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Growing up on the streets in Guatemala, Major Lex Giron’s childhood was far from easy. After a large earthquake devastated the country, he unknowingly had his first interaction with The Salvation Army through emergency/disaster services.
This wouldn’t be his last time meeting The Salvation Army, as Giron would battle with alcohol and drug addiction in the future.
See how Major Giron found his faith and what his 30 years of service as a Salvation Army officer have meant to him.
Below is a transcript of the video, edited for readability.
Major Lex Giron: I came to know The Salvation Army through my own need.
My mom had died when I was 7, and then my dad left us. I grew up on the streets, where you don’t learn many good things.
In 1976, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Guatemala, leaving devastation.
One day, while looking for something to eat, I saw people in uniform. They were bringing food, water and tents, which were immediately distributed to us. We were very grateful because it was a time of need.
Without realizing it, that was the first time I met The Salvation Army.
Years later, as an adult, married, and living in Guatemala, a war broke out—political problems between the government and the guerrilla. The government was recruiting soldiers for its forces; the guerrilla was recruiting people for its forces.
Besides gun violence, besides kidnappings, there was no work. There was a lot of death. My life and my family were in danger. And I decided to immigrate to the United States. It was not an option, it was a necessity.
I petitioned for a visa, and it was granted to me. I came here, found a job, but then I lost it, and it was a time when I fell into despair. The worst path I chose at that time was drugs and alcoholism.
One day, my wife told me, “I need to find a church.” While walking down Hollywood Boulevard, she came across people in uniform who identified themselves as The Salvation Army, and the best part—they spoke her language. They invited her, and from then on, she never left The Salvation Army.
Without thinking, I fell deeper and deeper, until I couldn’t live without drugs. I promised my wife and kids many times that I would change. But that promise wasn’t kept many, many times, because I still had not found the will to quit.
Perhaps because my immaturity did not allow me to value the wife and kids God had given me, and the great responsibility I had as a father to care for my family, I had dedicated it all to myself, focusing more on my vices than on their needs.
But there were consequences, and my body no longer accepted the drug. I sought help at Harbor Light of The Salvation Army on Skid Row.
I was accepted in, and entered that rehab center. This time for the help I needed physically, but also psychologically. I entered differently than I had the previous times I had tried to change.
There was a lot of counseling, group therapy, and support. Little by little, without thinking about it, I found myself in Bible study groups.
After I graduated, the director, Captain Díaz, told me, “This doesn’t end here.” From then on he became my mentor, he began to counsel me, but above all, he began to give me a biblical foundation, which helped me understand that the God I had heard about, the God my wife spoke of, was a real God.
The moment I accepted Jesus Christ by faith, I began to see things differently, to treat people differently, to have a different attitude.
There were open airs—going to the streets in Santa Monica and Hollywood and sharing the gospel. At first, my legs would shake, but people paid attention and people listened.
And for the first time, I felt I could be useful for something. When I spoke to the director and shared this with him, he told me, “You can be an instrument in God’s hands.”
They told my wife and me that workers were needed to start Hispanic ministries. We prayed with my wife and my children, and we told them, “If this is from God, in God’s time, God will open the doors.”
We were granted visas to study, to enter The Salvation Army college.
While at the college, one of the professors, Major Chet Danielson, in a class, shared his experience in Guatemala. I spoke to him and he shared that The Salvation Army was sent to assist in times of crisis.
I understood that The Salvation Army was not confined to four walls such as a church, but its commitment, its purpose, its mission, was different. It reached human needs not only by sharing water, bread, but also by giving counsel of the help that God could provide.
And there are many people like this, who need a voice, help, motivation, an organization like The Salvation Army, to help them out of that deep hole.
Every ministry is special, and God chooses us to go there to be the guides, the spiritual mentors of these families, of these people.
We have served in different corps. Pasco, WA, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Kansas City, DHQ, Santa Ana.
The knowledge of God’s Word will help you discover God’s perfect plans for your life. You will discover things you may never have thought of before, but which God, through His Word, proposes and gives you the choice to accept.
Accept them. If they are from God, they will be a blessing to your life.
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