Evangelina Heredia Porras

February 15, 1937 - October 1, 2021

Evangelina Porras was born on February 15, 1937 in the city of Tacambaro, Michoacan Mexico to Maria Luisa Sanchez and Luis Heredia Sepulveda. At the early age of 2, her mother passed away after a tragic horse riding accident and was raised by her madrina Anastasia Garcia and padrino Demetrio Garcia. At the age of 17 years old, she accepted the Lord and was baptized in Jesus name in the Apostolic church by Pastor Anselino Reyes in Algodones B.C., where she also worked by picking cotton. She had 12 younger half siblings and always dreamt of reuniting with her family but was not made possible until 2015 at a family reunion in Ensenada. Through that reunion, she was able to cultivate a close relationship with her Heredia side. In the summer of 1957, she met her future husband Misael Hernandez Porras at a youth service at San Diego Apostolic Church, set up by Sis. Fina Lopez. They were married by the civil court in Tijuana and had their church marriage celebration at Otay Apostolic Church by Pastor Pedro Hermosillo on February 8, 1958 and built a family together in Chula Vista for 63 years. They had 3 children (Ruben, Yoly and Sarah Ann), 8 grandchildren (Andrea, Joshua, Annette, Nathaniel, Joel, Jacob, Rachel and James) and 2 great-grandchildren (Apollo and Troy). They congregated at Otay Apostolic Church from 1959 to 1999. In the year 2000, she and her husband joined their children to assist in the establishing work of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship and transitioned to the Promise Church in 2018. She loved being involved in church projects. She was the president of the Dorcas for Otay Church, worked in the cocina, made Vacation Bible School decorations, and sewed many Christmas play costumes (including the infamous camels). She enjoyed gardening, painting ceramics, creating floral arrangements, upholstering furniture for couple’s first homes, sewing quilts for all her grandchildren and blankets for friends, crocheting baby blankets, sweaters and hats, cake decorating for family birthday parties, and making broaches out of bread dough. She loved to travel and was able to visit Milwaukee Church Camp, Hawaii, the Caribbean Islands and was even able to accomplish her dream of visiting the Holy Land. She cared for many children throughout the years, mostly of family members and close friends, and was able to touch the lives of over 20 children; making the memories of picking tomatoes and guavas, tree climbing, playing in the old playhouse, and eating fried bologna and avena with toast in the mornings something many of us share. In her last years, she decided to go to dialysis to prolong her life for her family. In the end however, the difficulty and pain caused her to choose to end dialysis for herself, ultimately bringing her 84 years to an end on October 1, 2021.