A drop of water makes a difference

When I arrived in Chicago from my native Guadalajara, Mexico, I brought an empty suitcase and a heart full of dreams and determination. It was a major change for me. I studied and worked hard and achieved academic success, but there was something that changed my life even more radically.

On April 28, 2008 my mom “forced” me to attend a three-day retreat organized by the United in Christ group in our parish. My life was never the same. The retreat taught me a way of life that I could have never imagined. It planted a seed of hope and showed me a world I didn’t know existed.

From that moment on, I joined the group and attended the weekly meetings; I felt the desire to be closer to God and to know myself better. In one of the meetings a community organizer at a nearby neighborhood, Yesenia Sánchez, announced a voter registration campaign to help the immigrant community. They needed a a coordinator and I immediately knew this was my calling.

The opportunity to provide a drop of water became a highly formative experience for me. The objective was to give a voice to the immigrant people and to educate on the difference that a vote might mean for a community thirsty for justice, equality, and respect. I learned plenty, cried some, and had the enormous satisfaction of seeing high school students, barely 17 years old, working at registering people to vote. We worked with people who would be able to represent the 11 million who are voiceless and hide in the shadows of inequality, sometimes crying in desperation because they have been separated from their family and loved ones. These are people that even if they don’t have a voice, many times cry out: “yes we can” in the hopes of being heard.

At the end of the campaign something unexpected happened. I was elected coordinator of United in Christ. This led me to discover my vocation of service to young people, and it has filled my life with happiness. I would have never imagined that I could feel so fulfilled by serving Jesus through my neighbor.