Karen is preggers. Right now she’s about 1 month in and apparently it takes about 3 before we can know the gender. So we’ll keep folks posted on that. We’ve also already begun to think of names and make a few plans for the future. We’re eager to see what God is going to do.
Secret: I have no idea what i’m doing…
I was born in Colima and grew up in Puebla, being a member of Calvary Chappel Puebla, where I had a deeper relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I learned to scrutinize the Word and change started to show in my life. I learned to love and to forgive as the Lord did with me. I supported and served the ministry and after I spent some time praying, seeking God’s will, and asking for counsel, I felt the need to learn about the calling God had for me. That’s how I arrived to the School of Ministry in 2021. I studied for two years and in the time I was here, God called me to serve in our local church CCBDR, where I now take part in the Worship team, the Childrens and teenagers ministry, participate in the women’s reunions giving classes and in our School of Ministry supporting students of 1st and 2nd year with their diaries and homework.
I am committed to God and I am learning to grow as a Spiritual woman, according to the word of God.
Trent and Karen are serving together in the School of Ministry as servants and leaders.
Trent was born and raised in California, being a member of CCRSM. He took some classes with pastor Thomas and decided to visit Boca del Rio for the first time on 2017. After a time of prayer, God gave him a vision and a calling to return to Boca to serve. Two years later, he married Karen and now they have two kids, Emilio and Marylou. They also take care and maintenance of the school and church and supporting and helping students and visitors.
Karen was born and raised in Boca del Rio and has always been a member of our local church. As she was growing up she supported different ministries in the church and school. She was adopted as daughter of the senior pastor. She is a graduate of the School of Ministry of the class of 2004, where she learned to teach and direct in different ministries, and she joined missionary trips during the summers as well.
I was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, but when I was younger, I went to live in Baja California to make my life. I was married for a while but separated from my wife and fell into addictions. Seven years ago, I returned home desperate and asked my father to get me in an addictions center, but my father had an invitation to enter the School of Ministry. With counsel and support from the leaders and pastors, I was welcome too in the School of Ministry under my father’s supervision (Pastor Licho of Calvary Chapel Compuertas).
I entered the school of ministry as an unbeliever, but God in His mercy showed me so many good things while living a life of prayer, Bible study and practicing the Word that I could see how God restored my life, healed my anxiety, insecurities and the resentment I had for my own father for many years. At this point, I gave everything to Jesus Christ.
I studied for two years at the School of Ministry and kept growing there, not as student anymore but as part of the team, as a servant, and teaching books like “Spiritual Leadership”, “Jesus Style”, “Inductive Method”, etc. I also help and preach on Sunday Services in Calvary Chapel Boca del Rio, and I am the Manager of the School’s restaurant “La Terraza”, which has the purpose of supplying the Schools necessities. I have always been willing to help in any need that it presents and I try to always be one of the firsts to help and be on the lookout for anything.
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.
Many years ago, I started to visit this place to visit my sister Pilly and her husband Braulio. This past June, they invited me to a graduation at the School of Ministry. During the graduation the pastor welcomed me and told us to let the Holy Spirit guide us and to adore how we felt it in our hearts and if God led us to cry we could do it freely. I remember thinking it was crazy, this was a celebration, why would anyone cry? But as soon as the worship started, I felt the presence of God in a beautiful way and I started to cry. I cried for a long time. I could see Vero and Anthony and how their lives changed in a way only God could, and I thought to myself: “Lord, I want that for myself.”
For a long time, God had called me to serve Him full time, but I was afraid. Around that time, I was looking for a house to rent and I had some options, but in that moment, I could hear God’s voice telling me: “You don’t have to keep looking, you can live here”, and I understood He was calling me to study here. He also told me: “If your serve me, you will always have a place to live.” I had been praying and fasting, asking God to heal my heart and to help me better. I decided to surrender, and I am sure coming here is an answer to my prayer.
Now that I’m in class I feel excited and nervous, hoping God’s helps me to learn and practice what he wants of me in this place.
My goals are to have more of God, to be a disciple of Christ and for the Holy Spirit to fill my life in a way so special I have a true transformation in my character. I want Him to fill me with His power, His anointment, I want to conduct the mission He’s given me, and of course, I want my life to be restored.
I write these words to say how I got to this place. A while back I came to Boca thinking of changing. I felt it was irrational because I’d promised I’d never come back to Boca. And when I got here, I stayed in a Pastor’s home and I started to attend church and to know God. I started to visit the restaurant in the church and to be friends with the people there. One night, in a wake at church I met the presence of God and I started to feel a desire to know more of Him and get involved in His work. I started to pray and to read the Bible. God showed me in His word, Isaiah 55:6, to seek the Lord while He could be found. I had to leave the path I was walking and seek Him. God led me to prepare myself and the desire to know more of God grew more. Soon He opened doors for me to sing and adore Him trough rap music. Omar talked to me about the School of Ministry and I prayed to God and he confirmed I had to do it. I am now in my second year and I am very grateful for the process I’m living.
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.
God sent me here because my family was in a bad shape because of my father’s actions. In my case, I wanted to come here because I did not want to go to school anymore, my classmates bullied me, and I felt sad for everything. I just wanted to overcome depression.
We came to Boca with Joaquin, but things didn’t work out. Our other option was School of Ministry. I was supposed to study high school, but God always has a purpose, and He takes care of me and my family. I know he gave me this opportunity to be closer to Him and carry on. The classes are good, but I struggle to wake up early, nonetheless I feel they’re such a blessing.
I have many goals: I want to finish high school, have a better relationship with God, I want to finish the School of Ministry and to take with me the God’s joy.
I am grateful to be here, I want to improve myself in everything, and I know God will do the work in my life and my family. I have all my hope in my heavenly Father.
How I got to Boca: Through plans we had with a friend here and some problems our family wanted to escape.
How God spoke: I imagine through the trials our family had, little by little things started to fell into place for us to come to the School of Ministry. So, I guess that’s how God talked to us or at least for me it was.
What it feels like to start School: At first, I was nervous because I thought I wouldn’t understand anything in class, but little by little I am understanding a little more of what it means to live a Godly life. So, I feel this new start to be good and I feel good.
My Goals: To finish school and to really feel what it is to gain the knowledge to be good with God, not because the school doesn’t teach well but because of me, I’ve tried over the years but could never stand firm. I want to truly live for God.
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.
Four years ago, my husband Jesús and I, were studying our first year at the School of Ministry (Class of 2019-2020). When the year ended, returned to our church “Comunión Familiar en Cristo”, in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Jesus and I were serving and leading bible studies to families in their homes, ministering to couples with marriage crisis’s and leading the youth as Youth Pastors for 2 years. Additinally, I also served as the Worship leader for the Women’s group for six years.
With adverse circumstances, this led us to ask for guidance on where to move. Due to the problems with parents’ marriage and the adultery of my father, my husband and I left the city of Guadalajara and headed to Boca del Rio, Sinaloa.
Upon arriving to Boca del Rio, God spoke and guided us in making the decision of reentering the School of Ministry to help the restoration of my mother and sisters Alexa and Zuri, who also enrolled in the School of Ministry for their first year.
God used Brandon, an elder from Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita to confirm the calling in our hearts. As a month passed, we were praying and waiting for God’s answer through the School’s leaders. I thank God for giving us the opportunity and for the leaders receiving us with open arms and willing to help us. I was amazed of what God’s was doing to start off this year. I could see His love and mercy.
My goals for this year are keep growing spiritually, to let God guide me to do His will and to keep working for Him. My desire is to keep enjoying the other students growth and be part of it. I’m interested in helping others with the gifts God’s given me, To give of grace what I received from grace. I long to help my husband in his calling and ministry, and for God to use him as he has to this day. I hope my mom gets to experience what I did and for my sisters to find Jesus and to give their lives to Him.
