SPEAKER_04 4:19

Well, hello, friends, and welcome to the ProLife Team podcast. I'm ProLife Leader Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life and uh Gospel of Life Ministries. Uh, you have seen me on this podcast before, together with our friend and colleague Jacob Barr for whose uh uh leadership I'm always grateful. He's such a great networker, and he has launched this uh podcast that has blessed so many people, helped so many uh pro-life pregnancy centers and others. And it's always a delight for me to join this great audience. So God bless all of you for what you do. Uh we are joined today by a very special guest. We're gonna introduce her briefly and we're going to pray, uh, Jerry Guzman. Uh, and you may have heard of his nesting place in Southern California. She's gonna tell us all about it. I've been familiar with it uh not just for years, but for decades, and with her wonderful uh parents, uh Pastor Alan Judy Howard Howard, and uh she's gonna tell us all about the wonderful work that she does. But let's all turn to the Lord of life now, the Lord of hope, and uh ask him to pour out his blessings, especially on those who are considering abortion. Father, we come to you as the uh the God of life and of hope. Uh we know, Lord, that life is the greatest good uh that we have and that we need to defend it in your name. We know that hope is a blessing that you give us, which gives us the strength to say yes to life. Uh Lord God, our uh uh mission uh in this great pro-life effort is to replace despair with hope. Uh the despair that leads so many people to the doors of the abortion centers throughout our country. It is not freedom of choice that is leading them there, but the feeling that they have no freedom and no choice. And we, your people, step into that gap, step into the darkness of that despair, accompany uh your sons and daughters uh on that difficult journey, and we reach out our hands and we say, God is with you, we are with you, come with us and do what you know is right. Bless our efforts that we may continue to be that instrument of life and of hope, and bless all the centers throughout this nation, pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and and so many other entities that are working, Lord God, uh seeking your guidance, working under the inspiration of your spirit and saving lives every day and healing hearts. Bless us now as we speak, and may this conversation inspire us to even more effective action for life. We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Well, Jerry, it's great to be with you. How are you doing? And uh tell us tell us for those that are not um familiar with the story, the the history uh behind uh his nesting place. This brings us back all the way to the 1970s and to the rescue movement, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Right, yeah, his nesting place goes really, really far back. And thank you, Father Pavone and Jacob, for having us on today. It's a privilege to share about what we do. His nesting place started um in 1983, so we're going on our 42nd anniversary this year. And it started with my parents, Pastor Allen Judy Howard, who got involved through abortion uh through Operation Rescue. So they were out, you know, at the clinics and getting arrested all the time, and um, you know, they always joke about you know how they're jailbirds and things like that, but you know, they were heavily involved in and the cause of Operation Rescue. In fact, my father was the president of that for a long time. And then um they started getting involved in their own local abortion clinics, and they kept finding that you know the women needed something after they chose life, so they said, Okay, well, you can come and live in our house. And at that time they had a lot of children living with them, so the house got full, they took them into their church in Downey. The city of Downey suited them because it didn't look quite nice in the city of Downey, and then God opened up the doors here in Long Beach for us, and we have a beautiful facility that we've been running here now for 42 years, and um we've been saving lives. In fact, as I was driving to work today, I saw my mom outside of the abortion clinic this morning. She's still out there doing that. Wow. And um we're still helping women and um not just after they not just when they make the choice to choose life, but after and continue to support them.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

You know, isn't it amazing how uh when when people think about Operation Rescue, I mean, this has been one of those dimensions of the pro-life movement that many, many, many people have a very negative idea about. And of course, you know, a lot of that is because it's so effective and the other side tries very hard to paint a negative picture. Um, but people think that we're there hating women, harassing women, doing violence, all kinds of crazy things. And yet the history that uh your parents exhibit and that has been seen, of course, in the lives of countless others, is precisely that the people who are there rescuing are there with the heart of God. I mean, otherwise, how would they have even cared to say, come to our home? You know, they're not they're not there with a uh selfish heart, uh uh hateful heart, a violent heart. It's an open, loving heart that's open so wide that not only are they sacrificing their time and effort to be there at those killing centers and even to be willing to be thrown in jail, but uh but to then to say, come with us. We're here for you, with you, like I said in the prayer. We're here with for you in the name of God. And that also means come with us and we will help you to do what is right. Now, you were you, I mean, you grew up with this. Uh, did they bring you at times out in front of the um abortion centers as a little girl?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Tell us how that whole experience impacted me. I don't remember, I don't have a fond memory of it because I was just a baby at the time, but they they absolutely did have me at a lot of these events. My older brothers do remember, you know, holding up these signs and you know, on their Saturday mornings, not cartoons. They were out there, you know, marching for the unborn. So we were all uh raised with that.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

And you know, uh, of course, your your your your your dad is a pastor, you know, and your your parents have been committed to preaching the gospel. And uh, you know, it reminds me of the scripture, doesn't it bring your children up in the ways of the Lord? Uh you know, some people would question that too. Like, why would you bring your children out in front of these, you know, these protests and these these abortion facilities? But but I've always said to people, listen, this trains them in the ways of the of the Lord. How would you address people who ask that question? Oh, should we bring our children out there?

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Well, you know, I would say what what is a better option? Having them with a babysitter in front of a screen or with a stranger, you know. I you know, even at church, sometimes I even bring my children instead of doing like junior church. I think it's wonderful for the children, whether they understand what's going on or not, they're as a seed being planted in their lives in that moment. And um one day they'll hopefully look back and the Lord will put it on them to continue the legacy like the par the legacy that my parents left to me.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

Right, right. Well, that that certainly happened. Now, right away, uh your parents faced the how should we call it the the reality of the the intersection between the kingdom of God and what he inspires in our hearts and the realities of this world, you know, because the city wasn't too happy. Expand on that his part of the history a little bit. Here they are doing the most loving thing in the world, the most unselfish thing, opening their own home to these moms in need. And then what in the world was wrong with the city that they uh they came down on them for that?

SPEAKER_00 12:38

You know, I I really don't know. I guess there was complaints from neighbors who just didn't like what they were doing, and you know, it's just kind of ironic because you know, the pro-choicers are always saying, you know, well, what are you gonna do when the mom does choose life? And here they were giving them an opportunity to choose life and support them and keep their babies, and yet it wasn't good for them, you know. So it was terrible, you know. They they sued them and thank God by the grace of God they did win that. And um, like I said, this facility here in Long Beach is just uh kind of amazing because at the time my dad said that he needed a ten thousand dollar down payment to have this facility, and he had nothing, he had no money, they had no funding, they just they didn't even really start his nesting place yet. And he just prayed, he said, Lord, if this is where you want me to be, can you provide that? And he said literally one day a priest drove by the facility, came in, and he wrote a check for ten thousand dollars to my dad. He said, The Lord told me I needed to to give you this. I don't know why, but here it is. And it was just like God just knew the need that they had, despite what you know the city of Downey had put them through.

SPEAKER_04 13:53

Isn't that something? And you know, like you said, praise God that they won that challenge, but also praise God that they had the will to fight it, because so many people they face these challenges and then they just back away, which is of course what a lot of the enemies of the pro-life movement and of the gospel want want us to do. But they said no, no, no, no. We see the need here. Uh uh the the the lawsuit from the city didn't deter them. And the other thing that didn't deter them, like you just said, was lack of resources. I mean, how many people will be afraid to pursue good activity that they know is good and they know is godly because they say, Oh, well, you know, there's not many money for it. I remember my new mother Teresa, and you know, she did very much like what we're talking about. Your parents did. She would go to the abortion facilities and pull the women away with her with her hands. He would take them f by the arm, say, come with us, come with our sisters, we'll help you, right? But she always was asked the same thing, says, Well, you know, you don't have what if you don't have the resources? And you know what her response was? She said, God has lots of money. And that and that story of the how how they got that ten thousand dollars. I mean, that's this is how it happens, right? The body of Christ comes together. And uh, this was a work, obviously, uh, that sprang from their uh pastor's hearts, their pastor's spirit, uh, your parents that they knew they were doing the work of God and uh and God blessed it. So tell us then the further development, how it became his nesting place.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Um yeah, it started actually with my mom. She was the one that was really getting involved with um not just Operation Rescue, but there's a film, I forget the name of it. It's it goes all the way back and it shows an actual abortion and it just broke her heart. So she started going to different churches and people and just trying to spread awareness of what abortion actually does and what it looks like. And um, my dad was just no, he didn't want to touch it. You know, like many pastors, unfortunately, he he didn't want us to speak about that at the pulpit. He didn't want to offend people, and um, you know, he was just absolutely against talking about it. And then one day he went to a conference where the Lord just put a vision in his heart where he just saw thousands of children just running on the ground, and he said he broke down and he wept just for hours and hours, and then from there on that's when they started going to the abortion clinics themselves and taking the women in. So it really started with the burden on my mom's heart.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

So many, so many good works start just like that. Um now you are kind of taking the mantle. Uh tell us uh day to day what that means for you. What kind of uh of activities uh of service uh are uh occupying your your day?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Yeah, so I'm currently running the women's home and just making sure that everything runs smoothly on the day-to-day. But interestingly enough, um 15 years ago, I was a mother at his nesting place myself. I would think me growing up here in the home, I would you know have learned from the mothers and I would have learned from all these stories, but no, I had to learn my own way. And um I was a pretty wild pastor's child, as they call it. And um, so I was a mom in the home myself 16 years ago, and um I I I can I always say now that I would never be able to do this kind of work if I wouldn't have gone through it myself. And many times I've tried to actually look for other things and try to get out of this, but the Lord now I know He wants me here, and it's it's been such a blessing to serve here. So yeah, I work alongside the women here and encourage them, and um I always try to let them know, you know. Although, you know, maybe I'm the women's home director, but I'm still a former mom too. I was in your shoes and I I know what you're going through. And now my daughter who's 16 is um she volunteers here herself, and I get married now and um have a child now, but um and one on the way. So um it's it's a blessing to to truly see God's hand in this ministry. And like I said, I would never be able to do this work if I hadn't been a mom myself. God really was able to use my craziness for his glory and help the other moms through that.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

It gives you a great deal of um credibility and and uh and opportunity to uh the ability to understand and connect with the stories and the the difficulties that that these women face. Uh I'd like you to address that for a moment too, because you know, abortion the whole issue has so many different dimensions. And I think a lot of people, especially maybe first getting involved in the movement, uh I know this was this was true with me. I I remember very distinctively when I moved from a more conceptual uh view of the issue. I mean, I was thinking I was I was when I got involved in the pro-life movement, I was studying philosophy. So I look at it from a philosophical standpoint. I already f was feeling the call to ministry myself, so I was thinking of it from a biblical standpoint, theological, and then of course logically, you know, the arguments back and forth, pro-life, pro-choice. But I remember very specifically at a certain moment, I was watching uh one of those powerful videos, but this video was about the pregnancy center movement, and there was a uh scene there of um, you know, young woman, uh like in the situation you found yourself and the the women that you serve, the mothers that you help, uh, where there were serious difficulties, serious obstacles in the way. And knowing what was right didn't take away the challenge of those obstacles. And I I I I experienced the shift from uh just opposing board abortion uh theoretically and conceptually to really feeling and understanding to a the extent that I could the kind of despair, the kind of fear, the real tough circumstances that people are in that could tempt them to have an abortion. Um talk to us a little bit about how we, all of us that are watching now, many of whom of course are involved in this similar kind of work, how we help people cross that that that it's not like uh, you know, uh uh in contrast, it's just like completing or fulfilling the way we look at abortion. It's gotta be that real understanding of the real pain that people are in, and that it's not simply a choice of knowing that's that it's right or wrong. It's really the courage to face those obstacles, and we have to have that compassion to know those obstacles that they are facing.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yeah, it it's very sensitive and it's very tricky. And I always say, you know, you can't just save the baby, you also have to save the mother, and along with saving her, you know, that's one step at the abortion clinic, and then there's the pregnancy center that does, you know, the a lot of things that they do that are wonderful and beneficial. But there's many areas with every single mom with a different circumstance, whether that's rehabilitating herself or whether that's working on past traumas, or you know, our our biggest thing at his nesting place uh is that we um believe that true change comes from the gospel, and we really want them to change their hearts, you know, and their lives around. I always tell them it's not just a place to to lay, but it's it's a place to change your life. And so it it really is sensitive, and the biggest thing is just having grace because none of us are perfect, especially these moms who didn't even know, you know. So it's just really about being really sensitive to the to the woman's needs. Um at his nesting place, we take in all kinds of moms, not just abortion minded moms. We take in moms with past abuse or uh substance abuse or many walks of life. But when it comes to like an abortion minded mom mom, which we would call a turnaround. At the abortion clinics, we don't even give them the rules here. We just bypass that and we just don't tell anybody, but we just we just bring them in and we just show them love and we just give them all the support that they need because the rules can defer them a little bit, and we just want to be so sensitive and making sure that they know that they have a safe home to live and to keep their baby, and and uh we just want to do everything we can to just protect that baby and protect them at the same time. Right now, we have one at the moment where we're just like absolutely no rules, we're just kind of let her do what she wants in a way, but supporting her and and loving her along the way, and um you know the rules will come as they go and and whatnot, but we just have to be so sensitive to what she needs at the moment, like right now, one of them is going through domestic violence, so we just want to make sure that she's protected and that her address is secure and that she's doing the steps to keep herself um safe at the moment.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

So yeah, sounds like your main rule is compassion.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

It is. We always say we have all these rules, but we don't even follow them sometimes because we have so much grace.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

This is wonderful. Well, for those that are just joining us, we welcome to the ProLife Team podcast. Uh Jacob Barr's uh podcast. He's uh uh graciously invited me to uh host this conversation with Jerry Guzman from Southern California. She is the maternity home director at his nesting place, and her parents are Pastor Al and Judy Howard, that many who have been involved in the ProLife movement for decades uh will recognize, of course, those names. Um tell us some of the stories, uh Jerry. I know on this podcast that Jacob loves to just get some of the stories out there day-to-day stories, the in the interactions, the encounters, some of the more memorable experiences uh that you've had so far in helping these moms.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Yeah, sure. Well, this one I have an experience, but my dad shares it all the time, and I just have to share it because it's a tear jerker. It's really, really good. Um, so one day my dad um woke up in the morning to do his sidewalk counseling, and he was arguing with the Lord before he left because it was raining and he was comfortable and he was warm and he was just arguing with God and saying that he didn't want to get out of bed, he's comfortable, he he wanted to stay there, and he felt the Lord was putting that on his heart that he has to go, he has to go, it doesn't matter. So he went and it's pouring rain. There was nobody there, and he felt like, Come on, God, why did I do this? And then from a distance, he sees this little petite little woman, and she's walking towards him, and she was about to go in, and he got in her way, and he was just like, I don't even know what I was thinking. I just I would never step in someone's way to do that. But he said, God brought me here today, and he told me that you can't go in there and have this portion. And she was like, What do you mean? I am, you know, already got my appointment. I have all this ready to go. And my dad was arguing with her, and she finally confessed to him that this was not even her husband's baby. Her husband was all the way in the serving in the army, and it was another man's baby. And my dad pleaded with her and said, if he really loves you, he will support this baby. He said he even got on his knees. He said he looked like a crazy white man with this, you know, young black woman looking crazy in the pouring rain on his knees, pleading with her, and she decided to keep life that that day.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

And um five years later it goes by and he's preaching at church here. Um, because his destiny place, by the way, is also a church in-house here, and he was preaching a service one day, and before he closed, he was asking anyone if they had anything they'd like to share or testimony. And all the way in the back, this young, um, beautiful black uh woman raised her hand and he didn't recognize her. And he she said, I I don't have anything to share when she got the mic. She said, But he does. And it was this little um little boy who's about five years old, and he said, Thank you for saving my life. So that's just one of the best stories. It's the story of Angie. We have it printed out, it's a it's a bulletin, and it's just yeah, it's got a lot more depth in it than I can share, but it's just one of my favorite stories because you know, sometimes you don't see the fruit right away, but right, but it's so encouraging.

SPEAKER_04 26:33

And we've got to and we've got to tell those stories. We've got to pass those along, we've got to use those in talks and in churches. Hopefully, preachers uh use stories like this in their uh sermons, and uh, you know, it's it it it it God gives us these these experiences to keep us going and encourage us. Uh, you know, one of the big themes here too is the is the is the men, the fathers. You know, we think about a maternity home, but we know maternity and paternity go hand in hand. And if we're gonna build a culture of life, we have to be building up the family. Uh, tell us how some of maybe the insights from your experience about the role of the fathers and and how does that work with a maternity home like uh like you're directing now? Well, how do you provide for and help these uh these dads?

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Good question. You know, it's kind of interesting because the majority of the time the fathers are just not involved, unfortunately. It's so sad to see that. But we've seen in the last four or five months, all of the boyfriends have been supporting their moms. And, you know, like I said, we have church here, they've all been coming to church, so they're all getting that support. They go to the classes with the moms. So I do wish we had more focus on some way to support the fathers in their own way, but they are able to come to church here and attend the classes with the moms and go to the other um services that we offer here for the moms as well. And so we've actually seen a rise recently and all the boyfriends um supporting the moms and coming here and working on themselves as well. So it's really been a blessing. But I do, I will say there I know that there's uh re reference uh resources out there for the fathers that we kind of lead them to.

SPEAKER_04 28:19

So yeah, that's what I was going to say. You you make it known to the community. In other words, as you advertise his nesting place, you say, look, we have a maternity home here, you're making it clear from square one, you know, dads, we're not excluding you. You know, they maybe they exclude themselves. Like you say, sadly, they're often not even in the picture. But we're not excluding you. You are welcome here. There are resources here. We want you to participate in the process.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

We want them to get married. We want the families to stay together. That's what we would love for all of them. We've my parents have married several, several families. Um, one of them recently just reunited with her husband, and you know, that's our goal is if they're still together and they're coming to church, we do try to give them um encouragement on when they're ready to start um talking about marriage and um you know being a family unit.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

Right. Um happy stories about that. Uh when you get more to the end of the process, you know, they've come through uh their the time that they need to spend. How long do they usually spend, by the way, on the average in the in the home?

SPEAKER_00 29:26

That's a wonderful, unique thing about his nesting place is um when they first come in, they get a probation, and that just determines both for our ends if that's uh if our home is gonna work out for for both of us. Um once they pass that and they feel like it's it's a good fit for them, we tell them as long as they're going to school and they're working, they're following the policies here, they don't have a time limit.

unknown 29:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

I just had a girl leave um last month who was here for almost three years. So she worked on herself, went to school, got a car, and got her own place. So it's it's we say as long as they're uh ready, you know, we actually don't want them to leave prematurely. A lot of times, right, some of these homes do have, you know, a certain amount of time this to this time, but every story and circumstance is different.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

Sure. Well, what about the parents of these moms? I mean, I I you know, you mentioned, of course, one of them dealing with their situations, of course, of uh domestic violence that you have to handle and whatnot. But but tell us, maybe give us some guidance, especially those that might be doing this work elsewhere or seeking to do it. Um, how does all that work? Interaction with uh the parents of these moms.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Right. Yeah, we again we encourage all the family to come to church so that way we can all work together. But it's definitely tricky because sometimes the parents can be supportive, but not in a way that is beneficial to a mom. So the mom can kind of learn from the behavior of their parent, which is kind of just you know living off of the government and kind of not really wanting to proceed in life with you know being independent or going to school or working or just furthering, you know, themselves to be independent. Sometimes they just kind of learn from what they have and their parents encourage them in the wrong way. But then sometimes we do have parents who kind of are done with their children and they're just at their wit's end, and we're the that second, you know, uh resort for them to you know give them that lifeline to help them out. So it really just depends. It varies. Sometimes they can be the enabler and sometimes they can help us to push this mom to keep you know going.

SPEAKER_04 31:41

Those that are just joining us, welcome. I'm ProLife Leader Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, and this is the ProLife Team podcast. We're talking with Jerry Guzman here from uh the uh his nesting place. She's maternity home director. And um, Jerry, do you have a chance to interact with other directors of other maternity homes? I know that there are some networks of communication and collaboration, and uh how do you uh uh find that to be helpful?

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Yeah, so we work with an organization, I'm sure you know it, the Right to Life League, and they have um annual uh maternity home meetings, and I haven't been able recently to attend as many as I'd like. And I do think that that's something that we as a maternity home collective need to work on more, is to work together more to see how we can, you know, collaborate and see what our struggles are and how we can encourage one another. Um, so I do see them sometimes through the Right to Life League. Um, but I I wish that there could be more of a more of an involvement. Um so yeah, that is something that I want to pursue.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

Yeah, it's important. Yes, the networking is so, so uh crucial. And and as part of that, I wanted to um uh think for a moment here about uh in the all in the viewing audience, you know, there'll be others that are doing this work or maybe thinking of doing this work. Share with them uh some of the challenges uh, you know, being a director of something like this is not easy. Uh it's fulfilling and it has many beautiful moments, and we know why we do it. But what what take for a moment take a few moments to kind of go into a mentoring role? If you were, if you were sitting down with somebody who says, I want to do the kind of work that you do, what what kind of things would you want to kind of warn them about? Or listen, you got to be prepared for this. Here are some of the challenges, and some examples of how you've handled some of the toughest challenges.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Sure. Well, the first thing I would say is you cannot look at this like it's a job. You don't come in here to clock in and clock out, and when you go home, the job is still not over because we live with the women, you know. When I go home, they don't just disappear, they're still here. And sometimes we work overtime, and sometimes, you know, these girls they come in and they have a lot of uh I don't want to call it baggage because we all have you know uh problems, but they they have a lot that they're carrying on them, burdens, that's what I'll call it. They have a lot of burdens, and we try to carry that burdens with them so the weight is not all on them, and it's spiritual too. It's spiritual. The enemy hates what we're doing, he hates that we're saving lives, he say he hates that we're not just saving babies' lives, but we're trying to save these moms' lives. So it's definitely a spiritual journey, and you have to be ready for that, um not just physically, but spiritually, emotionally, and prepared to do that. It's it's there's a lot that goes into it. Um I was gonna further more on that and I lost my train of thought. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 34:48

And and there are a lot of spiritual and biblical resources, I'm sure, that you use to sustain your uh strength in doing this mission as well, right? I'm sure your parents have given you a lot of that kind of training.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Yeah, we that's why it's so important with us when the moms wake up. That's the first thing that we all do, is we all pray together first thing in the morning, and then we all try to pray together as a staff. So that may that way we can make sure that we're equipped and we're strengthened and we're ready also.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Do you have among the uh moms uh that you serve people who have had some past experience with abortion? You know, very often having an abortion will lead to promiscuous behavior and it may put them back into this situation uh of an unxpected pregnancy. Um tell me about that dimension of it.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Yeah, so we do uh spiritual counseling with my mom is the one that does that. And so if your mom has had an abortion or even like a staff member has had an abortion, there's um a ministry that we work with, cannot remember. It's Mark and Tigra Little.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yeah, they have a ministry for moms specifically who are carrying that grief from abortion, and um, they can work on that self-forgiveness and healing through that.

SPEAKER_04 36:09

Yes, yes, so important. Do you get a chance to speak in other churches to uh promote the work of the maternity home?

SPEAKER_00 36:16

You know, that's something that we've actually been talking about recently, is we have that's how his nesting place started, is um its funding was through Catholic churches, actually. Um so we were always thankful for the Catholic community for opening its doors to us. My parents would wake up at four in the morning to be at the Mass at 5 a.m. and they would be at every mass until 9 p.m. And I remember on the weekends too when I was in high school, I would go and sell roses after the church and they would let us speak. But after COVID, um, everything closed its doors and everything changed. A lot of the fathers retired, so those opportunities did kind of um close for us, unfortunately. But thankfully the Lord sustained us and we were not um, we were able to continue to keep our doors open despite not doing the majority of our fundraising, which was doing what we called those pro-life weekends. So we're so thankful that we don't have to spend those long weekends at every mass on Sunday, but we do realize we do need to get back into the churches, whether it's Catholic or Christian or, you know, uh we do need to get more speaking engagements. So I'm happy you asked that.

SPEAKER_04 37:26

Yeah, it's uh of course, that's been at the core of our ministry. And, you know, the church is the gathering place where people who are most likely to be responsive to this message are coming every day, coming every Sunday. And we really have to show the pastors, uh, going back to a point we were making earlier, uh we have to show them the heart of the pro-life movement. It is, I always like to summarize it with you know, the gospel words, I am with you. Uh, when Jesus is born, you know, the gospel of Matthew tells us he shall be called Emmanuel, a name that means God is with us. And then before he ascends into heaven at the end of Matthew's gospel, I will be with you always until the end of the world, and then the book of Revelation. God will be with them, and he will be their God, and they will be his people. And this nearness of God to his people, isn't that ultimately the biblical way of summarizing the work you do, the work that the pregnancy centers do, the work that the whole pro-life movement does. We want to be with these people in need.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Exactly. That's why my dad named the church his nesting place. A lot of people say, you should name it her nesting place. No, it's his this is where the women nest. And if you see our logo, it's two hands holding a nest, you know. And so it's truly his ministry, it's his work, and he gets all the glory, and we truly need him for every step of this ministry, every step of the way.

SPEAKER_04 38:59

Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. I was gonna mention, I was gonna ask you about the origin of the name. Yeah, I mean it's a biblical reference to the fact that God, there it is. Oh, take a good hold that there near the camera, his nesting place. Well, you'll see the hands of God himself, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Yeah, that's our God Himself provides the uh that that that that security to say, I can do this, that courage, that hope, like we were saying in the opening prayer, you know, there's despair out there that's leading people to the abortion facilities, but the hope comes from the one whose nesting place it is and and holds us in his hands. Um what what other stories do you have to share with how you how long have you been doing this now, uh, Jared?

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Um I have been here since 2014. So almost 11 years now I've been here. Yeah. One story right now that I'm just so excited, always excited to share about. Um we have a mom who's currently in our home, and when she first came here, she had five other children with her. She had fled from a domestic violence situation. She had recently just um used um drugs, and so when I first met her, I was just like, okay, and this girl's having another child, like I don't know how we're gonna, you know, do this. And you know, the whole family had lice, and it was just you know, but God has such mercy and grace, and I'm so glad that He He also gives me, I feel, discernment to allow these moms to give them a chance because you know, not everybody qualifies. Um so we and thankfully, our our home is set up to accept moms with multiple children, and some of the rooms I don't know if you've been here before, but they adjoin. So she was able to get two bedrooms that adjoined together. And since she's been here, she's gotten completely sober, she's had her son, she came in without uh a license or insurance or any of that. She got all that, she completely, you know, all the life was taken care of and all that. Um, she's been here almost a year now. Her boyfriend's attending church, and she is just such a great example and an incredible witness to to the Lord and how her life has complete. Even her children who didn't really want to talk to us, they were closed off and shy, they just all hug us and love us, and it's just so nice to see not only the mom being affected through through this, but also the children as well, and the children's heart is transparent, and the children calling it home because you know there's pressure for her to you know look for another place, but even she said, I'm not ready yet, and I need to be here. And I just love that that she can recognize that, and she's still working on rehabilitating herself, and she's always volunteering. In fact, we give awards for the moms when they um are volunteering so many hours or they're doing so good, and she's won all kinds of awards for doing that, and our incentive award program, she's gotten that, which allows them to save an enormous amount of money. So she's just been such a great example. Her and she's got six kids now. So yeah, it's been a blessing. That's my favorite right now.

SPEAKER_04 42:15

Well, who who what was the age of the youngest mom that you've you've ever served?

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Uh the youngest, I'll say, is 18, but we've had moms who are 17 and we're like, move in when you're 18, because right by law, we can't take in minors, but we have had a mom um who actually her mom worked here for a long time, and she told me, you know, um, I'm I've already scheduled my appointment and I need somewhere to go. She was about to have this abortion and she wasn't 18. I said, you know what? You'll be 18 in a month, just come. And she came in.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

And she kept, she she kept her baby, and so you know, we kind of wiggle the line, blur the line a little bit. But um, 18 is uh the youngest that we've helped.

SPEAKER_04 43:01

Now, one other set of questions I wanted to ask you, and and for those that are just joining us, this is the ProLife Team Podcast. I'm ProLife Leader Frank Pavone of Priest for Life, and uh we're talking with Jerry Guzman, who heads up the paternity home, his nesting place, uh Southern California. And um uh the um the story of the beginning of this work by your your mom and dad, they faced right away a lawsuit from the city. Okay, they didn't like what they were doing, and they fought that and they won against that, and they were able to continue this work of God. But we all know California is not an easy place uh to do pro life work, faith work, church work. Um, and the politicians there, they're always trying to put obstacles in the way of the pregnancy centers. Uh, we at Priests for Life, we've been involved with a number of our uh colleagues in pro life leadership who have fought battles all the way to the Supreme Court uh with the you know the law that they had passed in. California, for example, telling the pregnancy centers that they had to host information about the nearby abortion clinics. You know, I mean it's like it's like Alcoholics Anonymous uh uh giving people advertisements for the local liquor store. I mean it's so ridiculous, right? But but they of course they they the pro-life people won uh that lawsuit all the way up to the Supreme Court. But so I wanted to explore with you just have you had to face with his nesting place any of these kind of battles with the the the state of California or the pro-abortion groups that just try to con constantly put legal obstacles in the way of our work.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Uh when you mentioned that when uh are you talking about the the the sign that pregnancy sellers have that was actually started with his nesting place. It started with us. So that was and that you know that was all um Kamala that would be doing all of that.

SPEAKER_04 44:55

It was. Yeah, tell tell the people the history of that if they don't know that if they don't know that case.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

In detail too much, but my mom has always told me, you know, that whole thing started with us. They told us his nesting place that we had to have a sign on our door that promoted and gave the women options for abortion clinics, which is like right what you said, like very ironic and very very silly, you know. Um so we fought it, and some attorneys um offered, I forgot their name, um, but they offered to do that on behalf of us, and they we obviously won that, so praise God. You know, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

That was the Nifla, the Nifla versus Bacera case. It started with Kamala Harris, and then she was uh uh succeeded by Becerra, and uh and that's right, and they uh it went all the way up to the Supreme Court, and just a handful of years ago, it was uh a victory for the pro-life side because I mean it's freedom of speech and it's freedom of religion. You know, we want to go in there and we wanna we want to speak life and we want to speak hope and we want to steer them away from abortion and we want to show them God's love. And we should have the right to do that unhindered, uh, without any push in the opposite direction. So God bless you for persevering in that. It's another it's another testimony that God's hand is on his nesting place and uh it's wonderful work. It's so great talking with you. Any any final thoughts you want to share with our audience, and please do tell them, uh Jerry, where to go online to connect with your work.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Sure. Uh thank you, Father Pavone. Um yeah, I would just say, you know, if you are interested in coming and visiting SBS, I can even give you a tour. If you're in the local area, I would love to have you. We love showing people what we do. Even I always say, even if you're pro-choice, at least see what we're offering. At least see what the other side has to give to these moms. Because the the argument, like I said, is always well, how are you gonna support the mom after they choose life? And I always it's funny, my mom has these big magnets on her um card that says choose life with babies and God's hands. And somebody pulled down their window and they said, What are you gonna do when the mom does choose life if they have if they don't have an abortion? She goes, Well, I've helped five ten thousand of them. So you know, that's what we do. And um, yeah, if you'd like to come to our uh tour at his nesting place tour here in Long Beach, uh, you can visit our website, it's his nestingplace.org. And we're also on Instagram, which is his nesting place ministries. Um we have a banquet this year. We only do one fundraiser a year. We don't have any other fundraisers besides doing in our newsletters every month. And that's uh September 26th, Friday, and that's also in Long Reach at the Grand. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with Kaya Jones. Um, she'll be our guest speaker. She was a speaker in the pussycat dolls, and she's got a great testimony, and she'll be a powerful speaker for that. But uh beautiful. Yeah, and like what you said, you know, it's really hard to do this work in California when the pushback is so strong. It really is, but this is exactly where we need to be because I would love to go live in Texas on a farm, but that's not where the babies are dying. The babies there's so many babies that are dying every day, too many to die, and especially in communities like Long Beach, um, and you know, Compton and the surrounding areas. So this is where it's needed. Although it's not comfortable, it's where God has us and God sustained us. And if you want to get involved, again, it's not comfortable, but this is God will supply your needs, and God will um advocate for you, just like he has for us and for you guys. And we're just so blessed. I always think of the verse uh in uh what David said, what God meant, what the devil meant for harm and evil, God meant for good, you know. Yes, so that that's always happening, you know. Again, it's a spiritual battle here, it's life and death.

SPEAKER_04 48:56

It is, and you are serving life well. His nestingplace.org, brothers and sisters. Please do go there. You'll be inspired. Uh, Jerry, thanks so much. Uh please uh give my regard to your mom's mom and dad. Uh and give my regards, and uh uh I will be back to visit uh before too long in the course of my travels. I'd love to uh see the place again and see what you've done with it, and uh keep up the the courage and the strength and the the the joy and the love and the compassion uh you can't.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

My dad is actually fighting keen uh cancer right now, too. If you could just keep him in your prayers.

SPEAKER_04 49:33

I I I I heard that and I am praying for him very, very strongly. Please let him know that uh in fact we'll pray for him right now as we conclude our program. But I'm sure all of our viewers will uh join their prayers with ours. And uh, like the Lord said, when two or three ask for something in his name, uh he will he will grant it, he will show his love, he will show his compassion. So thank you, Jerry, God bless you, and uh let's turn back to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this uh life-saving ministry, we thank you for this ministry that reveals your heart of care and compassion. Uh, we thank you for Pastor Al and Judy Howard, who have served for so many decades in your work, Lord God, and and we pray that Pastor Al will experience your uh healing strength, uh your your mercy to to him. Give him patience as he deals with his treatments and uh and and and Lord give him still many years of service uh to your kingdom and to the gospel of life. Uh, we ask you to bless uh Jerry as she uh carries out the work that she uh explained to us today. Uh she has uh such such the radiant beauty, Lord God, of your compassion uh shining through her words and actions. And we thank you uh for what she is doing. We pray for all the moms and the children that have been uh through the doors of his nesting place over so many years, those that are there now, and those who in your providence you know will be there in the months and years ahead of us. Send your Holy Spirit to them even now, and give them the courage always to do what is right. And bless and unite all of us, Lord God, in your work. Uh may we never tire of proclaiming and serving your kingdom and give success to the work of our hands that life may always triumph over death. We ask all of this in the name of the one who conquered death and rose from the dead and re-established life, who is the only Lord and the only savior of humanity, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Jerry, thanks again. God bless you, and thanks to Jacob Barr for uh welcoming us onto this podcast, the ProLife Team Podcast. Brothers and sisters, check out all the episodes of this great podcast. You will meet many wonderful guests like Jerry, whom we've heard from today, and uh, you'll never get tired of watching because there's always more hope, inspiration, and great stories about God's work in this world for life. Thank you all. Prolife leader Frank Pavone here of Priest for Life. Talk to you next time.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

Through the power of the training to be the three To trust in the Maker and the Maker Christ beyond me, Christ within the house, Christ with me, Christ around Christ with a rise in the morning Christ beyond me, Christmas when I rise in the morning Christ in each other things of me, Christ takes out the springs of me Christ giving Christ in me, Christ in each other things of me, Christ gets out, and speaks to me Christ in each Christmas.