St. Cloud Florida Stake Blog

In 2008, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a talk in General Conference titled “The Ministry of Angels.” In that talk, he reminded us that “not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day…. heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind.” 

After meeting with Ivette Rodriguez, director of the crisis pregnancy center Beyond Pregnancy, and Beyond Pregnancy’s client care manager, Maritza Larsen, I feel assured that what Elder Holland says is true: there are still angels among us. 

Just half an hour of sitting with these two remarkably loving and Spirit-filled women and I could see the great impact they are making in our community, how any pregnant woman who was anxious and alone would feel safe coming here and leave with a more hopeful outlook. That is exactly why Ivette named her center Beyond Pregnancy, because she wants her clients to know there is hope beyond the crisis.

“It’s about taking that mom who was in a crisis and not just seeing the present,” Ivette says. “They are going to feel the present. They are going to be in their emotions for that moment. It’s there and it’s real. And we acknowledge it with them. We’ll cry with them, we’ll sit there with them, we’ll hear them. We are there in whatever crisis it is. But we also want to remind them the crisis is now, but it’s not forever. There are hopes, solutions. There are people who love you that can stand by you and help you see further ahead.” 

This is the heart of Ivette’s own story. Pregnant at fifteen from a heartbreaking situation, Ivette chose life for her son, despite not feeling support from her family and church community. Overcoming the negativity surrounding her, she eventually became a director of a Catholic crisis pregnancy center in Orlando. “I was passionate about it,” Ivette says. “I know what it is like to not have any support. I could be so relatable to these clients.”

But then Ivette started feeling nudges from God, and they were coming at three o’clock in the morning. She felt Him giving her “blueprints” for what she thought was the center she worked at—but her changes were not approved, and she began to feel stuck. “[But] when I shut up and I stood quiet, and I just stood in His presence, He said, ‘I never told you it was for the pregnancy center you’re running. It’s for the one I’m giving you.’”

“That was the biggest leap of faith I ever took, leaving my director role to go and start a center.”

The path of Beyond Pregnancy from a tiny closet office to what it is today–located in a former home now redesigned and beautifully decorated on Mill Slough Road in Kissimmee–is a series of miracles. One of the biggest ones was a meeting Pastor William Kenna from Faith Harvest Church.

Someone connected the pastor to Ivette, and he asked to meet with her. “He met with me in my little closet,” Ivette laughs, “and I was like, oh he’s not going to take me seriously. He told me, ‘tell me about yourself.’ I told him my testimony, and he was super happy. And then he said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you for ten years.’”

God was also moving upon Pastor Kenna’s heart, telling him that he was supposed to open a pregnancy crisis center on the property adjacent to his church. And he was overjoyed to finally have found the director to run it. 

With the pastor’s support, Ivette was able to enact all her revealed blueprints and to have the aesthetics of a home. At Beyond Pregnancy, there is a calm and beautiful waiting area and private offices to meet with advocate counselors. There is a prayer room where cards with written requests are hung and followed up on and marked with ANSWERED. There are computers where clients take Bible-based classes on a range of topics, from what to expect in pregnancy itself, to parenting and relationships, to buying a car. Taking the classes earns clients credit in a baby boutique with clothes, diapers, and more to support babies through their first year of life. And there is a memorial garden women can visit to grieve the loss of any child, whether due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion (see a video tour of the center here).

Ivette says that God’s direction went beyond just the physical building. For example, she told me that the center is more than pro-life; it is pro-family. Dads are welcomed with open arms at the center. When they are involved and participate, moms receive additional credit to shop at the baby boutique.

“God has a special role for the men,” Ivette emphasizes. “He has a special role for the women and a special role for the family. We’re very big about building up the family units.” 

Ivette also felt Him tell her that the center should not be associated with any particular Christian denomination, because working to prevent abortions was the responsibility of every church, and that there would be joy in coming together in interfaith efforts. Ivette already had a testimony of this from her time working as a Protestant in her Catholic crisis pregnancy center.

“It was such a beautiful blend because we got to find the common ground, but also show the beauty of things that we honored,” she says. “As we come together, let’s find God in the midst of our faith. It’s just powerful.”

She also recognizes that, while never shying away from faith, Beyond Pregnancy is not the church; it is a bridge to the church. It is a place for individuals to encounter Christ’s love, perhaps for the first time. Instead of requiring clients to attend a particular church in order to receive services, Ivette and her staff just love and testify. They point to God’s abundance and goodness. They listen without judgment. They speak with love and compassion, and they always offer to pray with clients. If clients are interested in finding a church community, they offer them information. 

“We always bring it back to God. God has provided, this is what God does. God is your provision. God loves you, God cares. That’s how we get to share the gospel, in a very non-invasive way,” Ivette says.

It is because of their commitment to testify of God and His goodness with their work that Beyond Pregnancy is almost totally reliant on community support–they don’t apply for any government grant that prohibits them from doing that. Ivette says that is where they see even more miracles.

“There’s people that may give five dollars, but that’s all they could give. But God takes that five and He spreads it out. We see that all the time. There might be other centers that have big numbers in the financials, but God does something with ours, and we’re always blown away.”

For example: Ivette started with volunteers; now she has paid staff. When the center was recently low on diapers and wipes, Cornerstone Church donated a roomful. And now Beyond Pregnancy is set to open another office in St. Cloud due to a woman who generously offered them a location, while another church raised money to buy the furniture. In 2024 alone, 209 individuals, churches, and businesses helped Beyond Pregnancy fulfill its mission. 

So what can Latter-day Saints do to help? The answer is a lot. Individuals can support the center financially; they can donate high-need items such as baby wash, baby wipes, and diaper cream. They can volunteer once or twice a month to sort through donations at the center’s baby boutique, help with yard work in the memorial garden, or be texted for prayer requests for struggling moms. They can knit or crochet baby blankets to donate, which Beyond Pregnancy gifts to each new client. Ivette and Maritza welcome anyone from the community to come through their doors and see what they do. President Gooch himself recently had the opportunity to meet with Ivette and Beyond Pregnancy. “The work they are doing there is a blessing to the individuals they serve and our community as a whole,” he says. “Their desire to help and serve those who are going through difficult times is genuine and heaven-sent.”

“My favorite,” Ivette says, “is always seeing a mom come in, a mom being in that crisis mode and then choosing herself to want life for her child. And then seeing that child come through these doors. That’s everything.”