As a very young Christian living in Miami, I started going to a Presbyterian church. I liked the pastor and his preaching was authentic.

There I met two girls who made a big difference in what I thought about Christians.

One was an ex drug addict who had a constant need for eating candy to avoid feeling like fainting. I remember inviting her to my apartment and her running out of her supply of candy and asking me if I had any. I didn’t so we had to take the car to the closest place we could get some hard candies for her to chew.

She had an amazing ministry. After she met the Lord and got free of her addiction, she decided to spread the Gospel at her old stomping grounds. She would go by night to a bar or café where she had the opportunity to talk to junkies and tell them about her past and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ changed her life.

She had some success, and she was not afraid of confronting drug traffickers who obviously were not happy with somebody bringing their clients to Christ.

The other girl was a very pretty blonde who had received a word from God to go to Ecuador. She needed Spanish classes so I volunteered to teach her some basics. She hardly could socialize in Spanish but Spanish flowed naturally from her mouth when she prayed!

Her ministry was at the Miami beaches. She looked spectacular in a bikini so she and some friends, or some times by herself, would go to a beach. She would extend an attractive towel on the sand, put on her sunglasses, and place a “book” next to her or sometimes open the book and read it. Of course, soon some young men would come around to ask her what was she reading, and she would tell them that she was reading the Bible. That would be the beginning of long and fruitful conversations, and many times she brought some of these young men to the Lord and to church.

Later she went to Ecuador, met the love of her life, and had many kids.