Straight Path Ministries
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Derek grew up in an Italian-Mexican, Catholic family, attended Catholic school, and served as an altar boy in church regularly. As a Junior in High School, he felt the need to leave the church and found himself searching for religious truth. He was first saved while on patrol onboard a submarine in the U.S. Navy during a nuclear war scenario. Not completely understanding what it meant, and not having anyone to guide him, he found himself exposed to many religions and began to research several of them and even attended some of their churches.
Eventually, he attended a Bible study where he started learning more about Christ to the point where he would spend hours at the library doing research. Religion was still a pretty rocky road for him for several years falling in and out of the Catholic church many times and continuing to read books on world religion.
He began attending different non-denominational Christian Churches and was exposed to various types of worship, preaching, healings, speaking in tongues which he was taught after being told it is required to be Christian. With all the confusion brought on by these experiences, he felt it just wasn’t right and again stopped going to church and returned to reading various versions of the Bible and researching world religions.
Later in life, and after a divorce, his daughter invited him to go on a short-term mission trip to Guatemala where he felt led by the Lord to give up the life he had and dedicate himself to serving Him by becoming a missionary. He kept in touch with Mimi, the team guide in Guatemala, and got married about 6 months later, moved to Guatemala, and began a new life as a missionary serving the Lord.
Derek has been a full-time missionary living and serving in Guatemala since June 2014. He felt led by the Lord to start Straight Path Ministries prior to moving to Guatemala which he and his wife Mimi have operated since.
Mimi was born in Guatemala and raised in a Christian family with her dad as a Lutheran pastor. Mimi’s mother also studied theology and served several ministries in the churches where Mimi’s dad pastored. As a child, Mimi attended Mennonite school, she accepted Christ at the age of 4 and later graduated from Bible Seminary in Guatemala City. She learned English in school and became fluent while helping as a guide and translator on numerous mission trips since the age of 14.
In 2013, while working at a ministry in Camotán Guatemala, she met Derek, whom she married the following year, and began the ministry that the Lord called them both to steward together.
Mimi’s desire to help women has driven her to become a certified Christian Life Coach helping numerous girls and women from different cultural backgrounds through personal and online counseling. Her passion also led her to develop an online devotional site for women and author two books; Countercultural Woman (English and Spanish) and End of the Year Devotions for Homemakers.
Mimi truly loves serving the Lord and enjoys finding new and exciting ways to share Him and His love with others.