Frank, Cesia, Franklin, and Diego Navas

Cesia 

My name is Cesia, I was born in Mexico and grew up in a place called Querétaro. My husband is from Guatemala but he was already living here in the United States when I met him. We met through the internet. Honestly, it is a love story. We did not know each other personally but I came to the United States because of love. 

Frank

I’m Frank and I crossed the border risking my life in an unimaginable way. I still remember the words of my father when I was saying goodbye to him – “May the Lord keep you safe son”. I am still not sure when I will see him again. It has been 21 years and I miss my old folks, but I never lose hope of seeing them again. 

Cesia 

In my case it was different because I had the blessing to have a tourist visa. Thanks to that I did not have any complications. Regardless, I still had to say goodbye to my family because I was starting on my own, and that was hard. It is extremely hard because you leave your country, your friendships, to pave your own way.

I have lived here for 13 years, and I must say it has been difficult to know that you cannot fly back if there is a family emergency. It is very hard. I believe that only the people that are in this position can understand what it really entails. In my case, the hardest thing was to say goodbye to my family. 

Frank

Although you are sad to leave the land where you were born, you have a mixture of feelings, because there is also the illusion of arriving at a place with more opportunities and being able to do something that unfortunately, in our country we cannot do because of our governments, the lack of work, and the insecurity. At the time, 21 years ago, the situation was bad in my country of origin, and today the situation has worsened. Due to all the issues, such as gangs, there is no possibility for a steady job. 

We live in hope of seeing our families again, and giving them a hug, but God is in control and we leave everything in His hands. With the hope of seeing our loved ones again. 

Cesia

Something good that happened to us when we arrived here was that God allowed us to have our two sons, Diego, and Frankie here in the United States.  Before deciding to come and live in the United States, I had to do some paperwork for my visa in Mexico. So, I left the United States pregnant and began my visa paperwork process with the hope that everything would be ready before the arrival of our baby. It was a blessing that everything worked out fine and I was able to have our oldest son Frankie here in the United States. 

When we arrived it was really hard, I was about to have our kid, and we did not have any family around. But, the Lord began putting people in our lives that helped us abundantly. One of them was Central Church. 

Frank

Something really hard is coming to another country not knowing the language. You want to communicate but can’t. Most of the Hispanics struggle with this when we arrive. 

Coming to this Church was one of the greatest blessings that God provided in our lives. First, we got to know more about God. Second, we met more people and we are very grateful for all the help we have received from them. 

My hopes for the future are, first of all, that God gives me health. So far, in this area, God has been very good to me. I work and I have the strength to do it.  Second, to see my children fulfilled and to see them grow. If God allows, I want to fight as far as I can for them and their future. 

Above all, to try someday to give them a house, and a good education. Another one of my most cherished dreams I have is to someday see my parents again. Which I think its something many of us here want to achieve. We are blessed to have our parents alive, and I would really love to see them again. 

Cesia

I ask the Lord to allow us to reach old age. I always tell Him that we want to be able to live a long life together, always hand in hand with God. And I pray that we can see our children grow up, form a family, and hopefully even see our grandchildren. 

And one of the dreams that we always pray to the Lord is that one day we will be able to have a legal status here, so that we can embrace our family again. 

We came to the church because we became friends with the owners of an ice cream shop near Central Church. We used to go there all the time. One of the things that caught our attention was that they would put christian music. During that time we were also looking for a Church. This is when I asked if they were Christians because we were looking for a church, and they said yes. They told me their Nazarene Church was very far away, but that there was a sister Nazarene Church nearby the ice cream shop. They told us about the Hispanic pastors, David and Tabita and their nationality (David- Mexican and Tabita Brazilian). They gave us the address and the next day we came to the church. We have not left since.

We have been in this church for 12 years - Frankie’s age. We have received many blessings from God through the church. They have become part of our family and routine. There was a specific time, four years ago, where we could see the amazing support from the congregation. 

My husband had an accident four years ago, and it was a very very tragic accident. He almost lost his life. But the church was a gift from God at that time. We believe that without Central we would not have achieved what we did. God worked in amazing ways, economically and emotionally. 

For four months that neither he nor I could work, God supported us economically during that hard time. Many people from the church gave us strength, helped us financially, visited us, and prayed for us. The pastors were always there. Many, many families were a blessing to us through that hard time.