying every day in Spain without knowing Christ?” she wondered.

As God turned her heart toward her own people, Dámaris decided to stay and serve in Spain.

She enrolled in seminary, where she learned about a training offered by Entrust called Facilitating Relational Learning. She and two seminary friends traveled to Switzerland to take the training. 

There, she learned to study the Bible inductively. She discovered what it looks like to shepherd new or seasoned believers through life-changing discussions centered on Bible passages. And in the process, a new vision was born. Dámaris and her friends began to dream about sharing this very doable means of discipleship with everyone on the Iberian Peninsula. 

Out of that dream, they launched the Entrust Iberia Project — an initiative to disciple Spanish speakers for greater impact in the Spanish church.

Dámaris and her team have since provided Entrust trainings in three cities: Barcelona, Malaga and Madrid. As a result, dozens of men and women have been equipped to understand and apply Scripture.

Many of those men and women serve God full time in Spain. Others serve cross-culturally. One is even on her way to Africa, where Dámaris had once hoped to go.

Now she knows she’s right where she belongs. 

“I know God placed me here in this country with a purpose and I want to see a revival in this country,” Dámaris says.