Family Finds Hope and Community at Saddleback en Español

Imagine that your family has moved to a brand-new country, leaving all of your friends and relatives behind. The pandemic hits, so there is no chance of going back to visit. Your mom loses her job, and then your dad tests positive for COVID-19. You have $8 to buy groceries for the week. How do you keep going?

One Saddleback family did not have to imagine that scenario — they were living it. Yet, in the trenches of all their hardship, there was a ray of hope. The daughter of the family had faith that despite the difficult things going on in their life, God would be there for them.

“We just needed to look for God,” said the daughter, “and that was the key to everything.”

With encouragement from the daughter, the family began a Bible study, and were even able to include their relatives in Mexico through Zoom. By experiencing Christ’s goodness together, the family was led to start attending church. That’s when they found Saddleback en Español.

The father fell in love with the online services, and he began playing them for the family every Sunday. Eventually, he and his wife took Class 101 and became members of Saddleback Church. They did all of this without ever stepping foot on campus.

“My dad always looked for the weekend messages here, he always loved this church, and always put them up for the whole family to see,” said the daughter, “Then he decided he wanted to come serve here.”

As people began to regather at Saddleback’s campuses, the family’s excitement grew. They were finally able to visit the church that had been there for them during the pandemic. And following through with the father’s desire to serve, the family decided not to come just as members, but as volunteers.

The family served at Saddleback en Español’s Palm Sunday service by greeting people, cleaning chairs, and helping out. By the end of the day, they didn’t care how tired they were, they were glad to help.

“If I have to carry a heavy bag, OK sure, I’ll do it,” said the daughter. “If I have to do it a hundred more times, sure I’ll be tired, but so what.”

Saddleback en Español has grown in amazing ways over the past few months, and this family is an example of how special the community is there.

Now, the family has overcome many of the challenges they faced during the pandemic. The father recovered from his bout with COVID, and they are financially stable. Most importantly, though, they’ve found a spiritual family through their community at Saddleback.

“It feels like something is inside you, like this joy that you’ve never had before,” said the daughter. “Saddleback en Español is what we’re here for.”