(Disclaimer: This story was received written in Spanish. The original letter can be found at the end of the english translation. The translation was made using a literal translator and then I attempted to make sense of the literal translation. In some places this was easy, in others, not. If you find any glaring errors that need correction, please send me an email and I will correct them. The names were removed on purpose. Thanks.)

I will be 52 years old next June 5, I have 4 sons, three from my first marriage and one from my second. I first started smoking between 11 and 12 years old, I had my first drink between 12 and 13 and my first marijuana use at age 14. After this my life climbed into a pit of despair using amphetamines, peyote, LSD, cocaine and hallucinogenic mushrooms. I both free-based and injected my drugs.

I want to emphasize that my drug use began at such an early age. It is so important for parents to know what their kids are doing, where they are going and whom are they hanging out with. There are also the cases where the parents almost encourage drug use through not being involved and tolerating use by their children. When we start using so young we quickly need more and more of the drug to get as high as before.

I have been a user of drugs and alcohol most of my life, starting at the age of 15, when a friend and I raided my Dad's closet for his selected favorites. As a result, we both ended up in hospital. My friend having to have his stomach pumped. Not only did I steal but I also lied as to how we became intoxicated. Thus began 20+ years of lying, stealing, crime, violence, gangs, guns, bad associations and bad choices.

I have been a disciple for over�13 years. My baptism date was November 15, 1991, when I was 21 Years old. I was in college as a�student-athlete, attending a university here in Chicago, when�someone reached out to me�and it was just at the right time.

My chemical addiction started when I was in my early teens. My family had moved to the United States a few years earlier (when I was 10) from Portugal, as my father sought for political asylum for his family who had�left Angola, Africa because of Civil War. I began to drink alcohol because of all the insecurities that I had faced as a young teenager trying to fit in a new culture with�a new language. Once I began to see that there was a social acceptance and even admiration in some circles for drinking a lot alcohol, I began to pursue this avenue further. I not only�started hanging out with the drinking crowd in high school, but began to enjoy the atmosphere.

Smoking killed my mother at the early age of forty. I never got to know my grandfathers due to their smoking unfiltered Camels and Chesterfields. This didn't stop me from using marijuana. I first tried it at age twenty one and I loved the high. I had started smoking at age ten by finishing cigarette butts and by fifteen I had chain-smoked a pack of Marlboros while baby-sitting. I didn't believe that I was hooked until I was introduced to marijuana.

God brought me into his Kingdom in the summer of 2000, just as the Chemical Recovery ministry was being started in the Church in Los Angeles. I had first heard about this ministry from Mike Leatherwood and Willie Flores as they shared in meetings throughout the various regions in the church. My drug use started at an early age. At seven or eight years old, I was smoking cigarettes while stealing sips of wine and beer from unattended glasses. At age ten, I was getting drunk and by thirteen, was using inhalants. Cigarettes were a constant abuse for me, as was alcohol. I grew up in the sixties and LSD also became a drug of choice.

My life before the kingdom was a long endless road of misery with my addiction. Before I became a disciple I indulged in drinking almost constantly. I began drinking at the age of seven and continued through to my teenage years where I started smoking marijuana and tobacco. Each year I got�worse, with my addiction separating me from my family and friends. I was�failing�at school and taking dangerous risks with the�law just for the thrill of it.

Looking back, even I can't see what motivated me to start studying the bible. I was a heavy drinker and cocaine user. The reason I came to church was for my children and I chose this church because the service was at 2:30 in the afternoon on Sundays. I was usually feeling better by then and if not, there was always Wednesday night, if I missed Sunday. All of the early morning church services fell by the wayside because it was unthinkable for me not to party all night Saturday without being hung-over Sunday morning.

I am not an addict, but I'm the daughter of a recovering alcoholic. We are both disciples, but it was only when she studied the Bible that I learned that my mother is an alcoholic. I thought her behavior was normal, since everyone in my family had her drinking habits. I thought that, in due time, I would start drinking heavily too. This was just a part of adulthood, even the drunken driving.

I was about 13 years old when I started experimenting with drugs which led to my addiction. Due to my addiction, I did things I thought I would never do and did not want to do. One of them was stealing from my family and friends. Lying and stealing became part of my character and led me into isolation from friends and family. Eventually I became homeless and a derelict, begging in the city streets to support my addiction to crack.

I was 40 years old when I was baptized into Christ and that was 4+ years ago. Little did I know that it was a journey into recovery that God had planned for me.I was a recovering drug user in that, I was no longer using drugs. I had used drugs from high school until about 10 years ago. I used mainly speed via needles. I used lots of other drugs as well. Man I was in a dark pit. I used drugs and I wound up on the streets, selling my body, doing things that just really were detestable before God. I could not even see how sick my life was. I knew that I did not want to continue living in such "filth" and wanted it to change. So I did stop using, but my heart was still far from God.