Episode 24: Through A Car Accident And An Earthquake – Bro. Steve Rivas’ Testimony – Pt.1

Bro. Steve shares with us his testimony how he met his wife and how he came to the Lord even though he had been disillusioned with God during his teenage years.

Bro. Steve also shares with us how God through a tragic traffic accident that he and his wife were involved in got his attention to get serious about serving God with all of his heart. 

One of the most incredible parts of his testimony is how God used the Northridge Earthquake that took place in in the San Fernando Valley region of the County of Los Angeles in 1994, to convince him to move to Washington state to serve the Lord there. 

Acts 5:40-42 

40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 

41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

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Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Luis Urrego: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Ten Thousand Worlds Podcast my name is Luis Urrego. And it is a privilege and an honor for you to be here listening today on this episode number 24 of the podcast. This is episode number 24 of the podcast and it is a privilege for me to be here for the next 35-45 minutes. I hope you take the time to listen because I believe that we have something, a special guest that I believe will be a blessing to you.

[00:00:27] So hopefully that you take the time and, that you listen and that you glean from, what our brother is going to say. I have with me brother Steve Rivas. He is from Washington, the state of Washington here in the United States, and, attends, Bibleway, Cloverdale Bibleway Church where the pastor there, is brother Ed Byskal.

[00:00:52] And brother Steve has been a believer for a very long time. But, he has a wonderful testimony that he would like to share with us. So I hope that you stick around, and listen to the testimony because I believe that we can identify with, brother Steve and his testimony.

[00:01:09] If you are a believer, if you are a Christian, you can identify because, If it wasn’t for God calling us out, where would we-where would we be? If it wasn’t for God showing His mercy and grace onto us to draw us, to bring us closer to Him, to draw us closer to His Word? Where would we be if it wasn’t for His mercy, his mercy and grace.

[00:01:31] And I thank God for his mercy and grace in this hour cause I definitely needed it in this hour. And it has been his mercy and grace and the prayers of my parents that have brought me through thus far. So I’m going to go ahead and go here to brother Steve and I trust that you will enjoy. And after the episode, I will, come back with my final thoughts. So may God richly bless you as you listen.

[00:01:59] Welcome to the Ten Thousand Worlds Podcast. Once again, my name is Luis Urrego and I have here brother Steve Rivas, from Washington state, if I’m not mistaken, brother Steve, if you could correct me, you just want to greet the listeners and correct me if I’m, if I’m wrong.

[00:02:16] Steve Rivas: [00:02:16] Hello there. God bless you. no, you’re correct. I currently reside in Washington state. that’s, that’s where, that’s where I live right

[00:02:24] Luis Urrego: [00:02:24] now.

[00:02:26] Okay. Praise the Lord. And for the Steve, he has been a believer for quite some time now, a believer, this precious and Tom message. how many years have, have you believed the message brother Steve?

[00:02:40] Steve Rivas: [00:02:40] It’s, over 25 years now.

[00:02:43] Luis Urrego: [00:02:43] Wow. 25 years, so, so yeah, I have about 20 years, so yeah. So you’ve, you’ve been there quite a quite a while now, and I’m sure that you’ve seen quite a bit as well.

[00:02:55] Steve Rivas: [00:02:55] Oh, absolutely.

[00:02:58] Luis Urrego: [00:02:58] Yeah. So, but it’s, as you’re walking with the Lord, you’re growing in him, but you also.

[00:03:04] Unfortunately, you see the thing, things that you probably don’t want to see, but at the same time, you’re seeing wonderful and beautiful things that you’ve never seen before, and that overcompensates for the, for the negative things.

[00:03:18] Steve Rivas: [00:03:18] That’s exactly right, brother.

[00:03:21] Luis Urrego: [00:03:21] Yeah, absolutely. Now, brother Steve, you have a family, correct?

[00:03:25]Steve Rivas: [00:03:25] yes, I do. I do. In fact, I have, of course, my spouse, sister Tracy, that’s her name, and I have four children. I have a daughter. Her name is Michelle. Then I have three sons. Jeremy, Andrew and Joshua.

[00:03:42] Luis Urrego: [00:03:42] Okay. And, they’re, they’re grown up, if I’m not mistaken,

[00:03:47] Steve Rivas: [00:03:47] there. Yeah. In fact, my youngest, he is going to turn 25 on the 28th of this month.

[00:03:56] And then I have, yeah, I have a 27 year old that’s after him, and then I have, a 29 year old son. So that’s my son. And then my daughter, she’s going on 32.

[00:04:10] Luis Urrego: [00:04:10] Wow. Your daughter is your

[00:04:12] Steve Rivas: [00:04:12] oldest. Yes. Yep.

[00:04:14] Luis Urrego: [00:04:14] Okay. Okay. All right. And, you attend the Cloverdale Bibleway, which is the church that brother Eddie Bisco, pastors.

[00:04:23] Is that

[00:04:23] Steve Rivas: [00:04:23] correct? That’s exactly right. Yeah. And it’s located, in Canada, there is in Cloverdale.

[00:04:31] Luis Urrego: [00:04:31] Okay. All right. For the listeners, I. The way I met up with brother Steve is through brother Ernie Villenueva. He is a minister, here in the message. And, I was down in Florida about two months ago or so, and, brother Ernie was there ministering.

[00:04:47] So I was there interpreting for him, from English into Spanish. And so I’ve known whether there are any for a little while as well. But, he said, Hey, listen, maybe you might like to meet with bro. Brother Steve Rivas. He’s a wonderful brother, a good friend of mine that goes to church that I go to church with.

[00:05:02] I said, sure. So that’s how we got connected. And, got to top we brother Steve. about a month ago, we talked, over the phone, got to know each other a little well, and, he’s just seems like a very humble brother. Seems like a very, a wonderful person. Just Larry laid back to talk with. And, he, he doesn’t sound like he, that he has that, you know, that many children and children, that old, you know, that they’re 32.

[00:05:29] I thought you said it was your oldest.

[00:05:31] Steve Rivas: [00:05:31] Yeah, 32. My daughter is my oldest one.

[00:05:35] Luis Urrego: [00:05:35] Yep. Okay. Yeah. Cause he just, he’s to me over the phone. He just sounds much younger and I’ve seen his picture here. And then. It doesn’t look that he doesn’t look old at all. Maybe it’s the Latino part

[00:05:46] Steve Rivas: [00:05:46] of it.

[00:05:50] I think it’s the lower brother.

[00:05:53] Luis Urrego: [00:05:53] Yeah. Praise the Lord. Brother Steve, you’re originally from El Salvador, is that correct?

[00:05:59] Steve Rivas: [00:05:59] yes. That’s my country of origin is El Salvador. I lived there from the time I was born until I was, 12 years old. And then from there, we, migrated to Mexico.

[00:06:13] Luis Urrego: [00:06:13] Okay. That’s right.

[00:06:14] And you grew up, you grew up a certain time there in Mexico, so,

[00:06:18] Steve Rivas: [00:06:18] yeah. Yeah, yeah. I lived there from, well, from 12 years old until I was 15 years old. And then. At 15, I moved to the United States and I’ve been here ever since.

[00:06:34] Luis Urrego: [00:06:34] Okay. Alright. So can you share with us brother Steve, how you got to, Hi, how you started.

[00:06:40]well actually, before we do that, let’s just, let’s just have a word of prayer. We meant to do this at the beginning of the, of the episode, but if you, if you listeners can join us so that, in a word of prayer that the Lord would just, Have his will and his way through on this episode. And, something that would be said that through brothers Steve’s, testimony that would maybe touch somebody and draw them closer to God.

[00:07:03] So let’s just, bow our heads and let’s just go to the Lord in prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you, Lord Jesus once again for the opportunity to serve you Lord, and whatever way is possible to us. Lord, we know that father, these are. The technology that’s been given to us, Lord, to be able to. Be a blessing, but we know that it can also be a curse.

[00:07:25] So Lord, we’re using it father, for a blessing. And we asked that through this episode through brother Steve’s testimony, Lord, that you would have your will and your way, that it would touch somebody and that it would draw someone closer to the Lord, closer to you, and they could identify with, with. With our brother’s testimony, and Lord, maybe even, draw them closer, maybe even give them the baptism of the Holy ghost, even listening to it.

[00:07:50] Father God. So father, we know that nothing’s impossible for you. We commit this time into your hands now in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.

[00:07:59] Steve Rivas: [00:07:59] Amen.

[00:08:01] Luis Urrego: [00:08:01] But Steve, I think you had a scripture that you wanted to share with us. And then if you want, you can go ahead and, take us in with your

[00:08:08] Steve Rivas: [00:08:08] testimony. Okay, we will do that.

[00:08:12] So, to begin with, I’d like to invite you and our audience to the book of acts in acts chapter five. And I like to read, verses 40, 41 and 42. And the scripture says in acts five 40, 41 42 into through him, they agreed. And when they had called the apostles and beating them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

[00:08:48] And they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer. Shame for his name and they Lee and the temple. And then every house they cease not to teach and preach. Jesus Christ. So amen. That’s a wonderful scripture. and I think it’s, it’s, it goes along with, with, with, with your testimony, it would feel if you are a believer, because, I think about these, men of God, the apostles, they were, they had just been mistreated.

[00:09:26] They had just been threatened. And then w the read below it says that they. they left the place rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And I noticed that they didn’t stop their, their preaching and going from house to house because I believe they have received power from above that would take them through, through this time of a great tribulation that we’re going through.

[00:09:58]I believe for myself, I can identify, with these, children of God. Because even in times when, you know, we go through tribulations, I believe that in our hearts we can rejoice. When of course, we are, you know, persecuted for, for his name. We can rejoice that we’re, we’re actually counted worthy, of, of, Of such a treatment because it’s not because we were evil, but it’s because we are followers of Jesus Christ. So I want to, I wanted to, I want to invite you guys to take a quantum leap with me to, to pretty much childhood. And then I go from there. I just moved forward with it. basically. I was actually, you know, a lot of, a lot of people who come from, from where I come from, they have a Catholic background and I don’t, I don’t have a Catholic background because my, my parents, when I was born, they were actually, they used to go to the assemblies of God church, the, and so I actually, that’s where I was reared up, is going to church and the assemblies of God church.

[00:11:16] In. In fact, I was, I remember I have a big memory when I was just a little guy, when, they took me and they, presented me in front of the church. they dedicated me as a child, and so I have that memory. And so I grew up going to church. My parents, they went to church and they, so they were, they were serving God in their capacity.

[00:11:41] And anyway, that was in our country. And then when I was 12 years old, we moved from my country to Mexico. Like I was saying earlier in, of course, the reason that we did that was because of the, civil war that was happening at that time in my country. So when we got to mixed, one of the challenges we had was.

[00:12:06]we didn’t have a church to go to in Mexico. And so what has been, what happened is we didn’t have a church to go, like an assemblies of God church to go to. So we was, we were just kind of drifting, not going to church. and then one time we had these folks come in knocking on doors, you know, they were evangelizing the town, going door to door.

[00:12:33] And they belonged to the seventh day Adventist church. And so my parents, they didn’t want to go, but we were young and. W, we wanted to go to church. And so we went with these folks. And, they had, they had a deal going on that time where if you went to their church, they had a special meetings. And if you attended every meeting during the week, I think it was from like, Monday through Friday through Saturday, if you went every day at the end of the meetings, You got a Bible that was your reward. So I win all the meetings and I got my Bible at the end and I was very happy about it. So anyway, we, we went, I went to that church with my brothers and my sisters. But now my parents, for, I dunno, from about 13 till I was two, I left Mexico, which that was 15 years old.

[00:13:30] Yes, sir.

[00:13:31] Luis Urrego: [00:13:31] Sorry to cut you off, just, just, I was just curious what part of Mexico, was this, that,

[00:13:37]Steve Rivas: [00:13:37] that would have been in Mexico city. Okay.

[00:13:40] Luis Urrego: [00:13:40] Mexico city. Okay. The Capitol.

[00:13:42]Steve Rivas: [00:13:42] huh. Yes. The, the capital is actually, you know, a lot of people, when you’re in Mexico, I was actually in the state of Mexico, but it’s so close to the Capitol that you, when you live in the state of Mexico, you just said Mexico city, even though you were next door.

[00:14:00] So that’s actually where we resided. so, So anyway, you saw it was going to their church and then I moved to the United States, but I want to, I want to share something that took place when I was going, to, to their church because it goes to me, it goes back to brother Brandon when he said you were different and like you always had that you couldn’t fit in.

[00:14:28] When you, and you didn’t know why, but you just couldn’t fit in. And one of the things when I was going to this church was, they were nice people. I had friends and everything. And one of the things that they had was a requirement for baptism. And the way they brought it about was until you were baptized, you, you were still a worldly person.

[00:14:53] Well, I didn’t want to be a worldly person. I want. I wanted a change in my life. And so the year was 1984 I was 14 years of age then, and I had become very disillusioned in the church because no matter what I did, I couldn’t change myself. Yeah. And in fact, I went as far as getting baptized with their church, and I remember I had a.

[00:15:21] I had a set of cards, you know, I used to play cards and I threw those. I threw other things away that I had in my possession that I considered worldly, but I noticed that, you know, that was the year. That was 1984 got baptized early in 84 in my life. Right after I got Baptist. I made a real effort to be a good boy, if you will, but.

[00:15:49] And change. I came back to be the same person again. you know, I had a, my desire for the things of the world was still there. So what happened? it’s, what happened was because I couldn’t, because I couldn’t be changed. I became very disillusioned with the church and its teachings, and you name it in, right around the end of 1984 before Christmas.

[00:16:16] I remember me saying to myself, well, it’s useless to serve God if, if I’m not going to be changed, if I’m going to be the same person after I follow what the church said and I’m still then what’s the use of serving God? So I told, I made myself a promise and what I, you know, in my, in my own way, I said, if 1985 comes around.

[00:16:46] And this was, I said this at the end of 1994 right before Christmas. So I said to myself, if 1985 rolls around and I’m still the same and now I am not change, then I’m done. I am not to, I’m not going to play religion. I’m not even going to go to church because what’s the use? And you know, it, it happened.

[00:17:10]At the end of 1984 left. 1995 came around and I still had the same desires. I even got my, I even got my cars back, and so I decided, okay, I’m done. There’s no I, no, I never said there is no God, but I just said, you know, there’s no change here. What? What’s the use. Yeah. And

[00:17:33] Luis Urrego: [00:17:33] so Steve, just quickly, it’s already interrupted.

[00:17:37] Was this through like a pen, Pentecostal church or, or

[00:17:40] Steve Rivas: [00:17:40] no, this was a, this was the seventh day Adventist

[00:17:43] Luis Urrego: [00:17:43] church. Oh, okay.

[00:17:45] Steve Rivas: [00:17:45] I see. Yeah. They were the folks that came door to door when we lived there in Mexico. And so. Because we had nowhere to go to church. We went to their church, and then so forth. so 1985 was a year, brought a lot of changes to my life because my father at that time was, living in the United States.

[00:18:06] In fact, he lived in San Diego, California. In since I was a child, I had always wanted to come to the United States. But you know, I think that’s a dream. A lot of a lot of children from central South America have. Mine was really strong. And so anyway, I had told my father, I said, can you take me to the United States?

[00:18:27] And he said, no. He said, you have to be of age before you go there and you can’t go with me. So I said, okay. So what I wanted to do is I wanted to wait till I was 18 so that I can make the trip myself. But to my, to my big surprise, my father called me when I was in Mexico city and I was only 15. He, called me from, from San Diego, and he said, he said, there’s a job opening in San Diego right next to where I work.

[00:18:58] He said, if you want it. If you want to come up. He said, I’ve come to Mexico city, I’ll get you, we’ll go. We’ll fly to Tijuana. And then what jumped the border? You know how that goes. He said, can I have a job? And I was like, I mean, that to me, that was like, it meant everything to me. So I said, okay, dad. I said, it’s a done deal.

[00:19:21] And it was right around the time when. A school year was ending in Mexico. So it worked out perfect because I finished my first year of high school, and then my dad came down to Mexico city, pick me up and we got on a plane, got to Tijuana, we, crossed the border, with all its perils there. And we got to San Diego.

[00:19:44] And believe it or not, that was like on a weekend and by Monday I was working already. So, So then, you know, so then, what happened is I, I worked there in San Diego for for about a year, and my dad used to work for this company, who was like a, like a, a building supply yard. And then my dad decided he got homesick, so he went back to Mexico.

[00:20:10] When he went back to Mexico, he came, he went and got my brother, my older brother. And so me and my brother were now working at this company and my dad left to go to Mexico. But, that was 19, 1985 went away in 1986 rolled around. My dad wasn’t, was not in the country anymore then it was me and my brother working for this company.

[00:20:31] Well, in 1986, that’s when the, amnesty law. came all across the United States. And that’s where if you were an illegal person working in the United States, they were gonna send you back to, to your country. So as a result of that, my boss, who was a wonderful man, he did so much, he did a lot of good for us.

[00:20:55] He called us into his office at the beginning of 86 and he said, okay, guys. He said, I. I love to keep you around. He said, but it’s very risky for me to have your working in my yard and for my company because of course you’re undocumented aliens. So he said, well, I’m going to do, he said is, I’m giving you 1986 and at the end of 86 like you’ll have no job with me.

[00:21:20] So we were like, okay, thank you very much. And we don’t even wait for 1986 to finish. It was around the time around November, me and my brother decided to go back to Mexico. So that’s what we did. We left to go to Mexico and we were there for, we were there, you know, the rest of 1986, beginning of 87. And then we got that itch again to come back to the United States.

[00:21:47] So me and my brother and a friend of ours now who wanted to join us, we made the Trek again to the United States. And basically we did the same thing. We got to Towana from Mexico city. We crossed the border and there we found ourselves in San Diego. but the problem was we find ourselves there with no job because.

[00:22:08]the law at that time was a very, they had a very strong arm against employers who hire illegal aliens, and that’s what we work. so

[00:22:18] Luis Urrego: [00:22:18] let’s just now in 1987,

[00:22:19] Steve Rivas: [00:22:19] 1987. Yeah. The beginning of it. Okay. So the reason, the reason I’m including this, you’ll see later is because it pies with my testimony. So

[00:22:30] Luis Urrego: [00:22:30] yeah,

[00:22:30] Steve Rivas: [00:22:30] go ahead.

[00:22:31] It’s important that I included in it. so anyways. So we have this friend of ours with us. His name was Abraham, and it was my brother Joe. So we got to San Diego and you know, early 87 about February of 1997 and we’re there, but we’re running out of money. We’re running out of money to the point where we just enough money for gas for, because we had a car there that we left there when we left from Mexico.

[00:23:01] So we were living in the car and we were running out of money. But it just so happened that this friend of mine that was with me, his father lived in the United States in central California, in a town called Paso Robles, which is, South of, San Francisco. I saw this as a way to, cause I told my friend Abraham at that time, I said, look, I said, we’re running out of money.

[00:23:30] We can’t find work, so we’re going to have to back. We’re going to have to go back to Mexico. Well, for us to go back to Mexico was one thing, but for Abraham was another thing because he just got here. So he said, ah, I don’t want to go back to Mexico. I just got here. So basically what we, what we set up with him was, we told him, well, the only way we can stay in the United States is if you call your father who lives, you know, up in central California and you tell him you’re here, you’re stuck, and you got your friends with you, and we need a place to live and we need to work.

[00:24:06] Well, father, his father had always, put him on notice that he was never to come to the United States because his father was paying for his college and everything in Mexico. So he was already in the United States and his father didn’t know it. So he said, Oh, I can’t do that. You know, because my father, he’s against me being here.

[00:24:27] Like he doesn’t even know I’m here already. I, so then me and my brother, we just said, okay, well then we’re going back to Mexico. So finally he did, he got enough courage and he called his father. And of course that, that was, that didn’t go very well. But his father, I mean, what could he do? His son is already in the States.

[00:24:46] He’s with a couple of buddies of his, so he’s father said, okay, he’s father said, okay, make your way up here. I’ll receive you guys. And, and, he was a supervisor, and out in the fields. With the, where you, tie the fields, where you, what you do, for the grapes. Cause that’s the wine country in that area.

[00:25:05] So we made our way to, to central California. We arrived there with the help of some real good people. And so we arrived there and then of course they received us. So we had a place to live. And we had, you know, and then within a few days, we had work. So things started going pretty good, for us there.

[00:25:30]and so, anyways, that was, that was in February. And there’s, You know, earlier, you asked me, you know, about my family. So I have a, a wonderful wife. I think the Lord for her because she’s a believer and it’s been a believer for all the time I’ve been a believer. We were witnessed. the message came to us where we were, we were, together.

[00:25:55] So I, I think her, but what happened was this, and this is where, where things kinda. turned the corner for me as far as, because when I was there, God was in the back of my mind. I wasn’t looking for God. I was not, I was just living life. Because I have been very disillusioned, because I didn’t find God when, you know, when I said, you know, where’s God?

[00:26:23] And I never saw God. So I was just living life. but you know, deep inside my heart I was still searching, but in the outside I had kind of given up. And so, so what happened was, We lived in these house that was just full of people, because you know how it is when you come up here and you’re an illegal alien and all of that.

[00:26:46] There’ll be 15 people living in the house and they all work out there. So that, that’s, that was our situation. So we were bachelors, I was a bachelor. And so what happened is I would do my own laundry, you know, cook my own meals and all of that. So here’s a. Yeah. Here’s a interesting thing that took place, while I was living at the house.

[00:27:10] So when we got to that little town of  California there, it’s in the County and San Luis Obispo County there. I didn’t know these place from a hole in the ground. I was brand new in this place. I was, I was a total stranger in this town. Completely stranger. And I, I had never, never in my wildest dreams plan to go there.

[00:27:35] The only reason I ended up there is because this friend of mine was with us and he had his father who lived there. So anyway, so we got acquainted with the town a little bit, and of course, we found out where the laundromat was in me and my brother used to go to the laundromat, all the time to do our, you know, do our laundry.

[00:27:53] Well, right. What, what happened one time was there was a, there was another land mat that we could go to, but we didn’t know where it was. It’s so we asked a friend of ours that we live with, can you take us, because these other laundry mat was closer to home. The one we used to go to all the time was farther from our house, but, and there was one closer to home, but we didn’t know where it was.

[00:28:20] And you know, in those days you didn’t have. you know, you didn’t have GPS, you didn’t have Google maps. So if someone didn’t think it would have to, you know, read it in the Atlas or something. Well, we, we, we weren’t doing that. So anyway, this friend of ours, he. that lived in the house. He said, okay. He said, on Sunday, I’ll take you guys to this laundry mat that’s only maybe about five blocks away from here instead of you guys going 15 minutes away from the house.

[00:28:46] So we were like, okay, that’s super, we’ll do that. That was the plan. He agreed to it and we were looking forward to us, you know, two bachelors going to go do their laundry next door instead of going 50 minutes away. So Sunday rolled around and just out of the blue. These friends of ours said, I remember he was laying on the couch and he looked at me and he said, by the way, he said, I changed my mind.

[00:29:12] And it’s not that he was sick or anything, he was just relaxing. He said, he says to me, I’m not going to take you guys to the laundry mat. He said, you, you fare for yourselves. So what? The only choice we had then me and my brother was to go to the laundry mat that we’ve always got to. So around. Eight o’clock at night.

[00:29:33] Off we went, you know, to do our laundry. And, I was the driver of the vehicle that night because me and my brother used to take turns driving our car. I drove it one day, he drove it the next, and so anyway, that night it was my turn to drive. So we got on the car and we went through, we went to the laundromat and I found out many years later that going to the laundry mat a lot of times as a spiritual meaning.

[00:29:58] So.

[00:30:02] Well, you’ll see in a minute. So anyway, we, we got through the laundry mat and me and my brother started doing our clothing and we were, we were about 90% done and there was no, no other people in the laundry mat, just me and my brother is approaching nine o’clock on a Sunday evening. So we’re about 90% done with our clothing.

[00:30:25] We’re folding them when. Right? We were in, we were right by the entrance of the laundromat. And you know, they’re like always. So there’s laundry machines on the sides and you can go all the way to the back. So just as we’re almost done, these two young ladies walked into the laundry mat and they walk right by us.

[00:30:46] So I could not, because of where we were located, I could not see the face of these young ladies. I only could see their profiles. So anyway, two of them walked right by us and went all the way to the very back of the laundry mat. And so, I remember looking over, I saw, I saw both of them, but one of those young ladies really attracted my attention.

[00:31:11] And so, you know, I was, at that time I was 17 years old. So anyway, I didn’t speak any English at that time. I spoke very, very little English. I mean, I could probably say three or four words, and that’s it. Maybe five, you know, in whatever English I did speak, it was just, it was, it was a mess. It was just all broken up.

[00:31:36] And I would need a translator to speak to these lady because she was American. So anyway, so they went all the way to the back of the laundry mat. And I was here. So what was going through my mind at that time was, cause I was, we were almost done with the laundry and I was the driver of the car. So I was trying to find a way to establish a communication with these, with these two young ladies who were back there.

[00:32:03] So they just happened to be at the very back of the laundry mat where the bathroom was. So what I did in my foolishness as a young person is I started going in and out of the bathroom in and out of the bathroom. I wasn’t using the bathroom, but what I was doing is I would go in and stay in there for a few seconds, come out and take a peak of these girls.

[00:32:23] Well, my why, just tell you right now, one of those girls. She became my wife, later. But what happened was she was there with her sister that evening and her, her sister left the laundry mat to give some coins. And when she did I, that’s when I was going in and out of the bathroom. And so today she tells me, I noticed you were doing that.

[00:32:46] She said, and I was thinking, what is wrong with this guy? Like, what is she doing? Well. I had a plan, but it wasn’t, it was not working. So, so then of course the time came to go home and I was like, well, what am I going to do? I cannot just walk up and talk to these ladies because I don’t know them. And so we packed our clothing and we were on our way out the door already working with our backs to them.

[00:33:18] And right as we were about to exit the door to go out, I heard a voice behind me and the voice just said, the boy said bye. And it was now my wife, it was her sister. So I turned around to look at them and her sister said to me, come here. And I was like, Oh my goodness. Yeah, there’s the communication I’ve been waiting for.

[00:33:46] So then, so then I went to the car, I put my clothing away and I told my brother, cause there was two of us, I said, Hey, I said, there’s two girls over there. Let’s go say hi. They just the one girl, I said, just call me and say come, you know, come. And she motioned with her, she motioned with her hand to, you know, come over there and say hi.

[00:34:07] So my brother that night, he was kind of cranky. And you know, in our culture, the way it works as the older brother, you always, he gives the orders and you follow them. And so, and so what happened that evening is I was 17 years old and I had the keys to their car. So when we got in the car, I said, Joe, I said, let’s go say hi to these girls.

[00:34:29] And he said, absolutely not. He said, we got to go home. We got to work tomorrow. So I said, well, I said, I want to go say hi. I said, why don’t you come with me just quickly. And he’s like, Nope, absolutely not. We’re going home. I said, well, I said, I got the keys. I’m driving so I’ll be right back. So I put the keys on my pocket and I went right back into the laundromat and I went all the way to the back of the laundry where these young ladies were.

[00:34:55] I went right past my wife’s sister and I went right to my wife and I started, I started a conversation with her just like that. And one thing led to another, and I would spend maybe 15 minutes there talking to them. I got to know them a little bit, talk to my wife, she talked to me. and I believe what happened that evening.

[00:35:22] It was love at first sight. And how that came about is it’s in explicable, but that’s what happened that night. So one thing led to another. And, I got a phone number and I was supposed to call her that week after I sent my goodbyes. I said, well, I’ll call you this weekend. I said, I’d like to get to know you a little better.

[00:35:43] And she’s like, wonderful. Looking forward to hear from you. So, I’ll make a kind of make a long story short just here between what happened there. So anyway, I met up with my wife during that week. We went on our first date. That would have been, I met her on a Sunday, on a Friday. We went now for a first date, and believe it or not, I don’t advise young people to do this, but on the.

[00:36:11] And the first day I met my, we went out with my wife. I asked my wife to marry me. I, yeah. On our first date. And my wife looked at me, we were in the car, you know, and of course, I was not going to church. So we did what young people did those days. And what they still do in the world is you go to a movie.

[00:36:31] After the movie, you go in the car and you talk, and then you take the girl home. But that’s, that’s, that’s how we did things. So we went through a movie, and when we got in the car, I asked my wife, I said, well, I said, look. I said, we just met. I said, but I really like you. I said, and I, I want a family. I said, I don’t want to play around.

[00:36:51] I said, I’m not. I said, I don’t want to play around. I want to start a family and I’m looking for a woman to marry me. I said, so I asked my wife right there. I said, will you marry me? And she was taking, I mean, that was shocking to her, but you know, she said, yes, I would. And so, yeah. So she agreed to marry me, and of course we didn’t get married.

[00:37:11] We didn’t get married the next weekend, but, but, you know, it was, it was a sealed deal. So,

[00:37:18] Luis Urrego: [00:37:18] sorry, sorry, sorry to interrupt that. What was your, how old is your wife?

[00:37:23]Steve Rivas: [00:37:23] well, my wife is the same age as I am, so we just, we just turned 50.

[00:37:28]Luis Urrego: [00:37:28] so see was 17, 16, 17 at that time as well.

[00:37:32] Steve Rivas: [00:37:32] Yeah. She was also 17. I’m a month older wife.

[00:37:35] Yeah. One month older than her.

[00:37:38] Luis Urrego: [00:37:38] Okay.

[00:37:38] Steve Rivas: [00:37:38] Yeah. So, yeah. So, so anyway, I asked her, will you marry me? She said, yes, I would. So then of course we started dating and, but you know, lots of things happen and I just take a quantum leap to. You know, like a year later, so about a year later, in fact, there was a, we just had our 32nd anniversary here on the 25th of April.

[00:38:04] So on the 20th of April of 1988 we got married.

[00:38:11] Luis Urrego: [00:38:11] Congratulations.

[00:38:13] Steve Rivas: [00:38:13] Thank you. But here’s, here’s what happened, when we got married. So. When, when I met my wife, in fact, before our first date, I noticed that she was a churchgoer and he was going to the Lutheran church. I was not going to church. I, I once in a while, we frequent the seven day Adventist church there in the town, but I was not a regular, well, she was going to the Lutheran church and I really liked that because I wanted to, I didn’t want a Catholic girl.

[00:38:47] Nothing against Catholics. But you know, my parents, when, when I was very young, they instilled that in me. And they told me, you can marry anybody but never marry a Catholic. And they said, because if you marry a Catholic, you’ll become a Catholic and your children will be Catholic. So, I said, okay. So when I met my, my wife, now in those days, I noticed she was Lutheran.

[00:39:07] Well, I was okay with that. And then of course, before we got married, you know, we, we talked and we said, well. When we get married, we want to, we want to, we want to find a church to go to because we don’t want to raise our kids without going to church. So we had that agreement and she said, well, my wife said in those days, I’m a Lutheran.

[00:39:29] She said, I don’t know what you are, but she said, you lead the way, like whatever, you go to church, I’ll follow you. And so we had that in stone and it was wonderful. So we got married and of course, got married and our first child, our daughter, was coming. And so we, we went on a, on a mission, met with my wife, and that was, we needed to find a church where we could belong.

[00:39:56] And so right away we started, we, we decided, okay. Because we weren’t going to church. and so even though she was Lutheran, when, when she, when, when we got married, we weren’t going to church. And now I want to tell you that I met her in central California, but because I didn’t have a job over there, I actually moved to Southern California in July of 1987.

[00:40:25] And. It was not until she finished high school that she moved down with me to Southern California in Los Angeles area. And so that’s where we actually got married in this city called Norwalk, Norwalk, California, right there in LA County. So anyway, it’s important that I tell you that we lived in Los Angeles because it’s going to tie it in with my testimony.

[00:40:53] And I’ll pick up speed here when, when I get through it, when I get to the, do the part where, you know, I can con when I can connect the dots. so anyway, we got married and we decided, we started looking around. So we were like, we had these friends of ours who used to go to Calvary chapel. so then they said, Hey, you guys wanna, you know, you’re looking for a church.

[00:41:16] We go to Calvary chapel. It’s a great place to go to church. Why don’t you join us? So when me and

[00:41:22] Luis Urrego: [00:41:22] Steve, I’m sorry to interrupt, I actually, I have actually heard of that church before. I, I’ve, I’ve actually, are they very musical?

[00:41:30] Steve Rivas: [00:41:30] Like, yeah, they are.

[00:41:31] Luis Urrego: [00:41:31] Okay. Yeah, I have heard music from their church before and a good music, by the way.

[00:41:38] But, yeah. When you said Calvary chapel, I said, yeah, I’ve heard of them before.

[00:41:42] Steve Rivas: [00:41:42] yeah. Yeah. Back in the eighties, Calvary Cheval was a huge movement in Southern California. They had a huge following.

[00:41:50] They

[00:41:50] Luis Urrego: [00:41:50] were living in a costal, right?

[00:41:52]Steve Rivas: [00:41:52] yeah, yeah, they were, they were kind of like Pentecostal, so. So then, we decided to go to a church with these guys, with these couple that we knew, we went with them.

[00:42:04] And so we went to the one meeting and when we got there, now mind you, we’re worldly people right now. We want to be Christians, but we’re not Christians by no stretch of the imagination. We’re living just like the world. but when we go, when we went there, you know, we’re looking for a church where we can go and raise our family, our daughters on its way and her way.

[00:42:30] So we got there and we noticed that this stuff, the stuff that was going on in that church was just, it was horrendous. And we noticed that for one, it was so noisy. And even when the preacher was up there preaching, people just would not be quiet. It was just very disorganized. I mean, people were just talking and talking and you couldn’t hear yourself think, and I’m thinking there’s a guy trying to preach it and everybody’s talking.

[00:42:58] It’s like, how can they be hearing what he’s saying? So that was one thing that we didn’t care for. And then when the service was over. We noticed that a lot of people just outside of the church were just smoking and swearing, and so me and my wife went back another time. We went back again and we, we both agree that that was not a church where we wanted to raise our family.

[00:43:22] So we told her, okay, we’re not going back. Thank you very much.

[00:43:27] Luis Urrego: [00:43:27] And there you have part one of brother Steve’s testimony. I trust that you received the blessing out of that, so far. And you know, as he was talking in sharing with us his experience about coming to the United States, in the 1980s. It took me back to when I was seven years old in 1987 when I came to the United States as well.

[00:43:48] It’s definitely not an easy experience, but it’s how God was moving the pieces in order for us to come to Christianity. And if you haven’t heard it, I talk about that more in my, in my personal testimony, which is episode number one of the podcast. you can go back and listen to that if you’d like, but you can tell that as brother Steve was sharing his testimony, the excitement in his voice, and he’s told me personally that.

[00:44:17] Being able to share his testimony with others sometimes has had more impact than preaching a sermon or, or talking doctrine with an, with an individual. and this is because most people can identify with another person’s struggles. Their doubts, their failures, and even the good times that they went through.

[00:44:38] But all of these components led that individual to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I definitely have to agree with brother Steve on debt because sometimes we don’t know how to share the gospel with others. But you know what, brother Branham said, he said, if you’re a spiritual candle got lit, then just go and tell others how your candle got lit.

[00:45:01] And maybe that person’s candle will get lit as well. And you know what brother Brandon was referring to there in those phrases. Is your testimony. Share your testimony to others, then it might make the hear thirsty and want to have that experience with Christ, the same experience that you had. So I believe that that would be very effective.

[00:45:26] So, but saints, heres that is all for now. So I invite you to tune in next time where. We will listen to the second part of brother Steve’s testimony and you won’t believe what happened in his life that actually caused him to get serious about serving God. And let me tell you, you do not want to miss our next episode or the second part of his testimony.

[00:45:52] So I trust that you have a wonderful and blessed day. Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook as well as YouTube, where we post more content like this on those platforms. And above all, remember with everything that you do, make sure that you don’t neglect yourself. Because after all, it’s worth more than 10,000 worlds and he needs to be, and he can only be fed off of the spiritual man of God, which is his word.

[00:46:23] May God bless you. Take care.