I grew up in a shattered home, full of fights and addiction. Since I was small I saw my father addicted to drinking. I often had to go get him in the bars because he was so drunk that he couldn’t get home alone.
As soon as he received his salary he would get drunk in a bar and people took advantage of it to steal all his money. There were many times when we didn’t have food to eat at home.
Then, I too became addicted to marijuana, cocaine and entered the world of crime. I began to walk with the wrong crowd that apparently solved the problems I was going through. I had a lot of anger towards my father we fought constantly both physically and verbally. We broke a lot of furniture in the house, tables, chairs, and cabinets. My mother was looking for an open door, a place that could change this sad situation, she cried for a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s when she was invited to The Universal Church, and began to pray for my father and I. She would tell me that she was going to a center and would be back soon. But in fact she was going to church. She took our photos, clothes, etc...
My father and I fought a lot; I told him that the day he laid a hand on my mother I would kill him.
One day he came home drunk and my mother tried to talk to him and he pushed her when I saw that I went up to him and hit him a lot. I told him I was going to kill him. I went out to look for a gun; my mother saw and called the police. The police came to my house and I fled for 14 days.
My mother continued praying for my father and I.
The worst moment I experienced was the day some friends and I did a robbery at a supermarket and the police arrived and started shooting. We ran, jumped over a wall and that wall took us to the railway line and I ran along these lines, ran a lot and at some point I saw a door, I was very scared so I went in. When I realized I was inside the church. From then on, I started going to church. I made a commitment with God and change my behavior and from then on the course of my life changed...
After only 11 months of attending the church I was raised as an Assistant and began doing God's work. My financial life was going well, I managed to open a small business that gave us a better financial condition. Then shortly after I was called to do God's work.
Because of this calling I was willing to give up everything to serve the God who saved me. So I sold my business to someone who was interested and placed the earnings on the altar. My father was not in favor of my decisions especially because I sold my business to do the work of God. So he immediately threw me out of my house and didn’t even let me get my clothes. He told me that he no longer considered himself my father and even if I returned home as a beggar he wouldn’t take me in.
After that, I traveled to another city and there began my journey serving God on the altar. I didn’t talk to my parents for 3 years until one day my mother called me and said that my father wanted to talk to me. He apologized and said he had converted and had given his life to God, and that he regretted everything that he said to me, he apologized and he cried.
Today I thank God and the prayers and purposes my mother did for my family and I. Today because of it we all belong to God and follow this same faith.
Pr Willans Silva
Collaborated by Claudia Brito - Auckland, New Zealand
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