Desperate for a friend

Rocio Ruiz Olivera didn't want to face what her life had become. She spent her time at parties, dances, anything to avoid the pain that was waiting for her at home. "I was so lonely," Rocio remembers. "I felt like no one really understood how I was feeling. I was desperate for a friend."

When she thought things couldn't get worse, Rocio's young son became ill. "I sold everything just to pay for his medicine and hospital stays," she says. "He just got sicker and sicker."

When some Christians from a local church in her neighborhood started visiting Rocio, they found a woman hungry for someone to care about her and her son.

"They gave me a Bible study booklet," remembers Rocio, "but I took it fearfully." Rocio's husband did not approve of religious things and she feared he would take his anger out on her or her son.

What a friend we have in Jesus

Rocio read the booklet in secret, and she began answering the questions at the end of each of the chapters. She was becoming interested in the things of the Lord. She was beginning to see that the friend she craved was there all the time: Jesus.

One day, Rocio made a mistake and left the Bible study booklet out on the table where her husband saw it. To her surprise, he didn't fly into a rage. Instead, he picked it up and began reading it for himself. He started answering the questions, too.

When her husband did not get angry about her study of the Bible, Rocio felt free to investigate more. She openly studied the Bible with her new friends from the local church.