Ex-photographer changes profession for university and overcomes financial crisis

[Credit: André Azevedo]

Who sees Hélio Rodrigues today cannot imagine what his past was like. The former photographer made a lot of money capturing images inside nightclubs and, along the way, turned to drugs and prostitution, a past he doesn’t want to remember.

A turn of events, however, made him change course. Rodrigues’ lifestyle wasn’t the only thing that was about to change. His economic life, previously abundant, would soon encounter setbacks that would lead him to participate in colportage, an activity linked to the distribution of religious and health books. The income would change his life.

“My life was a disaster,” he says.

Rodrigues was a professional photographer and with this he managed to structure himself financially. Among the segments he used to record, he decided to take up photography in nightclubs. It was in this context that he reveals where his moral decay began.

“I ended up getting lost,” he laments.

[Credit: André Azevedo]

Prayer answered

One night, after fighting, Rodrigues returned home, fell on his knees and said a prayer. He remembered the God he had learned from when he was younger and asked for help. He asked her to help him break free from addictions.

“And at that moment, I felt a hand touching my shoulder. I thought it was my wife, but when I looked back I didn’t see anyone. Later I understood that it was God who had answered my prayer,” he emphasizes Rodrigues.

When he got up, Rodrigues said he was lucid and had no odor associated with alcoholic beverages. And since then, he decided that he would not get involved in this kind of thing again. And he assures that he never did it again.

“Since then, I have started a strong and powerful Christian journey, through the Sabbath school lesson, daily Bible study and knowledge of the books of the Spirit of Prophecy,” he adds.

[Credit: André Azevedo]

Finance in check

The lifestyle was different, but the business remained the same. Rodrigues remained in the photography business in other segments, but saw his financial life under control.

“At that time, the system was analog”, he contextualises.

Unable to keep up with the new tools, everything fell apart almost overnight. He fell into a deep depression, and at that moment his wife made an unexpected decision: she packed her bags and scheduled a transfer from Aracruz, Espirito Santo, to Baixo Guandu to try to rewrite a new history.

Almost at the same time, a friend proposed to Rodrigues an unconventional line of work: peddling.

[Credit: André Azevedo]

“When this friend of mine talked about canvassing and the benefits, I was excited. I immediately accepted the call and became a canvasser,” he says.

Rodrigues started working from house to house and realized, after a few months, that he was good at it. In six months he obtained his license and in two years he was accredited as an effective canvasser. According to Rodrigues, he is always surpassing the goals set for him.

It has now been 14 years since the former photographer joined this ministry. He says that colporteuring was the instrument that was able to change his family’s income shortly after God transformed his life. Rodrigues is currently an elder in the church. With the support of his family, he has already brought 100 people to baptism.

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