Education moments: More opportunities
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Jose Miguel Bueno was a convert to the Church from a poor family on an island in the Caribbean. His job options, he said, were always as a helper or carrying things.
Jobs he held included tailor shop worker, lathe operator and house painter.
But after serving a mission, the Perpetual Education Fund made it possible for him to take a technical course in computerized accounting.
The Perpetual Education Fund was announced by President Gordon B. Hinckley during the April 2001 general conference. He said its purpose would be to make loans available to enable ambitious young men and women, mostly returned missionaries, to get out of poverty through obtaining training allowing them to find good employment.
Even before finishing his studies, Brother Bueno landed better jobs including data input production worker, administrative assistant and replacement-parts warehouse man. He is currently a manager at a warehouse which has an inventory valued at $5 million.
"I even have a secretary, which, by the way, is my wife," he said, "as well as other people assigned as helpers."
His income has increased 400 percent in the last two years and he paid off his debt to the PEF in three payments.
Even though he works a lot of hours each day, he still has time for his family and the Church, he said. He is a branch president.
"I know that if we want great blessings in our lives, we have to rise to the levels of those blessings," he said. "That is achieved through studying and being responsible in the companies where we work."
Brother Bueno added, "What more can I say? Christ lives and has carried out His work in me and in my family, and in the lives of those I have been able to help.
"I love my wife; she is my best friend, and now I can give her a better future at my side, just as I promised her when we were sealed in the temple."
He emphasized the importance of paying back money into the PEF as agreed so others can receive opportunities at improving their livelihoods.
— Perpetual Education Fund Department
