Our Story
John and Elsa Oakley
In 2012 Elsa and I got married and it was always in our hearts to work together to serve God in the ways that He would reveal to us. After several trips to Puerto Vallarta and with Elsa having contacts there, from being on a mission trip for a year in 2011, and myself a recovered addict from close to 40 years of addictions to drugs and alcohol, and being homeless for some time myself, God revealed to us through a homeless gentleman, Jose, that He wanted us to start a ministry with the homeless there.
After finding Jose dehydrated and injured, and looking like he had not had a shower for some time, flashbacks of my past as a homeless person on the streets of Vancouver came rushing back to me. I remembered the useless, helpless and very lonely and left out feelings I had, and my heart broke for Jose. I know that it was God nudging my heart into a place of working with those who are homeless and locked in the chains of addiction in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. Watching Jesus work on Jose's soul and healing his body and watching Jose wholeheartedly accept Jesus as His saviour, as we prayed with him, brought back even more key memories of God doing the same for me. Elsa also has a heart for the homeless, as she volunteered at the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver, and did street walks praying for, and with the lost in Vancouver's Downtown East Side with her friend from Mexico. When we stepped out in faith on our first missions trip in June 2017, we knew that God would confirm our ministry, by showing His power and love. It didn't take long as the first person we spoke to, Fernando, accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour, and recited a beautiful poem about God afterwards. We know, as Leaders of Freedom's Doors Society, "Puertas Hacia la Libertad" in Spanish, that God will continue to bless this ministry, which will glorify His Holy Name, every step of the way, as together we will lead the lost to be found as they enter a new life by walking through "Freedom's Doors" into the loving arms of Jesus.