and like as i'm praying his eyes just like pop open i'm just like what what do you feel he's like it's gone i was like what do you mean it's gone he's like my leg like like i i could feel it and he's like it's fine i'm like what like i'm bruh like my faith just started increasing i'm just like man like god wants to heal people god wants to touch people [Music] mom was always saved always took him into church um but i was about it i started doing drugs like at 15 14 years
old hanging out with gang members um just living living that life while she would go to church faithfully and and she would think that i was a good child right because i would go to church with her and i was very respectful and i was a very good liar so i would do that about 18 years old right graduate high school get a little more freedom it it took a life of its own started doing a harder drugs probably like three times a week uh going out more partying everything like i was not looking for
god i was i thought i was living my best life until i turned 20 and at 20 i i look back now and i could see how god was was starting to work on my heart because at 20 i got pulled over right in warrington virginia by by a cop um got drug charges missed my court date got a warrant got more charges right and at the end of it i had to pay a whole bunch of money got license suspended and during that time nobody knew nobody knew that i was going to court nobody
knew how to charge nobody knew that i was waking up like early to drive three hours to warrington virginia to to be in court and one day right once it was all over i'm like huge sigh of relief until my mom she she calls me over in the morning and she pulls out this fat old packet and when she pulls out the packet all i see is warrington virginia court and i saw my name and i knew that she knew i i was doing drugs right um and i expected her to beat me yell at
me to call me a disappointment to all these things that right i expected but she didn't do that she she embraced me she like hugged me she she took me to get right first time i had fun that's why i love because it's just what i needed and she would just begin telling me that she loved me and why didn't i tell her that i was going through that and i was just like so full of shame i was just like you i didn't want to disappoint you um and so after that day like i
made a promise to her and i made a promise to myself and i was like you know carlos you can't keep smoking weed man that thing got you in trouble like you got you only you gotta almost got arrested here and so i made a promise to myself i'm like okay no more no more smoking weed cool but you know how the devil be so i stopped smoking weed but i started drinking um and i didn't really like drinking honestly but but you once you drink and you get drunk you know it's okay so i
started drinking a lot more um because i couldn't sleep and see the this thing started happening within me where unless i did i smoked weed or unless i drunk or unless i i i watched porn or i did something criminal i couldn't sleep so so yeah so i'm i'm like that um working and everything and then one day i remember i was at uh i was invited to like this hangout with with some friends like these were and they were mexican right and these they were like grown folk they were like they weighed a good
240 and i only weighed 140 and they were like you know like i bet i bet i could drink more than you and i was like bad let's go and quickly i realized that i could not handle it uh so i was like no i'm good you win and they're like nah keep drinking i was like nah nah i'm gonna just i'm gonna go home and so um i got in my car i'm driving home and i'm you know i'm pretty i'm feeling it and then i'm like three minutes away from the house and there's
like a little curb right and so i speed up because i'm just like i just want to get home so i speed up and i don't know where that little curb turned into a swerve and i crashed into um with the side of my car to the to the curb of the street and like it just boom happened and i'm just like oh well and so i try to put that thing in like drive off but i couldn't because i'm stuck in the woods and then i tried to put in reverse and like i reversed
out of it and all i hear is and i'm just like whatever i worry about it in the morning i i literally drive home and i go to sleep i literally after crashing i just i just go to my bed and i knock out in the morning i hear carlos carlos you okay i'm just like huh they're like you okay i'm like i'm fine why and then i go out they're like because of your car and i go out to look at the car and my whole back axle is broken my my my side view
mirror is like completely off because i hit the pole the the electrical pole with it so if it would have been like just a couple inches i would hit it straight on and that would have been it but i look at my car and i'm just like oh man like i could have died right and that was like a continual thing because i felt like death was chasing me um i had another near death experience right because now i had to take the bus to work i'm going to the bus stop and uh i'm running
because i'm like i'm gonna miss the bus so i'm running right now i'm about to cross the street like it's my right away i'm about to cross the street i'm running full speed and i just felt this thing stop right like it was just like stop and i stopped right at the curb and as soon as i stopped these two cars just completely just boom just destroy each other in front of me and i'm just like right because because if i didn't stop i would have been in the middle of that and i would have
been dead and i was just like okay right and and all these things i just man i had so much like pressure on me and i couldn't explain it to anyone because i had nobody and whatever so right these type of things are going on new year's comes new year's comes we're having a party i remember like i was lit right i had a bottle and i'm pouring shots and then the homies come and they have a bong it was like this big they're like let's hit it i was just like all right and so
it's new years right it's not nothing too bad and so we hit it got high whatever good night then i was like okay well it's just one time but then super bowl comes i remember it was i don't know who was playing but i remember during halftime they were like let's go to the car i was like all right cool so we go to the car lo and behold what do they pull out pull out the big bong again i was just like oh man how can i say no right and so i hit it
get high whatever the night finishes and so on my drive home i remember i was like dang carlos you couldn't stop smoking like you couldn't change and i felt really disappointed it felt like a lot of shame on me um because i had i really made the promise to myself i know i made it to my mind but it was like me like i couldn't i couldn't i couldn't uphold it so i get to my room and like i just i remember i say like i need help i need help and then whatever i go
to sleep and then when i go to sleep though i have this dream and in the dream right just to give you a picture of it the the sky was like reddish it was like a desert uh there was like little tumbleweeds everywhere little rocks it was like a very desolate place but in the middle of all that was this apartment building and in the apartment building you could see it like like picture like a movie it shows you the apartment building and all the lights are off but it goes to like the very top
and then there's this one window with one light on and it goes within it and i see with in the living room right it's like all my friends like they're drinking and they're smoking they're dancing they're they're watching tv and it's just like a party but i see myself and i'm at the window and i see that i'm looking out the window and out the window is like this army and it was like this army of skeletons and i knew it meant death i knew that that army was could have come and it was going
to kill me and i was like when i saw it i turned to all my friends i'm like hey hey and when i said that they turned off the music they turn off the music and they all look at me they're like staring at me like in the movie right just like in the movies like they're all looking on me there's no music they're like what and i'm just like there's an army and they're gonna come and they're gonna kill us and they look at me for like a second and they're like boom and they
hit the music back and everyone keeps doing what they were doing and i do the same i'm just like whatever but a couple seconds later the door gets kicked in and the dream goes black and i knew i died i knew i died it was black for like a good 10 seconds but then the crazy thing happened is the dream starts over and it's the same red sky the same desolate place the same apartment the same window the same party and i all my friends are dancing partying and i'm at the window and i'm looking
out and i see the army coming again and i'm like hey hey and they stop the music and they look at me and they say what and i'm like there's an army and they're gonna come and they're gonna kill us and they again just like and whatever and they kept doing them but this time i was like no man forget all of you and i get on my knees and i just like i start repenting like in the dream i start repent i lift up my hands in the middle of the party and i'm just
like god i'm sorry like you're real and i want to serve you and i'm just like repenting and crying out and as i'm doing that then it's like the scene changes because it's like i'm within myself and within myself as i'm i could hear my voice praying i start like these things start like exploding inside of me like they just and they feel amazing i can't explain what it was but i felt god's presence and it was exploding inside of me and the more that i would pray the more intense it got to a point
where i remember i was i was just screaming like i give my life to you like god i love you and like it like bubbled up so much inside of me and then it exploded and it went within me and i could tell i can't explain the feeling but i felt i felt i felt life i felt love i felt god and i woke up and i woke up like and i literally like as soon as i woke up i rolled over onto the side of my bed on my knees and i just gave my
life to god and i was like god i'm yours like i accept you like there's no going back and what's crazy i gave my life to the lord that day and i was completely different right i told you i couldn't stop smoking weed i told you that that i couldn't stop on my own i literally from that day had no desire to smoke anymore like i would still get invited to parties and i would see everyone i'm just be like ugh like how can you smoke that like the lord literally freed me from that it
was it was from that moment where where i tasted something better but i i told god i told god from the very beginning god because i grew up in church remember i i i knew the songs i knew the stories and i knew church people and i told god god if i'm going to do this it can't look like them it has to look like your word because i i've read the story of jesus walking on water healing the sick raising the dead i read about paul i read about jonah i read about moses right
and i knew but nothing i lived in church repre looked like that so i was like god if i'm gonna do this it has to be like in the bible and so fast forward right i would i would walk into church and i would just start weeping i would just feel the presence of god i would worship and i would feel the presence of god and it went on like that and i would just consume the bible like i'll just be in my room reading the bible and and mind you this was like the spanish
uh king james version bible right now but i didn't know what i was reading but i didn't care i was just like i i know that i have to read this and then i had this lady from church she was like hey um i have this mission trip for italy that i need people to go with me for and what's even crazier right is two months before that i got this bug in me where i was like i need to travel like i got this money in the bank like i need to travel i need
to go somewhere like i'm gonna go to the bahamas i don't care where i go i'ma just go because i got to travel like it was just weird and then she came she was like you want to go to italy i was just like okay right like okay let me let me let me pray about it let me ask god and like everything just opened up i and even my um my wife who was who is my wife now she came along too and we were we were to go as like a youth youth program
youth camp there and so we met all these italian kids right um and the thing about italy is like they try to they're trying to diversify it so you have kids from africa you have kids from germany norway like all in one place speaking like four or five different languages and i really got connected with them um and so at this point in my life i i loved god i knew god i was following god i hadn't yet really had an encounter with the holy spirit right and so i've heard about him right you hear
they preach about him holy spirit holy spirit but i never really had an encounter with holy spirit up until this point and so i remember i remember i got really close to these kids and i remember there's this little there where we were it was a castle and there was a lake and we're like there's like a little cafe there where the leaders were we were drinking coffee or whatever and i remember one of the little kids little italian kids came in running he busted in there he and he just like he's speaking italian i'm
like what are you saying kid and he's like like freaking out and i was like what are you saying and then the one of the workers is like he said a kid is drowning in the lake man when he said that i got up and i just started running and i'm running and i'm running and i'm running i'm running up up the hill down the hill trying to go to the lake i get to the edge of the lake to to go down to the lake and they're like no no no no one else could
go down here no one else could go down here and i'm like no no i know the kid i know that he's like no everyone who can help him is already there and i'm like okay and then news of the kid drowning started spreading to the whole camp and there's like a whole bunch of kids come and they're starting to freak out and they're crying and they're like why god why god why would you allow this and i remember i the gift of faith hit me and i was like no this is not the time
to start questioning god this is time this is the time to pray and so i got all the kids together and mind you i only been saved for like a year and i i was like no this is the time to pray and so they all get together and we just start praying and literally the holy spirit hit me so hard and i started speaking and telling i never spoke in tongues until that moment and i just started speaking in tongues and like and as soon as i started speaking in tongues all the kids just
started breaking out in tongues and like it was like the presence of god hit us and that went on for a while and then like everyone calmed down and then um they were like the fire and rescue people came right because we saw the helicopter and everything and they're like um we want all of you guys to go inside and i was just like what so we go inside and we're we're there and we're just like waiting expecting like you know something to happen and the youth program director comes and he says um he drowned
in the lake and he died and my heart sunk because i'm in i'm in the middle of the his community his sister is right there and everyone starts weeping and crying and we're just like i don't have any answers as to why this happened and so here's the crazy thing the night before the night before he died we weren't supposed to have like a service that night but we did and it was powerful i remember the song they sung i remember the calling they made and i remember he was he was the first one to
run to the altar and give his life and it was crazy because they they tell the story that he was the oldest one there for like 18 years he's been saying no to god and that the night before he gives his life to the lord and what's crazier is the the lake had this current strong current that's supposed to like is supposed to if if he did drown that his lifeless body was supposed to be taken by the current but the the ambulance people said that literally it it it did not move it literally was
in that place and so all of these things or whatever is happening and i just feel the presence of god the whole time the peace of god and the next day we're outside right we're outside and i remember i was sitting on a swing with my wife well now she's my wife she was my girlfriend at the time and we're looking at all the kids we're looking at his sister we're looking at all the kids and everyone has this joy and this peace about them and it was in that moment i knew that the holy
spirit was beyond my understanding and and i was like and i i like it just grew me in faith because i'm just like this community literally just suffered a tragedy a death yet there is still a peace that he brings um and later that night we had another service and again the holy spirit just wrecked everyone and that was the beginning where i was just like okay okay god this this is what this is what this is what i was after this is what i was talking about about not just going to church and not
just sitting and singing three songs and going home but but the presence of god the power of god and from then i remember learning on youtube because at the moment nobody was teaching anything about that i wanted to learn right and so i would go on youtube i would look up healing i'll look up deliverance and i would remember i would listen to these sermons by these pastors and i would just grow and i would grow and not grow until a point where i was just like okay i have to go i have to go
try this stuff out and um the first healing i did was was at a conference it was a todd white conference um and he just talked about healing and then he was like okay i want you guys to do it now and i was like bet he was like find someone that's sick next to you and i was like okay now i remember i was with my youth group and right next to us was this guy and he was like yeah my leg my leg my leg has really been hurting i think i twisted it
or or something and i can't barely walk in it and i was like perfect and then i remember we put our hands on it and we're like we just started praying in jesus name and in the middle of the prayer i remember i heard a crack i went crack but i didn't know what that meant whatever i just kept praying i was like and you're healed that man looks at us and he's like you guys have fire on you and i was like what do you mean right because i wasn't really expecting anything i was
like what do you mean he's like my leg it doesn't hurt anymore like i could it's fully healed i'm like what really like i wasn't expecting it so now this whole thing that i'm reading the bible heal the sick raise the dead cast out devils it's coming to life and then i remember i remember like i took that momentum and i was at work i was i was a chef at that time executive chef and we had these delivery guys come and one of my favorite delivery guys he comes with this like wrapped up leg
and he's limping and i'm just like hey bro what happened and he's like nah man i i twisted my leg and i can't even put weight on it and it sucks because i have to carry all these things and i was like hey you know about jesus and he was like yeah i believe in jesus and i'm just like you know he could heal you right he's like yeah yeah whatever i was like nah man let's go outside let's go buy your truck and would you let me pray for you and he's like yeah and
mind you like don't think i'm fully confident like the whole time i'm freaking out i'm just like oh crap what did i get myself into oh man like i don't know what i'm doing but i remember like and he was spanish and so i had to do it in spanish and and so we're by the truck i'm like all right i'm gonna just put my hand and i'm just i'm just uh pray healing on your leg he's like okay go for it and i pray and like as i'm praying his eyes just like pop open
i'm just like what what do you feel he's like it's gone i was like what do you mean it's gone he's like my leg like like i i could feel it and he's like it's fine i'm like what like i'm bruh like my faith just started increasing because i'm just like man like god wants to heal people god wants to touch people and so as as time went on i saw more and more god moving god healing god god breaking strongholds off of people and it's just been a journey it's been a journey ever since
and and there's nothing better than seeing people who don't know god come to come to to experience him because that was me that was me one day right i i knew of god but i didn't know god and what i and the reason i preach and the reason i lead and the reason i disciple is because man jesus was so patient with me like he he saw he saw every detail every joint every drug every word that i did and yet he still loved me and he was still patient with me and yet he gave
me opportunity after opportunity and and and the moment i said yes he was like i'm giving you everything and and yeah i mean that's that's that's my testimony you
