This Summer we have the privilege of having one of our girls who has been apart of the MARKED community for over 10 years intern for us! Meet Veronica. This is her story. But more than her story, this is also your story. Those who have sown seed into lives like hers. This is what it is all about.
“Hello, my name is Veronica and I am 1 out of a quarter million children who were in a orphanage in Latin America. I was born in San Antonio, TX to an American father and a Mexican mother. I am the oldest of 4 kids.
When I was 8 years old, my parents were taken to prison because of their involvement in illegal activities which caused me to be separated from my brothers and taken to a foster home for 6 months.
I didn’t get to see my parents during that time; which was difficult since I had never been separated from my parents or siblings before. I was just a kid and didn’t understand what was happening and thought I was never going to see them again.
This was the last time I saw my dad.
When my mom got out of prison, my siblings and I moved to Mexico with her to live with my uncle in the northern part of Mexico. A few months after we moved there my uncle was killed causing us to relocate.
As we were still processing my uncle’s tragic death, we received another wave of heartache when my youngest brother passed away in 2009.
Early one Sunday morning, I heard a really loud noise. I woke up and saw my little brother, Alex, on the floor.
He had been playing on the bunk beds with my sister and my cousin. They were jumping from one bed to another and my cousin pushed my brother off the bed, he fell and hit his head.
We took him to a hospital downtown, and they told us that he had internal bleeding and needed brain surgery.
Due to lack of equipment they could not perform the surgery there, my mom had to take him to another hospital 6 hrs away in an ambulance.
When I got there fifteen minutes later, I saw my mom in tears and I asked her, “How is Alex doing?” She said, “Alex is with God now.”
That was the worst moment I had ever experienced in my whole life!
I cried almost a river of tears because I knew that I was never going to see my little brother again.
About 10 minutes later my mom had told me that she had decided to donate all of his organs.
We were at a children’s hospital and there was a kid that needed a heart in that hospital and my mom had decided to donate my brothers’ heart to that kid.
I had never felt so much anger towards anyone. I wondered “Why would God take my brother's perfect heart and give it to another kid?”
I was heartbroken and angry at God; I could not understand why this was happening to us.
Sadness did not stop there, as a couple months later, my mom was arrested in Mexico and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. It was very tough not only losing my dad, uncle, and brother but also my mom at this point.
My anger grew stronger towards God, I could not understand why he allowed so much suffering in my life.
I was only 12 years old when I took the responsibility of taking care of my younger siblings and essentially being their mom for 5 years.
February 8th of 2010 was the day I got to the orphanage.
I was visiting my mom in prison since I had not seen her in a year and towards the end of our visitation an american lady came to prison and took us to the orphanage.
This was the first time I met Jacyln and Micheal Miller. I was scared of what this place could be like. During the car ride I asked Jacyln many questions about the orphanage. I asked if they treated the kids well? If they fed us? And if it was safe?
She assured me that this was a safe place with loving people. When we got there Jaclyn got us dinner and introduced us to the other kids and staff.
Jaclyn was always my safe person from the “outside” who I could always trust since she was always around.
The first year was very difficult since I had to process all of the tragedies that had happened within the past 3 years and had to figure out what was the new normal for my family.
This year was also the first time I heard about Jesus, but to be honest I did not really care about this since I truly believed that He did not love me or my family given all the trauma we had gone through.
We would go to church every sunday, have devotionals everyday, was christian homeschooled but I could care less about religion.
During that year my mom received a sentence of 40 years.
This made my anger grow towards God, I hated Him.
Until one day I was sitting at a table when one of the girls at the orphanage who had been through far more difficult things than me, came up to me and asked if she could read the bible to me.
I said “yes”, and she read Isaiah 41:9-10 “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said “you are my servant” I have chosen you and have not rejected you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
When I heard those words, I could feel God's love in a tangible way. I felt a warm hug and knew it was The Lord. After that I decided to learn more about Him and unlock all of the potential he had stored for me.
This is the moment where I knew that The Lord had called me to Missions.
I started learning how the orphanage ran, the things MARKED would do for orphanages and communities and many other organizations like Samaritan's Purse, YWAM,etc.
Before I started my Sophomore year in High school the orphanage had lost my birth certificate and apparently in Mexico, if you do not have a copy of your original birth certificate you cannot enroll in school. So, I did not go to school for a whole academic year.
This was very difficult for me since I loved school, I loved meeting new people and learning new things and I had thought that my education was the only thing I had control of in my life.
However, I had seen that our community was hungry both physically and spiritually. So, I started a community soup kitchen for children, and I learned how to cook, by cooking meals for over 250 kids every day.
I was in charge of most of the kids from the orphanage, working at the front desk and teaching a bible study to the kids of the orphanage and 270 from the community. I later trained others to teach a discipleship program through Samaritan’s Purse.
Discipling these kids was a huge blessing for me because I got to experience first-hand what sharing the Gospel was about.
I would have around 270 kids show up every Tuesday evening wanting to learn about God, and how that applied to their lives.
Later on during that same year, I met a family at the orphanage that was there for a mission trip from Washington State. They took my siblings and I out of the orphanage and welcomed us into their home.
This process took about 3.5, as it was not easy, but it was a huge blessing. I have been living in Washington State since 2014 with a family that cares for me and my siblings.
They have done everything they can to offer us a better life for us so that we will not end up like our parents.
I am now a Senior at Washington State University studying International Business and Entrepreneurship.
I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Paris, which was a huge blessing. I could have not been any happier. I traveled to 12 different countries, learned about different cultures and most importantly had amazing food everywhere!
I am the President of the Entrepreneurship club at Washington State University. We meet and try to come up with innovative ideas. I currently lead a Young Life College small group at Washington State University.
In the future I plan to start a non-profit. I am passionate about working with non-profit organizations to make the world a better place by empowering people across the globe, especially in developing countries.
The summer of 2018 I had the opportunity to work in Haiti helping another orphanage become sustainable by creating new business ventures where I started a coffee shop in Jacmel, Haiti.
It's now been 10 years since the first time I met Jaclyn and Micheal Miller and yet this summer I have the opportunity to intern for MARKED in Redding, California.
I am creating & developing a holistic business plan for a MARKED store, that benefits both the community, and MARKED as well as provides jobs and mentorship for the MARKED soccer team.
During this internship I am learning and working about non-profit leadership development, strategy, anthropology, sustainability and international business with MARKED.
God has been amazing to me and my family, I can now tell you that he does not hate me. He loves me very much, because I am his daughter.
My siblings and I have a great relationship with my mom who is still in prison In Mexico. We try to go visit her when we can. She’s now accepted Christ in her heart.
She leads bible study in prison and is always wanting to share the Word with my siblings and me.
After I decided to Follow Jesus and accept him as my Lord and Savior, I saw the verse Esther 4:14 over my life where it says,
‘Perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created”
