Spring 2004 Edition
Front Cover
Learning Support Services Celebrates 25 Years
Hagi - Living the Dream
A Gift of Love
Ana Rosales
Campus News
Distinguised Alumni
Faculty News
Ferris
New Athletic Director
Baseball
Athletics
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past issues:
Fall 2003 Scene
June 2003 Scene
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My name is Leticia Anabell Rosales
Palacios (Ana Rosales) and I was born in
Piedras Negras, Mexico, on June 12, 1982.
Three years later my father died leaving my 25-year-old
mother with a 3-year-old girl and a few-months-old boy.
This was very hard on her since she needed to work more than one job to support our small family. She
worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or midnight every
day, and still she barely could afford to feed us
and provide for us.
The hardest thing for my mom was the fact that we did not own a house. So she saved up money through the years and purchased a small piece of land (6 by 20 meters) located outside of town in the middle of nowhere. She started saving again to build a house, this had been her dream since I remember: to have a house of her own. I heard it enough so that it became my dream too. The three of us got tired of moving around all the time or living with families from the church. And after several years our dream came true, my mom had enough money to build a house 6 by 4 meters.
This house was not the most comfortable house in the world, but hey, it was finally ours! First of all, it was out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by many different things, some not very pleasant by the way: trees, scorpions, snakes, spiders, and more. There were no streets, only a path. Our small house did not have a floor for a while, it was dirt. We did not have electricity, we had to do our homework and be in bed by 7 or 8 p.m. We had candles available in case we needed something during the night. We did not have water either, a “water man” came every week and brought water for us filling some big containers that we had. Yes, we lacked many things but this was our life and we adjusted to our circumstances. Besides, we were satisfied with the fact that this house was ours!
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Years later, in 1992, a group from Corpus Christi came to Piedras Negras to build two houses for families in the church we were attending at the time, one of the houses was granted to us. It was a bigger house with two bedrooms, and a larger room to use as a living room and a kitchen. For me, a 9-year-old, the big deal about this house was that it actually had divisions! It was not only one room but now this was a house and I had my own room. It was empty, but it was my room! This gift, which was the greatest gift anyone could have given us, was the starting point of a change in what I thought my life could be.
Despite the language differences between these Americans and us, we established a strong relationship with them. Every year when they came to build another house, they would take time to come and visit and to celebrate my birthday.
Then, in 1998 one of these people, the only one who spoke Spanish, came earlier in the year very unexpectedly. He came to offer yet another gift to us. He came to offer me the chance to come to the United States to study English and to get a high school diploma.
The church in Corpus Christi was willing to support me financially, and he assured me that the school would also grant some type of scholarship. Without really realizing the magnitude of this challenge, I accepted, and even though it was not easy to let me go, my mother supported my decision. I attended Presbyterian Pan American School for three years and if I could choose a word to describe my experience, without hesitation I would choose challenge. I was challenged to be away from home, learn a different language, and get used to a different environment. I graduated from Pan American School and started college at Schreiner University.
The people who built the house for us in 1992 not
only gave us a home, but they also showed us a kind of
love that I did not understand, and ever since I came to
the United States, a desire to do the same grew stronger in
me; I wanted to go to an unknown place and if nothing
else, love the people. This desire drew me to go to Cuba
and spend two months as a missionary the summer of
2003.I graduated from Schreiner in May with a psychology degree. This fall, I will be attending Austin Theological Seminary and will pursue a master’s degree in divinity.
This is my story, and my favorite part is the fact that it has nothing to do with me. I did not deserve to come here and to have what I have; neither did I do anything outstanding to earn it; God allowed it for a reason. Therefore, I have dedicated everything of me to Him: my future, my goals, my dreams, and my degree, and I have asked Him to do with it as He pleases. This is, and will be, my greatest joy and satisfaction in life: to give my all to the One who deserves it all.
It is my pleasure to share my story with you because it is a story that only God could write.
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