At the age of 19, I was homeless. A few weeks later, on the street, a man came to me one evening, dressed as a priest. At that moment I could not understand if he was really a priest or just wanted to deceive me.



I told him I didn’t want to talk about God. His subsequent words shocked me. He said, “I have not come to talk about God, but to make sure you are safe.”



We talked until dark, and then he offered me a bed. He seemed sincere to me, so I removed all foreign thoughts.



He took me to the suburbs and asked me to wait in the car, because he had to talk to someone. A few minutes later he came back with another man who offered me to sleep in his garage. Inside I was screaming, “It’s a bad idea,” but there was nothing to do, I agreed.



The garage looked quite standard, there was a store, tools, etc., but in the corner still stood a box and a blanket rolled. You could enter the house through the inner garage door, but I was told to close it for the night. He apologized, said the children at home, he didn’t want to risk.

The priest asked permission to come in the morning to talk to me. Then I went into the house with the man.



I did not sleep all night because of fear, although I had no reason to fear them, both men treated me well. But when you come out on the street, you begin to realize that you can’t trust anyone.



Something amazing happened this morning. The man knocked on the door of his garage and asked if he could enter. It sounds ordinary, but when you live entirely in sight, this behavior makes you feel human again, understand that someone respects you so much that asks for permission to enter your own home.



I stayed with him for seven nights and talked to the priest every day. They somehow managed to break through my subsidy apartment (even less than a studio), find me a job and set up my life.

It’s been over 20 years and I feel indebted to them.



I still send card cards to a man who lived in the garage for Christmas and even went to Thanksgiving for two consecutive years. Unfortunately, the priest died a couple of years ago, but if there is a paradise, he definitely got there.



I’ve been waiting for a slide all the time. I am glad that it all ended well.