Listen to the Voiceless

Published in

The Blessed Interviews

6 min readMar 18, 2017

Meet Pablo Jimenez. He’s a self taught-filmmaker and creative director at YWAM San Jose. Since early childhood, Pablo’s dream was to become a missionary and reach the lost. But like most of us, his own will and inner contention resulted in him taking the long way around to his promised land — a land filled with storytelling, inner growth and making a difference in the world. In this interview, Pablo shares his journey to Christ and a bit of background into the missionary work the Lord has blessed him with.

Hi Pablo! What was your journey to Christ like? I remember making the confession prayer a few of times during my childhood. The first time was with my dad. Then I did it by myself a while later in case it didn’t work the first time around. And the last time was with my Sunday school teacher, who at the time, didn’t believe I had done it already. I grew up in a very religious environment and had an inner awareness of God since I was a little kid. When I was eighteen or nineteen, I experienced a couple of disappointments in my life and went down this wrong, winding path which led me nowhere. My relationship with God became mediocre and almost non-existent during that season of my life. I wasn’t sure I was worthy enough to have an intimate relationship with Him. I wasn’t sure God would accept me with all my mistakes. I wasn’t sure I could serve him the way I wanted to.

I had a lot of doubts when it came to my relationship with God.

But at the same time, I knew I had to at least try to have a real authentic relationship with Him. I knew I was either going to follow God with my entire life or I wasn’t gonna follow Him at all. At 22 years old, I gave it one last shot. I officially handed my life over to Christ, and here I am today, living out my purpose through His amazing grace.

What steps did you take after you surrendered you life to Christ? I decided to move to YWAM in Nicaragua and volunteer as a primary school teacher for 3 months. It was there, in a new country, without knowing anyone, with just my camera, a laptop, and a backpack full of clothes, that I was able to find hope while working in a community desperate for a way out of poverty. Nicaragua became a turning point for my life. At that time I met a lot of people from Costa Rica, and joining YWAM San Jose in Costa Rica, became my logical next step.

What seeds were planted in your early childhood that made you to become interested in missionary work? When I was growing up my parents were very hospitable. They would receive missionaries at our house. My sister and I would have to give up our rooms so that the missionaries would have somewhere to stay. The seeds for missionary work got planted then. I used to dream about going out into the world to help other people who were less fortunate than me.

When did you get your first taste of missionary work? It was when I was 19 years old, and I left for Zambia in Africa. That’s when my personal journey began. The moment I left my secure life in Guatemala, to go and live in a different country I knew nothing about. It was a time God used to show me my passions, my identity, and purpose in life. That trip made me realize what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

“Some people find God in church. Some people find God in nature. Some people find God in love; I find God in suffering. I’ve known for some time what my life’s work is, using my hands as tools to relieve suffering.” — the late Kayla Muller

You said before that you went down a wrong path for a couple of years before recommitting your life to Christ. Was that all before your experience in Zambia? Sadly, the following three years after my trip to Zambia was a bundle of confusion which I had laid upon myself, as I sought love and acceptance in all the wrong places. I played with the hearts of others, my own heart, and ended up deeply hurt and bruised.

But at rock bottom is where I renewed my relationship with Christ. At rock bottom, is when the Lord restored my vision for my life and opened up the door for me to go to YWAM Nicaragua, and ultimately, to Costa Rica where I’m now pursuing missionary work.

You’ve founded a ministry called De Alas Rotas (Broken Wings). What’s the vision behind the ministry? The vision behind De Alas Rotas is to highlight the social injustices that are happening in the world and call people into action against them. That’s the perspective behind projects like ‘More Than a Victim’ and ‘Listen to the Voiceless’, which I’ve recently done with YWAM San Jose.

What lessons did you learn from working on ‘Listn to the Voiceless’? While working on Listen to the Voiceless I learned several things. I learned how to fund-raise and prepare for a big project. I learned how to trust God for financial provisions when things seemed like they weren’t going to happen at all. But the biggest thing I learned in those intense 2 months, is that refugees are normal people just like you and me. People that have had their world turned upside down by situations they had no control over. What those people need more than anything, is for people to empathize with their situation and ask,

‘How would I like to be treated if it was me?’

Regarding your film-making and creative directing, what’s the biggest challenge that you have? I often have an idea of what I want to do, and then I will have this doubt of ‘are people gonna like it?’. I’ll then give up too quickly on the idea. At times I feel like my ideas are not good enough. My biggest challenge is for me to overcome that doubt. To be true to myself, and be true to what I want to do no matter what others might say or think.

On to the last question. What legacy do you want to leave behind when you die? There are two things. South American countries have a lot of social issues. So, I would like to have a positive impact on the lives of people living in these countries. I would like to empower other young people to take action against these social issues and be a voice that rallies young people to action. At the same time, my close relationships and family are really important to me. So if something would ever happen to me, I would want those close to me to feel like I have loved and given to them as much as I could.

Thanks for reading!
And God Bless You!!

Support Pablo’s Missionary work here.

Article Info & Credits:

Interview by Tertius Ledwaba
Images taken from Pablo’s Instagram page

Listen to the Voiceless

Support Pablo’s Missionary work here.

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Written by The Blessed Interviews