I am originally from New Corondiro, Mich., Mexico, and I am 22 years old. Before becoming a missionary Servant of the Word, my life was very different from what it is now and not necessarily for good, but for bad.
Before leaving college, where I was majoring in Information Systems, I thought I was happy: I had a boyfriend and my parents supported me all the time. On one occasion, my father was left unemployed, so we started selling meals, however this still was insufficient to cover all of our house bills; in addition, my parents were covering my studies and a costly dental treatment for me.

The entire situation started to stress out my parents; there were a lot of fights and discussions, and I thought I was the cause for all of this. Even when they did not say it directly, many were the remarks made by my parents regarding all of the money they were investing on me. This brought my self-esteem down, my progress in school was dropping to its lowest and I ended up falling into a tough depression.
My father became a heavy drinker and smoker; after some time, he got a job and our financial situation at home improved, though not everything else. I had to drop out of school because my father got deeper in debt due to his alcohol problem. Then, he started losing sleep over this and soon was diagnosed with diabetes. My mother, on the other hand, was diagnosed with cysts in one of her breasts, these news led her to a depression.
I felt the weight of all of these problems for I was the oldest of the family. But I could not vent it out with anyone, instead felt like a pressure-cooker ready to explode; to top it off, my boyfriend had left me for a woman 9 years older than him.
In spite of all this, God never abandoned me. Around this time, three missionary sisters from the Congregation of Saint Theresa of Christ the Child arrived at my parish, and invited us to attend their courses. Then, we were advised to start a continuous vocational counseling, yet I was the only one who accepted, because I enjoyed being with them and felt at peace with myself. My family would make fun of me and tell me I was crazy. One day, the sisters invited to their house in Jalapa, however my dad refused to let me go.
Then, the sisters stopped working at our parish. Two months later, however, a couple of seminarians were sent here. They invited all of the youth from the parish to attend a retreat in Queretaro, this time my parents allowed me participate. On our way back, one of the seminarians asked me how I felt. I could not keep refraining from expressing myself so I told him that I was irritated at my dad for not letting me go with the missionaries from Jalapa. He told me something I always keep in my mind: «God knows the moment: if this is for you, without a doubt, he will provide the means, and when you least expect it, the doors where He wants you to serve him will open for you. Persevere because what you are feeling now is called vocation, it is a calling that Jesus himself has made to you.»
Four months afterwards, without seeing any sign yet, a seminarian Missionary Servant of the Word arrived at our parish in October; he was promoting the magazine NEW INQUIETUDE. On past occasions we had acquired the magazine, but I had never paid attention to the last page where it includes an open invitation to attend a vocational retreat. This time, however, I did not hesitate a bit and began organizing with my cousins our trip to the retreat, since it was coming up soon.
The obstacles immediately arrived. Thursday of that week, something strange happened to me. At dinnertime, while my parents were away, my brothers and I were eating when suddenly my hands began getting numb and felt a heavy pressure on my chest. At the same time, I wanted to cry, for no reason. My entire body and my lips had a itching sensation. Quickly a neighbor got a hold of my parents who, immediately, took me to a doctor; first, she tranquilized me then checked my blood pressure, which was very low. She gave me medication and recommended that I control myself, otherwise she would send me to a psychologist. The medication caused me to forget things and made me very drowsy too, so I stopped taking them for I could not even read, which I love doing.
However, my decision to attend the MSP vocational retreat was still on my mind. When the day arrived, my cousins and I went; it was Saturday. That day some special words came to my mind, which made me meditate on them: «Take care of God’s things and God will take care of yours». Then I thought, «If they think I need help from a psychologist, who else than God that knows me even better than I do. If my family needs to be rescued from the death of sin they live in, who better than the Risen one to help me.»
Thanks to God, I was admitted at the congregation to receive formation for a period of six months, then, to share one year of my life in the service of Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and Life. God also has allowed me to witness the fruits of my sacrifice, blessing my family abundantly; truly, if you take care of God’s things, he will take care of yours.
As far as I am concerned, every day I look to fall more in love of my Lord Jesus Christ; Now, if they used to think I was crazy before, now I can say that it is true: for to follow Christ one needs to be crazy, but love crazy for Him.

I am from El Salvador but currently live in East Boston, MA. I always claimed to be Catholic, but today I know that I only used to be a «Sunday’s Catholic», for I was never disposed to service God in anything.
In spite of it all, God blessed me with four children, two boys and two girls, but one day I realized that I alone could not raise my children with good principles, for the environment we live in there exists a great absence of God and a great deal of superficiality.
Parents, who only want the best for our children, realize that faced with this style of life, where there are no limits and no will, they become an easy prey. The media only talks about giving the body pleasure, yet never about educating it. One day, I talked to a priest about some problems I was having with my oldest daughter, for her attitude was changing. He advised me to invite her to the parish youth group, which some missionaries Servants of the Word from Mexico had recently formed.
I am grateful to God for the sisters, for they have helped many youth. In fact, my daughter joined the group and since then her problems have vanished away. She took the Bible courses with the sisters and, at 16, she is now doing house visiting, praying the Rosary in people’s homes, and heads the group of lectors during the youth mass.
After a few years of my daughter’s conversion, one of the sisters knocked on my door to invite me to the Bible courses. My God is calling me too!, I said.

I had fears and doubts, perhaps because I wanted to remain a «Sunday’s Catholic», but I thought it out carefully: God had saved my daughter from rebellion; if He had not done this miracle, my daughter would not be what she is now. So I got excited about it and began attending Bible courses. My eyes were opened and I realized that our Lord gives me more than I deserve, in return I do not give Him anything back. In fact, it is not that God needs our work, for He loves us all that is why He invites us to serve Him through our neighbor. Now I understand why all the house visiting and the Bible courses; now I see there is great need everywhere, which is why God calls us to serve Him.
I am part of the CERS community. God changed my life, including my attitude. I always ask Him to help me, because I alone would not be able to persevere. I wish for all mothers to look for God, so that they may teach their children how to love with the same love God loves us. If we bring our children closer to God, no longer will there be rebellious children.