Miguel (Mar/Apr 2026 Update)

May 7
6 min read

Instead of writing the "normal update," I wanted to switch things up this time and write about one of the kids that we've been able to help for the past 6 years, all thanks to all of you who support us through prayer, donations, and even in keeping track of all that we do by reading these updates. It’s all thanks to all of you that we can continue to help these kids who would be suffering otherwise.

I met Miguel 6 years ago, right around when covid hit. I was with my soccer team practicing in one of the fields in the town I do ministry in, and he walked by with his mom. His mom had asked me about the soccer team, and I explained that everything was free and done by the love of Christ. She said that she would come back next week so that her son could join the team.

Then covid hit, and I didn’t see them. A few months later, we started outdoor activities again, and they saw us at the soccer field during soccer practice. That same day, Miguel’s mom let him join the team, and he’s been apart of everything we’ve done since. He’s been apart of our Kids Church, our soccer team, the Kids Praise Team, and our Kids Discipleship program. He’s now even one of our Assistant Teachers at our Kids Church now! He’s done great in every single one of these activities, too! He’s honestly our best soccer player on the team, even getting a trophy for scoring the most goals out of every person at the league we played at in a season!

Miguel has had many struggles during the years I have known him, but God has done supernatural miracles in him to help him get through them. One of the things is that he was born with flat feet. His mom would tell me that Miguel would come home after soccer practice and cry about how bad his feet would hurt. She asked me to have Miguel run less laps at practice and not have him run that much so that he wouldn’t be in so much pain when he got home. I felt the urge to pray for him every time I went to drop him off at his house, but there was always something that came up where I had to leave. I would say to myself, “Ah, tomorrow I’ll pray for him.” A few months went by, and there was this Night of Prayer event for the whole city of Tijuana. Miguel, his mom, his sister, and other kids and families came to the event with me. At the end of the event, they asked people to come forward to receive prayer for healing. In that moment, I turned around, grabbed Miguel’s hand, and said, “You have flat feet, but God wants to heal you from that. Do you want that?” Miguel nodded his head yes. So I took him to the front where they were praying for people. As we were waiting in line, God told me in that moment, “What are you doing waiting in line for? YOU pray for him.” So right there in the dirt, I knelt down, told Miguel that I was going to pray for him, and started praying. I prayed for him once and asked him how he felt. He said normal. So I prayed again, this time taking off his shoes to feel his foot to see if anything changed. I remember thinking, “I don’t know what his mom’s talking about. His foot feels normal. I’ll pray anyway, though.” Then some guys from the event came over and prayed for Miguel, too, along with me. God then told me to call over Miguel’s mom and ask her to feel his feet. She started to feel his feet, and then she froze. Tears instantly began to fill her eyes, as did Miguel’s. She hugged him tight, then told me that his feet were different, like they were normal. God put arches in Miguel’s feet that night.

To not go into much detail because it’s something personal, but Miguel’s dad almost died a couple years ago. My wife and I took care of Miguel and his little sister during that time. His mom had told us that the doctors at the hospital said that it was very unlikely that his dad was going to survive. We all prayed that whole week for God to do a miracle in Miguel’s dad. After a week of being in the hospital with surgeries and all, Miguel’s dad came home to continue the recovery process and now lives today.

As mentioned above, Miguel is a great soccer player. He’s so good that many teams have asked him to play for them. About a year and a half ago, one of the teams he was on had him play so much that he got tendinitis in his knee. At first, his mom would just massage his knee to help him feel better, but the pain kept getting worse overtime. Several weeks ago, Miguel was limping around at soccer practice. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me that his knee hurt. I had no idea about his injury (and he barely knew about it, either) and I told him to take it easy on his laps and to slowly jog, and if he couldn’t do that either, then to just walk. Three times he came to soccer practice the same way, and I couldn’t bare to see him like that anymore. I took him to the doctor that night, and the doctor told us that it was obvious that it was tendinitis and could possibly be something even worse for having waiting so long to have it looked at. He gave us a prescription for some anti-inflammatory pills and some balm, we bought the medication, and I took Miguel home. That weekend, there was an evangelistic event that our church was helping with. Miguel was there as one of the people helping with the event. The guy who was preaching was talking about the healing power of God and asked people to come forward that wanted prayer for healing. I went and found Miguel and asked him if I could pray for his knee. He agreed, and I prayed. When I finished, I asked him to run a lap to see how it felt. He went half a lap, and he started to limp. I prayed again, and he could run the complete lap, but it still hurt. I prayed again, and now he ran the lap without pain, but it hurt a few seconds after he stopped running. I prayed again, and now it felt better with no pain, but it felt stiff. The preacher saw me praying for Miguel, and he joined me in praying for Miguel. I told Miguel to run another lap, and this time, he ran the lap with no pain, ended with no pain, and stayed with no pain. He started to cry, and I told him, “Don’t forget what God can do. And don’t forget about Him, either.” He’s now running and playing soccer with no problems.

Like I mentioned, I had told Miguel to not forget about God. That’s been one of his biggest struggles. Miguel will come to church when it’s fun and games or Kids Church on Saturdays, but he doesn’t want to come to church on Sunday. He finds excuses to not come on Sunday. He also has been personally struggling with his walk with God and has been putting God to the side. It’s been difficult for him, as he does a lot of this stuff on his own. But we’ve been able to help him along the way to help him not let go of God and to continue to grow more and more in him. It may be a slow process, but isn’t it that way with most of us? God’s moving and doing miracles in Miguel. Please pray for Miguel, that God continues to draw Miguel closer and closer to Him, that Miguel responds, and that Miguel remembers how great God has been to him. Pray that Miguel’s family also understands how good God has been to them and that they draw near to God, as well. God has huge plans for Miguel and his family!