Oscar Torrez

Home Country: Nicaragua

Occupation: Pastor of the Lily of the Valley Church in Nicaragua.

Life Goal: “God has put love in my life, and I want to share that love with the people of this community. I know God will do great things here. That’s why I am here, serving Him.”

Oscar’s mother spent much of his childhood praying for healing. When God gave her son the gift of healing, she never let the boy forget that God had a purpose and a plan for him.

“A Reason to Be Here”

“My mom ran from hospital to hospital with me," remembers Oscar. "I just remember her crying. It made me sad to see her cry.”

Each week 7-year-old Oscar battled high fevers, and doctors were unable to diagnose his mystery illness. But around that same time, Oscar enrolled at a Compassion center in his community. They supported the quest for Oscar’s health – and when that answer came, they continued to support the anguished mother whose son had been given a death sentence.

“They told my mother I had leukemia,” says Oscar. “My mom became very depressed, very sad, when the doctors presented this disease to us.”

In this darkest time of Oscar’s life, the staff at the Compassion center surrounded his family with prayers and resources. As his mother sought additional medical resources and a second opinion, Oscar’s teachers and friends at the center began holding prayer meetings.

Oscar’s mother credits those prayers with the next thing that happened.

“My mom and I went to pick up the results of the new tests, and the doctor was so surprised,” says Oscar. “Nothing was there. We even did the tests again, but still nothing. It was a miracle.” It was only later that Oscar’s mother told him her prayers. While little Oscar had fervently prayed ‘God, heal me,’ his mother’s prayers had been different.

She prayed for God’s will. If it was God’s will to take her son, then she would accept that. But if it was His will to heal Oscar, she prayed that her boy would serve God well. For the remainder of his life.

Oscar never forgot his mother’s prayer.

“It made me realize, we can’t resist God’s will,” says Oscar. “When God tells you, ‘You need to be here,’ then you need to be here!”

Today, he is a pastor at a church near the community where he grew up. He credits all of his success to the spiritual foundation that was laid in those difficult years of uncertainty.

“It is because of my mother, the church, my sponsors and the miracles I have experienced that I am here today,” says Oscar. “My sponsors used to tell me in their letters to be strong and courageous. I never forgot that.”

At just 21 years old, Oscar still has decades of service ahead of him. He is excited to minister in his community, to reach the children and their families who need miracles of their own.

“My mom prayed that if I was going to stay alive, that I was going to serve Him,” says Oscar. “That prayer has become truth in my life.”