One Faith, Many Paths: Amy Salazar

This week, I interview ASL interpreter Amy Salazar.

1. What are your favorite childhood memories?

Growing up, I have always loved nature. I would go outside any chance I got. I loved spending time in my Nana and Papa’s garden during summer vacation. I loved running barefoot on the grass and writing stories on their porch.

2. Are you a cradle Catholic or did you convert?

I am a cradle Catholic and a revert. I went through a period of religious exploration during my second or third year of college. I was interested in possibly opening myself to Buddhism or Islam–I was especially drawn to Islam–but then I befriended a friendly priest and his compassion drew me back to rediscovering my faith. Since then, my faith has been challenged many times, but it was the Catholic faith that made me reconsider my Republican beliefs, until finally I had to choose between Jesus and the GOP.  I chose Jesus and never looked back.

3. How did you decide you wanted the be an ASL interpreter?

The Lord placed an interest in sign language in my life by first introducing me to Helen Keller in the 3rd grade. I went to a book fair and picked up a book about her. This was a defining chapter in my life, because Helen’s story inspired me to want to make a difference in the world. It also piqued an interest in sign language. In high school, I was friends with a girl who was hard-of-hearing and she had an interpreter. I still remember trying to watch our history lesson but being mesmerized by the ASL interpreter.

Fast forward to 2014; it was the last year of my Associate ‘s program for an AA in English. I had gone  through the program wanting to  become a journalist, but I came to discover that it wasn’t my passion. On a whim, my mom suggested, “Maybe you could take a sign language class. It might be fun.” It seemed like a good idea, so I enrolled for ASL 101 in the Fall. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I fell in love with sign language on day 1. My professor was Deaf and her signing captivated me. Deaf culture, Deaf history, the grammar and syntax of ASL was riveting. That was when I knew that I wanted to become an interpreter.

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One Faith, Many Paths: Aimee O’Connell

This week for my One Faith, Many Paths series, I’m interviewing Aimee O’Connell, a Lay Carmellite.

1. How has your childhood shaped your interests and pursuits as an adult?

I have always been an observer, soaking in my environment with wonder. Being an only child gave me plenty of opportunity for quiet, reflective time in which I asked questions in my mind and imagined how other people live. I have always been very curious, so it is no surprise that I pursued a career in psychology, with focus on human development, neuropsychology, and learning.

2. If you could have any author or artist depict your life story, who would you choose? 

I am equally torn between Flannery O’Connor, whose unflinching way of revealing our true selves would be a gift of great spiritual insight, and Jim Henson, who would get to the very heart of who we are in a very joyful way to see.

3. What are 3 words that characterize your strengths growing up? 

Curious, Creative, and mirthful.

4. How did you become a Christian?

My faith formation was interesting, in that I was raised Catholic, but brought up Protestant. My father was solidly Christian and looking for a denomination that felt right to him academically, and my mother was a cradle Catholic who felt bewildered by the modernization of the church that happened in the 1960’s, so she was also exploring denominations by the time I was born, yet she still held to the doctrine of the Catholics, and imparted that to me even as we ultimately settled into the Episcopal Church. By the time I was college-aged, I read with great interest about what separated Anglicans from Roman Catholics and found that most of my beliefs were Catholic, particularly my belief  that Jesus is really and truly present in the Eucharist, so I met with a Catholic priest, and expressed interest in becoming Catholic. I was received into the Catholic Church  in 1992.

5. How did you become a lay Carmelite?

Along the same lines as I’ve described, my mother taught me about the lives of  the Catholic saints, and I felt a strong affinity for the life of St. Therésé of Lisieux from a very early age. Her spirituality and manner of loving God resonated within me for many years. But my introduction to Carmelite life is a much more personal story! I found myself in 2002 searching for a deeper spiritual life, and I attended a 9-day mission as part of that. Toward the end, I felt desperate need to keep the momentum going and took it to prayer. As I prayed before the tabernacle on the last day of the mission, someone I had just met interrupted me to someone. I was, frankly, irritated. Couldn’t she see I was praying? But she insisted, so I let her lead me all the way to the other side of the church, and there was the woman she wanted me to meet. As this woman shook my hand, she said, “If you want to keep the momentum of this mission going, you would do well to come to the Carmelites.” I was shocked, because I had not told anyone of my prayer, and to encounter that exact wording was a direct answer! I found it very intimidating to think that I was being offered the opportunity to join the same religious order as that of  St. Therese of Lisieux and the other Carmelite saints, but I did so with the child-like confidence Therese described in her own life, and was received into the Carmelite Third Order in May of 2006.

6. What’s your favorite bible passage and why?

Matthew 7:7 is the passage that finds me here today. When my mother was in her 6th month of pregnancy, she suffered a significant hemorrhage which left me still afterward. The doctors cautioned her that they could not detect a heartbeat and that I had likely died, and there was no fetal movement after my mother returned home. She opened her Bible and it fell on Matthew 7:7. My mother says she prayed that passage and asked for my days to come…and at that moment, she says I leapt wth a fervor that looked like a Loch Ness monster trying to escape her abdomen! Every breath I take is a proclamation of Matthew 7:7.

One Faith, Many Paths: Stephanie Bethany

This week’s post is yet another interview with a fellow Christian. I’ve chosen fellow autistic Christian and YouTuber Stephanie Bethany.

1. What was your childhood like?

My childhood was pretty average, I guess. I grew up with an older and younger siblings in a two-part home for most of it until my parents divorced and a lot of things went sideways. I did well academically in school and was placed in the gifted and talented program, which honestly probably did me a lot of good, since it was an entire day out of the school week that let us work with other bright and off (probably some autistic) students in a creative space. For most of my childhood, my older sibling was my best friend and I’d occasionally make friends with one particular person at school and acquaintances with a few more. I’d grown up in the same school system so I knew most people from being with them all through elementary and such, so I think I had it easier. Once I got into the middle school grades, I didn’t know who was in my class except for those immediately near me, if then. When it came to “friends”, if that was people to talk to in general, I would have appeared to have a lot. But my idea of friends, the people you can actually talk about important things to and hang out with outside of school, I had very few.

2. When were you diagnosed with autism?

• I was diagnosed with autism when I was 23 years old. I had been suspecting for awhile until then, went through a whole crazy process just to get a referral (sadly, mine was probably easier than most). I think the whole process caused a lot of different emotions. When I was researching about it to see if this was, indeed, what was going on with me, I felt seen. But I also felt scared — autism wasn’t a comfortable word. It wasn’t fixable. When I began to realize that this explained so, so much about me, I went through a time of mourning. I was never going to be the person I imagined I’d turn into one day. I wasn’t going to magically develop the same abilities those around me had. Then I went through a time of feeling very displaced, as I began to realize how much I’d lied to myself about people and my experiences. How much I convinced myself that people weren’t really that bad, that I knew the real them –I was just my naïvety being incapable of accepting people I loved could be like that. I realized that people probably saw me as weird and uncomfortable to be around. My whole self-perception as well as perception of what I thought I knew, especially about standing with other people, was very shaken. While there was a sense of relief,of someone actually being able to understand me, of me not just being crazy –it all came with the price of understanding that I had convinced myself of a lie, that I would be someone that I could never be. With my diagnosis, it was permission to talk about it. By that point, I knew I was autistic, but I had to make it through the processes. I finally was allowed to speak about my experiences and what I was learning about, because I didn’t dare talk about it without an official diagnosis because of the pushback. Now, I feel a lot more self-described and feel a lot less self-hatred than I used to. It helped me so much to know why I was the way I was, that certain things had names, and that being autistic wasn’t a death sentence.

 3. Why do you post videos about autism? Tell me about your lengthy videos on Autism $peaks and ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis).

I post videos on autism for many reasons. It’s my form of expression and a way to share what I learn and experience with others. I want people to be able to understand others and themselves more and I believe that making the videos that I do helps facilitate that. It’s also a bit of my own journey of learning who I am and what that means for me and letting other people come along with me, especially if it will help them in their own journeys. Sometimes, when I find out about things, I feel a very strong urgency, as if it’s life or death even, to let the world know. That was the case with my mini-series on Autism $peaks and revealing their past and practices, as well as a two-hour-long video on ABA. I strive to bring a balanced, researched, and understanding view to things, and I felt it was missing in these cases. I felt it was missing in these cases. I felt people needed to be presented with what was truly going on, but not in an extremist way that would stop people who might currently be for these things from listening. I have been moved quite a bit by the impact people have stated the ABA video has had on them, especially when it comes to professionals and parents who have to make decisions regarding therapies and programs.

4. Why are you a Christian?

I’m a Christian because it’s the only thing that has ever really made sense to me. I grew up in a Christian household, and even after it split and we had all sorts of turmoil, I always knew God to be my constant. I know God has been with me in my darkest places and I’ve had very real experiences where God has come through for me or times of intense prayer that can’t be explained away. I know I have peace in Him, and that no matter what I do in life, I need Him with me.

5. What denomination are you?

I actually don’t belong to a denomination. I used to say “non-denominational” since that sounded like what I meant, but I’ve since learned that term can also apply to mixing different things in Christianity, which I don’t follow. For me, I believe the whole Bible, nothing more and nothing less and I’m Spirit-filled.

One Faith, Many Paths: Sister Elizabeth Ann Dockery

I’ve always wanted to interview a religious sister, and now I have my chance. Here’s my interview with Sister Elizabeth Ann Dockery.

1. What was your childhood like? I came from a broken home and lived in poverty. There were constant trials and tragedies, yet I was surrounded by love, especially my holy grandparents who raised me and encouraged me by example to have faith and trust in God. I began working at a young age so I could have nicer clothes, take music lessons, etc. I excelled in everything I did thanks to the gifts of perseverance, grace, and old-fashioned hard work, resulting in full scholarships for both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. What seemed to be all odds against me ended up being a huge blessing with all of the life tools I ended up with.

2. Are you a convert to Catholicism or were you a cradle Catholic? Convert from the Church of the Nazarene.

3. What is your favorite biblical passage and why? 2 Cor 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” This is my favorite passage because the Lord has proven to me time and time again that His grace truly is sufficient and that my weaknesses are actually strengths in him.

4. Who is your favorite biblical figure besides Jesus? Elijah.

5. How did you discern that you had a calling to be a Sister? I met a Sister in a post office one day. I had never seen one before and was intrigued as a fairly new Catholic. She spoke with me and invited me to their convent. After two weeks of declining invitations I finally went. Upon arrival, I felt a peace which surpassed my understanding and like I was “home”. From that time forth I went there as often as I could as a volunteer. One day my boyfriend of 5 years said to me, “Do you realize you spend more time with the Sisters now than you do me?” It was then I realized I might have a vocation.  I broke up with him, got a spiritual director, went on several “come and see” retreats and entered religious life after the Lord confirmed my calling with several signs.

6. Which order does your convent belong to and what makes it unique? We are Fransciscan. We are unique in that we live by faith–praying for provision, living in poverty without the securities of health insurance, regular income, etc. Prayer, praise, and evangelization are at the heart of our charism and ministry.  While home, we are quite contemplative, living on an 840-acre ranch called “Prayer Town”. For ministry, we go all over the world doing short-term missions such as retreats, speaking at conferences, parish missions, youth events, and so forth. Then we return to contemplative life. It is a constant cycle of being filled then giving, just as St. Francis did. Praise is a way of life for us. We are charismatic.

7. What is the difference between a sister and a nun? A nun is fully cloistered and does not go from the convent, except with permission from a bishop. Sisters are those who are non-cloistered, which are most of us. Basically, if they are in public they are Sisters.

8. What are your duties as a nun? What service do you provide to your community outside of your convent? I am the Mission Advancement Director both inside and outside our convent. I am also head of our music department, overseeing and taking care of the instruments, books, training, and so forth. In addition, in the convent, I help keep the mission house I live in cleaned and maintained in my chore areas, help with cooking, yard work, and anything else regular people have to do when they own a house.

One Faith, Many Paths: Mike Bezalel

This time for my One Faith Many Paths Project, I interview one of my newest Facebook Friends, Mike Bezalel.

1. You’ve told me that your father was a member of the KKK. Can you tell me what that was like?

Growing up with that mentality hanging over me was terrible, to be flatly honest with you. I was led to believe that simply because of my race that I was superior to all others. He refferred to anyone who was not white always in reprehensible racist terms. I was punished for associating with htem, beaten. My parents were both just terrible human beings.

2. How did your Maw-maw help you unlearn what your father was trying to pass on to you?

Well she resucued me. Saved my life in very real terms. I was taken away from my parents at around 13 because of the physical and mental abuse I had suffered. My maw-maw, my paternal grandmother, helped me to overcome all of the refuse I had been forcefully inundated with over the years. I never felt like I was worth anything. A person spends years being told they are worthless…it kind of stays with you, you know? I still battle with that sometimes. It was the gift to me that still seems to be giving back, I guess.

Maw-maw gave me the space that I needed to grow as well. Perhaps a little too much I was very angry after I escaped from the hell of my early life and I went wild. Drugs, partying, drinking…and even worse at times. I was even angry with God and dabbled in Satanism at one point of my teenage years. I fled from that after about a year, though, and never allowed myself to return to that point.

3. You have epilepsy. When did this first manifest?

The doctors seem to think it stemmed from a steries of head injuries over a 3 year period. A fall down a flight of stairs that resulted in a severe concussion, another concusion about 8 months later and then the big one, a motorcycle injury that resulted in a TBI so severe that I was in a coma for about 2 weeks. The seizures first began when I was in a coma. That was 26 years ago this September.

Unfortunately, I have what has been deemed as an intractable case of epilepsy.. I have been on at least two dozen different medications over the years and none of them stop the seizures completely. MMJ comes the closest, but it is not covered by insurance, and being medically disabled, I cannot afford it. Seems to be my luck…lol.

4. How did you become a Christian?

My maternal grandfather, who I called Pap-paw, was a devout Methodist minister. I grew up in his church every Sunday for much of my childhood. He instilled i nme a love for God and the pursuit of life, love, and light.  He was the best man I have ever known and I could never stray away from what he taught me. He was also the very reason I didn’t believe th garbage my mom and dad tried to brainwash me with I know they hid their beliefs from my grandparents for a reason, after all.

Anyway, later as a teenager, when I went through that period where I was mad at God and messed around with devil worship, I even knew then that I was wrong. I was just very, very angry and was lashing out. I had a dream with my Pap-paw in it, and he was just staring at me with disappointed eyes. When I woke, I began weeping and asked God to forgive me.

A few days later, my friend Steve and I were at a Perkin’s restaurant at around 3 AM. he and I both were longhaired metalhead kids. I looked at him and commented, “Man you kind of look like Jesus this morning.” He really did at that moment–scruffy beard, dark hair. Kind eyes…a little glazed from weed, but it was true. He began to witness to me. It didn’t take much coaxing or convincing to help me find my way. We went to a parak just about a mile away and I prayed the acceptance prayer. Right before I prayed, I implored to God, “I want to believe in You, God, but so much evil has happened to me. I need You to show me a sign. Please God, if You are there, please show me. I know I shouldn’t ask You…but if you exist, You know my heart. I need this.”

When I closed my eyes and prayed the prayer, I felt peace like I had not felt for so long. That would have been enough, but God is good. I opened my eyes and saw the night sky in all its glory. Then the single brightest shooting star I have ever seen flew across my line of sight, exploding right in the center of the sky, and then vanished. I broke down in tears. I have never doubted for an instance since that day.

One Faith, Many Paths: William Necessary

In the Catholic Church, there are priests and deacons, as well as Bishops, Cardinals, etc. For this edition, I am interviewing Deacon William Necessary, who lives in Tyler, Texas. (note: Deacon Necessary sent me his answers as an audio file, so they are summarized from that.)

1.What was your childhood like? I was born in 1963  in Jacksonville, FL, and moved to Texas 4 years later. I grew up in Tyler, 90 miles west of Dallas. I was an only child. My dad worked for the Maytag Co. and we were transferred there. My family was not church-going people, nor were they even Catholic. My father was baptized in the Appalachian mountains, but my mother was not baptized until I was ordained and then I did it, shortly before she passed away. I grew up in East Texas in the 70’s and 80’s, starting public school in 1976. My parents were displeased with Tyler’s public schools, and I was sent to Catholic school instead, having heard of their reputation for better education. This made me fall in love with the Church, and I graduated in 1982, when I was baptized and made my first communion. So I was a convert from basically nothing. 

2. Why did you pursue the deaconate? Ever since I was in high school, I have always been prone to do service and things for other people. When I became Catholic and went to college and became involved in Campus ministry, I had a desire to serve the church. All through college I was involved in extraordinary ministry and was an altar server, as well as lector and usher. When I was about to graduate from college, that small campus group was holding a rosary on the First Tuesday of every month. At that time, the diocese of Tyler had just been created, and the local news had sent out a reporter, who became my wife in 1990. In 1996, I became a permanent deaconate. I was ordained on Fatima Day in 2001.

3. What is your favorite biblical passage and why? My favorite biblical passage is Mark 5:36–don’t be afraid, just believe. One of the hardest biblical passages. It basically says “just believe”, but yet human fear, doubt gets in the way. But if you allow yourself to just believe and allow Christ to guide you, the sky’s the limit. It’s just sometimes overcoming that fear, but that’s my favorite passage. 

4. What is a deacon as compared to a priest? What is the difference between the two? The sacrament of Holy Orders in the Catholic Church is in three degrees: Deacon, Priest, and Bishop. A Deacon in the Catholic Church is a fully-ordained minister who can do weddings, funerals, preach, teach, and baptize–basically the equivalent of a Protestant minister. The only things that a deacon cannot do, but a priest can do is consecrate the Eucharist or give absolution from sin. But I can do everything else, and for 17 years I have and do so gladly. I love doing what I do, it’s just so incredible.

5. Who are your favorite Biblical figures besides Jesus? St. Peter–gotta love Peter. He is our first Pope, and the first of the apostles, and was a struggling human just like the rest of us. I mean, this is a guy that on one hand say “Yes, Lord I’m with you always”, but in the next breath, Jesus told him “turn away from me, Satan!” He put his foot in his mouth a lot. He ran away. He denied Christ, but yet he redeemed himself. I think Peter is a great model for us; he reminds us that even the best of the best is just a slog like the rest of us. My second favorite is Moses. Here’s Moses the law-giver, Moses the liberator, Moses who fled Egypt as a fugitive and yet followed God and led his people out of slavery. A people who were oftentimes argumentative and acted like a bunch of children. And yet, Moses was their leader, and I admire hm.

One Faith, Many Paths: Chris Cairns

This week, I interview fellow autistic Catholic Chris Cairns, who also happens to be a member of the Knights of Columbus!

1. How long have you been a Christian? I have been a Christian my whole life. I was baptized Lutheran as an infant, and was an Evangelical from the ages of 8-14, Lutheran from the age of 14-19. Then I joined RCIA.
2. What was your childhood like? My childhood was fairly normal until my Dad died. He had brain cancer. I had to go through life without a Dad. I did have a good mom though. 
3. Why did you join the Knights of Columbus? I joined the Knights of Columbus because I wanted to surround myself with good Catholic men and be able to promote Catholicism through my counsel.
4. Can you explain what the Knights of Columbus do? The Knights of Columbus are the world’s largest charitable and fraternal in the Catholic Church. They help provide life insurance in case anything happens and your family needs support, and they help with pro-life and pro-family causes. The Knights were behind the persecution of Christians by ISIS being labelled a genocide. In Iraq, the Knights have pledged to help rebuild a village that was majority Christian.

One Faith, Many Paths: Kasey Smith

This time around, I interviewed Kasey Smith, a good friend of mine who also participates in Special Olympics!

1. What was your childhood like? My childhood was sheltered. Living in a small town, of course everybody’s life is sheltered in some form or another. I was a premature baby. I had fever seizures, brain bleeder, and a deflated right lung. I started going to school in my little not long after we moved in March of 1990. By the grace of God and with the support of many people, I graduated in 2007 after nearly 20 years.

2. When were you diagnosed as autistic? I was diagnosed as autistic in my 6th grade year in 2001. This just happened to fall not long before September 11, and I honestly believe that if it had waited, it would have been a disaster for me.

3. How did you become a Christian? Let’s backtrack 4 years to April of 1998. It was  a small town Sunday…it was a lazy laid-back slow Sunday. Our family got ready to go to Church that Sunday morning, and I personally had no idea that what I was going to do that day would change my life. We went to church and I don’t exactly remember what our pastor was talking about that day, but when it came time for the response, I walked forward with my older brother. (Funny side note: This was just about a year after our original Church building burned to the ground, we had just moved into our new building, which wasn’t completed yet.  So we ended up being baptized in another church. We were bigger than the baptism tank!) Our family was excited. That was 20 years ago! God has blessed me with so much it’s not even funny.

4. What is your favorite Bible passage? My favorite passage is Psalm 139 because in it, the Psalmist clearly says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God and that we should rejoice in that fact.

5. Who is your favorite Biblical character besides Jesus? It would have to be Paul because of what he had to go through–all of the persecution and the problems that he had to go through but he persevered and was very influential in the Bible.

One Faith, Many Paths: Karly White

This time on One Faith, Many Paths, I’m interviewing a longtime FB friend Karly White, who I’ve known since my days in the Fans For Christ FB group. She is married to her husband Edward, and they have a newborn son named Hezekiah.

1. What was your childhood like? In some ways, it was very idyllic. I grew up in the beautiful Appalachian mountains of West Virginia and white Christmases during my childhood, and have fond memories of things like playing flashlight tag on summer nights, and sledding in the winter with the neighborhood kids. In other ways, it was pretty bad. My mother had undiagnosed bipolar disorder and could be verbally abusive, which got worse after my brother Keric died in infancy from HLHS, a rare heart condition. West Virginia is also a predominantly white state, and my father is Cuban. My parents were always very lonely and pretty excluded from our community. I didn’t really think about until I was older that racism played a part in that.

2. How did you become a Christian? My father is a Pentecostal pastor, so Christianity was a huge part of my upbringing, so I was always aware of scripture and Jesus’s ministry. Like most teenagers, I went through a phase where I questioned whether Christianity was a bunch of magical nonsense or not. Ironically, what brought me to faith was a fantasy novel. I read the Chronicles of Narnia the year my nana (my mom’s aunt that raised her) died, and on the plane ride to her funeral, I remember looking out the window at the patchwork of land beneath me and thinking, if there was a being like Aslan, the lion God-figure of the books, who was merciful, loving, regal, and righteous, I wanted to follow him. In the next moment, I remembered that CS Lewis was a devout Christian, and Aslan was his version of the Christian God. That’s who he was describing in his books, and that’s who I wanted to know and follow. I’ve wrestled with my faith a lot over the years, and still do, but I still want to follow that God.

3. What is your occupation? Currently, I’m a stay-at-home mom. I do freelance writing and editing and am currently working on a novel and regularly blog.

4. What is your favorite biblical passage? Tough to say. When I was in high school, Ps 143:7-8 meant a lot to me, as the NLT says, “Come quickly, Lord and answer me, for my depression deepens. Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you.” It was reassuring to me when I was struggling with depression. In more recent years, Isaiah 62:4-5 was given to me when I was praying for wisdom from God about whether I should marry my now-husband. The passage in the ESV says, “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight is in Her and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” There are many more, but those specifically always stand out to me.

5. Who is your favorite biblical figure besides Jesus? I love the stories of strong women in the Bible: Esther, Ruth, Mary, Deborah, Jael, but over the years the story of Joseph is one I continually come back to.  There is so much reassurance and hope in his story, so much of what Christ would later reveal in Jesus. The fact that he was able to forgive his brothers, the fact that he took bleak circumstances and was able to rise above them.

One Faith, Many Paths: Lizzie Storm

This month’s interview is with a very interesting woman named Lizzie Storm, who is a member of my Autistic Christians group.

1. What was your childhood like?

Very tough growing up. I had loving and supportive parents but I felt I didn’t before among my peers. When I was about 11 and started getting called weird for the first time, I used to think what was wrong with me, then I ended up severely bullied. I never want to go back and look towards the future. I know Jesus can do anything, so I hope to do things again and have a second chance at making friendships with a renewed life in Heaven.

2. What is your favorite biblical passage?

Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

3. How did you become a Christian?

I wanted to go to Heaven and my teacher at my Christian school, Mrs. Blakeman, told me how to get saved. Then I was happy. I was like “Oh, that’s how you get to Heaven.” So I gave my life to God in 1999 at 9 years old.

4. What evidence can you give for God’s existence?

I have seen him. I think it’s something you have to experience yourself.  God will always find a way to reveal himself to you. Also how unique we are. That couldn’t have happened just by chance.

5. Who are your favorite biblical figures besides Jesus?

Gabriel, The Virgin Mary, and St. Michael