Serving When It's Hard (Jan/Feb 2026 Update)
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
I'd like to be real for a minute. I always try to be, but this time, I'd like to start with a topic that I feel most people in ministry don't ever want to mention: hardship. Ministers have this mindset that you always have to put on a happy face and pretend you have it all together, that you can't show weakness, and most definitely can't show when you're going through hard times. If things are going bad, then people don't wanna see that. And if people don't see it, they aren't going to give to that ministry.
But, the fact of the matter is, ministers are human, too. We have good times and bad times, and sometimes more bad times than good times. That's life. And I wanna share all the amazing things God's done these past two months, but I also wanna be real about it. I don't have this perfect life. I'm not here in Mexico to live this fantasy life that has no problems. It's stressful at times. It's overwhelming. But also, just because it can be bad at times doesn't mean it's gonna stay bad.
Now please don't get me wrong, I love serving. I'm not just one to just sit in a chair and do nothing. And serving these kids that God put in my life is not only my calling, but it's also one of my passions. I wouldn't trade it with anything in the world. And being able to help out this church in these photos with their first-ever kids church was amazing. It was awesome to see so many new faces (and some of our kids, too) that we could bring God's love to and show them how amazing God truly is and how amazing they are, too. To see a church so on fire to help God's precious children was something so refreshing to see, and we loved to be able to be a part of it. We're hoping that more opportunities can open like this to be able to help other churches prepare themselves to care for this next generation. But am I getting older and feeling the effects from it? Yes. Was it rough on me that several people from my team of volunteers that were main parts of the program cancelled the night before, and that I had to depend on and struggle with 3 teens that were forcefully sent by their parents to help because they didn't actually want to help? Most definitely. But the Holy Spirit gave me those rushes of peace during those rough moments to be able to continue on and transmit that peace, too. He gave me the strength to finish that last praise song with the kids when I didn't have it in me. Being connected with the Holy Spirit is crucial for every day life, especially in ministry.
We were also blessed by the ministry Von&On, who took our soccer team on an outing to the movies! It was so great being able to not have to worry about taking care of everything for once, and I could just enjoy my time with the kids and just be there. A lot of times, I'm running around and directing and organizing everything. I never seem to have a moment nowadays where I can just enjoy ministry. Because of that, there were days where it almost turned into a chore. I would hope it would rain really bad so that we couldn't go through the muddy streets to get to the places we needed to serve because I felt so overwhelmed. I just needed to rest.
But if you walk in the Holy Spirit, you'll have the strength and peace you need to be able to do it all and enjoy it. You'll be able to rest while you're serving because He will be working through you. You won't have to exert yourself because He will be taking care of it through you. And those days, when I felt overwhelmed from it all, I realized that it was because I wasn't connected with God like I should have been. I was rushing through my time with Jesus in the morning because I had things to do, and that time wasn't really real. Being married now and having 4 kids is way different than being single. Time is scarce. But I reminded myself that the Holy Spirit is my source of power, strength, peace, direction, and everything. I started to put way more emphasis on spending time with the Lord, and the overwhelming feeling went away. Ministry looked like a huge blessing again. I wasn't stressed anymore. The Holy Spirit was working through me, and I was resting in Him.
We started a Bible Study group in Antorcha with another brother from church, Leonardo. We were asked back in January to start it, but it has been on my heart for a few months now to start something over there. We currently have around 20 people coming (with a majority of them being kids), who are looking for the Lord. We even supply a snack or even a meal when possible for everyone.
Has it been hard to provide something simple like cookies and coffee when we're barely making rent each month? It feels hard, but it isn't because God has been blessing our giving. We don't have money in our budget to fund food for an extra Bible study we weren't planning on doing, but God has blessed us in our faithfulness. We've done a whole pozole dinner for the group, plus for us who help with it, and God provided. He provided us with food in our home when some of the money for the pozole came from our personal food budget. Things like this may feel hard and scary at times, but God is faithful. He blesses those who step out in faith. He's our Heavenly Father, and He knows how to take care of His kids.
We've been helping with a lot of outreaches this pasty year together with City Reach Church from LA and with Iglesia Bethlem, the church we work with here (to make it clear, we just go along as members from Iglesia Bethlem, and Iglesia Bethlem works alongside City Reach Church). This past February, we did an event in Margaritas, where over 300 people showed up. We helped with the kids portion of the event with running a 3v3 soccer tournament and doing games and songs with the kids. Food was provided by the group as well as toys and clothes. The most important thing was that people were reached with the gospel message and heard about how Jesus is real and wants to save us from the problems of this life.
After doing one song, I was exhausted. I turned around to say to the guy that we were done with songs (because, honestly, I couldn't do another one), and he thought I said to put another one on. After those two songs, my right lung was hurting. It hurt to breathe. I'm not 20 years old anymore, nor do I weigh what I did when I was 20. Days can be hard for me at times. I feel like soon enough, I'm not going to be able to do what I do with the kids anymore. But I stop and remind myself that God gives me the strength. I can't give into excuses and say that I can't do this anymore. God's called me to do it, so He's going to provide for me in every area, including my body (but He also gave me a brain, and I need to be responsible and watch what I eat and exercise, too). God is my strength, and in Him I will trust. God's got more to do with us. He's not done with us yet. Far from it.
We're continuing at Kids Church with the Samaritan's Purse discipleship program, and the kids are learning more and more about what it means to be a true follower of Christ. They've learned about how Jesus truly values kids and how He provides all of their needs, whether it be physical, emotional, or material.
Unfortunately, we've lost a lot of kids recently. We've gone from an average of 25 kids to an average of 10 kids. Yes, a lot of them graduated from Kids Church this past year, but it's still hard on me as a kids missionary to see that we don't have as many kids as we did before. I think back and remember when we were averaging 35-40 kids. Now seeing barely 10 kids at Kids Church (and 2 of them being my own), it hurts. It feels like I'm failing. Although I give away prizes for inviting new friends, the kids don't really do much to do so, and some are really just on and off about coming in the first place. It sucks a lot. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop. That doesn't mean that I'm just gonna give up and throw in the towel. We're doing our best to come up with more ways the kids will want to be interested in coming to Kids Church. We're rewarding kids more for being faithful and showing up every Saturday. We're planning on doing more personal inviting, going door-to-door and telling people about our Kids Church. It may seem like things are going bad, but we just gotta keep our heads up and keep pressing on towards the goal that God has called us to reach. We're gonna minister to and bless the few we have now while we work towards reaching more kids for Jesus.
It's been rough. There's been some days where I thought, "What would life be like if I just had a normal life? What if I just worked a "normal job" and took care of my family, and that's it?" But then I realize that I wouldn't be in this blessed situation that I'm in if I had went and worked a "normal job" out of high school. I wouldn't be blessed with the amazing wife and kids that I have now if I never would have came here. And if I stop being a missionary now with the family that I have, I wouldn't be in the perfect will of God for my life, which is the most important thing. I've discovered that when we're in that perfect will of God, He makes everything work out. He makes everything better. No amount of money, fame, friends, or material things will ever fix your life like God can. I am free from constant depression and incredibly low self-esteem thanks to actually seeking God's will for my life and living it out. I don't wanna go back to that. I don't wanna be far from God due to selfish desires. My time will be done when God calls me to be done. And in the meantime, He's going to make everything great, just like He is right now ♥
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." - Romans 8:28
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