It was the fall of 1969 as Santa Rosario stood in a Catholic church near her home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and said a simple prayer. When God answered it, He changed her life forever.
"I told God, 'I accept you as my Savior. I know that you're not a statue. I know that you're a living God. So please take me to a church where I can attend and serve the living God, the Christ of glory.' I prayed that in the Catholic church," Santa recalls.
About that time, a friend, Luis Miranda, invited her to attend church at a small Salvation Army church in Old San Juan. She had been about to become a Daughter of Mary in the Catholic church.
"I soon became a daughter of the living God in The Salvation Army," she says with a smile.
Santa knew very little about the Army except that the people who attended church there wore blue uniforms, held open-air evangelistic meetings, and ran a thrift store near her home.
Everything was new to her, but Santa fit right in from the beginning and sensed that it was the "house of God." She was in her early 20s—she even recalls that she was wearing a green dress and a black hat—when she walked in that first Sunday.
Celebrating salvation
"I felt happy," she says. "I felt joyful, and when they did the [altar] call, after I attended a couple of Sundays, that's when I accepted Christ. I felt an urgency to accept Christ in that place."
Santa did that in an evening service on Oct. 27, 1969. That same night, she attended a Home League (women's club) service led by Riitta Eliasen, an officer.
The women stood in a circle with candles; they gave Santa a candle and asked her to join the group.
"It was a beautiful night," she says. "I will never forget it."
Santa became a Salvation Army soldier (church member) in March 1970. She's now a soldier at the San Juan Central Temple.
"I was already giving Sunday school lessons," she says. "God had a purpose in bringing me to the Salvation Army."
Realizing a dream
Since she was a child, Santa had dreamed of being a kindergarten teacher and even had one specific dream in which she saw herself teaching in the "house of God." While she never got to teach kindergarten in San Juan, she has taught the Word of God to people of all ages, from elementary to junior high to high school students to adults and the elderly at San Juan Central.
"I love the interaction," she says. "I love to teach the Word of God. I love children, I love the elderly, I love everybody," she says.
Santa also taught in the San Juan public schools for 25 years, including six as a supervisor, and she ran classes for new immigrants on Saturdays for many years.
Santa is dramatic and passionate when she delivers a Sunday school message. She often tears up and engages her audience with a warm smile.
"Every time I've preached, I've always had a response but always for the glory and honor [of God]," she says.
A woman with a vibrant devotional life, Santa says she spends much of her spare time reading and meditating on her favorite verses—Psalms 1, 23, 100, and 133—the first ones she learned by heart.
In the Spirit
"When I'm on the street, doing my chores or whatever, I'm always meditating on the Word of God," she says, "... digging [into it], researching, swimming [in] the things of the Lord. It's a blessing to my life, and I feel like it's a blessing to my soul. I learn a lot, and I hope others do as well."
Santa also takes the admonition to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) seriously. She goes about her day talking to God and praising Him.
"I speak to God all the time—crossing the street, in the bus," she says. "I praise God as I sleep and when I cook. When I wash dishes, I praise God. When I water the plants, I praise God. All the time.... Sometimes I'm crossing the street and I'm thinking of godly things. If a car crashes into me, I'll die thinking of the Lord."
During an interview with Priority!, Santa paused several times to close her eyes and meditate before answering questions.
"Excuse me, I feel the Holy Spirit at this time," she would say, then cry and pray quietly for a few moments before returning to the interview.
"I feel like I'm in the air, dreaming, and then I have to land and come back to earth," she says. "I feel the presence of God. I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit."
'I surrender all'
Santa loves the Lord so much that she gave up having a family to serve Him. She never married and believes that God chose her to be single "to dedicate myself full-time to the Lord."
"The words of Paul have spoken to me," she said, referring to 1 Corinthians 7, where Paul discusses whether a person should marry or remain single, as he was.
Even though Santa had no children of her own, she has no problem relating to them, says Solimar Lugo, who has known Santa her entire life. Solimar's parents, Majors Andres and Norma Lugo, were the pastors at San Juan Central Corps for nearly seven years.
"You think of the corps and you think of Santa," Solimar Lugo says. "She's the co-pastor. She's always been really, really active. She's always present. Always. For everything. I don't know how this corps would be without her. She's like a column of the church."
Over the years, Santa has not only taught Sunday school but also been active as the corps sergeant-major (lay leader), missionary sergeant, Home League chaplain, and in the League of Mercy ministry to people who are ill, in nursing homes, or unable to leave their homes.
Andres Lugo, now a territorial evangelist, says that when was he was her pastor, he was always confident "that my back was covered" by Santa's prayers and support.
'A towering presence'
"Santa is a precious resource," he says. "She is more than able and qualified for her appointed tasks.... What distinguishes her is her willing desire to do God's will and serve His purpose for her life."
Captain Richard Lopez, the new co-pastor at San Juan Central Temple, says he first met Santa when he was a boy attending a Salvation Army church in the nearby city of Bayamon.
"She was always an influence on all the kids because she was so involved with everything that dealt with kids," he says. "She was a towering presence. When you saw her, you knew that you needed to give her respect.
"She has been an encourager [to me as corps officer]. There is always a positive word in her mouth."
Lopez says Santa always comes totally prepared to teach Sunday school and has also been a driving force on the church's building committee, which has raised $20,000 toward a new facility.
"I believe that God is going to take us to a place of good pastures," Santa says of the church. "I feel the presence of God as I think about it. I believe that the Lord is going to take us up in His wings."
A special honor
Captain Ricardo Fernandez, the commander of the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Division, has made San Juan Central Temple his home church. He first met Santa in 1993 when she was still a public school teacher and calls her "an unbelievable woman."
"She's really faithful to the [Salvation] Army and to the Lord," he said.
The entire USA Eastern Territory of The Salvation Army (of which Puerto Rico is a part) recognized that faithfulness in 2005. At a Family Enrichment Conference in Hershey, Pa., Commissioner Lawrence R. Moretz, territorial commander, presented Santa with the territory's Great Commission Award, given to those who exemplify the "great commission" from Jesus to "go forth and make disciples."
Santa says she was "very joyful," thankful, and humbled as she came forward to receive the honor.
"I'm happy serving God," she says with a smile. "I want to do what God asks of me. I'm committed to serve God until my eyes close."
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