Hi there, I am Isatel and here is my story...
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV
This is my life verse for a reason. Since coming back to the Lord in 2009, God has transformed my life, He gave me beauty (identity, healing and wholeness) for my ashes (the dirty, dead, worthless things of my past). Then He has commissioned me to see His daughters set free, both the captives (those in bondage because of things done to them against their will) and prisoners (those who are in bondage because of their own doing).
Leading up to college, I experienced many hardships in life. Being born legally blind, raised by a single mom in a low income family, knowing the sting of what I was missing by not having a father, having experienced sexual abuse, and loneliness during high school. After my Freshmen year, these wounds began to surface, but without a way to find healing from past trauma, I pushed those feelings down, and decided to live how I wanted. I began heavily drinking, partying, sleeping with men and women, and seeing what I could get from men. Although I was in church in high school, I only knew religion, I didn’t have a deep, intimate loving relationship with a Heavenly Father and didn’t know I could experience the Father’s love and care that I so deeply desired.
God showed me in a vision just a few months after being born again, that He desired to redeem the pain and destruction caused in my college life. He showed me a vision of a global college women’s evangelism and discipleship movement. It would be an alternative to a sorority, similar to ministries like InterVarsity or Cru, but specifically Holy Spirit led. A sisterhood where young women would be able to grow in their God given identity, intimacy with God, and their inheritance (their God given calling and greater purpose).
Since 2009, when I came back to the Lord, I have been passionately pursuing inner healing, discovering my new identity in Christ, experiencing a deep, loving, healing relationship with my Abba, and the training and discipleship needed to step into this calling God has prepared for me.
Throughout the last 15 years, God has taken me through multiple seasons of learning, healing, and growing into the place where God has me today. I was an intern and staff member with multiple women's ministries in Los Angeles which helped me master my administrative and logistics skills I would later use again in 2023 with being the administrator for the Los Angeles Hope California Crusade.
I attended the Epicentre Discipleship Training School where I later staffed their school as well as staffing an online Well School of Ministry Discipleship School. I later pioneered and co-led a college age Bible Study with Epicentre Church where students from various colleges attended for 18 months. I had the honor of serving on mission trips across multiple countries across Southeast Asia including Philippines with Lighthouse School of Leadership, a school started for underprivileged Christian and Muslim children and with Justice Speaks, an anti-human trafficking ministry where we conducted outreaches in Bangkok and Pattaya.
One of my goals is to build enough partnership and support to be able to serve again internationally with a safe house for trafficked women started by my dear friend and Sozo ministry mentor, Pia Hugo, founder of Lighthouse Academy of Leadership.
After helping oversee the 2023 Hope Festival Crusade with Ekballo Pasadena, I had prayed and sought God in where He wanted me next, of all places, He called me to San Francisco. I soon after moved everything to join Youth With A Mission (YWAM) at their San Francisco base in the middle of the Tenderloin District. During my time in their Urban Community Discipleship Training School, I not only learned and served with radical hospitality to the unhoused population, but got to get a taste of my calling, evangelizing at nearby UC Berkeley.
Because of my brief times at UC Berkeley, I knew God called me to the Bay Area to specifically begin pioneering His vision on this campus. I officially moved literally across the street from the main entrance to campus on January 2, 2025 and excited to use all of my past service, training, and experience to equip, support and mobilize the next generation to fall in love with Jesus, and out of the overflow of His love we experience in our lives, we are equipped to share His love with others.