CARTELS It is a well-known fact that Culiacán is home to the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the largest and most dangerous drug cartels in the world. Upon my arrival in 2016, I learned that 90% of the city has ties to the cartel– they are either in it themselves or have family or friends who are. In spite of those grim statistics, for my first 8 years in Culiacán, that was all they were – statistics that didn’t affect my reality. It’s in the Cartel’s best interests to keep the city peaceful and pretty, so the ugliness of the drug trade is generally eclipsed by the prosperity they provide in exchange for our feigned ignorance. As the saying goes, “Don’t mess with them, and they won’t mess with you.” We stay out of their business, they stay out of ours, and the city reaps the rewards. ...

A Ministry of the Calvary Culiacán Church Network Thank you so much for your continued prayers for me and my family. Instead of updating you on all that God has been doing this summer (which I will do soon), I’d like to take a moment to highlight our newest ministry, TRANSFORMED BY HIS LOVE. TRANSFORMED is run by 20+ women from 5 of our Calvary Culiacán churches. We go to a women’s rehab center every Friday morning to preach the Word of God verse by verse (currently the Gospel of Mark) and have a time of sharing where the women can talk about what’s going on in their lives and reflect on what God is speaking to them. We leave them with a homework assignment to complete during the week – memorizing verses, praying or reading the Bible, making amends, and more – so they can apply what they are learning and be transformed by the Word as Paul says in our theme verse, Romans 12:2. ...

There are times in life when everything goes smoothly and other times when it feels like the Holy Spirit has just dragged you onto the scariest rollercoaster ride of your life. For me, February and March was one of those rollercoaster rides here in Culiacán. Here are some of the highs and lows. Valentine’s Day Marriage Event On February 3, we held our first couples’ event of the year. We were blessed to have Pastor Hugo visiting us as the “guest” speaker and took advantage of the date to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or “The Day of Love and Friendship” as it’s called here in Mexico. The theme was, “A Holy Covenant.” At the end, there were very few dry eyes in the room as 40 couples renewed their vows and two couples professed faith in Christ for the first time. ...

The end of 2023 brought a series of major changes to our lives. In May, my long-estranged daughter, Ruby, came to live with us, making us a family of three. In June, a car accident left me with ongoing health issues. In August, my son enrolled in an online school after 7 years of homeschooling, and I was given the new title and responsibility of being the Calvary Culiacan Missions Coordinator, organizing mission trips among ALL the Calvary Culiacan churches. In December, my long-time friends Pastor Hugo and Brenda Limon, moved to a new church in Ensenada, resulting in more changes in my responsibilities. And, quite unexpectedly, we are now facing the need to find a new home in less than a month. ...

Short-term missions in South America When I was 15, my life was a mess, but my heart was in the right place. I told God, “If you can fix this mess, I’ll do ANYTHING you ask of me… (except be a missionary).” Within a month, God had sent so many missionaries across my path that I gave in and signed up for my first short-term missions trip. That summer in Panamá truly changed my life, but the greatest change came upon my return when God called me to “go into all the world and tell my people about me.” He later fine-tuned that calling to include reaching unreached people groups and translating the Bible into new languages. ...

Welcome to my Saving Grace World Missions blog. My name is Jenna Pepin, and I am currently serving the Lord as a full-time missionary in Sinaloa, Mexico. I work with an amazing church-planting network called Calvary Culiacan. We currently have 7 seven churches in and around the city of Culiacan and a church planting school comprised of 3 campuses where we are constantly training up new pastors to go out and plant more churches. We hope to expand our network to 11 churches and 2 church-planting schools in 2023. Keep reading to catch the vision!