Where it all began
My Story
Stacey and Wilkin Rijo are the pastors of Love in the Streets – The Movement located in the heart of Lebanon City. Together they have seven children and 14 grandchildren.
“It is through the marvelous grace of God that I am a Christian”
Her journey began at the age of eight when her grandmother transitioned to heaven. She entered a time of uncertainty that led to spending several years experiencing all types of abuse (physical, sexual, mental) and severe neglection and rejection. By the age of fourteen, she was a teen runaway living in the streets of Lebanon until being placed into foster care. At the age of seventeen, when things were beginning to be “normal,” in the home of Jean Spangler, she ran away to what she thought was “normal” – the streets.
By eighteen she once again experienced the harsh realities of living in the streets. She was homeless and expecting her first child. The years that followed were filled with pain and hidden addiction. Relationship after relationship fueled the cycle of always looking for the love of her grandmother. It would be many years until she realized that He was always with her.
The darkness that surrounded her led her to practice witchcraft and at one point Islam. After experience the worst life had to offer through rape and attempted suicide, she found herself barely existing. She looked good but inside, she was dying.
But God!! At the age of thirty-eight she met the Man who would change the course of her life. She was radically saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Her encounter was undeniable and contagious. Her boyfriend at the time also accepted Christ as his Savor and they were married shortly after that. From that moment on, they were on a mission to reach as many people for Christ as they could.
She and her husband are called to the same streets she used to call home. God has used them mightily to change their community. Through the love they show, souls have been healed, set free and delivered from all forms of bondage. Has everything been easy? No, but with God all things are possible. He is her sustaining power and the wind that breathes in her lungs.
In June 2022, she answered the call and founded a ministry birthed from her heart – Love in the Streets- A Movement. The ministry is in the same place she experienced so much pain, Lebanon. God truly turned her sadness and sorrow into joy! Today, their church is thriving and bringing light to the darkest of places. They evangelize to drug addicts, prostitutes, homeless, drug dealers and everyone the world deems “unlovable” It’s her greatest desire that the streets that once claimed her become a bright light beckoning everyone to come follow a Man that can change everything.
Acts 20:24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
