My name is Deisy. My parents are Martin and Esperanza. We are four children in the family. My daughter Meili is the joy of our family. We joined the Lutheran church 28 years ago. With great joy and eternal gratitude, I can say that knowing the Lutheran Church was a 180-degree change for our family. Without the church, our lives would have been on a treacherous path of need, hopelessness, and lack of purpose. Thank God, in these christian experiences of community and service that I developed in the church, I learned to speak in public, to have critical thinking skills, to respect the opinions of others, to teamwork, to service, to friendship, to spiritual strength and much more, all things that in school or college I would not have developed in the same way. I graduated with a degree in International Trade in 2014.
My professional vocation was inspired by the continuous interactions with people from other communities and countries. Learning and speaking English became the opportunity to achieve my dreams, as well as the inspiring opportunity for entrepreneurship. Thanks to this skill, I was blessed to represent my national church and Colombia as an international counselor at Outlaw Ranch, an ELCA Bible camp in South Dakota. It all starts with a dream! T I am deeply thankful for the dream God gave to pastors Natanael Lizarazo, Barbara Wangsness and their daughter, Alicia when they lost their son and brother Jesus. Transformations are possible when formal education and Christian leadership go together. Vulnerable neighborhoods are transformed when the context of our own families are transformed by the precious gifts of formal education and Christian leadership formation, when we commit ourselves to ne socially responsible citizens. The more families like mine are educated, the more we will be inspired and empowered to work for peace, reconciliation, justice and progress for Colombia. It is an immense joy for me to be serving on the Board of Directors of my beloved Fundacion Camino de Emaus.
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