My history with the Marist Institute is a long and continuous one. It merges with my own journey as a person and is bound up with my personal and professional experiences and I can say that, since I was a boy right up to the present day, the charism of Marcellin continues to be present in my life, in one way or another. This journey, prepared with such care, was one of the main factors that contributed to my formation as a human being and as a Christian. Through the Institute, and at the hands of Mary I was able to develop my relationship with God, and starting from that experience I was able to remain attentive to his call. 
 
This history began when my parents enrolled me in the Marist primary school of San Francisco do Rio Grande, in 1986. As a child I always felt the welcoming and tender presence of the Brothers in the school which made it a calm place to acquire skills, and to come into contact with life and with God. Gradually, year after year, I went about discovering and cultivating my development. 
  
One of the most important things in this relationship was the opportunity to play a part in leadership and autonomy inside the Marist Youth (Jumar) from 1994. In the general meetings and in the group meetings I had the opportunity to get to know myself as a person, at a time when this was very important for me. My journey as young Marist was a very beautiful one, thanks to the friends that I made, and because I learned how to accept differences, ending up by knowing and loving Jesus Christ even more, and recognizing my role as a young person in society. I accepted the "special invitation to the young people to go more deeply into the charism." 
 
Everything that I received at this stage helped me in my work in the animation of young people. I believe that God reserved this period for me to have a deep experience of Him, in silent prayer and in listening to his Word. Then I felt the call to live the charism more deeply by evangelizing the young people and the children, and I began a journey of Marist formation, while finishing my secondary education, in 1998. I will never forget the support and the affection that I received in that search from two Brothers of the San Francisco school, mainly Brother Jorge Fernandes Corrêa who captivated me and who was for me one of the best examples of religious life that I have ever witnessed. That man, director of the centre, who earlier had been a little distant in my life, became one of my best friends. 
 
And so, in 1999, I began my pre-postulantship in the city of New Hamburg, where, inside an inserted community, I could get to understand the role of the Church and religious amongst the people, and at the same time I was able to experience apostolic action among the young people and the way of quietly evangelizing through Marist presence. Many of Father Champagnat’s phrases began to make more sense to me, for example when he said: “I cannot see a child without experiencing the desire to tell him how much Jesus Christ loves him”. The following year I went to the postulantship of Vacaria, and there I saw that my vocation was not really for the religious life, but to follow the gospel and the footsteps of Marcellin in the Marist Laity. The postulantship was not easy for me, but God always remained present in my life. 
 
Some years later, on finishing my journalistic studies, I received an invitation from Brother Corrêa to take up once again my daily contact with the Institute, as a co-worker in San Francisco school. Once again I felt completely welcome, and the thoughts of Marcellin resounded in my mind once again. Then I realized that I could carry into my professional work the same urge to evangelize that springs from Marcellin’s charism. Two years of work and personal growth helped me to carry on with my studies to become a teacher. 
 
Soon afterwards I went to Porto Alegre, as a Marist student once more, doing post-graduate studies at the University. At the same time I worked in the Asunción School, and very soon became the Communication and Marketing Consultant for the Province. And in this way, I added the area of communication to my daily work.  
 
At the present time I am working in higher education, where once again I find Marcellin’s charism, although I do not give classes in a Marist centre. When I prepare lessons I am very aware of Father Champagnat’s attitude to teaching, and I try to educate from a starting point of love and dedication to the students. These legacies, and others, continue to live within me, and I feel happy and fulfilled to be constructing my history in this way.