An article about Ingrid is in the latest IM magazine.  Here is Ingrid's original story, but it really is a story that continues to be written as Ingrid continues to minister and new babies are born and named...

My Name is Ingrid
This was the name my parents gave me when I was born, a Puerto Rican girl with a foreign name, who was born in 1950. I grew up with this name. I went to the mission field as a Baptist missionary with this name: “My name is Ingrid.”

In 1985, I went to El Salvador for the first time as a volunteer missionary. At different times from 1985 to 1994, I did missionary work in El Salvador, and the people there began to get to know me and they called me Ingrid, the missionary.  They became my friends, but they also became my new Salvadoran family. The fraternal ties started to become established. So it was that there were a series of girls whose parents named them Ingrid. They would respond: “My name is Ingrid” and perhaps if you would ask them why this name, they would tell the story of my presence among them during those tumultuous years of war and post war in El Salvador. 

The first Ingrid was born 24 years ago. Her name is Ingrid Francheska, followed by Ingrid Naomi, Ingrid Vanessa, and Ingrid Nancy - all from El Salvador. I have kept in touch with all of them. The first Ingrid lives in Los Angeles, CA where she has been living for more than 15 years now. The war forced her mother to leave El Salvador hoping for a safer life for her family. 

In 2001, I began serving as a missionary in Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama and once again the people there started naming their daughters, Ingrid. My missionary work has allowed me to become a part of many Panamanian families that now form part of my new Panamanian family.  The new children’s names are:  Ingrid Paola, Ingrid Madeline and the youngest one who is only a year old is named Ingrid Oderay. Absolutely, when you ask each one their name, they respond, “My name is Ingrid.” 

I don’t know how many more have yet to be born, but for me it is a challenge so that they may become human beings who glorify God with their lives through my example of service to God that they can follow. I pray for each one of them daily. They just like me when asked their name, they say:  “My name is Ingrid.”