Eloisa Greenwald
Most teenagers look forward to their college days for a new adventure, to experience the parties and the new found freedom as a young adult. I was no different and in fact, I sort of already had an early start to it all. My teenage years were marked with parties, living for popularity and consumed by what others thought of me. My Catholic faith was merely a cultural piece in which I thought had no relevance to my actual life. Eventually, I had stopped going to Church altogether. I knew God existed but He was up there and I was down here and He did His thing and I did mine. As much as I distanced myself from Him and went towards a life of drinking, drugs, unhealthy relationships and whatever it took to keep up my popularity status, The Father never abandoned me and kept pursuing me over and over. In the first week of my first year of university, He made it apparent to me that He did not want me to continue the lifestyle I was living. I ran into a group called Catholic Christian Outreach and for the first time, I met people who were cool, normal and were really into their faith. It intrigued me and since I was looking for new friends anyways, I decided to give the club a chance.
And that’s where I was first introduced to the person of Jesus Christ. I had always known about God but not a whole lot about Jesus. I was introduced to Him as Lord and as Saviour. My fascination with Jesus continued to grow as the people I was hanging out with would talk about Him in a personal way. They invited me to this conference and since my fascination with the faith was growing, I thought why not? It was at this conference that for the first time ever, I experienced Eucharistic Adoration. I knelt down with everyone else and as the Eucharist passed me, I instantly knew that Jesus had walked by me and looked at me with compassion. I could no longer deny that He was important. I had looked at my life and knew that I was constantly rejecting His invitations. I went to confession for the first time since my first one and that’s when I made the decision to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour.
Now I wish that I could end my story there and say I lived happily ever after. And in many ways I have. But many years followed that with struggles of trying to live in two different worlds. Eventually, the Lord showed me how much He was desiring me to be fully surrendered when I went on mission to Uganda. He showed me just how difficult my life was trying to hold onto things when He was asking me to let go. He asked for my full surrender. I knew what He wanted and so in response, I said yes to becoming a full-time missionary. To surrender myself to proclaim Jesus wherever He would send me.
And from that point on, the Father has given me the adventure that I always craved. He gave me a life where I not only get the chance to spread the Gospel but the grace to ensure that other missionaries can do so as well. The Father provided me a husband to partner with in the mission and now we have this mission to raise our son and our future children as missionary disciples. The joy that the Father provides is incomparable to anything the world has to offer. I am so grateful that the Lord revealed Himself to me at the start of my adulthood.