I’m 27, a paramedic and a volleyball coach in Tumbler Ridge BC.
CANADA. I’ve been attending my church in Tumbler for two years; I started playing the drums as a part of the worship team last year. I also play a little guitar, paint and enjoy both video and still photography. I have traveled a lot playing volleyball, mostly in North America, and have also been to Europe three times.
I was born and raised in Surrey BC. I grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian school, and became a Christian when I was five. When I was in high school, I started to drink and smoke on the weekends. I played a lot of volleyball so I was very careful not to get caught. My relationship with God was distant. I graduated from high school and fell into a deep depression. I had lost all my scholarships because my grades were too low. I didn’t go to college and I couldn’t play volleyball anymore, which had been my life.
I was then on welfare for a year, then worked as a security guard for two years. I then got a job supervising children who were in foster care, taking them to visit their parents. My depression was getting worse and worse, so I decided to make some major changes. At the age of 23, I puchased a house in Tumbler Ridge as they were only $40,000 and I had wanted to own my own home but the prices in Surrey were out of reach. I also wanted to get out of the city, so it seemed like an amazing opportunity.
I felt better in Tumbler right away and with God’s help was able to buy a house; God was really working on me and in me – He put people in my life that would minister to me and help me. I was invited to go to a youth conference and I reluctantly went; it changed my life in a big way. After that I was more reliant on God and started to walk in obedience. I was delivered from smoking, and I know it was because people were praying for me. I then stopped drinking because I had the joy of the Lord, and that felt better than being drunk. The desire was gone. God gave me the realization of what I had been doing: I had the truth and it set me free. I’ve been seeking a closer relationship with God and wanting to do more for Him ever since. Last summer I went to Street Invaders to learn how to evangelize so that I could learn how to be a missionary. I want to do more with my life than work; I want to make a difference for God. This past spring I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala and work with some missionaries, doing outreach on the streets, ministering in churches, and working with a nurse in a medical clinic. I found the experience to be very rewarding and it has inspired me to seek after God in everything I do, and for everything I need. I’m so excited and thankful for the adventure God has in store for us all.
