Despite challenges and mistakes along the way, we have found a path of inspiration in our lives. Raised as devout Catholics, our yearning to understand the Bible and serve others has always been a passion of ours. In 1985, We married in 1976 at the age of 24. In 1980, we started a family.

At 33 years old, 1985, we had three children with one on the way. We longed for a deeper understanding of the Bible and wanted to volunteer our free time to help others as a family. One day, we got a knock on our door, and it seemed our prayers had been answered. Two young Jehovah’s Witnesses came and answered Joe’s many tough questions using the Bible. They invited us to the Memorial and offered a free Bible study using the “Live Forever Book”. Our interest piqued, we attended the Memorial and started a Bible study right away ― and the rest was history.

We are proud of the four children we raised, who all became pioneers and learned a second language, served our fellow humans in foreign lands, and became elders in their own right. However, we ultimately decided to leave the organization after 36 years of being faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses. Doing such, we deeply regretted the extremist ideology we enforced upon our family. All of our children are now shunning us after we learned about the CSA that is happening in the Organization, but we carry hope that one day we will be reunited.