When Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico, the Category 5 storm blew away Joseph ’06 and Daisy Pardo’s plans to host a fundraising gala for Cree Women’s Care, the first pregnancy resource center on the island. “I wanted to raise support and for Puerto Ricans to get the vision,” Joseph says, speaking of his pro-life vision that began while he was a Moody Bible Institute student.

But despite the unexpected interruption to their plans, “God did something totally different and better,” Joseph says. “I’m not saying Maria was a blessing, but God used Maria in a huge way.”

After Hurricane Maria required the family’s evacuation to Tampa, Florida, Joseph connected with donors and organizations to gather needed funds and emergency supplies, sending them by plane to Puerto Rico. When Joseph returned to Puerto Rico, the devastation he saw was shocking. “It looked like an atomic bomb had gone off. Trees were bare, like sticks with no leaves.” The hurricane had destroyed the power grid, knocked out bridges, and tore the tin roofs off homes.

Through their pro-life work, the Pardos had developed a network of about 40 evangelical Puerto Rican churches. They and their crew began contacting pastors on the list. “Hey, we want to help you go out and help people. What can we get for you?”

So over the next month and a half, the Pardos worked with others to distribute needed supplies—chain saws, generators, water filters, tarps, food, and other emergency items. They enlisted the help of five airplanes through Agape Flights in Venice, Florida. And they discovered that the pilot was a Moody Aviation graduate, Jeffrey Yannucciello ’01.

The Pardos purchased rice and beans, hygiene supplies, and other items. “We were raising support and spending up to $2,000 a day for supplies. We’d turn around and send them out almost immediately to the churches,” Joseph says.

Since the initial rescue response, the Pardos transitioned to raising money so local churches can hire Puerto Ricans to clean up homes and fix roofs. Because of Puerto Rico’s 55 percent unemployment rate, money for hiring locals is preferred over work teams arriving from the States, Joseph explains.

The Pardos’ efforts have given the churches not only resources to help survivors and employ workers but also a platform for sharing the gospel. One day, for example, the pastor of La Travesia (The Way) used a chain saw to help cut down a tree that had fallen on a member’s roof. Then he did the same for the neighbor’s roof and asked what else he could do. Astonished, the neighbor asked for water and food and then promised to attend their service the next Sunday. “After church, the guy was in tears and said, ‘I have never witnessed such love,’” Joseph recalls. “He became a believer that day.”

As Joseph visits churches, he hears numerous stories like that. “It feels like we’re in the Acts church,” he says. “People have been coming to Christ. It seems like a revival.”

“People have been coming to Christ. It seems like a revival.”

Cree Women’s Care, founded by the Pardos, has remained open since the hurricane. In the first two months following the disaster, 40 young women came in for free pregnancy tests and services, Joseph says. Of those, 23 decided to give birth to their babies; 14 were not pregnant, and three decided to have an abortion. “On Friday two teen girls came in desperate, saying, ‘We have no money, no job. We lost our home, our furniture,’ It was so cool because our staff is trained to give them hope. By the end of the meetings, the girls were reassured.”

Cree Women’s Care uses an iPad program to take clients on a visual trip through the womb at different stages of pregnancy. Their mobile sonogram machine, acquired through three $5,000 donations, also convinces young women to choose life about 95 percent of the time, Joseph reports.

The center also provides free weekly birth classes. Later they offer classes on parenting skills and how to have a God-honoring family. “We walk with the young women up to a year after the baby is born,” he says. “We lead them to a point where they see they need Christ, then begin to disciple them and connect them to churches.”

The clinic also ministers to moms who have had abortions. “That mom sees that Christ can forgive her for her abortion. Once she puts her faith in Christ, she becomes an evangelist like you can’t imagine.”

It reminds Joseph of his own conversion when he was 21.

New Life and Pro-Life
Raised in a Jewish home in Tampa, Joseph got into partying, sex, and drugs at age 18. A few years later he was invited to a Baptist church, and within three months, he was born again and “bawling like a baby.” Joseph’s radical conversion in 2000 gave him a burning desire to share his transformation with others. A mentor and Moody Aviation–trained pilot, Christopher Simpson ’88, suggested Joseph apply to Moody. With Chris as his best man, Joseph married Daisy, a young Puerto Rican woman from church, in January 2003. They moved to Chicago, where he began to study at Moody.

A missions major, Joseph switched to Jewish Studies after taking some classes with Dr. Michael Rydelnik. “He’s a really sharp, excellent Bible teacher,” he says. “I never saw myself going into Jewish ministry per se, but I thought it was a natural thing to help me understand my upbringing.”

Joseph and Daisy intended to go to China as missionaries. Then another student, Stacey Rubio ’05, invited them to a fundraising gala for Caris, a crisis pregnancy center in Chicago. “Daisy was pregnant with our first child. It opened our eyes to the whole movement,” Joseph says.

After graduating, Joseph worked on a master’s degree, still pursuing missions in China. But the door seemed to be closing. “I had a hard time trying to figure out what God wanted us to do,” he recalls.

“That was a rough year and a half for us, but God sustained us and kept us moving forward,” Joseph says. “He used that time to burn off a lot of pride and self-worship.”

Meanwhile he and Daisy stayed active in pro-life ministry. When Joseph watched a video of an abortion on YouTube, “I was destroyed. I realized we need to be actively involved, wherever we’re at, in some kind of ministry defending the unborn child.”

Seeing the abortion reminded him of his Jewish heritage and the 6.5 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. In abortion, he says, “They’re doing the same thing!”

The Pardos moved to Tampa to run an international student ministry at the University of South Florida. At the same time, they got involved with a local pregnancy center doing fundraising, the annual Walk for Life, and counseling.

During a vacation in Puerto Rico, they thought they’d check out what kind of pregnancy centers were on the island. “We searched and searched and found nothing,” Joseph says. Back in Tampa, they informed the director of the local pregnancy center: “You guys need to start a pregnancy center in Puerto Rico.” The director replied, “Joe and Daisy, you need to start one in Puerto Rico.”

From that point on, God put it on the Pardos’ hearts to start a pro-life ministry in Puerto Rico. They launched Love the Nations, a ministry-planting nonprofit, and in January 2015 the Pardos started fundraising for the project. By the following October their family had relocated. They opened Cree Women’s Care in 2016, strategically down the street from two abortion clinics in Bayamón.

At that time the island had 11 abortion clinics and aborted 15,000 babies a year. “Two of the clinics have closed since we’ve gotten here,” he says. Dozens of girls have walked into their clinic instead of the abortion clinics. Many have chosen life.

“God has provided abundantly more than we needed,” he says. With four other paid staff members, “God has taken care of every need.”

The Pardos are considering opening more pregnancy centers on the island. Their website, lovethenations.com, summarizes the heart of their mission. “We are in it for life, not just the child’s life but also true life found in the Savior for all who walk through our doors!”

Linda Piepenbrink is managing editor of Moody Alumni News