Reflecting on how much his life has changed, Tony said, “I am overwhelmed with gratitude!”

Tony remembers vividly the moment God rescued him. “I had originally gone to the river bottom thinking I was going to help others that were living there, but soon I was fully back into my addictions. I ended up living there as well.”Tony lived in the river bottom for years, never seeming to see a way out. Finally, as all hope seemed to be slipping away, he cried out to God for a way out of the dark place he was in. The answer to his prayers came during RMA VC outreach, when a staff member walked to where Tony was laying, and asked if he was ready to change his life. “I knew that God had come to save me through the Mission,” he recalled, “and later I would realize that God had been with me the whole time I felt I was without hope.”

Tony grew up around Ventura and Santa Paula with his twin brother, two sisters, and a younger brother. “We had a good upbringing,” he said, “and my parents tried to instill good values into us.”

Unfortunately, the neighborhoods they lived in were rough and Tony remembers being bullied by gang members starting when he was around 13. “They were trying to get me to join them and at first I resisted, but eventually I got tired of fighting them and just gave in.”

Tony stayed with the gang for a few years but eventually got out, he credits his parents’ positive influence for that. “Despite what I was doing, I was still struggling on the inside to do better because of my mom and dad.” His time in the gang, however, started him on a path to addiction that would be with him for decades.

Tony finished high school, went on to get his AA degree at Ventura College, and began to prosper while working in the business world. He married and eventually had four daughters. “My life looked good from the outside, but inside I was struggling with the stress of owning and caring for multiple properties,” he said, “and my addictions that I had kept submerged began to come back again.”

Tony found himself drinking to selfmedicate and after his marriage started to come apart, his drinking only increased. After a long divorce battle, Tony got custody of his daughters but was left with little money or means of support. “We were close to homelessness many times. I was doing what I could to support my girls, but it was an uphill battle.”

At one point Tony moved to a cousin’s place in Riverside and the family was literally living in a barn. “I knew at that point that I couldn’t go on like this and that my daughters needed to be near their mom despite the bitterness between my ex-wife and myself,” he explained. “I ended up relinquishing custody back to their mother as hard as that was.”

Alone now, and with mounting financial problems, including trouble with the IRS, Tony began to fall deeper into drugs and alcohol. Despite his struggles, Tony continued to work including time as an assistant pastor. It was shortly after this that Tony made what he thought would be a short trip to the river bottom to help those in need. He ended up staying five years until that day when God pulled him up out of his despair and brought him to RMA Ventura County.

Tony graduated from the Life Recovery Program and is now a Ministry Resident. He works closely with Mission staff and gets to be of service to the program men, as well as the community.

“I am so grateful for what this place has done for me,” he said, “and I feel like God has been leading me here even before I ended up in the river bottom.” Tony has been thriving in the Mission family and even managed to get his twin brother into the program last year. “Fernando is as thankful as I am for this place. And knowing he is safe here is a blessing,” said Tony.

Tony regularly attends Calvary Chapel in Oxnard where Pastor Rob Branchflower is one of his counselors. He also has a mentor and a sponsor from the Celebrate Recovery meetings he attends. “I can’t begin to express how loved I feel by God, the Mission, and all those that continue to support me” he said. “And two of my daughters, my mom, and one of my sisters were at my graduation last August. That was an amazing blessing!”

Tony feels truly rescued. Thinking about where he was then and where he is now makes him smile. “I am overwhelmed with gratitude!”

Tony (left) helped his twin brother, Fernando (right), enter the Life Recovery Program.