My family is Filipino. I was born and raised in Italy. My mum come from a Baptist family, my dad was a Catholic, but now he's Christian too. We have been to many churches and sometimes I was confused. I knew that nobody is perfect except Christ, but I also knew that you shouldn't be happy about the wrong things that you do. Before, I was like a child who was lost. I was angry every time people judged me. When my classmates did something bad to me at school, often because of my skin colour, I did the same to them. Sometimes things got worse, because some of them were very big and strong, so I always felt so bad and so tired to be like this. I felt weak and often cried. I wished I was stronger. The important things for me at this time were my school, family and friends, and also Jesus Christ; but I didn't have enough faith to really believe at that time. I had bought a Bible when I was 13, but I had a lot of doubts and I couldn't find any answers, even when they preached in the church I was attending. The people there always judged others, and I thought this wasn't right, because you should be there to listen to God's Word, not to be judged by them. Generally, I didn't feel so happy, either at church or in any other places, even if I smiled a lot. I prayed every morning and every evening but I wasn't a true believer. I read the Bible only when we had a Bible study in our home or when I had time. When something bad happened to me I always asked the Lord: "Why did it happen to me?" and I complained to Him. I wasn't satisfied.

We started going to ICT in 2005.The people were different and the preaching touched me. God started speaking to me when I truly believed in Him. I started to read the Bible seriously and talk to God daily, even at school and in other places. I discovered a lot of things I didn't know before about God. He taught us to love one another, even our enemies, and to bless those who curse you. I met some Christians at school and we always talked about Him. I begun to sing in the church and the words spoke to me about Christ had done. I wanted to believe in Jesus Christ because He died on the cross for my sins and I knew that He loves me anyway. I prayed to God for forgiveness. Jesus' death is really important to me because without that I can't come to God's place – heaven - because of my sins. I believe that He rose again from the dead. When I believed in Jesus Christ I began to stop doing bad things like being angry and doing wrong to others, and I felt so good.

Believing in Jesus Christ made me a different person. Now I am more patient and kind even to people who don't really accept me as a 'person'. With God's help I do things that I couldn't do before. I've changed. Now I don't say anything bad to people when they say bad things to me because there's someone who loves and cares for me, and he is the Lord. When something goes wrong I don't complain to God any more because I know that sometimes there will be trouble, but I also know that there's Jesus Christ, and with Him all things are possible. I read the Bible constantly; I pray to God with all my heart and always worship Him (especially when singing and playing the piano). I really want to know Jesus Christ more personally. He is the most important person to me. The other important things are my family including my Christian friends. God helped me and provided for me when nobody else could. For example, when people didn't talk to me because of my skin, I asked Lord to give me a good friend who would accept me even if the colour of my skin is different. He provided Heidi, a girl in our church. I feel so happy living and growing as a Christian because I'm following Jesus Christ's way. My life is full of love, blessing and happiness, and that's because of God's presence.

My hope for the future is to become a nurse to help people and to share God's love with them. The Lord is the Healer; the medicine can also heal people but He is more powerful because He can take away all your pain and also save you when you receive Him as your Lord and Saviour and ask Him for forgiveness. If God asked me, "Why should I let you into heaven?" my answer would be like this: "Jesus Christ 'cleans' my heart and my soul; so that means that He forgives all my sins and gives me God's righteousness." Psalm 23 in the Bible is precious to me. It begins: The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want. God makes me stronger, because I know that I'm not alone. He is always beside me. .