The Lustaña family shares their journey—filled with perseverance, support from a loving community, and fueled by faith in God’s miraculous nature.
At just 2 years old, Jubilee had already shown exceptional development. She could count to 100, recite the alphabet, and speak three languages. But during a winter trip to the United States, Jubilee caught pneumonia, and things changed.
“It was around wintertime in the U.S., and she caught pneumonia. That’s when everything started to go downhill.” said her father, Terence Lustaña.
“She regressed,” added her mother, Ingrid. “She didn’t come back from it. She was able to talk in three languages, and then, all of a sudden, she just didn’t talk at all.”
Their pediatrician in Thailand initially assured them it was normal for multilingual children to experience speech delays. So, they moved forward, thinking Jubilee would catch up in time.
But during a missionary gathering in March 2022, several other missionary mothers gently suggested that Jubilee might be showing signs of autism. At first, Ingrid dismissed the idea.
“I didn’t know them. They didn’t know my daughter,” she recalled. “Our doctor had already said she was going to be speech delayed, so I wasn’t worried.”
Still, the thought lingered. In May 2022, during a routine check-up, Ingrid asked for a referral to a specialist—just to rule out autism.
To her surprise, they got an appointment the very next day. Within minutes, a behavioral pediatrician diagnosed Jubilee with level three autism, the most severe level requiring the highest level of support.
“She started early intervention immediately,” Ingrid said. “The hospital provided a therapist, a psychologist. We found this amazing bilingual school in Thailand. It was like—boom—suddenly she was coming back to the little girl we’d lost.”
At the time, both Ingrid and Terence were serving as missionaries in Thailand. Their work included youth coordination, Bible school teaching, church planting, and media ministry—often in countries where less than 1% of the population identified as Christian.
But their mission organization’s leader strongly believed the family should relocate to the United States for Jubilee’s care.
“We didn’t think it was a good idea,” Ingrid said.” But our leader was very adamant, and he is a really good guy, very godly man, so smart and very strategic. We just didn't agree…So we had the choice to either put our heels down on the ground and fight to stay in Thailand or maybe the Lord was speaking to him, and we need to trust in God through the leaders that he puts in place.”
Eventually, they chose to trust in the Lord, knowing they would be facing a host of challenges. Terence, originally from the Philippines, only had a tourist visa. He couldn’t legally work. Ingrid, who has limited vision, couldn’t drive. They had no housing, car, insurance or jobs.
But still, they looked for silver linings, trusting that it was all part of God’s plan for them.
“There are resources, and the resources are in English, but one of the factors why we went with that decision is that there's family, that’s where family is. And so, we could get that support and give the kids an opportunity, not just Jubilee, but our children, to have an opportunity to spend time with grandma, grandpa, uncles and aunts.” Said Terence.
In a remarkable twist, the moment they decided to move to Melbourne, Florida, they received a message from a church that had previously invited them to serve. The pastor offered the parsonage rent-free, with the condition that they serve as associate pastors.
Ingrid’s parents also gave them a car, and her twin sister moved back to the area—just an hour away.
“It was like everything was falling into place,” Ingrid said. “Not everything, though. It was still really difficult. I had over a hundred job rejections.”
The transition to American healthcare also brought culture shock.
“Nobody was accepting Jubilee’s Thai diagnosis. They wanted an American diagnosis… So, I said, “well, how do I get that?” they said, “you need an evaluation.” And this is where we got a big culture shock in the American healthcare system of trying to get evaluation. “How do you get one?” “You need to get a referral.” “How do I get a referral?” “You need your primary care doctor.” “How do I get a primary care doctor?” “Your insurance will provide you one.” “I don't have insurance” “Then you need to.” Ingrid remembered with frustration.
In Thailand, the process had taken less than 24 hours. In Florida, the wait was 18 months.
Ingrid recalled just one month after arriving in America “We were emailing our organization saying, ‘Please send us back. This is scary.”
God was using this time to work on the Lustaña’s marriage and their relationship with Him.
“God is so good. I just want to start with that. Because I know that not everyone's stories are going to be like ours, and there are still people who are waiting 18 months.” Said Ingrid.
The parsonage where they lived was located directly across from the Scott Center for Autism Treatment. Ingrid walked over and introduced herself saying “I know that you can't accept us right now. I know that you technically can't put her name on a waiting list, but I just need a guide. I don't know what I'm doing.”
A staff member named Ms. Tina gave her a list of resources. Then, in May 2023, Ms. Tina called with unexpected news. Ingrid remembers the phone call sounded something like “well, a donation came into the center for a student to have full ride scholarship to go be evaluated by our center. And it was a unanimous decision that we want Jubilee to have it.”
Terence said “And that was kind of the beginning, I mean before this miracle, everything was rough. But ever since that happened, everything just kind of started falling into place."
On June 5, 2023, Jubilee was evaluated. The center gave the family a detailed report, calling it their “golden ticket.” By the end of the month, Jubilee began occupational therapy, enrolled in a special-needs school on a full scholarship, and started speech therapy, applied behavior analysis (ABA), music therapy and swim lessons—all covered by scholarships or insurance.
“All of her therapists knew we were missionaries,” Ingrid said. “They taught us how to do therapy at home. We were learning alongside her.”
Soon after, more blessings came. An anonymous sponsor covered the cost of an immigration lawyer for Terence, who obtained a green card and found employment. Then a came a call from their mission organization, inviting them to return to Asia.
“We have a whole list of people to thank,” Terence said. “The Scott Center, her school, the ABA agency, the church, the JMS, the Florida Music Therapy, the British swim school, the church that gave us the parsonage—everyone. Of course, God takes the full credit, but this has been a team effort. Everyone, the community that God surrounded us with was all in on the program.”
Jubilee has made significant progress.
“When she arrived in the U.S., she had the communication skills of a 9-month-old. She was 3,” Ingrid said. “Now, at 5, she communicates like a 3-year-old. She’s mostly independent, toilet trained, brushes her teeth, gets dressed, feeds herself—and somehow, she learned to use chopsticks.”
She paused, and with mixed emotions said.
“She even cut her own hair recently, which made me a little sad—but she’s blossomed. She’s like a typical 5-year-old now, just a bit more energetic.”
The whole Lustaña family is now serving in Taiwan, where they’re continuing Jubilee’s therapies and seeking the best educational fit for her.
Terence ended the interview by saying “I know we've shared this testimony so many times, but we don't mind sharing it because it reminds us of the God we serve and who He is and what he's capable of. And so thankful that we got to do this again and share this again and be reminded once again that we serve an incredible God. We serve a good God."
If you feel led to come alongside Jubilee and her family, and be part of their journey, here's how: https://give.nazarene.org/pledge/lustana