Querubin and Kayla Ramirez, new staff members at Harvest, join Pastor Walton this week to discuss family, redemption, grace, and serving in ministry.
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Transcript
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor at Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church, interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d like to invite you to join us at Harvest Baptist Church this week. There are two services, one at 08:45AM, the other at 10:45AM.
We offer Japanese and Korean translation during our 10:45AM service, and that’s also when we livestream at hbcguam.org. Hbcguam.org. This week, the final message in our series, 10 foolish things people do to mess up their lives. This week, it’s all about the heart from Exodus 20:1-20. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton.
Hi, pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey, hafa adai, Chris. Yeah, this is the final message of this series. We began back in the month of September. We took a couple breaks for Christmas and a few other things along the way, but we’ve gone one by one through the 10 Commandments. And this Sunday will be the wrap up.
You mentioned Exodus 20 one-twenty. The 10 Commandments are given sort of in those middle verses, four-seventeen, I think, thou shalt not covet. The last one we looked at was in verse 17. The last three verses give a summary of what was happening, and so we’re going to look at those verses and then back up and just talk about what all of them mean together, why they’re significant, what they mean to us today, and ultimately we’re going to know and see that it really is all about the heart and amazingly, it is actually all about Jesus, and the Law brings us to the story of Jesus. And I would if you’ve been here for any part of this series, I would really invite you to come back this Sunday to get the final chapter and the conclusion of that all together.
We’ll have a great time together in both of those services, and we’d love to have you join us here this Sunday at Harvest. Well, I’m super excited to introduce to you a new couple, new family, new on island, new at Harvest. Querubin and Kayla Ramirez are new on our staff, in fact, just this month. So first of all, welcome, Querubin and Kayla.
Kayla Ramirez: Thank you. It’s great to be back.
Querubin Ramirez: It is great to see the island for the first time ever. And I’m enjoying the weather a lot.
Gary Walton: Well, welcome to Harvest, first of all. To Harvest Time, you get it all together right here in these first couple of weeks. We’ll tell that story here in a minute. You arrived on island with your two girls. Tell us about your family.
Querubin Ramirez: Yeah. So we have two little girls, a four year old and a four month old. The older one is Elena and the little baby is, her name is Eden. They are in the light of our life. They are definitely very spunky and I love them very much, but I can tell their Personalities are very strong. Praise the Lord for
Gary Walton: Like dad and mom, right?
Kayla Ramirez: Absolutely. They come by that, honestly. No,
Gary Walton: absolutely. Well you guys had quite a trip getting here. We won’t get a chance to tell all that story, but your transit here was full of a lot of starts and stops and sickness wrapped up with it. But I know in talking with you, you both said God was in all of that.
Kayla Ramirez: Yes, absolutely. And it’s nice to be here and just feel so far removed from that situation and leaving The States sorry family that’ll listen to this but leaving you guys in the foot of snow that we just got, I’m not too heartbroken for that right now.
Gary Walton: Now Kayla, you grew up here on Guam, right? Tell us about that.
Kayla Ramirez: Yeah. So my former last name was Baldwin, now married and Ramirez. So I’m lucky that I got to sneak on the show before my parents. So I get to tell my story first. But yeah, so I grew up here from second grade on.
We lived in New Hampshire for two years in between there, but had such a great experience going to Harvest, school and church, and just being able to be, living my best little island life. I really have nothing but positive things to say about growing up on Guam. And I mean, what a blessing and a a conversation starter for sure, whenever people like, oh, you know, where are you from? And Depending on the situation and how much time you have, if it’s just in the grocery store line, sometimes I just say, Oh, well, I have family in Wisconsin. Mean, Guam is an amazing place and very unique opportunity for sure.
Gary Walton: Well, if the name Baldwin sounds familiar, of course connect with Pastor Jared Baldwin and Tammy who are also here. And for those on the radio listening, that connection would be with Jared was very involved with radio station over the years and a little variety show called Live till Five on Fridays. So you had a chance we were just talking about this coming up here, kind of a blast from the past walking up here because you spent time with your dad up in this radio station as a kid, right?
Kayla Ramirez: Yeah. And that was always a lot of fun and get into a little bit of mischief, but not too much because we could always edit it out. So that was good for, my parents’ sake probably, but
Gary Walton: It’s awesome to have you back. Q, did not grow up in Guam, grew up stateside. Tell us about, you know, your family and growing up.
Querubin Ramirez: Yeah, so my story is a little bit different. I was actually born in Mexico. I don’t want to say little because it’s a pretty big city, Reynosa Tamaolipas. I’m very blessed to have Hispanic heritage. It has given me a lot of like Kayla said, her island background is giving her a conversation starter.
But me and my Spanish allows me to also just share some of my culture and, allows me to speak to a lot of different people over the years. That’s, I’ve been very thankful for that. But, I was born to my mother on 07/10/1995 in, Reynosa Tomalipas, as I said, and then we emigrated over to Texas right across the border to the McAllen, Brownsville, Edinburg, Texas area. And I was only one years old when I did that. I didn’t spend much time in Mexico.
But we traveled and visited a lot. Eventually our family decided to emigrate up to Wisconsin and that was around the age of five to six years old. And I remember seeing my first true snowfall there. It was funny, we were recounting at the airport here in our last trip over to Guam here, and I was recounting that the last time I had seen as much snowfall in just like one week or that kind of storm was when we moved from Texas to Wisconsin. I remember it was like a record snowfall.
I mean, was probably like 18 inches on the ground. I remember driving up to Chicago. We were getting into the city and I’m like, Oh my word, what is this? I mean, it looked like something I had just, you know, I was a kid, I had never even imagined anything like that. And so, and then fast forward, you know, to now as at twenty eight in the Des Moines Airport, seeing the snow fall outside, it was super nostalgic.
It’s just cool to see how the Lord works, even like little things like that, you know, little reminders. And honestly, was thankful to see the snow for the last time as as we were leaving, even, even if it came with a few trials along the way.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Q and Kayla were actually boarding a plane a week and a half, two weeks ago. Two It’s been a little while. But when I don’t know if our listeners heard, but there was quite a snowstorm that went across the Midwest of The States. And they were flying out of Des Moines, Iowa and got stuck for a couple of days in the airport and then multiple complications after that.
We left that snow behind and found sunny, warm Guam. Absolutely. Praise the Lord.
Kayla Ramirez: Yes. White snow for white sand.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Q is here and will be actually already is started with our maintenance team and God’s gifted him in a number of ways. That’s going to be a help for our team. He’s a needed addition there. Kayla has come and working in our finance department and thankful for that as well.
And then I want to talk about kind of your family and your heart for ministry. Well, hang on to that, but the reason why you’re here is really a cool story. I’m excited for you to be able to share that. Q, let me back up a little bit, though. Tell me about spiritually, your life growing up.
When did you come to know Jesus?
Querubin Ramirez: Yeah. So I’m very thankful. My mother and my father were both believers as I was growing up. Obviously, we all have different roads that we go through in our own spiritual walks, and there was a lot of growth that has happened in our family. My mom was a first generation Christian, and my father was second, I believe, but he has his own testimony and his own way of how he came to the Lord.
Anyway, all that to say is, from a very young age, my mother instilled in me a lot of proverbs and Psalms, and she just tried to teach me as much as possible about the Lord. So I grew up in that household and that knowing about God and who he was and understanding certain aspects of salvation and whatnot and what it meant to be a Christian. However, as many of us can relate to my young adult life, I didn’t really live for the Lord. And I look back on it now and I think a lot of it had to do with there was a need specifically for me to fit in and to be loved and to have I’m a people pleaser, so I love to have people agree with me and just ingratiate themselves with me and allow me to become part of the group. So when we moved to Wisconsin, I didn’t look like the people that were there.
And, you know, my name, my full name is and I remember the first day I got to school, nobody could pronounce it. And so it was one of those just cultural things that I had to overcome. As I grew into my young adult life, I started to really desire to have friends and grow my own group or unit. So I looked in the wrong place. And so I let myself get involved in some things that really caused me a lot of pain and hurt over the years.
I had some addictions that I was constantly fighting. And eventually I did go to Bob Jones University. And I think there, that’s when God first started preparing my heart for him. The first couple of years I really sought the Lord and I tried my best to serve Him and be in communion with Him. And then I believe it was the summer of my sophomore year going into junior year, I had to stay back home for a year to work and get some resources for me to be able to come back to school the next And so I decided to take a year off because I was a little short on money.
That year again, being back home, I backslid and I regressed into some old sins. And then I kind of carried that into my last couple of years at Bob Jones. I had a lot of baggage, a lot of things that I was dealing with. The Lord knows all those things, just trying to condense the story here. But, you you name it, from drinking to parties to, you know, just women and all these things.
And thankful to be where I am today, but notwithstanding, I actually met Kayla senior year at Bob Jones. And when she tells you her story, we can kind of Yeah, combine unite them together. Yeah, so basically from my growing up, knew the Lord, but up until the point where I got to college, I wasn’t living for the Lord. And I would go through gaps. I would have moments here and there where I was, Oh yeah, I was on fire for God, whether it be camp and this, but nothing stuck.
Nothing actually caused permanent change in my life. I got very frustrated with that. I was like, Why is it that I just can’t shake those things? Why is it, like Paul talks about, why do I do the things that I don’t want to do? Why do I continue to yield to the flesh?
And I think the Lord was just preparing my heart, but at the same time I needed to have a lesson that hit home, very close to home for me. And if you know a little bit, as you get to know me, that thing came across in the form of my wife and I getting pregnant out of wedlock. And I remember that I had that moment in my life where I was like, Hey, you’re gonna be a father. And I was very shaken up by that because it was nowhere near my radar. And the Lord used that moment in my life to really try me and to say, Hey, listen, Q, up until this point in your life, all the things that you’ve tried, all the groups that you’ve been a part of, all of the moments of, you know, like, oh, like, wanna give this up and and I’m gonna try to cut these addictions out or, you know, everything that you’ve done out of your own will has not been enough to give you peace in your life.
And again, I was in a very tumultuous time at that point because, you know, as my wife shared her testimony, what she was a part of and who she was part of, then me being from a believing family, of course, that caused a lot of distress in our life. And so I came to my absolute end of myself, and I think that’s what God really had for me there. And from there, I think I remember reading a passage in Isaiah where the Lord was seeking the children of Israel, and they were very lost. And the passage reads, Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be like wool. And to me, that’s when I finally started saying, like, nothing that I can do out of my own fruition has brought me peace. And it wasn’t until I started actually just having trust in the Lord that he could actually change me that I started seeing a few things, you know, like, little by little change. But Yeah. Anyway, I’ll end it there, and then I’ll let Kayla catch up
Gary Walton: I mean, you guys have a cool story of redemption, right, of God’s goodness in your life. And actually, Q, thank you for your transparency and your honesty through that. And God’s work along the path, right, just kept and patient and drawing you to himself. And your story’s not that unfamiliar. Mean there’s going to be many people listening to this that are like, Wow, I get it.
I know exactly where it is. I’m sure there’s people listening right now and they’re not at the redemption side. They’re at the part where they’re just still struggling through this. And we’re going to pray that God uses you guys together, but even this conversation in their lives. Kayla, it’s back up for you.
Kayla Ramirez: Kayla Sure. So like we established earlier, I grew up in ministry and what a blessing that was for me, you know, to to establish a real foundation of, head knowledge and heart knowledge about the Lord. But as with everyone has to to, make your own choice to follow the Lord. And sometimes that transition, takes a roundabout, turn of events to really, you know, sink in. At least it did for me and I guess I’m really stubborn or something.
Lord had to really close some doors in the process to to get ahold of my heart. But, I was saved when I was in about fourth grade. And actually, I don’t think I’ve shared this before, but I was saved listening to Unshackled Really? On the radio. Wow.
Yeah. When we would go to sleep at night, my dad would put a little radio in the hallway between me and my brother’s bedrooms and, you know, the boys would fall asleep right away. But one night, was just laying there. I think I had done something at school or, you know, I was just thinking about it and then, listening to an episode of Unshackled. I need to go dig through the archives and find which one it is exactly.
I’ll listen to it again. But for some reason, just like in that quiet, you know, all alone, you have nothing else to really hang your hat on and you realize like, wow, I I need the Lord. And, like, even as a very young person, you know, it’s amazing that God can bring those truths across even to children. Absolutely. Yeah.
So that’s how I originally came to the Lord. And then, I also went to Bob Jones, like Q said, and but my heart just I don’t know. I I wasn’t all in for the Lord. I was there, like, as a, an act of kind of going through the motions, and I had a bad attitude, honestly. And I just, you know, I I wasn’t quite sure.
And I I saw the inadequacies within myself and within, you know, other Christians, not necessarily at Bob Jones. I really do love Bob Jones, but and I equated that as inadequacies with the Lord. And I was like, well, maybe I maybe this isn’t really what I want or I don’t know. And so I was just really uncertain and and kind of insecure. And over the course of the next few years I met Q and, we both moved from South Carolina to Wisconsin and found out we were having our daughter Elena very out of the blue and, that was a real eye opener for sure.
And, you know, we weren’t sure what our next step should be. It’s like, we get married right away just because we’re having a baby or should we wait or you know? And and now looking back, I could see how God directed all of that and just was so patient with us and sent people along the way that were so gracious. Even, my family and his family and, people from Harvest that, you know, it would have been so easy to judge us. And I I didn’t feel that way from Amen.
From the people that were important in my life. And so I’m very, very grateful for that because, I’m sure it was a a surprise to everyone. And, you know, you know, my dad is in ministry. Oh my goodness. What what am I doing with my life?
And, but that still wasn’t enough to fully get ahold of my heart. I still had more lessons to learn and, it wasn’t until about a year and a half ago, maybe two years now, that we really started actually seeking the Lord for ourselves. Know, we we started getting back into church and kinda going through some of the same motions again. You know, the routines that you have instilled in you, when you’ve been in church your whole life, you know, I’m gonna go, I’m gonna say the right things, I’m gonna look the right way, but on the inside, it’s still empty. And so, we really had some trials come our way and we found ourselves in marriage counseling, in need of a lot of extra help and our church in Wisconsin was able to provide that for us and really just so lovingly draw us back and again could have, you know, pushed us to the wayside or been like, you know, they they’ve had their chance.
You know, they they know the right from the wrong, and they’re still not choosing it. But, you know, it’s just such a testimony of of God’s grace, and they showed that to us. And then last year well, I guess just a few months ago now, it’s in such a whirlwind, but we we were right with the Lord, I would say. For the first time in our married life, we were right on track and we’re actually having communion with the Lord and together and, like, establish our relationship again with him and and spiritual goals for our family. And we just felt or started to feel kind of empty with, you know, what you could call the American dream.
Like, you know, I was the stay at home mom. We owned our own house. We had our daughter, another one on the way. We had the, you know, the picket fence and the white fluffy dog and, you know, everything, the stereotypical, American dream. One day, Q comes home from work and he’s like, this is not it.
This like this really can’t be it. And you know, we were in church and we were, you know, looking for little opportunities to serve but in the back of our mind, I think it was very much still about, okay, how can we set ourselves up financially? How can we look for the next best thing? And sometimes we can disguise that discontentment or greed as, you know, wanting to be responsible or wanting to be prepared. And it’s like, I need to know what’s next.
I need I need I have kids. I need to be prepared, but God doesn’t call us to that. And that was a really eye opening realization because we thought that we were on the right track finally. And then through a very random seemingly random nothing’s random in in God’s economy, right? But, to us, it felt so random, we found out that there were needs at Harvest in maintenance and in some of the administrative staff.
Querubin Ramirez: Yeah, so if I can cut in, just to expand on that a little bit. I actually I remember, while being at work, there were certain things that happened where I served two functions at my previous job, and the function that I liked the most and enjoyed the most was taken from me, and given to somebody else. And so I was stuck with the function that I felt was a little bit less, you know, enjoyable, so to speak, just to paraphrase it. But within that, I actually was able to free up my mind and use the time where I was doing something seemingly meaningless to actually pray and seek the Lord’s guidance. And actually, when that happened on that day, it was like a I believe it was like a Wednesday or Thursday.
It was right before fourth of July weekend. And, we were scheduled to go visit my wife’s family in Iowa. And as we, left, we had all of these questions about, you know, I felt, man, like, you know, work doesn’t feel like there’s any, like, I don’t have a purpose or anything like that. On the trip, I actually was able to come to, like, what the Lord would ask of me in that situation. Remember the prayer and I said, Father, if you will have me work here for the next five, ten, fifteen years, I will do it gladly, and I will do it glorifying your name, and I will rejoice in it, because I am more than thankful for everything you’ve given me.
But I do have an ask, and I asked him for us to go into full time ministry. And I said that in my prayer to him two days before we went to, Ankeny. And then we go to Ankeny, and then fourth of July weekend happens. And while we’re in Iowa, we find out about the opportunity in Harvest. To me, like Kayla said, there’s nothing to me, there’s nothing random.
It’s the Lord, as you start walking with him, your asks become aligned with His heart. It’s not the other way around. Thought for the longest part of my life, Oh, I can ask God for this, because He says He’ll be faithful and He’ll fulfill my request. But actually, it’s my service comes first. My heart being submitted comes first.
And my ask aligned with his heart. And that’s when I really felt like, you know, Father, like, I will do this. I will work here. I will do it if that’s what you have me do, and I will be content, and I’ll be a testimony to my coworkers. But if it’s your will, Father, let me understand what ministry is.
Let me be able to speak about you, share my story full time. You know, that’s what I really wanted to do. And so, lo and behold, Harvest comes in. So anyway, I’ll let you continue.
Gary Walton: I just needed to share that. No, it’s so awesome. It’s so good, you guys. And I remember our first conversation together. You were both so clear.
It was very evident to me, that God was doing something in your life. And you were open, you were just kind of holding your hands out. Like, God, what do you want with our lives? Of course, we had a very specific need, a couple of very specific needs, and your hearts were just evident. We’re not exactly sure what God’s doing here, but we do have this longing for ministry that’s more.
And yeah, it’s pretty amazing to think of the whirlwind since then, right?
Kayla Ramirez: Yeah, oh, absolutely. It’s been definitely a whirlwind. But can I say one thing to whoever is listening? If you’re listening right now and you find any relevance with our story or you think, man, I used to be involved and now I’m not, or, you know, I I feel disappointed by church or maybe God has let me down in some way, I just want you to know that God never wants to let you down and he is still with you. And if humans have let you down, that is not the Lord’s intent.
He has so much better for you. And I just pray that whoever hears this, that you’ll know that you are not too far gone. Nobody is too far gone from the love of the Lord. And even if you were saved as a child and you never have lived your life for God, there was nothing that would make him happier than to to have you return to him. And, you know, Harvest would be a great place to do that if you are on island and you can come find us in church.
If you’re listening overseas, just pray for an opportunity that God will direct someone to you, and I guarantee that he will do that for you.
Gary Walton: I love that. And I know we talked a little bit about the jobs that you’ve come for, but in both of your hearts is this desire to be just all in in God’s church and serving faithfully and finding the ways and the places that God has for you and the people. So both in your ongoing walk with Christ, I mean God’s got some steps for you, but just in your heart to serve others. I’m glad that God brought you here. I’m excited through all of these challenges that God’s prepared you for the mission that He has in front of you.
We’re excited about seeing what that looks like.
Kayla Ramirez: Yes. Thank you.
Querubin Ramirez: Yeah. Thank you. And I just wanted to say, please, you can come find us anytime at Harvest. Ask for Q and Kayla. Again, this is kind of like a condensed version of our testimony.
But, I mean, I would love to share all the little intricacies and the little details. Come find us. If you’re ever at Harvest Church, Ask for Q and Kayla, and we would love to take you out to coffee, have lunch, have dinner or something, and share our story and hopefully be of service to you.
Gary Walton: That’s awesome. God’s going to give you many opportunities to share what he’s done, to be witnesses of him, you know, just just telling what God has done in our lives. So I can’t wait to see how God uses that. Thanks you guys for being with us here today.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always just wanna invite you again to Harvest Baptist Church. We have two services every Sunday, 08:45AM, 10:45AM. The 10:45AM service is heard live here on KHMG on 88.1 FM and khmg.org, and you can view the video livestream at hbcguam.org. Hbcguam.org.
We hope to see you this Sunday. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.