As soon as I was born, my grandmother offered me in a ritual to an entity known as “Maria Padilha”. At the age of 13, I began to feel a strong attraction to men, especially, older men.

At this age, I decided to run away from home with a 23-year-old guy. I got involved with him physically and emotionally, believing in his promise to run away with me and be happy together. However, this didn’t last more than 24 hours.

Since I was openly homosexual and attempted to run away, my father, who I didn’t have a good relationship with, threatened to kill me if I continued down that path. This pushed me even further into this new world because I began to have sexual relations with drug dealers and frequently using marijuana and cocaine.

My sisters spoke to me about Jesus, but I never accepted and even argued with them. My relationship with my father kept getting worse. For all of these reasons, I decided to offer my life to evil spirits.

I had to remain secluded for some time in a dirty smelly room, drinking this filthy water and in pain because there were several cuts throughout my body, which also had to be completely shaved. I was gone for such a long time that my family searched everywhere for me, including voodoo centers, but no one gave them any information.

When I came out of that room, my mind had already been offered to the evil spirits and I was determined to become a drag queen (transvestite), assuming the identity of “Sapphire Sacarolly”. I took the first opportunity I had, which happened to be during carnival, and turned to prostitution. I created a website and a Facebook page for customers to access and hire my services.

Prostitution became my addiction. It stopped being a source of income and became a vicious circle, so much so that I would even have sexual relations with crack addicts on the streets. The addiction was so great that, when a man didn’t want to sleep with me, I’d do witchcraft to have him for myself. I didn’t care who it was; all I cared about was my satisfaction.

Addiction to sex, drugs, loneliness, sadness, sorrow, grief… There were so many things weighing me down that I couldn’t stand carrying around that constant weight in my life any longer. The worst part is that I saw how happy my brothers were because they were attending church, yet my life was completely destroyed.

My mother never stopped doing purposes of faith in favor of my deliverance from this lifestyle.

After almost dying when a drug dealer stabbed me in the leg, close to my femoral vein, I realized I needed to make a decision, so I decided to change my life.

I returned home, began going to Church and, to be sure of what I wanted, I accepted the invitation to attend a Youth Group meeting. That’s where I learned what to do to find the true meaning of life. I turned away from prostitution, addictions, bad friendships and the hate. I reconciled me with my father. I was baptized in water, and during a YPG vigil, I had my encounter with God and received the Holy Spirit.

Today I am no longer “Sapphire Sacarolly”. I am a man of God, Davi dos Santos Nascimento, whose pleasure is to serve my lord.

Davi dos Santos