When my mom was expecting me, she got sick and she got into a treatment the doctor told her to. After finishing the treatment there were some studies and research that were published about that treatment and it pretty much said that if a pregnant women had taken this treatment her baby will be born without arms and legs. So, it was very though on my mom to hear that, and the doctor suggested an abortion to avoid having a kid without legs and arms. My mom didn’t do it, it was too bad to be good, and she decided to have me no matter what.
Back then, in 1984, we didn’t have the technology here in Guatemala to see if the baby was a boy or a girl, so my parents didn’t know. And one night, my mom was really worried about me because she was very close to the ninth month and she didn’t know what to do. Then, out of nothing, my older sister (she was 4 back then) woke up in the middle of the night and went to my mom and told her: “don’t worry mom, my baby sister is fine, nothing’s wrong with her”… and then she went back to her bed and fell asleep. It was pretty shocking to my parents, they weren’t even believers back then, and then, the day came, and I was born more than healthy.
That was just the beginning. My parents are medical physicians; my mom was in her first years of med school when she got married. My dad was already working on his residency. When my mom got pregnant of me she was on her last year of med school (it’s a little different here than in other countries though) and I was just a baby when she graduated.
When I was eight months old they noticed that something was growing on the left side of my neck, I was also losing a lot of weight and didn’t have appetite. They knew that wasn’t normal so they took me to the pediatrician. He ran some tests (blood tests and x-rays, etc) and he gave my parents some bad news…I was diagnosed with Lymphocytic Leukemia, and then they told them that they needed to make a biopsy of the “tumor” that was growing on my neck. They did the biopsy and discovered something worst. Due to all that was happening (and had been happening) my body was so week that I developed a tumor and the Doctors thought that it was Hodgkin's lymphoma…Then the doctors (because now it wasn’t just the pediatrician, but also the oncologist, and some other doctors) ran lots of tests –mind while my parents were devastated - at the end, it wasn’t Hodgkin’s lymphoma, it was a tumor. And after some weeks of studies, and my physical condition –the tumor on my neck was growing so fast that it was almost impossible to breath or eat - they realized that I was going to die soon –they actually said that I wasn’t going to live more than three weeks, they told my parents that there was nothing to do, the tumor was in an area that was impossible to extirpate because if they even tried I would die in the OR. And at the same time, I wasn’t really the Leukemia what was going to kill me, but the lack of air due to the tumor –I was having so many problems breathing that my parents would take turns at night to stay up by me while I was sleeping to help me because I used to turn blue due to the lack of air, so they had to be there awake to help me-. It was just an awful situation. They didn’t know what to do. They didn’t want me to die. So, my mom called her mom (my grandmother, she grew up on a Christian home, my great grandmother –who I was named after- was an awesome woman of faith, but my grandmother left God aside while my mom was growing up) and my grandmother told her to take me to a Christian church, anyone, to ask anybody at church to pray for me.
She got to a big church at the city, the closest to where we lived, and ask for a prayer. They took her to a room and prayed for me, anointed me with oil, and my mom felt God’s presence in that room, so she asked them to pray for her because she wanted to invite Jesus into her heart. After doing that she prayed, and they told her that she needed to put me into God’s hands, that she had to trust Him. So she did, she told God that I was His, and that she trusted Him, and that the only thing she wanted was for me not to suffer anymore.
Something funny happened after the prayer, she immediately turned to check on my neck, and she was confused, and she looked at the people who were praying for me and asked: why does she still have the tumor? – she actually had a great faith and she totally believed that God was able to heal me immediately – and the people from church explained her that God was more than capable to heal me right there but that He was working on our lives in a different way. And after that she was at peace. She left church with a new heart and a new hope. She really believed that God was in control so she stopped worrying about me. And after 3 weeks, my expiration date -I would say- arrived, and I was healed. There was nothing on my neck, I had gained some weight and look healthier than ever. And my mom knew that she experienced a miracle; that a miracle happened in our house.
She made an appointment with the doctors, and she took me back just to show them what happened… they didn’t believe it, and they wanted to get me into an O.R. to cut me open (literally) and do an “exploration” to find out what was wrong with me because miracles don’t happen –according to them-. My mom said no, and they couldn’t believe that she, as a doctor, would believe in miracles, so they made her sign lots of papers so they wouldn’t be responsible of me dying, because, according to them, I was going to die soon, so, it was going to be her fault. She signed the papers and left knowing that God was bigger than that, and that my healing was real. It took a couple of months for my dad to understand what happened and then he gave his life to the Lord.
Since that moment, my mom took me to church. I remember, somehow I do, watching preachers on TV and placing my Barbie dolls and my teddy bears in front of the TV so they could listen to the preacher and so they would know about Jesus.
When I was three years old I was watching a preaching on TV and the told the audience that if anyone there wanted to give his/her heart to Jesus they had to ask someone from the people there to pray with them and repeat a prayer. I ran to my mom and asked her to pray with me. That day I ask Jesus to live in my heart and to stay there forever.
It was such an amazing experience.
My dad used to travel with us to different areas in Guatemala and Mexico to preach. My mom and dad were marriage counselors at church and my dad was in charge of the discipleship area at church, so, he used to be sent a lot to different places –our church ministry has many churches all over Guatemala and North and South America-. One time, when I was 4, I remember we were in Mexico, somewhere in Mexico, and my dad was about to preach, and suddenly, I don’t know why, but there was a problem, and the person who was supposed to be with the kids during the preaching wasn’t there, or something. So, they were trying to find out what to do with the kids, and, for some reason, I told them I could tell the kids my testimony –my mom reminds me my testimony as often as she can, and she used to do it even more back then- and for some reason, I think they were in a great need or I seemed to know what I was doing, I don’t know, but they said yes. And I remember that I had to stand on a table so the kids would be able to see me –since I was 4 I wasn’t as tall as most of the kids, there were older kids there- and I told them my story. I don’t really remember much about it, just that to me, there were a lot of kids there, and that I had to use a microphone, and that I was very proud to be doing that as a service to the Lord.
I had many opportunities like that one during my childhood. My parents also worked at a ministry at a free clinic for several years, and I remember I just to share a lot with the missionaries there. And I also remember how happy I was and how much fun I had sharing with the kids from the community –this was in a small rural area in Villa Nueva, Guatemala- and the missionary kids.
When I was 6, I felt the need to be baptized, for a reason I don’t understand –I think they thought kids would want to be baptized just to get into the church’s pool or something-, there was a rule at my church that said that no one younger than 12 could be baptized. I felt the need due to the fact that the bible says in Mark 16:16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; it was so clear to me, I needed to be baptized to be saved. So, I had a meeting with the founder my church, Dr. Otoniel Rios Paredes, and after a while –I really don’t remember what we talked about, but my parents told me that I told them back then, that he asked me questions about the baptism, and why did I want to be baptized- He came out of his office and told my parents and the people from church who were in there “what are you waiting for? Take her to the dressing room, give her the things she needs, and baptize her” –I do remember that- and that was one of the happiest days of my life.
I have always been active at church, I started going to kids camps since I was 4, I used to be at the kids’ area during my childhood, and I started helping the daycare area when I turned 13. When I turned 15 we moved from that church to another from the same ministry and I joined the worship team, I also joined the youth team (back then I was more active with the youth, I was the worship leader’s assistant and I was part of the board, it was such a blessing) and I was also involved in volunteering for special events at my church -translating, accompanying the visitors- and helping in our church’s radio. I was actively participating in the worship team for 8 years, then I was asked by a friend to help in a mission trip, as a translator, and that was it. From that moment I was traveling as much as I could (I was working back then) and I stopped going to the worship team rehearsals (I had to be able to organize my time between college, work, and trips) and I was going to church as much as I could (normally I used to go every single service.
God, during that period of time, spoke to my heart, and reminded me of all the need I’ve seen since I was a little girl, all the needs that my parents met at the free clinic they worked at, all the needs I saw during my trips, and all the help that was just here, in my own country.
Then, at the end of 2009 God spoke to my hart and asked me to quit my job (I was working as a coordinator at a language school, it was the dream job for me, I was working online during the week and in the office on Saturdays, and I had the same salary as my friends who were working in big companies, all day long, with big pay checks) and the first time he asked, I wasn’t sure about it, I thought “maybe it’s me, maybe I’m too emotional, and I want to help, but maybe that’s not the way, it’s been ok so far…”…
He asked me again, but now, He also used my parents to tell me that it was from Him.
I ended up realizing that that was what He wanted me to do. So I quitted my job. After that, lots of ministries where contacting me to help them translating for their teams, it was awesome, and the Lord provided me in a supernatural way enough money to pay my bills and to get other things. It was just awesome.
On a convention from my church, I was listening to the people sharing about God and His awesome love, this convention is an international convention once a year here in Guatemala, so we get to see our brothers and sisters in Christ from many countries. On Sat April 3rth 2010 our missionary in Senegal, Sonia Mendez, was sharing about her life in the mission fields, how different missions are when you are a missionary (talking about the difference of what you learn when you’re getting trained to be a missionary and what you live when you’re in the missions’ field) and all the things she’s been through, and how God has always showed His power and glory, and I was just thinking “I’ve lived that, I know how it feels, I wish I could just go there where she is and ask her to pray for me so I will be able to go to many places to help lots of people too”. And then, she made a calling, for all the young men and women who knew they had a calling in the mission fields, to come to the front for her to pray for us. At that same moment my pastor stopped us to explain how important it was for us to know the compromise we were getting ourselves into, for us not to do it just because of our impulses but a true calling, and how that was going to change our lives and even our dreams and our vision. After that some of the people didn’t go to the front, but I did, I was almost running to get there, I knew that was for me, that was what God wanted me to do. So they prayed for us.
The following Monday, April 5th, I got a message from one of the Directors from “Shadow of His wings Orphanage” inviting me to be part of their family!!!
I knew this was the answer I was waiting for, just two days after they’ve prayed for me. After that, I talked to my parents (they were more than happy for me, they knew this was going to happen and were just waiting for God’s timing), and I talked with my pastor, he prayed for me again and gave mi his blessing. Latter, we work on all the little details and I moved to Monjas on May 25th 2010. This was a little bit over a year ago, and I am truly living the dream, and definitely “God’s dreams for me are bigger than mine”, I’m amazed by His love to me.
Here are some pictures, these show a little bit of what I've been doing lately...
 |
| Helping a patient during one of our medical trips. |
 |
| With one of the little girls from Shadow of His Wings Orphanage. |
 |
| With some of the girls from Liberty Christian School celebrating after winning a gymnastics comp. |
 |
| Celebrating the Quincea;era party, these are the 15th year old girls this time at shadow of His wings orphanage! |
