By Published On: May 24th, 2021Categories: Inspiration, Kairos Outside, Testimonials, Volunteering2.3 min read

Mona has been incredibly involved with Kairos and close to God, but it hasn’t always been that way. The bumpy road began in around 1999, when her twin brother was incarcerated. The two were incredibly close and this roadblock was a driving factor in Mona losing her faith altogether.

A few years later, after having built up walls of anger, her sister approached her to attend a Kairos Outside Weekend as she had just attended, but Mona had no interest in it. After her sister kept insisting, Mona finally relented and agreed to go. Mona’s sister didn’t share many details about her Kairos experience so Mona wasn’t sure what to expect and was not looking forward to her Kairos Weekend, thinking she didn’t have much that she wanted to share with God.

“God saved me first, then Kairos saved me.”

The Kairos Outside experience was a watershed moment in her life! With all of the walls Mona had built up through the past few years, she thought she would never be accepted by others, but the testimonies from the other Guests began breaking down those walls. The testimonies were so impactful because the stories were so similar to her own. She saw women from other races, creeds, and economic classes who all had the same issues as she did, something Mona never imagined. Mona was able to make connections with these women and it allowed her to know she wasn’t alone and to break free of the anger and guilt that had been controlling her life. She is still friends with many of the women who provided this life changing testimony.

After the Weekend, Mona was so inspired that she asked to Volunteer and did not miss a Weekend for Kairos Outside Southern California for years, and now observes the 3 Weekends on, 1 Weekend off Kairos guideline. To this day, Mona still volunteers in as many Kairos Outside Weekends as she can, and gives back even more.

Mona also holds a morning devotional, every morning at 6am, one in English and another in Spanish, plus she then transcribes the devotional and sends it out to others through Facebook Messenger. The number of people who come for her devotionals is inspiring to Mona and she emphasizes that outreach to both other Kairos Volunteers and Kairos Outside Guests is vitally important. During the pandemic, Mona wants people to know that they are not alone, that people are thinking of them, and encourages everyone to reach out to someone you have not connected with for a while.

Mona has encouraged all of her family members to attend Kairos Outside, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, she also has her nieces, nephews, daughter, and grandchildren help in any way they can.

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