Sept. 19, 2024
The Everyday Apostle - EP009 - Guillermo Barquero
Ever felt lost and found your way back through faith and perseverance? Guillermo Barquero, a Miami native and cloud engineer at Lockheed Martin, takes us on his transformative journey from a Southern Baptist upbringing, through a disconnected phase, to rediscovering his Catholic roots. Raised in a diverse religious environment, Guillermo's persistent questioning and deep prayer led him back to his spiritual heritage in early 2023. His story is one of continual growth and the profound impact of faith on his daily life.
Guillermo shares his academic and professional journey, starting with an uncertain college path aimed at appearing smart and struggling with physics courses. The turning point came with his discovery of coding, which he compared to solving intricate puzzles. From early coding successes to the challenges of advanced math, Guillermo's perseverance landed him an opportunity to work on a Department of Defense project. This pivotal experience not only honed his skills but also set the stage for a rewarding career at Lockheed Martin. His narrative underscores the importance of mentorship and dedication in overcoming hurdles to achieve professional success.
Beyond his career, Guillermo talks about navigating the job market during the COVID-19 pandemic and reflecting on divine favor in his success. His profound conversion experience in early 2023, catalyzed by a spiritual crisis, led him back to Christianity and ultimately to Catholicism. Emphasizing the role of community and active service, Guillermo discusses the importance of surrounding oneself with supportive people and staying committed to faith. He highlights the significance of the Young Adult Group (YAG) at St. Augustine, where young individuals engage in meaningful faith-based discussions and build lasting relationships. Join us for an inspiring conversation about living and serving in faith amidst the challenges of everyday life.
Chapters
00:01 - Everyday Apostle Podcast With Guillermo Barquero
14:14 - Journey From Agnostic to Computer Scientist
17:53 - Journey to Catholic Faith
27:04 - Living and Serving in Faith
34:51 - Promoting Businesses Through Everyday Apostle
Transcript
WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith.
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Join our host, kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play.
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Let's dive into it right now right now.
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Hello and welcome to episode nine of the Everyday Apostle podcast.
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It's a thrill to be with you again.
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My name is Kendall Peterson, the host of the Everyday Apostle.
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We're here in studio.
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I've got a great guest for you today and super excited about getting to that.
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What I love most about this show is we get to bring all kinds of really great stories about people who are truly trying to live their faith in regular life whether it's work or in their clubs or sports, whatever they're doing and we get to bring those to you guys, because we're all struggling with the same thing how do we live this faith of ours in this real world?
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Big thank you for all of the prayers and messages that I've received.
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I actually ran the stats the other day.
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I was super surprised by the number of people who are actually watching the show.
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We've had over 20,000 views of this show so far and we're only on episode nine now.
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So thank you for watching and thank you for the feedback that I've gotten, and especially a thank you for our and thank you for the feedback that I've gotten, and especially a thank you for our partner in today's episode.
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This episode of the Everyday Apostle is brought to you by our partners, the WOW Center.
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For over 50 years, the WOW Center has been transforming lives in South Florida by empowering adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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They offer life skills, training, employment opportunities and social activities that help foster independence and build community.
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And there's an exciting event coming up you won't want to miss.
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Join us on October, the 25th 2024, at the beautiful Coral Gables Country Club for Wow Royale, starting at 8 pm.
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It's going to be an unforgettable evening with fantastic entertainment, gourmet dining and the chance to support a truly wonderful cause.
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To learn more about the Wow Center and get all the details on the Wow Royale event, visit WowCenterMiamiorg event.
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Visit wowcentermiamiorg.
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That's wowcentermiamiorg.
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Get involved, make a difference and be a part of something amazing the WOW Center empowering lives and building brighter futures.
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See you at the WOW Royale.
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If you get a chance to attend the WOW Royale, I highly recommend it.
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The WOW Center what an amazing place.
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I am partial in my life's, the executive director and I've been there a number of times.
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It is wow for a reason and I strongly encourage you to check that out and, if you feel a tug on your heart to support the Wow Center or to support our guest, somebody who I consider a friend, a brother in Christ, who I had the privilege of meeting on a mission trip that I went on earlier this summer and really just a solid, solid guy who I really, really appreciate, Guillermo Barquero.
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That was the most gringo way that I could say that Welcome to the show, Thank you, kendall, it is a privilege and an honor, and thank you for running the show because, honestly, I think testimonies are really powerful and I love what you're doing, so it is an honor to be here.
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Thank you, thank you.
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Thank you.
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So let me see if I can do you justice in your bio.
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Guillermo, better known as Guill or Will, or you have a number of different options for me, but I know you as Guill, a 28-year Miami native and the eldest son of two.
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I love how you referred to wonderful Nicaraguan parents.
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You didn't use the word Nicaraguan, but I couldn't pronounce the word you used.
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You attended Southern Baptist Christian School from kindergarten to 12th grade.
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Is that correct?
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Yes, slight caveat, I did go to a public school my last year, oh okay, but the majority of it, majority of that.
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Okay, so you went to a Christian school for most of your upbringing.
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Then you went to FIU, florida International University, got a bachelor's degree in computer science and had an interesting, unique opportunity to work on a cyber defense research project for the Department of Defense, and now you work as a cloud engineer for Lockheed Martin.
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But what makes you very special, and which is why I wanted you on the guest all of that's great stuff, but what I really loved was your faith journey and the way that you describe how that faith journey still continues to this day.
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It's not I'm done with my journey.
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You're still very much on it.
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You stepped away from your faith for a while, came back in early 2023, you were attending a Protestant church and then recently, through a whole series of prayer and discern 2023, you were attending a Protestant church and then recently, through a whole series of prayer and discernment, you made the journey to engage in your Catholic faith, and so that's all part of the journey that we're going to get to on today's show.
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Absolutely.
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I definitely have to agree that the journey does not stop.
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It is a day-to-day process.
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In fact, that's what it's all about.
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But yes, I come from, like you said, a Southern Baptist school.
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My parents are Catholic, but they were just trying to do the best for me and, like, there is differences between uh, you know, christians and Catholics, and they were very anti-Catholic.
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So I grew up with that theology and it caused a lot of stress within the house, um, but through that I I kind of I got a little jaded from the faith and I left Um.
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But I mean, I'll get more into detail later, but essentially what I did is when I came back to the faith, I started asking a lot of questions.
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I feel like God put it in my heart to start asking a lot of questions because I could care less about the faith, I could care less about theology, church, history, all of it, but for some reason I just question after question started coming into my head.
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I ended up getting a journal and documenting everything that would come into my head and I said I'm going to find people to get me these answers and I didn't even know why.
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So from there, this is a long story.
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Short because it's a very long story and I'll talk forever.
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But I traveled, I talked to pastors, I talked to priests, I watched debates online, I asked questions in forums and eventually every one of my questions got checked off.
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And well, I, your parents, were Catholic.
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What was the faith?
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life in your home as you were growing up.
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Great question.
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Honestly, my parents I will say a lot of us are affected by kind of the traditional Catholic I don't really know the word to use but we all fall into that category of traditional category.
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We kind of go to church sometimes and I would definitely say that affected my parents a little bit.
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But what I will say is that internally their faith was strong, very strong.
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We would go to mass together.
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They had me do my first two sacraments I was baptized as a kid and I did my first communion but really our faith kicked into high gear when my brother was born.
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I have two brothers and my second, my first brother, the middle child.
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He is autistic, he's special needs and his birth was very complicated.
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But that's when I really saw that my family was a family built on faith and even though I didn't understand it at the time, it really now, looking back at it, really shows me that God has been with me throughout my entire life.
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Again, long story short, but my brother was born with a heart problem.
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He had surgery at about two to three months old and a lot of things were wrong with him.
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They said you know, there's a low chance of survival.
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He might be blind if he survives this surgery.
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And my mom knows all the details, but I'll just leave it at this.
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My mom told me of a prayer she said.
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And she said she goes to God and she's like God.
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I don't make demands out of you, but I need you to give me an answer.
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And she said you can do whatever you want with my child, whether I keep him or I lose him.
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It's your will.
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And if you give him to me, I will take care of him for the rest of my life.
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But if you're going to take him from me, I need you to do it now, because I can't hold on to this anymore.
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And I think that kind of sums up what faith was like in my house.
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It really kicked into high gear when you know, in the toughest moments, and I think I'm all the better for it.
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But we could have prayed together a little more.
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I'll say yeah.
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So you want to give your brother a shout out?
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Oh, absolutely so.
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This is a shout out to Gustavo Gussi, if you're watching and if you see this on the iPad, your brother's famous and we'll catch you at the WOW Center.
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Definitely check out the WOW Royale because my brother's probably going to go there.
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So, yeah, this is my shout out Hi, gussi, amazing.
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So your parents both still alive?
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Both still alive, both happily married, taking care of my brother.
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Both of my brothers, one's in high school and Gustavo's there at home.
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But yeah, give a shout out to your other brother.
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Oh, yeah, for sure.
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How's it going, gabriel, he's a senior, so he's on his way to college now that's amazing.
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So strong foundation in faith.
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I would say so Sounds like mom's quite the prayer.
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Now that's amazing, so strong foundation.
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And faith, I would say so Sounds like mom's quite the prayer warrior.
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That's usual.
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What about your dad?
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What about your dad?
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What was his faith, Johnny?
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My father is.
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I mean it's cliche to say, but he is my hero.
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He had a tough life.
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His grandmother showed him the faith and you know he had to leave Nicaragua as a young man in his teens alone, had to come here, study, and he studied hard, fluent in English and Spanish.
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He's a registered nurse.
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He's been doing it for over 30 years and the way he sums it up is that I'm kind of the opposite to him.
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I like to question everything For him.
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It's God has kept me through all this.
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I don't need to question anymore.
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He's been there with me and I'm going to keep living my faith and if I have to question, god will let me know if I have to Right.
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So he's a strong, independent man, very responsible, and you know we go to Mass on Sundays together all the time.
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Mom is a little busy with Grandma at home because she's sick, but whenever we can go together, we all go together, but me and my dad, we always go to Mass together on Sundays.
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So it sounds like a very strong family unit type, rooted in faith, yeah, and happy Despite all of the challenges that come through life and everything they have to deal with.
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Generally a happy household.
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Yeah, absolutely, I'd say so.
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I love my family.
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They've been kind, they've been great, and despite the differences I might have had growing up with faith, you know I did go down the Protestant route.
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I feel like now it's, it's something that we just talk about openly.
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It was very touchy at first, right, um, and you know I won't mention the school or anything, I don't want to say anything bad about different schools, but they kind of instilled in me that Catholicism was like evil.
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Right and um, I'll say this quote imagine hearing this as a child, right, uh?
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A pastor who told me who went on his honeymoon with his wife and they would go to cathedrals in Europe, and he was recounting his honeymoon and he says those cathedrals are so beautiful, catholic cathedrals, they're so beautiful.
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And isn't it ironic that the road to hell is so beautiful?
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Right, and me as a child, I'm hearing that and I'm thinking my family's on the road to hell is so beautiful, right, and me as a child, I'm hearing that and I'm thinking my family's on the road to hell.
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That's tough.
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So you know, we had kind of a disagreement at some point, which is what pushed me away from the faith.
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It felt too uncomfortable, but I would say that no, despite that, I think you know God puts us in specific places for specific reasons.
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I can't doubt that.
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Because of it, I'm better for it.
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I have a love of Scripture that you know Protestants really, really do have, and I got that for more than 13 years.
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So family life is good.
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They're reading the Bible more now because of me, right?
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They're going to Mass.
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They're really asking questions that they've never asked themselves because I'm asking them, and I think we build each other up that way.
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Yeah.
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So you're growing up, you're in your house, everything's reasonably good.
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Some challenges there, right, Because you're you're getting information that might be contrary to what's at home and that's normal, especially in the teen year.
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You want to challenge that.
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Then you move off to college.
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You get into FIU.
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Did you stay at home while you went to FIU or did you stay?
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Yes, I did stay at home.
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It was a blessing to be able to stay with my family.
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I had other options as well, but I love my family.
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Despite all the issues I may have had, I wanted to stay with them and, to be quite frank, I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life.
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I was just like, well, if he's close, they'll accept me.
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And yeah, I went.
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But at this point, you know, I didn't know.
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I didn't have a faith life whatsoever.
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I guess I would be what you would call agnostic.
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You know, I have a respect for the idea of God, but definitely not living it, and it's more like well, as long as I have the sincerity inside of me, I guess I'm okay, Right, so so that that was.
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That was pretty much what it looked like.
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Pretty easy justification, Very easy, isn't?
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it.
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So you're in college.
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What did you think that you wanted to do when you went off to college?
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This is going to sound maybe a little immature, but I just remember going to college and I wasn't that great of a student towards the end of my high school career.
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I was very good in the early but I thought, man, I just need people to think I'm smart.
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I'm going to go do engineering.
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That'll be good.
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Come physics courses.
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Not for me, but fortunately I did get to take a programming class and boy, I fell in love with coding.
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It felt like solving little puzzles right, Making the computer do what you wanted it to do, and I went down that route.
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I said, no, swap me over to computer science.
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I like that, I want more of those courses.
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And then came the heavy maths and I'm like well, some of it's fun.
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You come to realize that all that math you don't think is the case when you're going through school.
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It's part of every part of life, right, right.
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So do you remember the first coding thing solution that you made?
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Oh yeah, I mean, the first thing we always have you do is called a Hello World project.
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It's just getting the computer to print out Hello World.
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And I remember thinking I was ready to code like the latest Apple software.
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After I saw those words pop up, I'm like I can't believe I just did that.
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I made all these symbols spell out this, right.
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And you know, now, looking at what I do, I can't even explain it to you, you know.
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But I do remember, yeah, getting that like wow moment.
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Oh, my gosh, I can code, I feel smart, right, you know, yeah.
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And then there's other.
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I've had other successes and failures along the way.
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So, as you get to the end of your time at FIU, I did see in your bio the Department of Defense project that you were on.
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Yes, so amazing opportunity.
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And boy am I thankful for the head researcher there who took an opportunity with me Because, like I said, I was not the best student.
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I really kicked it into high gear after my first year.
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But that first year was brutal and he took a chance on me because he thought I wasn't well, he didn't think that I did not have the credentials for it, but he gave me an opportunity.
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It was a research position where we did like applied machine learning right, Some AI stuff, before all the language learning models came out and all that, and I got to work hands-on on building a system for the Department of Defense.
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I can't go into details on it, obviously, but it was an amazing opportunity to get your hands dirty and build something that matters right, Detecting malware and things like that.
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It was amazing and without that I wouldn't be where I am today.
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That experience is what really made me stand out for Lockheed.
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So did you go straight from college to Lockheed Farnam?
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Yes.
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Yes, most people end up getting their master's.
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But I fell in love with just working.
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I like to code, I like to do things, so I said, no, I need to get to that.
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Okay, what was that process like for?
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you, I got hired in the middle of COVID so it was very, very scary job hunting.
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Graduated in 2019, in December, so come 2020 in March you know everybody was panicking, but you know, I applied.
00:18:24.028 --> 00:18:27.912
They had an online event at school and I just threw in my resume.
00:18:27.912 --> 00:18:37.201
They saw I had the Department of Defense experience and they're I guess that's what made me stand out right and they're just like yep, well, we don't have to train you as much, you're good to go.
00:18:37.561 --> 00:18:39.469
So yeah, yeah.
00:18:39.469 --> 00:18:44.539
Throw a three-letter agency word around and they jump right on it.
00:18:44.539 --> 00:18:45.101
Absolutely.
00:18:45.101 --> 00:18:50.410
Where were you in your faith life at that point?
00:18:50.410 --> 00:18:57.240
Any prayer over hoping you get a job, or making it through COVID or your parents, or say anything like that I'm sure my parents were praying for me.
00:18:58.257 --> 00:18:59.080
I definitely wasn't.
00:18:59.080 --> 00:19:00.441
I was relying on myself.
00:19:00.441 --> 00:19:03.384
And you know, to this day I still give the credit to God.
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God, god really gave it to me.
00:19:04.819 --> 00:19:09.039
Because if I look back at myself, I think, boy did I not deserve any of that.
00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:11.717
I had everything at myself.
00:19:11.717 --> 00:19:12.580
I think, boy did I not deserve any of that.
00:19:12.580 --> 00:19:14.929
I had everything at my disposal and I really did not do the best that I could with what I had.
00:19:14.929 --> 00:19:21.912
And it was a miracle of God that I got that position as a researcher and that I got this job now and now.
00:19:21.912 --> 00:19:23.276
I'm very, very appreciative.
00:19:23.276 --> 00:19:27.721
But no, faith was dead at that point.
00:19:27.721 --> 00:19:34.730
In fact, I was a little adverse to some folks who would like, well, you know, come to church with me or, you know, check this out.
00:19:34.730 --> 00:19:37.022
I just, I was a little church hurt.
00:19:37.022 --> 00:19:45.085
So no, no, faith was not involved, but God was still shining his favor on me, you know.
00:19:46.315 --> 00:19:54.703
He doesn't need us to actually ask him for that, Like he's there right.
00:19:54.703 --> 00:20:04.901
He's waiting for us and then when we ask, he's so pleased and grateful that we do, and he doesn't abandon us.
00:20:04.901 --> 00:20:08.063
Thank goodness, because that would have been a disaster in my life.
00:20:08.063 --> 00:20:16.239
Amen because, that would have been a disaster in my life, amen.
00:20:16.239 --> 00:20:19.166
So obviously something changed from that point to today, so talk me through that a little bit All right.
00:20:19.287 --> 00:20:24.759
So, yes, I had a conversion experience pretty much in early 2023.
00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:50.726
And I'm kind of a baby Catholic, right, but I was very traumatized by some of the things that I went through in my religious upbringing and I remember just I don't know where it was, but maybe on social media I stumbled upon a scripture verse it's from St Peter, about it saying that it would be better for those who knew the way of righteousness to not know than to know and turn away from it.
00:20:50.726 --> 00:20:54.451
Right, and that, just, I don't know, it just obliterated me.
00:20:54.451 --> 00:20:58.095
Who knew the way of righteousness to not know than to know and turn away from it, right, and that just, I don't know, it just obliterated me.
00:20:58.095 --> 00:21:02.298
I fell to my knees, quite literally, and all of this stuff came back from when I was a kid.
00:21:02.298 --> 00:21:08.229
I lost the will to sleep, to eat, to just do about anything right.
00:21:08.229 --> 00:21:15.682
I was obsessed with just reading scripture, trying to find apologists who would explain things to me.
00:21:15.682 --> 00:21:18.847
I had a very deep hadophobia, fear of hell.
00:21:18.847 --> 00:21:38.580
It was terrifying, it was paralyzing, and throughout that experience I'll try to shorten it up because, again, it's a very long story, but, um, you know, eventually I had to have some really good friends around me, one very good friend of mine who I reached out to and I said, brother, I'm very confused, I'm, I'm in turmoil.
00:21:38.580 --> 00:21:39.884
Can I just go to church with you?
00:21:39.884 --> 00:21:44.220
That would be great, you know I, and maybe I can ask some questions there or something.
00:21:44.220 --> 00:21:58.336
So I go with him and him being a great friend of mine, lifelong friend, um, you friend, he sits with me, he tells me, he gives me the wisdom that he has and I start reading more scripture and I had a great comforting experience at the church.
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