Pastor Ronnie Cruz

We met Ronnie Cruz in quite an unusual way. In the latter part of 2003, we began paperwork to acquire a small piece of property in the heavily populated village of Santa Cruz. This village is a melting pot of immigrates to the country of Belize. Migrant workers from Honduras, Guatemala, and other Central American countries, have come to Belize to work in the banana farms. Most speak very little English, only Spanish. Someone from the village approached us in early 2003 about building a church there. This village will soon be the most populated village in the southern part of Belize. In mid 2004, the paperwork was titled and we now own the property located right on the front part of the village. We had prayed about what to do next in this Spanish speaking village. We needed a Spanish speaking pastor. Weeks and months went by, and we would pass by this property each week, traveling back and forth to our Mayan services, still praying God would show us what HE wanted us to do there.

In the fall of 2004, as we prepared for our first church service in the Garifuna village of Seine Bight, Santa Cruz was not the center of our focus. We had long waited for the day our Garifuna Church would open. We had invited all our Mayan friends from the other churches to come that morning for our first service. We arrived early to prepare the church and, to our surprise, a young man was sitting on the front step, waiting to see us. He introduced himself to us, and told us he was from the Spanish village of Santa Cruz. He normally had to work on Sunday, at the banana farm, and that is where he should have been that morning. As he waited for the bus to take him to work that morning, the bus for Seine Bight Village stopped right at the spot he was standing. He said, “I felt I should get on the bus.” His friend in Santa Rosa Village had told him about the new church opening in Seine Bight soon, and he was not even sure if it would be open that morning.

Ronnie had been a Christian for several years, but he had fallen away and just recently rededicated his life to Christ. He felt God was calling him to ministry, and he didn’t know what to do. He told us, “My wife and I have prayed and asked God to show us the way.” His testimony was compelling. His wife, Thelma, never stopped believing God, and that Ronnie would come back to where he needed to be. She continued to pray for him. Since he had rededicated his life to Jesus, a fresh annointing had fallen over him and he was praising the name of Jesus for bringing him back where he needed to be. God had manifested himself to Ronnie in powerful ways that he could not deny. He told us that morning he just felt he should come to Seine Bight and sit on the church porch until someone showed up. And, that is just where we found him sitting and waiting. Thelma had a dream a few nights earlier, and God spoke to her in the dream. The Lord told her that Ronnie had a blessing coming, and the blessing would come from two Americans he had never met before. He believed The Lord had led him to Seine Bight that morning.

He told us about his desire to be a Pastor, and how he had a heart for the lost people in Santa Cruz Village. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he poured his heart out to us.
He did not know we already had the property in Santa Cruz to build a church, and we were looking for a pastor – a pastor with an out going charismatic personality, who could speak Spanish.

We made plans to come to his house the next week and talk more to him. That next Tuesday morning, we took Pastor Ambrosio Shal, from Santa Rosa, with us and we went to hear more about the heart and vision of Ronnie Cruz. That day, we left our Pastor’s training course with him (in Spanish) and told him to pray, and seek The Lord’s direction concerning his call.

That next Saturday, we went to minister in the Mayan Villages as we normally do, and what we heard from our other Pastors was just incredible. Pastor Ambrosio Shal and Pastor Angel Peck wanted to bring the members of both their churches together, and build a thatch roof church on our property in Santa Cruz, for Ronnie Cruz.

So the next Friday, the men from both Santa Rosa Church and Maya Mopan Church went into the jungle and cut enough cahoon leaves to make a thatch roof. We used our truck and trailer to get the leaves out of the jungle and the next day the men came back and built the thatched roof church. Ronnie Cruz was all smiles! He just could not believe how fast all this had happened for him. This thatch roof with a dirt floor and no power, was like a cathedral to him. Pastor Ambroiso’s wife, Bonita, cooked chicken for all the men, and we loaded it on the back of our truck and delivered lunch. It was a celebration in the name of Jesus!

Ronnie Cruz now holds services under his thatch roof every week. He works on Sunday to support his family of five children because he has no other choices. He holds service on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights under this thatch roof made of cahoon leaves from the jungle. He uses a car battery the ministry has given to him for lights. He is an on-fire warrior for Jesus! His overflowing love for Christ shines through in his church services and in his everyday life.

Pastor Ronnie Cruz has faith that God is going to provide a cement block church for him in the near future. He continues to be a servant of Christ, filled with joy, each time he goes into his thatch roof church to preach the word of God.