I have been a disciple for over 13 years.
I have been a disciple for over 13 years. My baptism date was November 15, 1991, when I was 21 Years old. I was in college as a student-athlete, attending a university here in Chicago, when someone reached out to me and it was just at the right time.
My chemical addiction started when I was in my early teens. My family had moved to the United States a few years earlier (when I was 10) from Portugal, as my father sought for political asylum for his family who had left Angola, Africa because of Civil War. I began to drink alcohol because of all the insecurities that I had faced as a young teenager trying to fit in a new culture with a new language.
Once I began to see that there was a social acceptance and even admiration in some circles for drinking a lot alcohol, I began to pursue this avenue further. I not only started hanging out with the drinking crowd in high school, but began to enjoy the atmosphere.