Busy as a “B”!
(July - August 2025)
July and August were two of the Busiest months I’ve seen in a long time! Being Busy for the Lord is Both exhausting and exhilarating. After soooo many activities, I’m looking forward to two weeks of down time before we kick of the fall semester of church planting and missions school. But first, let me catch you up on all the Busyness, Blessings, and Bustle that’s been going in Culiacán and Beyond this summer… all with “B’s,” of course! Here are the Bullet points. Read on to get all the juicy details!
This summer was full of baptisms! My family was privileged to attend two baptismal services. Here in Culiacán, baptism represents a next-level commitment to the Lord and is only done by those who are truly serious about following Jesus. That makes it even more special!
On July 6, Sammy and I witnessed Calvary Culiacán West’s first official baptismal service. What an honor to see several old and young people committing their lives wholly to the Lord! We had a great time of fellowship afterwards with pizza and a pool party.
On July 20, we had baptisms in Calvary Culiacán North. Six people were baptized, including several youth and one of our pastor’s sisters!
First official baptismal service in Calvary West (left) and Pastor Francisco’s sister gets baptized in Calvary North (right)
On July 12, Calvary Aguaruto hosted Culiacán’s first-ever conference about addictions entitled, “Landmines of Addiction.” We had speakers from Calvary Chapel Rosarito, Celebrate Recovery, and other ministries, and all participants received free materials for overcoming addictions. We packed the house with over 150 people. Many of those were addicts and patients from rehab centers, including one woman from Casa Manantial. At least 3 people gave their lives to Christ, and we pray that many more will experience divine deliverance as a result of this conference. What a blessing!
Of the 150+ attendees, at least 3 gave their lives to Christ at the addictions conference (left), and I reconnected with an old friend who planted a church in Michoacán several years ago (right).
July 19 was my re-birthday – the day I was born again and gave my live to Christ 38 years ago! This year, I was able to enjoy my day in the company of all of my sisters in Christ at a women’s ministry event. Seeing my daughter participate in the worship team was an extra blessing! I also got to fellowship with some great friends and fellow missionaries, the leader of the Mexico and Beyond prayer group and his new wife. It was truly a blessed day packed with love, fellowship, and encouragement!
July 19 - Women’s Breakfast on my re-birthday. We learned how to be brave and fearless women like Esther.
In April, God called my church, Calvary Culiacán North, to step out in faith and build our own building. We named the project, Manos a la Obra. Loosely translated, that means, “Let’s get started!” That’s been our attitude from the beginning, but we’ve made major progress in the past two months due to several raffles and fund-raisers.
On July 20, we held our usual monthly fellowship luncheon, but instead of everyone bringing their own dishes, we sold food with 100% of sales going to the building project.
On August 16, we held a worship concert. The whole Calvary Culiacán family was invited to enjoy a super-charged joint worship team from various churches. Multiple worship sets were only interrupted by a brief, evangelistic message by our founding pastor, Hugo Limón, who flew in from another state to join us. The event was free, but the bake sale at the end raised a lot of money, almost as much as the luncheon!
We also raffled off a week-long vacation in Mazatlán (donated by friends with an AirBnB there) and a brand-new air conditioner (donated by a friend of mine who owns an air-conditioning business). Both earned us very large sums of money!
With those funds, we completed the exterior of the building and purchased many other materials – truly a miracle due to the financial crisis in our city. By God’s grace, we hope to be moved in before our 10th anniversary celebration in November!
Me selling fresh churros, pizza, popcorn, and other snacks with Pastor Jesús after the fundraising concert.
The last week of July, we made our second trip to Nayarit this year. An international team comprised of locals from Calvary Culiacán, the Calvary School of Missions (USA), two nurses from Los Mochis, and two local missionaries worked with the people of San Gregorio. San Gregorio is part of the Cora tribe, still counted among the unreached peoples of the world. In addition to bringing them the Gospel, we brought shoes, boots, a medical brigade with medications, and our brand-new Cora missionaries, Elías and Santana.
The results far surpassed our expectations! We treated 100 people in the clinic, made the 2-hour uphill hike to reach the families of El Zapote, and gave away 200 pairs of shoes, fitting each one carefully to ensure a perfect fit. (That was exhausting!) We connected the missionaries with ALL of the new believers from our previous visits. And of course, we preached the Word! Dozens of adults, more than 50 children, and several people visiting from other villages heard the Gospel for the first time, and many made professions of faith!
(left) Sammy gave his shoes to another boy… who immediately climbed a tree in them, just like Sammy! (center) Our missionaries, Elias and Santana (right) My friend, Pina, lead this young girl to the Lord!
I also developed a very special relationship with Rocío, a suffering 10-year-old girl. With her father in jail, her mother has been ostracized by the community and left to fend for herself. The whole family (mom and 4 children ages 7-14) hadn’t eaten anything but tortillas for over a month! We bought them some food staples and prayed with them, but they remain in my heart and prayers. Would you join me in praying for them?
Me and Rocío after a face-painting activity (left) and Sammy with the rest of her family (right)
The day after we returned from Nayarit, we boarded a plane for Rosarito and the annual church-planting conference there. Normally, that conference is a “back-to-basics” for me, but this year, I learned many new things. One statistic really stood out to me:
In the days of the early church, there was only 1 congregation to reach every 12 unreached people groups… yet they were actively reaching them! Today, there are 1,000 congregations available to reach every 1 unreached group… yet we are hardly making a dent in that number.
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