Elsa Romero demonstrates faithfulness by trusting God every step of the way in her life, never really knowing what might come next. Time and again, God has blessed her with the gift of education. She honors this gift by giving back to others in the form of education and language. She says, “Language is like a bridge. It connects us with people. It also allows us to pursue the education we need, the job we dream about, the life we want for ourselves and our children.”

Originally from Monterrey, Mexico, Elsa moved to Arizona after marrying her husband, Jesús, while he pursued his graduate studies. Her family did not want her to leave Monterrey. As Elsa said, “In Mexico, you don’t leave your home until you get married. And even then, you might only move one block away. It’s not an individual culture, it’s a family culture.” And her older sister wasn’t yet married, which is also against the traditional order. But despite tradition, Elsa and Jesús married, left Monterrey and never moved back.

After receiving his PhD, Jesús took a job as a Spanish professor at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas. When their small children began school, Elsa decided she should learn English. She enrolled in Howard Payne’s ESL program. When she completed it, she began taking art classes at Howard Payne, just to practice her English skills. One class at a time, over the course of 14 years, while raising three children and working full-time as a case manager for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) representing abused and neglected children in court, Elsa graduated from Howard Payne with dual degrees in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) and Spanish.

By this time, the Romeros were living in San Antonio and both teaching at Baptist University of the Americas. Elsa decided to continue her education and got a master’s degree so that she could teach Spanish at the college level. After teaching Spanish for a few years, she realized that her heart was really in teaching ESL. With her ESL students, Elsa felt she was doing ministry. She connected with those students, because she had been one of them. She loves immigrants, because she is an immigrant too.

This realization was providential timing since BUA eliminated the Department of Modern Languages. Fortunately, there was another institution that felt like the perfect match for her: UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) in San Antonio. She taught ESL at UNAM for two years.

Eventually she took a leap of faith and left teaching to focus on helping the ISAAC Project. Elsa and Jesús lead the ISAAC Project: Immigrant Service and Advocacy Center. At ISAAC she was able to connect with immigrants every day and help them achieve their dreams. She received partial accreditation from the Department of Justice so she could take on clients herself.

Then the pandemic hit. Jesús was teaching at another school, and the other employees at ISAAC had children at home and could not continue coming in to the office. Elsa kept the office open herself as an essential service because of her language skills and DOJ accreditation.

Elsa has also provided translations into Spanish for different organizations like Buckner, BGCT, Pureflix, Joppa Health Share through the years. She says, “It’s something I couldn’t have done had I not learned a second language. It’s another example of how important it is to learn a second language, because of all the 'bridges' you can build.”

Everyday Elsa is proud to be a bilingual immigrant from Mexico because it allows her to connect with so many people, learn new things, and give back.