Luciene, Adnane, Julie Ann, Izaias, and Agatha Leonel

I came to America because my brother who was here needed help. It was a fifty-day journey for me to make it to America. I used whatever mode of transportation was available and traveled through all types of terrain. Traveling through the desert was the hardest. At one point we had run out of water and food. I was falling behind the group and beginning to think I wouldn’t survive the journey so I prayed out to God to help me. At that moment I felt like I was floating and found myself ahead of the group. We soon found water and I realized that everyone in the group had been hurt and scratched by thorns, but I didn’t have a scratch on me. I was able to finally meet up with my brother in Kansas City and started working. 

My husband migrated to America a year after his mother. His mother had been through a divorce, and he was left behind to live with his father and step-mother. This was not a pleasant situation. So, on his first plane ride, he left Sao Paulo, a town of several thousand, and flew to New York City. After meeting up with his mom he started working in construction. After living on the East Coast for several years a friend of his, who was living in Kansas City, invited him to move there. 

We met in a parking lot. My husband was not practicing his faith. Over time I was able to show him the way and he became a Christian. Over the next few years, we had three children. We experienced the loss of both of our fathers. This was a very hard time for us with the grief we were experiencing. We made it through this time with the help of Jesus. We had been church hopping trying to find a church that we all liked. William introduced them to Central Church and while my husband and children loved Central Church I preferred another. I asked God to prepare a church for my family where everybody would be happy attending. God spoke to me saying that Central was the place he had prepared for them. Last year we were baptized by Mark and Howie. And now we are here and everyone is happy. I know it is important that when we pray we need to ask God about the details and thank Him too. We are hoping that we can serve God’s kingdom as we continue our journey.