Luis Eduardo Chila

I am a 28-year-old Ecuadorian who comes from a very poor family. My mom raised me and my 4 brothers by cooking and doing laundry as a business.  At age 7, my dad abandoned us, and at age 16, I began to drink alcohol to the point where I was drinking every day.  Although I always wanted to stop drinking because of the problems it caused my family, I never did.

Around this time, I met Erika who became my girlfriend.  We lived for 4 months with my mom because I couldn’t find a job.  However, every day my problems seemed to get bigger than the day before.

I was losing hope in ever finding a job when I had the opportunity to work in a Christian High School as a security guard.  One day, a teacher invited me to a meeting at his house.  At the meeting they talked about the Word of God and had refreshments, and I felt good.  The teacher continued to invite me to the meetings. Sometimes I would go and other times I would not because I stayed in my neighborhood drinking alcohol.  This went on until the teacher invited me to a retreat.  There they talked about the Word of God and that God could change man, heal his heart, and transform his life. They asked if anyone would like to receive Christ. I told God, with a little bit of doubt, that if He really existed and if He could really change lives like the people said, then I wanted Him to change me.  In that moment I received Christ in my heart.  Afterwards, I found out that the teacher was also a pastor. He started to give me Bible studies and visit me at my house.

One of the changes God made in my life was with Erika.  We followed God’s commandment and got married.  I started faithfully attending the meetings at the pastor’s house because there it felt like home.  I stop drinking.  I invited my friends to the meetings too.  After a while, I begin to teach at the meeting and shared everything that God had done in my life and in the life of my family.  Eventually we were holding three different meetings in three different houses.

Today I am studying with my wife in the Nazarene Seminary and working with families in an urban sector of Quito. We help families restore their lives in the same way ours was restored and teach them to live the way God commands us.  Our purpose today is to give other couples what was given to us.  Before I close, I would like to encourage you to open your heart to Jesus Christ.  He wants to change you life like He changed mine.