My Puerto Rican Life

I am the oldest of five children. I have four sisters (2 sisters from my mother/father’s side and 2 half-sisters from my father’s side). I was born in Moca, Dominican Republic in 1979. At the age of seven (7) my parents took me to the United States, New Jersey, where I lived for about 3 years. My parents when through separation and my mother decided to live in Puerto Rico in 1988. On September, 1988 I first heard the famous coqui frog in the Island and began to learn about the beautiful Puerto Rican culture. My childhood was greatly protected by God while raised in some of Puerto Rico’s bad neighborhoods. I lived in several places where drug addicts, illegal drugs and illegal weapons was the norm. By God’s mercy, I never used or trafficked

While in High School, I formed part of an acting/dancing group. After we ended a theatrical tour in April 1996, I accepted an invitation from a dance group member to visit a local Christian church. I began to visit the church on Sundays and on the third Sunday I was fully convinced of God’s love for us through Jesus. It was the first time I heard the famous quoted verse from John 3:16. I believed for the first time His was crucified for my sins and that He resurrected on the third day; and accepted the altar’s call for repentance. That day I went to the altar with so much joy and sure of the God’s love for me that I went directly to the top of the altar and stood next to preacher! The pastor and deacons were so surprised to see me to me up there with them! Probably my appearance scared them. I was a sixteen (16) year old-teenager with long hair and wearing shorts, just extremely happy to accept Christ as my Lord and

My teenage age years of fornication, idolatry, alcohol consumption, and partying left and His peace and fullness filled me with His love and forgiveness! My life before knowing Jesus Christ was without purpose, full of dissatisfaction and emptiness. When I didn’t knew Christ, I remember when Christian people said to me: "Christ loves you.", but I thought people say it to other people who had serious problems. Indeed, I did had the most serious problem of all: eternal separation from God. But I didn’t knew this until God’s Word was explained to me through those first weeks I started to visit this church. I remember counting up the days after my conversion, because I started to see the world through Him. God kept revealing His Word into my life and strengthening me through my college years, my new work and my new responsibilities as a later youth