Young Volunteer Thought Mission Was Not for Her. Then Something Happened.

“It was all part of God’s plan for my life and not chance that was leading it,” said Helen Bautista, a young volunteer of Maranatha Volunteers International, while sharing her personal testimony on September 20. Bautista was one of more than a dozen speakers at the 2025 Maranatha convention in Sacramento, California, United States.

The 56-year-old supporting ministry, which facilitates building churches and schools and drilling water wells around the world, regularly organizes teams of volunteers to serve in short-term projects as needed. Bautista’s life story, Maranatha’s leaders said, showcased one more example of the transformative power selfless service on behalf of others can have.

Away From Mission

Growing up as a granddaughter and daughter of missionaries, Bautista was no stranger to listening to inspiring mission stories of all the places members of her family had served, she shared to the almost 2,000 people that filled the Trinity Life Center in Sacramento. But Bautista admitted that later she made some wrong choices, as she tried to follow her own desires. Pursuing those dark paths, she began to think of mission as old memories, something that was “not for me.” Bautista shared that she became “surrounded by people who normalized what, in my mind, I knew was unhealthy and wrong.”

From then on, it was all downhill, as Bautista got hooked on bad habits, and the relationship with her family fractured. “Every conversation with my mom became an argument,” she confessed.

A Momentous Call

Despite Bautista’s struggles, a momentous phone call in April 2024 marked a turning point in her life, she shared. “There’s a mission project for teenagers,” her grandma told her over the phone. “Are you going to accept the challenge?” It was then that Bautista got acquainted with Ultimate Workout (UW), a volunteer-based Maranatha initiative that every year takes scores of teenagers and a few chaperones on a mission project, usually overseas. “I saw it as a chance to reconnect with my childhood dream and make the difference that I so desperately needed.”

A Clear Turnaround

During her mission stint Bautista found out that the chaperone assigned to her group had been praying exclusively for her for two months before the trip. Indeed, her kind words and listening ear helped Bautista fight her feelings of guilt about her past and sense of worthlessness. “But because God had sent such God-fearing people into my life, He allowed me to see what He had in store for my future,” Bautista said. “I decided to dedicate my life to God after that day.” She was baptized soon after, and in 2025 she returned to UW to help make a difference in other people’s lives.

Bautista recounted how during the project she was able to help a woman in desperate need of support. In that experience, Bautista explained, she was able to see her future. “I was able to help that woman, and I know that I’ll be there to help the next person.”

About Ultimate Workout

According to Maranatha Volunteers International, Ultimate Workout is a unique mission project designed for teenagers in high school. “Stripped of electronics, parents, and other familiar comforts, volunteers step into the mission field in search of a fresh perspective on the world, relationships, and God,” the initiative site explains. “During the project, volunteers live in spartan conditions while building a church or school, coordinating outreach for the local community, and strengthening their personal connection to Jesus Christ.”

Often the most popular and annual initiative takes 100 or more teenagers for a life-changing experience into the mission field. In its thirty-fifth year, Maranatha, in late July and early August 2025, took scores of high school students to build a church and paint and repair another in Paraguay.