Ex-photographer Changes Profession for College and Overcomes Financial Crisis

Those who see Hélio Rodrigues today can't imagine what his past was like. The former photographer made a lot of money capturing images inside nightclubs, and on this path, he turned to drugs and prostitution—a past he doesn't make a point to remember.

A turn of events, however, made him change course. Rodrigues' lifestyle was not the only thing that was about to change. His financial life, once 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 mess," he maintains.

Rodrigues was a professional photographer and managed to structure himself financially with this. Among the segments he used to register, he decided to get involved with photography in nightclubs. It was in this context that he reveals where the decline of his morality began.

"I ended up losing myself," he laments.

Answered Prayer

One night, after getting into a fight, Rodrigues came home, fell to his knees, and said a prayer. He remembered the God about whom had learned when he was younger and cried out for help. He asked Him to help him break free from addictions.

"And at this moment, I felt a hand touching my shoulder. I thought it was my wife, but as I looked back, I saw no one. Later, I understood that it was God who had answered my prayer," Rodrigues emphasizes.

When he got up, Rodrigues said he was lucid and without any odor related to alcoholic beverages. And since then, he decided he would never again get involved with this kind of thing. And he asserts he never did again.

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

Finances in Check

The lifestyle was different, but the business was still the same. Rodrigues stayed in the photography business in other segments, but saw his financial life in check.

"At that time, the system was analog," he contextualizes.

Because he couldn't keep up with the new tools, everything collapsed almost overnight. He went into a deep depression, and at that time, his wife made an unexpected decision: She packed up and scheduled a move from Aracruz, Espirito Santo, to Baixo Guandu to try to rewrite a new history.

Almost at the same time, a friend suggested an unconventional line of work for Rodrigues: colportering.

"When this friend of mine talked about colportering and the benefits, I was excited. Immediately, I accepted the call and became a colporteur," he says.

Rodrigues started working from house to house and realized, after a few months, he was good at this. In six months, he got a license, and in two years, he was accredited as an effective colporteur. According to Rodrigues, he’s always beating the goals that were proposed to him.

It has now been 14 years since the former photographer joined this ministry. He guarantees that colporteuring was the instrument that was able to change his family's income soon after God transformed his life. Currently, Rodrigues is a church elder. With the support of his family, he has already led 100 people to baptism.