A Little Prepping

In Image, Video by Trent CabreraJune 1, 2020

Heyoo! With all the construction and projects going on over here, there are a lot of materials showing up at the door. Thankfully we have a good batch of folks that are always ready to work. Here we are unloading a truck full of blocks to prep for some new walls to be built on the second story of the restaurant (updates on that later). The sun and humidity don’t make things any easier but the end results, as well as the joy of simply being active/healthy, certainly makes it all feel more satisfying. Could do without the gnarly tan lies though…

Efraín Camacho

I was born in Mexico City in a Christian home, being the youngest children of Victor Camacho, who was faithful to God’s ministry until the day he died and Marna Beltrán, a godly woman of faith and prayer.

Since I was little, I got a calling to serve the Lord and I was baptized by my own decision when I was eight years old. I grew up with my parents and grandparents example of serving the Lord by serving others and preaching the gospel.

When I was twelve years old, I received the promise and calling from God to be a pastor and by fourteen I started my preparation for the ministry under the teaching and discipleship of Pastor Carlos Arrieta in the Biblical Seminary at my local church. That was where I really got to know Jesus and understood the gospel of grace and that led me to surrender my life to the Lord in faith and repentance.

While I carried on serving the church, studying the scripture and growing in my personal relationship with Christ, I knew the Holy Spirit was setting me apart for the labor He had for me. In 2017 I was anointed as Senior Pastor of the Church “Pan del Cielo”, where I preached God’s word, ministering families for four years in Mexico City.

In 2018, the Holy Spirit spoke, giving me a calling to serve the nations, so I started training to be a missionary while I was a pastor and discipling leaders.

In 2021, I came to Calvary Chapel Boca del Rio for the graduation ceremony of three members of our church in the School of Ministry. At the graduation, I received the news that there where people infected with COVID-19 and everyone was in quarantine. Soon members of the School were infected too, so I decided to stay in Boca del Rio to help the sick. I was protected by God and didn’t get sick. That’s how God confirmed my calling to ministry at Boca del Rio, where I now am a missionary, serving as a pastor and teacher in the local church and School of Ministry.

I am now engaged to Vicki Ramirez and will be joined in marriage next year.

Vero López

During the pandemic, in isolation, I started to experience anxiety and depression. This came from fear of the future. Years before, God had put in my heart the desire to focus more on the things of the kingdom, but for a long time I had resisted His voice. I think God disturbed me to leave the state I was physical and spiritually in. One night, crying out to God for help, I felt the Holy Spirit, who showed me the great need that I had to surrender to Him, to give Him total control of my life, to not be insensible to His voice but to take the hand of the Father and let myself be led. In that moment, I felt that peace that cannot be explained. It was a turning point.

I had the opportunity to visit and serve a family very dear to me in Boca del Rio. This way I had more contact with the School of Ministry, listened to student’s testimonies and visited the church. During those days God spoke to my heart through the Word, a feeling of this being the place where I would find the focus and growth God was asking me to look had started.

From that moment I started to pray about that feeling. A few months later I received an invitation to attend the School of Ministry and that was an answer from the Lord to keep making steps of obedience. My Mom and the current Pastor of my church cheered me to move forward and they prayed for God’s will in my life. That was the confirmation to come here.

Last July, I graduated my first year of the School of Ministry, and I can say it was the best decision I could’ve made. My time of study here has been good for my life, and a few weeks ago I was able to practice what I’ve had the blessing to learn here with our neighbor churches.

Inside the classroom there’s knowledge but not only there, it is also in every brother here, and God calls me to show Him always with everyone. My second year started a few weeks ago. God brought new people that now I can cheer and support. He’s blessed me with them and I hope to be a blessing to them too, so we can finish our studies here and keep serving God wherever He wants us, and we can be useful for God’s kingdom on earth, taking advantage of the tools given to us in here to grow spiritually.

Emma Poblano

My name is Emma Alicia Poblano Ramos, I’m originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. My church is Comunión Familiar en Cristo.

The way I got here to the School of Ministry in Boca del Rio was because of my Lord Jesus Christ’s will. He gave me a word on July 14 of 2017, Ezekiel 17 concerning a vision of a river in the temple. At that moment, I did not understand what he was saying to me. Three years passed, when my daughter Sara and her husband graduated the School of Ministry, God gave me the same word, on July 25, 2020.

At the beginning of this year, my family and I went through adverse circumstances. My husband was cheating and it was not possible to have a restoration of our marriage in our church since he didn’t want to do his part and help move on. He refused to abandon his sin.

My son-in-law, Jesús, my daughter and I prayed to know what to do and where to move because the situation was exceeding many family limits and we were being hurt as a family. I decided to separate from my husband and we left Guadalajara to live in Boca del Río for a while to restore our hearts. Some friends invited us to live and work with them but it didn’t work out. So, we prayed again for direction, if God wanted us to go back to Guadalajara or if we could help here in the School. The testimony of my daughter Sara impulsed me to know God could also work in the lives of my other daughters, Alexa and Zuri. While I was praying, God once again gave me the same word He’d given me many years ago, Ezequiel 17. On September 3 of this year, he promised me that in this Sanctuary, His word would clean us, and He would heal us and save us.

My goals for this year are to learn as much as I can, to use everything that’s given to us in this place to learn what God has for me and my family. I have faith my daughters Alexa and Zuri will know Jesus and they’ll surrender their lives and know the will of God for them. I want for my husband to come here so we can be restored and serve God together. That is my biggest desire.

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Grecia Negrete

Familia Cabrera

Omar Camacho

Efraín Camacho

Maricela Molina

Anthony Leal

Vero López

Zuri Olmos

Alexa Olmos

Emma Poblano

Sara Olmos