Missionary Traci Warner met Dominga while serving alongside a medical team in rural Nicaragua. Although Dominga was helping serve food to the patients and medical team members, she really should have been a patient herself. 

A paisley scarf enveloped her head where her hair should have been, and she had to frequently sit down to rest her weary body. Despite the harsh chemo treatments and the ravaging effects of the cancer, she smiled as she chopped up tomatoes and onions. 

Dominga would live for another year, but inwardly she was dead already.

“It’s easy, Momma,” her 9-year-old son Jader said. “Why won’t you be saved? You don’t have to do anything — just believe in your heart that Jesus died for you and ask him to forgive your sins.”

Each day when Jader returned home from school, he would kiss his mom all over her face and read Scripture to her. And one Sunday, Jader stepped up in front of the church and asked if he could share a prayer request for his mom to know Jesus. There wasn’t a dry eye as the congregation prayed for Dominga’s salvation. 

 “In moments like these, I am thankful for the medical knowledge I have and that God can use that to help me connect and care for others,” said Traci.

Traci began making house calls. Dominga had already decided she didn’t want to continue with the toxic chemotherapy treatments, but now her pain was debilitating. Traci offered her what physical relief she could provide, but more than that, she offered hope. Traci read Scripture to her, prayed over Dominga, and shared the good news that Jesus offers eternal life.

After several weeks of care and conversation, God opened Dominga’s heart and she prayed to receive Christ as her personal Savior. 

A week later, as Dominga was preparing to leave this world with her family at her side, she shared her last wishes. She didn’t wish that her children would be rich or successful; she simply wished that they would follow Jesus.  

“When I die, I want Jader to continue going to the church. And I want you all to promise to seek after God. Don’t do what I did and wait until you’re old and dying,” she said. “Follow Jesus now.”

Dominga took her last breath in May, but her family was comforted by the knowledge that when they see her again, she will be standing pain free next to her Savior.▪