All right, welcome to the Ocean Water Podcast. And today I have my good friend, Francisco Rosales. Francisco has been a pastor of Life Church in San Salvador for eight years, him and his wife Tessie. Paco has also been educated here in the United States. He was born in El Salvador and has spent some time here in the States getting some education and is a wonderful pastor and leader. He knows both fluent English and Spanish.
And then just on a personal note, has grown to be one of my closest friends in the last few years. We met in 2016. I went on a trip with Andrew LaSalle through Saddleback to help Pastor Juan in the Capitol do some peace training. And he asked me to tag along because I had been to your country a couple years prior to that. And we met at a pastor's meeting there and you actually asked me to go surfing. And then we did and got some great waves.
In fact, this photo that I have behind me today, yes, it's a good photo, but that's a picture of me surfing in Paco's country. This is a spot that Paco took, Drew Tevez and I took called Punta Roca. That's like the best wave in El Salvador. And that was a little shot. So just for a little context there. And we're such good friends that Paco and his wife Tessie actually traveled to California and they have stayed in Maria and I's home for about two weeks a few times.
And they've also stayed next door to one of our one of my closest friends, Paul Coppice's house up in Michigan. So it's just awesome to talk with you today, dude. And just thank you for your time. Thanks for having me, man. Yeah, I do. I do enjoy being here and I am very happy to help you out in whatever I can. And yes, I remember the time we met and it was like a God given thing because you weren't supposed to be here like to meet me or to hang out with me. But we end up having a great time.
It's a great story actually. And I think I is like, it's unbelievable how God can, how like God put us together. Yeah, so much so that so much so that my father went on the last trip when we went down March 5th to the 10th. My dad came with me 74 years old. And then he took me and I and I got to meet your dad. And so I have a cool photo of us two brothers, two fathers. Really fun. I am a little bummed that I'm not able to see you.
We had planned on you and Tessie being up here in San Clemente in June. Of course, we had to reschedule that because of all of this. I'm sure we're going to get into some other things. But for our listeners today who might not know you, when you're at home, what's your favorite thing to eat? To eat? Yeah. Well, I like I like fruits. I like papayas. I like melons.
I like having, you know, seeds, papayas in the morning, some bacon, you know, I know it's a weird mix, but like we were just having brunch with my wife and she cooked bacon, French toast with some with some almonds on top and then papaya on the side with melon and yogurt. So that's a perfect breakfast. And I just had it. That's awesome. That's awesome. So Paco, how did you how did you get into being a pastor? Well, you got to ask the Lord that question. Yeah, because he called me into this.
It's like, it's like Moses, you know, he called me in. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if I I'm a good speaker. I don't know if I should do this. And then he just kept kept on, you know, pushing me in many ways, you know, how God will speak to your life. To me, it's not like, well, I had prophets come and say, you know, this is this is what you're supposed to be doing. But also on the personal level, I needed a confirmation, you know, that God will speak to me.
And it's not like I heard God's voice, but the circumstances led to that. And then I got I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that's when everything like changed. And then I realized this is what I really want to do for my life before that. You know, before that was when I was 16 years old. And before that, it was just like, you know, people telling me this is what you're called to do, what you're called to. But I mean, all that information just went by.
You know, I was not relating to that at all. Like, it's like God was telling me in advance that that was going to happen, but I didn't believe it. And then I got baptized in the Holy Spirit to, you know, I mean, after after that situation, the whole thing changed. And then I then I realized, yes, I'm going to take this. I'm going to set this and I'm going to start pursuing that career. And then, wow, it's like another 15 years later, I started my own church.
Yeah, like here in the country full time. Your church is awesome. Thank you, man. Yes, it's great. We love going. The last time I have one of my favorite, one of my favorite photos of all of all time, sitting there in the front of your church after Drew spoke and it was Drew and it was you and it was my dad and Adam Watts and Mark Bell and Bobby Ramsey and your church is amazing. And it's it's an honor to be your friend and just to see how God's using me there in the Capitol.
What is what is one thing that you that you wish you knew now that you wish you knew when you started? There are no patterns to follow. Like, yeah, I think I think I really fail at the very beginning because I thought this is how church looks like and this is what I should be doing. So we need a kids ministry, we need a youth ministry, we need this, we need this, we need this. And that really like, you know, got me really tired, really exhausted.
And then you realize church is not really about that, you know, and and it was actually until I was hanging out with you guys with you that you taught me more about the relationships and how relationships could really take you further. And that it's not about having a service, a full blown service, although we have seen and we've been able to manage that. But now that I have it, you know, a full band and the whole thing, and we have a great presentation and we have a great time and a great host.
But you realize, OK, so we already here, but it's not about this. It's about relationships and how much you care for people and how much you can do for others and how much you you can get into people's life and help them out in their personal stuff. And so I think I fell into the trap of. Following a pattern just because that's what you see all over the country and that's what they're doing. And I thought, well, that's what I should be doing.
In like, I think today, even more so today that you're asking, church is not being held in a big auditorium or with a band or all that, you know, so much different. And I like it because now it's more like a one on one. Yeah. And so I do enjoy the one on one time. And so I think I was following a pattern more than something personal and custom made for who I want to reach. Yeah, I'm like you. I really enjoy the one on one time that I get with people as a pastor.
Some of my favorite times with you have been after we served driving around in your truck with our shirts off drinking coconuts and just trees on our back. That is so true. And I wish and I really wish that, you know, not much of my culture, not much of my church congregation is a surfer.
But I do like the relaxed vibe that you get with surfer friends and how do you get to relax and like to say, you know, just be in the back of a truck, no shirts, you know, after a great session, you're all pumped and then you having a coconut. And then you just spend great time. And I wish I had more of that with my congregation. But you know, it's kind of hard. But I really wish I could do that more. I really enjoy those times. And I think I treasure those times.
Yeah. Yeah, that's one of the reasons so fun to hang out with with Aaron over there in El Zante. I know he comes to your church. He's a he's a bro. He's a wonderful guy. And so we're thankful when you get a chance to connect with people that way. So in this time, just so people understand in El Salvador right now with with COVID-19, the restrictions are much stricter there and they're harder. And so in this time, so what are you what are you interested in right now?
Like what are you curious about? What are you interested in in life right now and just kind of in this season? Well, first of all, it was all about like the first two weeks was about finding a way to gather with my church without being physical, without being there with them for gathering at the church. And so I came up with all this setup. I put lights and I put a camera on and I try to figure out the first few days I recorded it on a cell phone. But then my battery was just dying every time.
And so now I got a I got a pretty good setup. And that was that took like the first three weeks of the quarantine. I was just trying to make sure how I could project and have a good time meeting for everybody and have participation and we will be doing dynamics or just asking questions through the phone and the broadcast and getting people to to to connect with us in this regard. And that took most of my time. I finally got it done.
Finally got it nailed and to the point that we can run this thing smoothly because we don't know like to say, you know, Salvador, it's been very severe quarantine, very serious, serious lockdown. It's like the streets are empty. You don't get to go out unless you have a purpose.
And if police will stop you and you don't have a reason to be out there or if you're going to the pharmacy or you have a medical issue, then you're not supposed to be out there and they'll take you to jail or a quarantine center and you don't want to be there. You'd rather be at home. And so it's been very, very serious.
And so we've been stayed with we've stayed inside the house and then after those 15, after I was able to set this up, I started fixing my house, you know, because you're stuck in your house like, you know, until this thing is over. We don't know when that's going to be over. So I mean, so just just so everyone understands when Paco says that he's been working on his house, he has like probably the best home, like wood shop that I've ever seen of anyone that I know personally.
And that guy can build anything. And and if you had ever visited his church in the Capitol, then you realize he's done a lot of the work himself. And it's like the highest quality. So you're a man. I wouldn't say I wouldn't say that is quality. It's just like, you know, I love working with my hands. I don't know.
I don't know if I'm saying thanks, because every time I get done hanging out with you, my wife kind of gives me that look like, how come you can't, you know, build stuff like that, dude? I'm like, I'm done. I'm a total idiot. No, I don't go for quality. I just do for practicality, you know, quality, dude. And my house is like, my house is in need of work, and I've been waiting for a long time to just, you know, have time to fix the roof, fix whatever.
And so now that I'm locked in, I've been able finally to do it. And I enjoy it. It's like a hobby to me. It's like surfing. I enjoy doing that a lot, too. Yeah. So speaking of surfing, you and I do love the ocean and both love surfing. And you and Drew and I have formed a friendship exclusively around waves. Oh, totally. Yeah. Which is fine. Yeah. God uses all sorts of different things to help people become friends.
And but also, you know, what is kind of your understanding of like the current water situation in El Salvador? Well, I'll say like in the capital, it's like it's completely different than what it is back in Palmar Cedar or the coast. Yeah. Because it's more salty water.
It's really hard to get clean water unless you have your own system, because like the public system, the one that the government gives out is not enough to give good water, good quality water, not even let's not even talk about drinking water, because the government's able to do that. You got to purchase your own water.
Here in the capital, we have I think we have a pretty good decent amount of flow of water that comes through the pipes from the you know, from the streets, and we get to filter it in some way, or or put it in a cistern so that whenever there's the water, there's there's a water shortage, we can use our system systems to, you know, shower and all that stuff.
But back down in the in the in the in the coastline, it's really rough because people don't have systems, and they don't have systems like that to run a reserve a water reservoir and and they don't they don't filter the water. They usually buy their drinking water. So it's like a five gallon jug for her. Her week maybe that a family has to purchase and you will cost around four or 50 or so. Yeah. And again, the difference is we're at a higher altitude. So here is not as hot as it is down there.
But once you're at sea level, it's like really hot, you're sweating all the time. And this guy, like when we talk to when we talk about our community in Palmar Cito, they serve every every morning there there were now they're exhausted and given that of that shortage of water, they don't drink enough water. So they end up with a lot of you know, like headaches, health issues like headaches, insufficiency.
They get problems in their eyes problems in their in their skin because of not being able to drink as much water as they should. And also, you made a comment that the price of five gallon water and at the coast in El Salvador is $4.50 to $5. So here in the US, a $5 container of water would be $1.25. So to so people can understand the economic disparity there.
If you have if you have a family, it like there's there's there's 38 families in Palmar Cito and if the average family makes $500, you know, us a month or or three to $500 us a month or even less. And you have people that are spending four times the amount that someone would spend, like saying that in California on water, there's an economic incentive to not drink water. And so that's why a lot of people drink soda there because it's cheaper than water. Yeah, so now or beer or beer is cheaper.
Yeah, and I think even in your case, correct me if I wrong, but you guys can drink from the top. Yes. And and I wouldn't do that here. I mean, we used to do when we were kids, you know, we were playing around on the street after you know, playing soccer for a while and we all run into whatever closest up we had and we drink water. But now that I know what comes from the from the water from the streets, then I I filter the water before I drink it. And and that's here in the capital.
But down there, they they're not they cannot do that. It's full of chlorine and it's not good for for their system for their for their bodies. And so they got a really rough time. I think they don't even understand the need for drinking water like the how our body is in need of it. And so that's why the prices are so high. People are okay with that.
Yeah. Yeah. And so so you and I met in in 2016 you of course, and live in your entire life, I came on a bicycle ride in two in the early to early 2011. I was riding my bicycle through El Salvador. And for those of you who are new to this, I was on a journey myself and for about a year I rode my bicycle through from Canada, across Canada, the US and then down to Colombia. And on that journey, I had gone through El Salvador, I had always wanted to come back.
And then I had been asked by a friend to go there and then I met you. And then we we started a friendship and kind of a journey together as friends, figuring out how to best help. And I'm very slow. And that's been a really good thing. I think a lot of times people are in a hurry to try to do something, you know, which I think is a good intention.
But sometimes if you're in a hurry to do something, and it's not done relationally, especially when it's important to do that in a culture where it's important to go slow. So that's that's a journey that you and I have been on together, praying and being friends with with people for a long, long time. I know you and you and Tessie.
Well Tessie grew up going on vacation to Palmar Cedar with her family when she was a kid, you know, and a lot of time there you guys, people may or people may not know this, but you and Tessie have gone to Palmar Cedar are like over for over a year ago, starting to teach English classes, going surfing with people and just spending time there and being in people's lives. And a lot of a lot of a lot of good things have have started to come out of that.
So can you tell people a little bit about like, what our relationship like how you're involved with ocean water and what our what our relationships like? Well, I think it was a God given thing to put us together. We at the moment we were trying to get into the surfing community and we were looking for a place and then you mentioned Palmar Cedar.
And then we started just hanging out at Palmar Cedar because we always knew about this place, but we were not hanging out there as much as before we met you guys. And, and, and then we started hanging out and with your collaboration, we started making good friendships and now we know the entire community. Now we we know everybody. We have helped them through this quarantine as well. We have kept in touch. We have been doing some meetings with them.
And it's just it feels like a family all together. Yes. I couldn't I couldn't even say, you know, like, what's our like if you ask you what the relationship with ocean water, Palmar Cedar and Life. Church is like, there are no organizations. It's just a big, really nice group of friends that love hanging out and surfing together. So that was it. That's that's our relationship. Like I, I try to help them and they teach me as well. And we learn from you guys.
And it's like a very nice dynamic that we got going on. And so I think, yeah, for me, the relationship that there is, I mean, there's a lot of social health involved. We're working with the with the water filtering system. We also have the ramp ramp. We have the the there's a roof structure where we can meet. And there are other plans, you know, for for the next year's coming ahead. Now we're dreaming about doing like a center for the community where they can do so many other things.
But it's all based on relationships, though. It's like, like you say, you know, it's been taking a lot of time and then all building these kind of centers. It's not it shouldn't take that long. But at the same time, like you said, you know, we've been facing our rhythm and we are trying to connect, trying to see what's best, if we can find another property, what will help more the community. So I like that because it's like very slow.
And in the meantime, as we try to filter water and to give all this aid to the community, we are building great relationships. We're finding now who's a leader, who's a natural born leader and be who has the desire to help us in this regard, who has a spiritual also inclination to help out. And I think that's the best way to do any kind of community project. You know, slow and getting to know. Yeah, I've just complete I completely enjoyed all my time getting to know you.
And I think sometimes it's so important to remember that, you know, if you just focus on having great relationships with people, so many great things can happen out of that. You know, and and I think about how close Drew and I feel I know I know ocean water and Aloha and life and but it's not about any of that. It's about our friendship and the brotherhood that we have. And it's a it's a beautiful thing, man. It's been a wonderful learning thing for for me as well.
And I just I just enjoy being around you guys so much. I talked to I talked to you all the time. I talked to Drew all the time. I talked to Kurt all the time. I I surfed with Bobby every other day. So we just keep we just keep the tribe going. I see Adam all the time. Mark, our whole crew, you know, and it's a it's a beautiful thing. You know, you're a very, very lucky guy. You have a great I mean, and again, it's like you have a great team around you. But the same time that you're a friend.
So it's like, man, it's like a win win. You have so much treasure around you. And whenever you get we get to hang out with you guys because you're down here, we have a blast. And now I can even include some pop points to make. He enjoys it so much as well. And we it's such a shame that, you know, we're so far away and we only get to hang out like twice or three times a year. Yeah. One of the things that I I. I agree, God is. Put the most wonderful people in both of our lives, and I think.
Something I've understood as I'm getting older is like the responsibility of that, and that's why when I think about how we've met and I think about how the culture that we have and how good of friends we are, so much good can come out of that. And when I think about. The 38 families that we've tried to help in Palmar, Cito, I know that there's other pockets of 38 families in the world. There are these other places, these little forgotten areas that have 20 families and 30 families.
And so I really hope we're trying to leaned into the responsibility of trying to stay open to how God might want to use our friendships, you know, to see more young people mobilized. You know, as well as I do, a lot of the young people that are coming up in church are just bored out of their mind. And so one of my prayers is that through our relationships and our leadership that a lot of those young people start to see the world as a place they can go into and make a difference.
And so that's right. It's been great. It's been great. You have so much to share and so much to offer. And someone told me the other day how good it was. Well, to have you on, I also interviewed some Papo. And in so many ways, the listeners here in California get the most out of hearing you and I talk. And part of it is because we're cross-cultural and you know two languages. I should know Spanish. My wife knows Spanish. That's not cool. That totally needs to change.
But I really, Hermano, I want to thank you for your time. Yeah. Oh, thank you, man. This has been great. Thank you for having me. I love it. Thank you. And we'll do this again soon, brother. I love you and give my best to test you today. Thank you, brother. I also want to say that I enjoy, you know, talking to you. This is almost like talking to you. And that's why I love about everything that we do is like their organizations behind us.
But it all ends up being a great relationship and just, you know, talking with my friend, hanging out, you know, learning, getting to know each other, which is like really what it all should come down to. And so I enjoy this as well. And it's almost like a normal conversation that we have every time. Yeah. So thanks for calling, man. You got it. Have a great rest of the day, man. Build a way. You too, brother. Okay. Bye.