My name is Telma Cunjuca, I’m from Angola, I was born in Luanda, the capital city of Angola. As growing up I was raised catholic, I was first baptized as a child when I was 12 to 13 years old. I used to attend catechism, where I was thought the basic teachings of Catholicism, which is very different from a bible study. As a kid I did not go to church for obligation, I actually liked it, I always prayed, I had a bible for kids, and I actually was excited about reading it. I was raised in the beliefs of One God, but we also believed in saints, which is part of the catholic believe and many times included in prayer and worship, raising big convictions in idolatry. However, I was just very amazed by God alone, knowing that someone in heaven made the whole world and everything that is in it.

As an adolescent, on my 14 to 15 years old, I stopped going to catechism, going to church was not part of my desire anymore, and I ended up falling deep inside the world. I did not have anyone to hold me accountable, unless the strict rules applied by my parents, which for me unfortunately it did not imply much because my heart was turned away from God, and I could not obey. I have grown up with lots of girl friends, we rose up together since pre-school, and so we used to spend much time together. We went to the same school, we had the same classes in the same classroom, and so we saw each other every day. We had our little group, we wanted to be the cool kids, we wanted to be seen by others, we partied together, we drank and got drunk together. We influenced each other in dating boys, we agreed in our impurity, and immorality, we did not know we were living in the sins of our flesh because we did not know better. Out there in the world, we were doing what everybody else was doing, our sins became common, we created bonds with people through our sins, and our sins made us feel related with each other.

I did not know better, I did not have anybody to tell me how much of sin I had in my life. I did not realize I was getting further and further from God, and I could not know that because I did not know God. I was too busy with my life, with the things I wanted, the places I wanted to go, the boyfriend I had to have, and of the worldly things. There comes the day where I realized my life was made of nothing, I felt empty, I was wondering what was life about. It did not matter were I was, how pretty I looked, the things I wanted to buy, the things I wanted to have, the suffocated closet full of clothes with tags, the amazing house I lived in, all of the financial support from my parents, the number of friends I had, how high or lower was my GPA, nothing mattered because I was consumed by the sin of my flesh. At that point, I felt the need to change; I knew that all I needed was God. I decided to make a radical change in my life, I stopped clubbing, I limited my number of friends, I went back to church, I was seeking God, and definitely more open to hear about God. I was invited to 2014 women’s day, I did not know what to expect from the event, but I felt very compelled to go. I started doing bible studies in April 2014, I did not know what to expect from the studies as well, but I was very excited about it, I felt that I found what I needed because I really wanted to grow in my relationship with God, and have better knowledge about the bible. I was very resistant to some of the studies. And, the main reason was my religious background that I did not want to let go, but God really humbled my heart, and my mindset changed so much.

Listening to how God had tremendously changed the life of many disciples in the church, and being impacted with the truth, all I wanted was to let God lead my way, I wanted to give my life to God. Through the waters of baptism all of the sin that enslaved my soul was cleansed, I got set free by the truth that comes from the word of the living God, I made Jesus the Lord of my life, I surrendered all.