During my adolescence I was restless,
mixed up in drugs, in discos, in going out at night.
It was a time when I didn't have much peace and tranquility.
Searching for peace
I went to live in the Azores. I was there working for two months
and that's when I got sick.
I went through a long period when I was sick and had to return to Porto.
Porto
I decided to give a different direction to my life.
I resumed my studies.
I started to study Social Work to exercise the profession that I have today.
I met my friend Mariana through friends in common.
I started looking into alternative therapies, namely Reiki and other therapies.
I was always looking for an answer to the questions I asked myself.
And yet I could not find a deep meaning for my existence.
I always felt that something was missing, I felt an emptiness.
And I couldn't find the answers I was looking for nor the peace I was seeking.
One day I went to have coffee with Mariana.
And I began to talk to her about my worries.
And she spoke to me about God and asked me if I prayed.
I told her no and she advised me to start praying regularly.
She taught me how to pray and I started going to Mass.
She told me about the Sacrament of Reconciliation
After my First Communion I never went to confession.
I had never gone to confession in my life.
And at that moment I felt that God touched my heart.
And a new phase in my life began, .
a process of conversion.
I deeply sensed the love of God
and knew that only through faith could I find all the answers for my life
and find the peace and joy that I so much wanted.
One day I went to Mass and a young man came up to me and asked me to pray for him
since he was going to the seminary in China.
He also introduced me to his mother and we became very good friends.
And it was through her that I got to know Opus Dei.
With her help I began to go to the centres of the Work.
I began to have spiritual direction.
And, from then on, I began to take an interest in the spirit of the Work, which fascinated me
mainly because of its naturalness
and the joy with which people live their daily lives.
And also because all this is compatible with friendship with God.
I began to sense that God was calling me to this path.
Such a natural path.
A path in everyday life.
People who have a friendship with God
in their work, in a natural way.
Eventually, I asked for admission to the Work.
as a supernumerary.
Now as I look back on my life, I realize that God has always been there
and that it was He who guided me through all the circumstances in my life,
and who has brought me to where I am now.