Justin and Ashley Guest

“Here’s the thing”, I said to him. “My heart is called to youth ministry in a Spanish-speaking country.”

I expected that to be a deal breaker.

It was our first date….Spoiler alert: he stuck around. He carried his own calling to youth ministry, though he originally envisioned it happening within the States. God, as we quickly learned, had a much broader geographic vision for us.

For seven years, we served at a Children's Home in Honduras. It was a profoundly formative season where we planted and led a church, hosted small groups, taught in the local school, and, most importantly, served as loving, guiding adults for the kids. In 2017, God clearly signaled a shift. We visited a former WGM ministry site on the island of Roatan, a place left without resident missionaries. Feeling called to step into that gap, we spent the next four years working alongside the incredible Garifuna people of Punta Gorda. Our focus there was deeply relational and empowering. We facilitated community groups that brought local leaders together, helping them identify and tackle their own community goals, led Bible studies and taught English classes. When 2020 brought unprecedented challenges, we pivoted to provide emergency food relief and secured two fishing boats,equipping locals to sustain their primary source of income.

By 2022, we felt the Lord drawing us back to the States, specifically calling us to Stockton. It was a beautiful, full-circle realization. Years earlier, we had outlined a desire to work with youth, in a city, within a Spanish-speaking context. Stockton was the first time all of those specific desires seamlessly aligned.

Through every season and location, 1 John 3:18 has been our guiding anchor: "Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth." Today, here in Stockton, we continue to live out that calling. Whether we are distributing a much-needed food blessing, pouring into the children at our after-school program, or providing clinical mental health services, it remains our greatest joy and privilege to serve the people God has placed in our path. We are incredibly blessed by the dedicated team of supporters who help make this life-changing work possible.