Back in 1978, on July 13th at 8:29 pm, God blew breath into a small pair of lungs. My mother Frances Estrada alone in a room surrounded by nurses and a doctor was handed a bald baby boy. That's Me! Three short years later, my father Jesse Flores passed away due to Cancer. Growing up on the East Side of central Phoenix without a father was tough. With my father being gone, meant my mother had to work to provide for me and my older sister. Our grandmother watched over us after we got out of school because my mom wouldn't get out of work till 8 pm. With no Father figure in my life it was easy to get into trouble. At around 7 years old I starting experimenting with drugs, rubber cement, paint, and weed. I preferred marijuana more than the rest. When I was 10 years old mom aunt invited my mom the watch a movie at a small Christian Church on the south side called Casa De Orasion (House of Prayer). God saved my life by giving me a place to go and get away from the environment i was in. I was welcomed with open arms by the Pastor Pedro Chavez. At the new years service in 1989 I gave my life to the Lord! Life it self was starting to make sense and all the hurts and pain I had God had taken away. Pastor Chavez treated me like one of his own, he would take me with every time they went out of town. I finally had a father figure that kept me out of trouble. Most of the friends that i was hanging out with in the neighborhood got locked up. I would have been in the cell right next to them if God had not intervened. I clearly knew the presence of my God , had been baptized in water and the holy spirit. I even had the privilege to preach at one of our children's service. In the 8th grade I went with a friend on the bus to check on the house he was looking after while his parents friends were out of town. While we were there, we went into their closet where there was a locked trunk. We popped the hinges on it and inside were about ten one pound bags of marijuana. My friend grabbed a zip lock bag from the kitchen and put about a quarter pound into it and gave it to me. My other friend that went with us had a pipe on him so we decided to try it out. I really didn't know what to do with so much weed so i started selling bags and giving some to my friends. Little by little I started turning my back on God and turning to all the attention I was getting. One thing lead to another and before I knew it I had completely turned away from God. At first everything was great, said I would never drink or do other drugs weed is all I need was my answer when someone offered me other. Before I knew it I was drinking 40's, snorting coke, and then smoking crack! With in no one to give me good advice I developed a very addictive personality. The hurts and pain of not having a father growing up were back and I blamed and was mad at God for not giving me a father.