The lights come on in Guatemala City, home to one-fourth of the country's people.

I feel like my life is lacking purpose," confessed sophomore psychology major Silvestre Morales to his professor, who in turn introduced the 21-year-old to Cayetano and Zobeida Fresco.

The couple leads Campus Crusade for Christ on seven college campuses in Guatemala, including the national university, University of San Carlos in Guatemala City. "We have seen many, many people give their lives to Christ," says Zobeida, who has been working with students through Campus Crusade for 27 years.

With a population of 3.3 million, Guatemala City boasts the largest urban concentration in Central America. Here Cayetano and Zobeida bring the message of Jesus to college students. Cayetano, who has directed the national campus ministry for two years, says there are more than 100 colleges in Guatemala City alone. But he and his wife are making progress, one person at a time.

The couple told Silvestre how he could have a relationship with Jesus. Silvestre, who grew up as an orphan, started attending a Bible study with the Frescos. Soon they became good friends.

"I now understand that God is the One who gives my life purpose," says Silvestre. "I know Jesus and I also have found a family where I receive the love of parents."

Zobeida says that Silvestre wants to go back to the orphanage where he grew up and teach the children about Jesus.
—Chris Lawrence

Centuries-old ethnic strife in Rwanda exploded into all-out civil war in the 1990s. About 2 million fled their homeland to camps in neighboring countries.

Kamuzinzi killed 14 members of Damascene's family.

"We lived side by side and we shared everything. I couldn't believe he would do such a thing," Damascene said in a video interview with The JESUS Film Project®. "The thing I remember most was seeing my mother's body. She died of machete wounds."

In 1994, in the tiny African country of Rwanda, the Hutu ethnic tribe planned a massive genocide of all the Tutsi tribe. Kamuzinzi was a Hutu and Damascene was a Tutsi.

For four months, Hutus murdered Tutsis with guns, machetes and sticks. Over 800,000 people were killed, leaving the world in shock and Rwanda in shambles.

Almost 130,000 people, including Kamuzinzi, were incarcerated, excessively overcrowding the small prisons. The cost of keeping all the prisoners proved too much for the new government, and the process of bringing each of them to trial was painfully slow.

"Rwanda's justice system no longer existed," writes Scott Peterson in his book Me Against My Brother. "Lawyers and judges were dead, in exile or accused. The government had no money to cope with the guilty, and foreign governments were reluctant to fund a legal system that would surely execute those convicted."

So the government began a new system, called the Gacaca, meaning "justice on the grass." The prisoners and the families of their victims are brought together to talk about what happened and to seek reconciliation. If the prisoners ask for forgiveness, and the family members forgive them, the government will reduce or eliminate the prisoners' sentence.

They were having some success with the new system, but many of the prisoners were still unwilling to admit their guilt.

Then Campus Crusade for Christ began showing the JESUS film across the country and in the prisons. Taken entirely from the Gospel of Luke, the film's portrayal of Christ helped many prisoners understand their sin.

"The most striking part of the JESUS film was where Jesus was being tortured and crucified," Kamuzinzi Tura Tsinzerabani remembers. "When I saw that, I reflected back to my deeds and my crimes, and I realized that without confessing them I would not have salvation."

"Already we've been able to show the JESUS film to over 40,000 of these prisoners," said Emmanuel Rutunda at a recent conference. The director of Campus Crusade in Rwanda also said that 1,200 have been baptized in the prisons, and over 20,000 prisoners have accepted Christ in his country.

"And now the government is asking us to go to every village," he continued. "So when people are meeting in the Gacaca to reconcile with one another, we can go and show the JESUS film at each village."

Damascene and Kamuzinzi are now reconciled to each other. Kamuzinzi was released from prison and now tells other prisoners about Jesus.

"Whenever I see the men in pink [prison uniforms] walking around the streets," Kamuzinzi says, "I go up to them and say, 'Can you repent? Can you ask for forgiveness?'"

Damascene, whose full name is Turikunkiko Jean Damascene, also has a changed life. "To forgive is not an easy thing," he says. "And not everybody can forgive. You have to have a changed heart."

Stories like Kamuzinzi's and Damascene's are happening all over Rwanda. Emmanuel tells another story about a man who killed 40 members of one woman's family. After seeing the JESUS film, the man asked for her forgiveness. "Gloria would come and visit him in prison," explains Emmanuel, "and he became like a member of her family. As the Bible says, 'Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.'"
—Becky Hill

Darek Choromanski's priorities were simple: first work then everything else. But two years ago, the Polish businessman changed.

At an evangelistic dinner in Warsaw hosted by Executive Ministries, Campus Crusade's work with business executives, an elderly gentleman with unusual priorities spoke.

The most important thing in life, he said, was knowing God.

Previously Darek believed that God graded on a bell curve. Do better than others, and God will give you the bonus points to qualify for heaven. That night he learned the truth: He was a sinner in need of Christ's rescue. "I opened my heart to God at that meeting," says Darek, "and asked Him to come into my life and work in me till the end of my days."

After receiving Christ, he changed. "My wife and sons have also noticed the change," he says. "I have learned how to show them love." He also learned that work is not the apex of his existence.

This year Darek and his wife, Bozena, are co-hosting an evangelistic dinner. He wants other business leaders to see their priorities in light of eternity.
—Chris Sneller

Dusty Hoffman couldn't believe it. Pat Summerall, professional football legend and Christian, was coming to Sioux Falls.

Dusty learned of Pat's visit through a friend in Priority Associates, Campus Crusade's ministry to business professionals. Pat (left) would be speaking at a Priority Associates luncheon on Friday, but he was coming into town on Thursday. Would he add another speaking engagement to his schedule?

Dusty quickly arranged to have Pat speak at Dusty's alma mater, Augustana College, across the border in Iowa. As a part-time volunteer with the student-led area of Campus Crusade's Campus Ministry, Dusty mentored students, helping them reach their campus for Christ.

Nearly 150 students came to hear Pat explain his journey of faith. John Weber, a Campus Crusade staff member with Athletes in Action, also challenged the students to begin a relationship with Christ.

Afterward, students filled out comment cards, and 59 indicated that they had prayed and received Christ.

"On a campus of only 1,700 students," Dusty said, "it is awesome to think that 10 percent of them heard the gospel in one night."
—Becky Hill