WARNING: UNDER CONSTRUCTION Link to heading

For as long as I can remember, I always knew that I was different. I was incredibly smart even at a young age, learning to read when I was only two years old. I was even smart enough to skip from first to second grade when I was seven. However, when it came to other areas of my life, I struggled in ways that “normal” people did not.

In class, my intelligence caused trouble in quite a few ways. For one, I would always finish my classwork far ahead of time, and then goof off, distracting the other students. Additionally, I had trouble controlling my emotions in class, having sudden meltdowns over very small problems. I was sent to the principal’s office on multiple occasions for this, and on one fateful day, when my mother came to pick me up from the principal’s office, I was so blinded with rage that I punched her right in the stomach. While she was pregnant with my brother, David.

I did not know why I did these things. I did not know why things that didn’t matter to “ordinary” people mattered so much to me. Well, as it turns out, I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD when I was four. My mother enrolled me in occupational therapy and speech therapy, but I still had trouble socializing with other people, especially at school.

The day after I attacked her in the principal’s office, my mother pulled me out of public school and began to homeschool me and my sister. It was a very difficult decision for her to make, considering that we didn’t know anyone else who homeschooled, and that homeschooling was unheard of in her culture. But against all odds, we took the leap of faith and began to homeschool. Now that I was homeschooled, I could finally learn as fast as my brain could keep up with. However, homeschooling didn’t magically make my problems go away, as I still struggled with my behavior at home.

I’ve been going to church for as long as I can remember, but when I was little, I didn’t know what being a Christian was really about. Our family went to a Brazilian church at first, but because I didn’t speak Portuguese very well, I didn’t really understand much of what I was being taught. To be honest, I didn’t think the stories I learned in Sunday school were even real. But one day when I was seven years old, we started going to Calvary Christian Church, and everything began to make sense.

It was at this point that I realized that I had been trapped in sin, and that I alone could not save myself. But there is still hope, as Jesus gave his life so that we may have a personal relationship with God. So I gave my life to Jesus, and the rest is history. As for that history…

After I accepted Jesus, I began to notice that I had more control over how I felt and didn’t break down as easily. I also got along better with my siblings, and while we still had the occasional disagreement, I learned how to deal with it without letting my emotions get the better of me. Also, while socialization never really came easy to me, I learned how to more easily relate to the people around me, whether at church, or when meeting with other homeschoolers.

But then I learned that Christianity would not be a one-time decision, but rather an ongoing relationship with our Father in heaven. So I began to read my Bible and pray regularly, growing closer to God and understanding Him more. Three years ago, I got baptized in water, making a public declaration of my faith and sharing my testimony with many others. However, that wasn’t the only way I expressed my newfound faith.

I also got involved in multiple ministries at Calvary, each one teaching me something new about being a Christian. At Junior Bible Quiz, or JBQ, I learned more about and memorized verses from the Bible, God’s word to us. Our reason for learning these things was found in our team’s theme verse, Psalm 119:11:

I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

In Royal Rangers, our church’s version of Boy Scouts, we learned essential skills for godly leadership. More recently, through Calvary Theater, I have been able to use those skills to reach out to others through the power of acting.

Throughout all of these ministries, I not only strengthened my relationship with God, but also made new friendships that would bring me closer to God. For example, one day at Royal Rangers, when a new family arrived at Calvary, I introduced myself and showed them around the church. That family had a boy around my age, who would eventually become my best friend: Samuel Christanday. What’s more, he introduced me to the Institute for Cultural Communicators, or ICC. The life lessons I learned in ICC would be enough for a whole other post, but the most important one was that I shouldn’t only say what I want to say, but what other people need to hear.

Last year, I turned 18 years old, meaning that now I am facing the challenges of adulthood. One of those challenges is learning how to drive. Even when I was little, I’ve always had resistance towards learning how to drive, due to my grandmother’s car accident that has left her paralyzed for almost 19 years. However, through the strength that God has given me, I’ve managed to face my fears and finally start learning how to drive.

Moreover, this fall, I will be starting college full-time, which means new challenges for me to face as I step into the real world. However, I have the Spirit of the Lord inside of me, and as Phillipians 4:13 says,

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

To wrap things up, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, I finally took control of my emotions and grew closer to Jesus and other people. No longer was I the problem child who threw a tantrum at the drop of a hat. As I look back on my life before and after Christ, I realize the truth found in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”