LIMA, PERU

After my mission, I set up a fruit stand, and that went well for me. With my earnings, I paid for school, helped support my family and paid tithes and offerings.

But one day, as I was selling my fruit, a truck hit me. I lost one of my legs and the sight in one eye. I suffered for months, but with God's miracles, finally came home from the hospital.

After all this, I heard the prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, say that returned missionaries who did not have financial resources would be able to gain an education. The Perpetual Education Fund would provide loans for those youth with high hopes.

It was true I had lost my leg and my eye but not the desire to live or to continue dreaming. I decided to fight to reach my goals. Thanks to the PEF, I finished a technical school program in three years and entered a university.

I am working now on my own. I get up very early to provide customer support and technical computer support for some businesses during the day. I also repair computers at home. In the evenings, I attend school. Classes last until 11 p.m. I catch a taxi and get home between midnight and 12:30 a.m. I eat something, review my schoolwork and eventually go to bed.

I am very grateful to God for everything I have. I would like to pay Him in some way for all He has done for me. I don't do much and I will always owe Him.

I serve as a volunteer in the PEF call center in the Church offices in Lima. I help others remember the covenants they have made with God to continue with their studies so they don't give up on the goals they have set.

The future? I see myself graduating in two years from the university as a computer engineer. Then, in five years, I plan to be working at a prominent company to sustain my immediate family and also my future family and children. That's what I fight for every day.

I know it's not going to be easy, but I have learned from the Lord that He never gives us commandments without preparing the way.

He has given me life and He has given me the Perpetual Education Fund. He has given me two hands to be able to work, a brain to think, a mouth to speak and a heart to feel and to go forth with my dreams.

I know everything is possible. Everything I have — my family, my education and even my life — I owe to God. Everything comes from His hands. — Arturo Rivera Agreda, José Gálvez Ward, Lima Peru Independencia Stake