MINISTRY SPOTLIGHT

Mauricio And Rosalia Sanchez

Mauricio and Rosalia Sanchez, long-time missionaries with MAF, have accepted a new role. Now serving as MAF’s Latin America regional director, Mauricio will provide leadership to the MAF program in Haiti, and MAF’s affiliates in Guatemala, Suriname, Ecuador, Mexico, and Brazil.

With both Mauricio and Rosalia coming from South America, they make a great team to lead the region. But neither one knew about God’s plan for their life until they were young adults.

When Mauricio was eight, his father left the family when they were living in Bogota, Colombia. His mother became a Christian and taught him about God and His love. However, Mauricio said, “I didn’t have a personal relationship with God. My life was empty without any particular purpose.”

At the invitation of his older brother, Mauricio attended a Christian camp meeting when he was 19, which had a profound effect on him. “The Lord changed me that night,” he said. “The next day I saw everything was different … a sudden, powerful joy was just overwhelming me.”

At age 21 Mauricio moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where he earned his private and commercial pilot’s licenses. He also completed a master’s degree in business administration with the University of the People in Pasadena, California, and finished his Bible training with Campus Crusade for Christ, now known as Cru. While serving as national director of the “JESUS” film project in Venezuela, he became aware of the importance of missions.

Rosalia Sanchez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and was studying at a local university when a classmate invited her to watch the “JESUS” film. “I made a decision for Christ that day,” she said. That spurred her to help with the “JESUS” film project, where God impressed upon her heart the need to serve in missions.

Rosalia earned a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master’s in education technology. It was at a youth camp in Caracas where she met Mauricio and realized their common passion for serving the Lord in missions.

After they were married, Mauricio spent three years as pastor of a church in Caracas before joining MAF to use his knowledge in aviation and administration. For the next seven years, they served the isolated people in the remote jungles of Venezuela.

In 2007, Mauricio and Rosalia, with their three children, relocated to Costa Rica to develop an MAF ministry called Learning Technologies to help prepare and train pastors. Now, the couple has come full circle, returning to the flight side of MAF.

God has prepared them well to serve this region. Mauricio and Rosalia are in need of partners to pray for them and support their ministry financially. Will you please consider joining their team as they reach people in Latin America for Christ?