“From the moment the nurse walks in the room, the patient knows if you actually care about them or not,” said Josue Fleitas, a senior nursing major at PLNU. “So being able to show it in the way that I faithfully care for patients is huge.”
“Caring faithfully” is one of the five core pillars of the PLNU School of Nursing’s approach to patient care, but Josue’s heart for helping others is reflected in so much more than his nursing studies. Through every opportunity he’s been involved with at Point Loma — from clinical experiences and academics to discipleship groups, LoveWorks, and Homeless Ministries — Josue has demonstrated Christ’s love for others wherever he can.
“When I’m able to have that joy through my service, my cup is overflowing so much more in that aspect,” Josue said. “People are seeing the light of Christ in me much more clearly.”
Josue’s family gave him early exposure to healthcare as a calling. Josue’s grandfather was a general practitioner with his own physician’s office, and his mother was a nurse in an emergency department.
“My interest really began when I was little, seeing the excitement my mom had for her job,” Josue said. “Compared to other adults in my life, she was never burnt out — she wanted to go to work every day. That was just inspiring, and the stories were always super cool.”
Josue also remembers a time in fifth grade when he had to visit pediatric intensive care (PICU). Experiencing an outpouring of compassionate care firsthand gave him a new perspective on healthcare that added to what he already knew.
“The nurses during my time in the PICU were super kind; they were friends to us,” he said. “I felt a personal connection with them. [I wasn’t] just clientele. That was the time where I saw how much of an impact nursing could make in people’s lives.”
Josue grew up highly involved in a Nazarene church in Sutter Creek, California. He made yearly trips to the Point Loma campus for Elevate (ELEV8), a Christian camp which gathers Nazarene students from all over the Southwest to come together for play, worship, and growth. That was his earliest impression of PLNU.
“I would come here every summer for Elevate from 8th grade to senior year of high school,” Josue said. “I fell in love with the campus through that.”
Some older friends from his church youth group went to PLNU as well, including two students who were studying in the School of Nursing. As Josue felt his skills and interests align with nursing, by senior year of high school he was ready to commit to PLNU to help him prepare for this calling.
“It’s an awesome profession where you could serve others — it can be such an expression of your faithfulness to God, to share that overflowing of your cup,” he said. “But also, my strengths fit in here. I’m a people person, I love a job when I’m on my feet and working with a team.”
When he came to PLNU, he immediately saw a spiritual difference within his new friend group: their faith had a more vivid sense of “maturity” than he experienced before in his high school friends.
“Freshman year, I came into college, and just didn’t have a super personal routine with God that was fueling me on a regular basis,” Josue said. “So I think a lot of my first two years of college was discovering radical Christianity, or grown-up Christianity.”
A big milestone in his spiritual journey was his first LoveWorks trip, during which the team traveled to Jamaica. He was the only freshman, with the rest of the students being sophomores and juniors. He was struck by his upperclassmen’s devotion to following Christ.
“Seeing their dedication to their faith was super inspiring, and kind of opened my eyes,” he said. “[I thought,] ‘Okay, this is what the life of a Christian who’s in a dedicated relationship looks like.’”
This LoveWorks trip reinforced some key fundamentals of his nursing education. Students on the LoveWorks trip were able to travel to several locations in Jamaica to help run popup clinics, including blood pressure and glucose checks at local schools. Through these service opportunities, Josue saw a large gap in terms of availability of medications, screenings and primary care compared to healthcare in the U.S.
“It was my first experience with people under-resourced in terms of healthcare — in understanding how vast and how many resources we have in America,” he said. “There were some 30-year-old teachers who haven’t ever been tested for blood glucose–they have diabetes. I [saw] how much of an impact simple preventative or primary care is.”
Amidst the challenges, he also experienced a stillness that felt different from what he felt in American spaces of worship. They visited churches, preschools, and helped run community youth nights.
“We’d go to churches, see the songs and dancing and how much joy there is. I think there’s a place for solitude and reflection during times like communion, or worship — the shared joy of Christ and the expression of Spirit in that way.”
It helped him to develop consistent habits about spending time with God. This brought him closer to the fullness of God’s presence on a more daily basis.
“I began to experience the goodness of God and the fruits of the spirit in the way God has designed us to experience it. I was so committed, continually tasting and seeing and reinforcing in my brain, ‘this is what God means when He says there’s going to be fullness in a relationship with Him.’”
“On that trip, away from American busyness of life, just sitting with God on a consistent basis throughout that month — that showed me, when you get in a relationship with Jesus, what it means to not only speak with God, but sit and listen to Him.”
Sophomore year, Josue joined a weekly men’s group that helped fuel his deep commitment to following Christ. PLNU History Professor Bill Wood, Ph.D., helped lead the group.
“We’d wake up every Wednesday morning at 6 a.m., and we’d have Dr. Wood come in and speak with us twice a month,” Josue said. “These were the first guys who [I saw] were radically dedicated to their faith. It was a great group of accountability and just showing me what men of God are called to look like.”
Through this group, and spiritual disciplines like consistent reading of scripture, Josue was able to expand the ways he experienced his relationship with God. It empowered him as he began leading and mentoring freshmen through Alpha Group during his sophomore year.
“I began to experience the goodness of God and the fruits of the spirit in the way God has designed us to experience it,” Josue said. “I was so committed, continually tasting and seeing and reinforcing in my brain, ‘this is what God means when He says there’s going to be fullness in a relationship with Him.’”
Josue’s junior year brought even more excitement, as well as some significant challenges. Managing his schedule while participating in on- and off-campus ministries, being a speaker for TimeOut Chapel, journeying on a second LoveWorks trip, and playing in intramural sports — not to mention keeping up with his nursing program commitments during their busiest year — was no easy task.
“For the first time in my junior year at Loma, I had a lot of social anxiety in a way I’d never experienced before,” Josue said. “I think that just stemmed from a ton of overwhelming responsibilities at once… That was huge for my faith, because it taught me what reliance on God really looks like.”
Reliance on God helped Josue’s heart remain open to learn as he joined Homeless Ministries, which taught him valuable lessons about compassion.
“I was able to experience what true empathy looks like,” he said. “I’m not just feeling bad for someone, but I’m stepping down and experiencing it with them — emphasizing my shared humanity, compassion, and reliance on God with them.”
He learned that even amidst steep differences in life experience and economic status, our shared, human need of Christ remains the same.
“That’s what Homeless Ministries has really taught me more than anything: we’re all just as in need of a savior. They can show us expressions of their faith, and I’m able to share expressions of how I live out my faith.”
While the LoveWorks team moved around a lot during their trip to Jamaica, students on the LoveWorks trip to India spent three weeks at a nursing college. Josue’s second journey with LoveWorks gave him the ability to develop close relationships with fellow PLNU students and people he encountered in India. Amidst his battles with anxiety, he felt God guiding him through uncomfortable situations.
“I saw how much greater God’s plan is than what my preconceived notions were, and how powerful it is to sit in the unknown,” he said. “A lesson I learned is to just try to find comfort in sitting in those uncomfortable situations: God will surprise you in great ways.”
Weathering those anxieties helped him encourage younger generations as a leader at a summer camp.
“In my last summer as a camp counselor at a Christian camp, [I was] able to relate to these junior high guys, experiencing similar stuff. That was a huge blessing.”
Being a Christian camp counselor renewed his heart for ministry even more, and even led him to question his plans after graduation.
“I think my leadership has changed in the fact that I don’t need to be successful with my actions, I just need to be faithful. A lot of that looks like stepping back and asking God, ‘What do you want me to do right now?’ A lot more listening.”
“I just felt a sense that God could use me so much in ministry, trying to decide if I wanted to start pursuing that or continue in nursing.”
However, a mentor encouraged Josue to ask himself, “How can you make the greatest impact for the Kingdom of God, in whatever vocation you’re pursuing?” Josue’s hands-on experiences with nursing, especially during his preceptorship at Rady Children’s Hospital, helped him remember just how meaningful good patient care can be in sharing the hope of Christ.
“In nursing, you’re meeting people of different backgrounds, different cultures, different walks of life–it’s like a cultural melting pot in the hospital,” Josue said. “Being a faithful nurse is something that not every nurse is.”
Wherever Josue finds his calling, his time at PLNU has helped him decide that faith is the best standard of success as a leader.
“I think [faith] has really shown up in the way that I define success as a leader,” Josue said. “Early on… I was constantly results-oriented, which is an unreliable thing to fulfill you.
“I think my leadership has changed in the fact that I don’t need to be successful with my actions, I just need to be faithful. A lot of that looks like stepping back and asking God, ‘What do you want me to do right now?’ A lot more listening.”
As he looks back on his time at PLNU, one of Josue’s greatest experiences has been making friends with other strong Christian men. One example is how inspiring it’s been to see freshmen students that he led through Alpha Group grow up and become close friends of his.
“[I’m] seeing what it’s like to live in a community of God-fearing, God-pursuing men, and going through conflict resolution, seeing each other at your highs and lows… navigating through all those seasons of life together.”
It’s not difficult to look at Josue’s time in college and think he’s made the most of it.
“From a college experience standpoint–being able to experience college dances, intramural teams, clubs, I feel like I’ve gotten the full package; I feel content.
“Me and my roommates were just talking today, [asking] ‘is there anything you feel like you still need to do before you leave?’ And we were all like, ‘I feel like we’ve done it. We’ve gotten it all.’”
