Yaimara’s Story
by Yaimara Cruz , Worship team member
This is the testimony of one of our friends from the Latino Church. Yaimara is a mother, musician, and friend to so many in our community.
My name is Yaimara Cruz and I’m from Cuba, but now am a naturalized American. I am so thankful to God and to this great country that opened its doors to me and my family.
From a very young age, I felt that God was calling me. Every time I passed a temple, I was drawn to enter, but I refused to do so. Years later, when I was 13 years old, I was blessed to participate in an evangelistic campaign in the Baptist church of my town. That was the moment in which I decided to open the door of my heart to God. That was the best and most important decision I have ever made in my entire life. From there, I began to experience a beautiful stage of growth that continues to this day and that will continue until God calls me into his presence.
From my beginnings in the Christian life, I dedicated myself to serving God in various ministries in the church, such as discipleship, teaching children through didactic classes, music, and games. Throughout it all, my ministry has always focused fundamentally on music. For over 10 years I was involved in the church's worship group. Sometimes singing in the choir, ministering in worship, creating vocal musical works, or playing the piano. At the end of my 16 years, I met my best friend who would be my accomplice for life. We got engaged and two years and four months later we were married. The arrival of our two children was immediate. After a year and a half of marriage, my first-born Claudia arrived and then my second son Daniel.
In 2014, I had the immense blessing of arriving in the lands of freedom, in the United States. Since we arrived, my family and I began to meet in Mission Adelante, a ministry that we had heard about before when its director, Jarret, was in Cuba. We loved the idea of being part of this great family, first because it is a ministry focused mainly on Hispanic people like me, with the same language difficulties, the feeling of loss for leaving our culture, our families, our friends behind, but also because Mission Adelante has something special, the approach of living together as the early church did. We give testimony of the sacrifice and salvation of Jesus Christ, we are of the same heart and the same soul, loving each other, and taking care of each other. The biggest positive for me is a closer coexistence with each other with house meetings. Whether it is a bible study, or recreation and fun, it is a coexistence that contributes to a greater union. Since my arrival, Mission Adelante opened its doors to me and welcomed me with great love. It has given me the possibility of being able to serve God through what I love to do: the music ministry. I hope to God that we can continue to grow as a ministry, as a church, as a family, and that each day we will get closer to the model of the early church.
