of hope and freedom

I’m a missionary’s kid and I grew up in the Philippines where I lived for 10 years. We lived in the slums of manila – 150,000 families over a sewerage canal. Kids lived in boxes. Guys ran around the allies with knives, snakes and spiders everywhere. I hate creatures. It was putrid. To get to our shack you would have to walk through dirty markets, meat, flies, and dangerous sewerage filled alley ways. 

​I moved back and forward between Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines over the first 10 years of my life.

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At the age of 17 I found ice. I was working at a bar and one night I tried ice at a friend’s house after getting my first DUI. I had no idea what I was trying but It made me feel amazing. I felt invisible. Up until the age of 21 I couldn’t find that drug again and so I was on the search for people that had this white powdery substance (ice). 

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I was crying and suicidal and staring at a wall wanting to die. I was destroying myself, doing crazing things.

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When I was 28 I came to Transformations Rehab and I’ve never left. I found my people finally. I have found my home and I have people that get me and I get them. I have people that love me and I love them.  I did 18 months in the program. I struggled with God during the program. Eight months into the program I got discharged because I had been chroming and had synthetic pills during the program. The best thing that ever happened was being discharged because when I came back it was my decision. I finally saw all the lies I’d been living under and it was like a veil had been lifted. It was so hard to come back but it was the best thing for me. I finally graduated and I realized that Transformations was where I was meant to be. It was what was going to keep me safe. I became a house supervisor and I fell in love with the girls and how we help people and disciples people. I realised that for me this was what life was all about. I started doing case management and whenever anyone on staff would leave I would put my hand up to do their job. God told me to learn every part of the ministry and say yes to learning everything. I just kept working. 

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My heart is for this ministry and for the people in our program. I know from my own story that if you refuse to give up and submit yourself to the Transformations program, God can take the most broken person and turn all that pain and brokenness into something beautiful that blesses everyone around you. 

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