Just a twenty-year-old Corporal in the U.S. Marines doing his time in. I love God with all my heart and I give my best to Him everyday. Age 17, I will never forget what God has done for me in the past and how I overcame so many obstacles after this age. Ever since I’ve been in I’ve ran into so many crazy things in my career so far that have been related to friends, family, even church. How can I begin?
It all started August 12, 2004, two weeks before my Senior year in high school. I went to my first cell group with this church called “Templo De Alabanza”. I loved it, I loved being around those that got to understand me, but things went to a kick, but thats later. I got to go this first ever real experience called “Encuentro” or for those that don’t speak Spanish, it means encounter. I got to learn so much about Jesus that I never knew about, all I knew about Him at that time is that he died, but I never knew the reason why. I went, spent my three days at the encounter and it was awesome. I met this guy who is really cool named Josh Reyes. He’s quiet, smart, and really cool. He comes into play later one. My leader, his name is Francisco Vasquez, really cool guy, understanding, and buff, lol. He would hear me out and pray for me. He knew that I was a musician because my brother told him that I was a bass player. I got to meet cool people and be apart of the cell group. Later on…
September 24, 2004, I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a DEP (Delayed Entry Program), reason why DEP is because I was a Senior in HS. Ever since that day, I’ve been having lots of ups and downs in my church because I had a set date of July 18, 2005 to go to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego (MCRD SD) for my initial three months of a “summer vacation” in San Diego. This will come to play later on. Well, ever since I enlisted, I gained so much more interest in to going to church. I ABSOLUTLEY LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF SERVICE!!!
October 24, 2004 I went to my first actual church service with Templo De Alabanza. It was just me andmy best friendRyan (I miss you bro, rest in peace my brother) who went to service together. I caught up with my best friend Chachi later on the day at the service. Me and Ryan walked all the way from my house on 2nd St to I St where the church was located at. I loved the service and I was happy to see my leader there at the service, because he was the guitarist there. I saw Lupe there for the first time on the bass, I thought to myself, she wasn’t what I was expecting to look like. Anyways, I went, became a member of the churh, only as GP, general population.
November 12, 2004, my first bass lesson with Lupe Vidals. Francisco knew that I was a good bass player because his disciples have heard me play before, not to sound like a show off, it just happened like that. My leader asked if I could jam out with him and the church band, but the issue I had was that I didn’t know how to read and play chords. So he hooked me up with bass lessons taugh by Luper. She tought me everything that was basic about the bass and I applied it with reading the Bible. I met more people in this class and a certain man I thank God I got to meet this man because I met the most beautiful girl in the world, she will come to play later. This man is named Josh. He is a cool guy. He had a lot of smarts, but playing the bass wasn’t his thing as it was for me. Time passes on…
December 18 2004, my first time on STAGE. Two days prior to this day, there was this girl who approached me at the after school bus stop at school. Her name is Nineveh (I think thats how you spell it) She came up to me and asked me, “So you’re going to be the one playing the bass at church for Lupe while she’s gone?” Then I said yes, but when I said that, I got nervous. Game day comes on the 18 on a Saturday, youth services andI was very very shaken to play. I would always call my leader if I could know what time was practice, but he’d tell me to chill out, he’d let me know. Then 7 P.M. comes, half hour till service starts. I get a phone call around 6:50 to go to church for practice. I was scared. I show up and only the drummer, Alfonso, was the only one there. He said it should just be only me and him for practice and he liked my sound. 7:30 comes and I’m on stage and I see my brother, Chachi, Benito, Rico, Ryan, and Julio with the crowd yelling, “You can do it Danny, Jesus loves you!!!!” So as Pancho was praying for the crowd he hit the first note to the song we were going to play and after that…it felt so awesome…the presence of God was there in that room as I was playing. I had a few chord mistakes but it couldn’t be heard by the crowd but it was so awesome, all my shaking and nervousness went away. It was so awesome!!! The service was so awesome and that concludes that day.
January 17, 2005…I was finally baptized as a true Christian.
February 17 2005, my best friend past away. It was one of the most devastating things to ever happen to me. I learned how precious life was after his death. I was so sad and hurt that day…still am today. My family was hurt, his family was hurt, and the church was hurt because me and Ryan had such an awesome time growing up. Till this day, I still have nightmares telling me that when I see Ryan in the real world, I tell him to go away from because he doesn’t exist any more, these still haunt me today. Ryan…I miss you bro, Skaters Never Die!!!!!
April 10 2005. My last time playing for the church as a high school student. It was one of the best services I’ve ever played, but when I cell group came up, I was put on discipline for having a short amount of time left in LB. I was sad, stricken, but never lost faith in God and my church. I wanted to prove to my church that I can be faithful to God everywhere I go, I proved them all wrong, even the pastor.
June 10 2005. I graduated high school Class of 2005 Baby!!!
June 25 2005. I was invited to go to church bandpractice. After practice, my leader told me i was back in the band becaus of my short amount of time left.
July 17 2005. My last church service as a musican…as as civilian. I got to play my last service on a Sunday morning…sad day for a lot of people. The real start of my life begins this day. I left church, got home, had a good meal, went to visit people to say my final goodbye to my friends, heard Stryper for the last time. I arrived to the USMC recruiting station in Merced CA for my brief, then I gave my goodbyes to my Nina, Momma, brother, andmy mom’s best friend Violet. They were crying, except my bro, he knew how the situation worked for me…he knew I was coming home a Marine.
July 18 2005…0000 hrs…”SIT UP STRAIGHT AND GET YOUR EYES ON ME. YOU ARE NOW ABORD MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO BLDG 6225 RECIEVING BARRACKS!!! THE LAST WORD OUT OF OUR MOUTH WILL BE ‘SIR’, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!!!” “GET OFF MY F@$#%#GBUS AND ON MY DAGGONE YELLOW FOOTPRINTS!!” It was hell for me to hear grown men yelling at me in their uniforms. Then I got my first haircut…BALD, PELON, SHINEY HEAD!! My Drill Instructors are people I will never forget, even to this day I remember them. Senior Drill Instructor SSgt Pineda, Drill Instructors SSgt Bermudez, Sgt Tyson, Sgt Palacios and my company and platoon code, Kilo Company, Platoon 3114.
September 9, 2005…I witness my first “Suicide”. I saw this recruit shoot himself with the M16A2 Service Rifle to the inner thigh. It was scary to see this gun shot go off and to see him hit the deck after…….
October 14, 2005 I graduated bootcamp, now known as Private Daniel A. Barrera from Kilo Co, Plt 3114.
December 2005…date not remembered…but remember I mentioned about the most beautiful girl every? Well, here she comes now. By that time, I was in my time to go to my job school and i was on MySpace and I seen this girl on most of my friends pages, her name is Betty, well Noemi, but Betty is more prettier. I got to meet her for the first time by me introducing myself to her, I sounded like a creep. She was 16, I was 18. She come on to play later on. Same time, I met this other girl who I’ve known since my bro’sex girl friend, her name is Chanel, she is my best friend.
January 1, 2006…I got promoted to PFC (Private First Class, one stripe up)
February 14 2006…PFC Barrera stationed with 2d Marine Division…Camp Lejeune, NC….boo!!!
April 11, 2006 my first church service in Jacksonville NC. Well…through this time period, I felt really empty in my heart…something was missing. I’m losing touch with God, I’m losing focus. Then God spoke to me as I prayed and he made me looksomewhere where I never thought of looking…the phone book. I looked for churches in Spanish andwell, I found what God told me to look for. I called the number, left a message. Hours later, I got a call from another number, it was the pastor of the church. We spoke and told him I couldn’t make it on Sunday because I woke up late. Tuesday April 11 came and I was very motivated to go to church. I couldn’t wait to go. I go to work, I get out and I got prepped for service with my bible. I got a phone call from a man I will never forget named Vicente. He picked me up from my room and we went to service. I arrived…the church looks nice…WHAT?!?!?!? Is this so? This is so small… I have to make what God has provided for me…the best. I went, and I loved it. Nothing else, I want to be apart of this church, make it my home. Because of this church, I met the coolest family every, The Aguilera’s. They were awesome!!!
August Time frame. I got to go home for my birthday because I had the days to go home. I didn’t want to be in NC on my birthday. Anyways, I go home and I went to my church, friends’ houses, everything…It was nice.
September 1, 2006. I got promoted to Lance Corporal (LCpl, one stripe, crossed rifles). My Corporal was getting out this day, I remember what I asked him and what he said to me. I asked him, “Why do a lot of Marines always marry thick girls or kinda fat girls?” His response, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Barrera, it could happen to you.” This will come into play later on.
September time frame. I mentioned earlier about a girl…that was so beautiful to me in every way. I met this girl on Myspace named Betty; and after we met, we never spoke till September. I left her a picture comment and that comment I left started everything for us. I think what I wrote was “Wow, you really are pretty” or something like that. Whatever it was, it sparked into something that we never thought it would’ve happened.
October time frame. Betty and I got talked more and more, knew each other even better and comes to find out that we had so much in common at this point…till I said this…”Betty, I got to tell you something…I love you. You’re the kind of girl I’ve prayed to God for. You and I are so much a like.” I screwed up saying this because it led into drama. A week later, my phone dies…for two weeks, no means of communication, nothing, my service just died just like that. I was mad. Couldn’t call home for a long time.
Last week of October. I go to the gas chamber for training and Betty and I are talking again…this time saying I love you to each other.
November 2, 2006, I experience my first Marine Corps birthday ball. It was ok, I went in my Dress Blue “A” and it was decient. I come home and check my Myspace and I got a message from Betty say that we should talk. Then we left a lot of bullitens saying “He makes me feel happy”, “She puts a feeling in me that I can’t describe but it’s awesome” Love notes pretty much…till my phone got fixed…I popped the question to her, which I was very nervous to ask, but I did it. She said yes and we were happy. Same time, after I asked her out, i got orders to an infantry unit called 2/2, me an Admin Marine working with grunts and combat vets everywhere I go. I was nervous finding out that i was going to deploy for 7 months to Iraq and at the same time taking a U S Navy vessal to country (Iraq).
November 13, 2006, I detached my parent command and joined the infamous Battalion Landing Team 2/2. It was cool to know that my friend Raymundo was from church was deploying with me, but on a different boat.
December Holidays. I go home to say my good byes to everyone I love. It was hard but it was my duty as a Marine to do so. I got a letter from Betty saying that she loves me and with a little key chain thingy that says “Token of Love”.
January 5 2007…the big day…I deployed to Iraq by boat…knowing that I was going to enter the real secular world, I knew God would protect me. As long as I stay in his footsteps, I’ll be safe, my life is his.
January 6 2007 throug July 1 2007 I had the roughest time during deployment. Almost got killed in the country of Qatar because of a very deadly sandstormthat had sharp objects flying by me. Seeing camel spiders for the first time was really scary, they’re so big that they have their own shadow. I almost lost Betty, she was one of my motivations of my deployment and if I’d lost relationship with her, I had nobody to see and spend time with other than my family. I got to see so many countries that I never thought I’d get to see, it was so awesome!!!! I loved it. Countries like France, Sicily, Spain, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq. I’d love to go back to these places again!!!! I pray to God that I may go again. He really made my life so awesome in the Marines, He gave me what I asked for.
July 14 2007 - July 22 2007. Post-Deployment leave…the best eighteen days of leave that I’ve ever taken in my Marine Corps career. I got to be with Betty for the first time in my life. She always kept warning me about her size, but I was kinda picky about it, but when I arrived in Washington state and I saw her for the first time…I was looking directly and both an angel of God and a blessing. I didn’t care about how she looked like when I saw her in person. She struck my heart with awesomeness, that’s the best I could describe it. I loved every moment I was with her, except the arguements with her sibilings, but that’s not important. I love every milisecond with her. The fair, movies, Starbucks…hmmm sounds good, everything. Being with her also got me into watching A Walk To Remember, it’s a chick flick, but it made me cry…men cry too. I loved every moment with her. I went to her church and WOW!!! It was HUGE to me. It was cool, fit in just perfectly. Again, I loved every moment with her. I hated leaving though, why did I cry? I didn’t want to leave Washington, I want to be there even longer, to be with Betty, but I had to see my family in California.
August 18 2007, Big trouble for a runaway. Well, this day, to me probably made Betty’s mother and her sibilings really mad at me. I knew the whole time that Betty was leaving WA to CA. I can’t interfere with her life, it’s her life, God had plans for her and so far, they’re working. I couldn’t help myself when Betty’s mother and her leader Gretchen kept calling me, I was scared to answer the phone. I had fought and fought for Betty, but I couldn’t help it and told them what I knew about Betty’s runaway…had to bend the truth a little to get some ease in all of us. Bad day for me and it was weird.
September time frame…I had it coming from God and I didn’t see it. It felt like to me I was being cheated on by having Betty wanting to call quits on our relationship. Lack of faith in God an your significant other hurts both sides of the story. I never wanted to leave Betty’s side, she had her reasons and I can’t stop her. Painful for both of us. I’d cry for her, tears and sadness just coming out of me.
God, please help me understand what I’m going through. You can hear me everyday!!!! I know you’re listening!!! I love you with all my heart and you’ll be my first priority in my life!!! I enjoi singing for you…
November 2 2007, one year after the question…it wasn’t too bad at all for Betty and I, we spoke like friends again.
November 16 2007, Marine Corps Ball, it was fun and I got tipsy for the first time, never want to do it again…I never want to play in the fire again, God forgive me…you tought me a big lesson that day…never play with the Devil’s fire.
December going to January time frame…Betty never wanted to talk to me again…she ignores my calls and texts…she really doesn’t want to talk. I never knew that she still had feelings for me. I made the biggest mistake in my life, a permanantscar in my heart. My best friend Chanel, she’s really cool and I asked her out and not knowing that Betty still loved me…I screwed up big time. God tought me a big lesson and that was to never lose faith in your old friends, they can really care. I hurt innocent peoples feelings for doing that…I never want to do the same thing ever again…made me feel like my dad.
January 11 2008 - January 23 2008…Home for the After Holidays, lol. I went home and saw a lot of my friends again, especially Chachi and Josh. I loved hanging out with them, they are so cool. Next day, I went to Betty’s church in LB for the first time, it was cool. One thing I will never turn down and it’s an oppotunity I will always take. I got to see Betty and Mario, Mario is my homeboy…this guy is really cool. I saw Betty and after service I met her uncle and dad, they were really cool. Met Pastor Doug Young, he’s the man. Later on, Betty took me to a car that had the gifts I gave her. She handed almost everything back to me, a phone and I don’t remember what else but she was sad that she gave it back. Mario was throwing a birthday party for his sister at his house and I went and Betty was there as well. I was playing XBox 360 with my friends then I went down stairs and Betty and I had some lunch together and had a chat. Then when we were down stairs, it was me, Betty, and Maribel just chit chating about things and Betty and I would flirt.
I got a phone call from Mario to go to the church for the youth group church practice and so I went and Betty was a bit surprised to see me go. I didn’t go to see her, I went because I was invited by Mario to go. Mario was playing the bass and I was assisting him with the bass. The guitarist, Steve, was so cool. He let me assist Mario on the bass and he really like my style on bass and he was quite impressed. So Betty and I would talk every once in a while.
Sunday came and I saw my younger brother Eddy, I freakin miss this kid so much. He cracks me up so much. So we hung out.
Last few days I had remaining in LB, I spent it with Betty. It felt like Washington all over again, but better. I loved every minute with her, she makes me so happy and makes my gray skies become bright and sunny.
I leave.
I pray to God that I may be with her, but it’s not my call, it’s God’s call.
February time frame…Betty thinks that I’m immature and tells me to grow up…we don’t talk for a good while.
April 17 2008 through April 20 2008…convencion de AJEC (Associaion de Jovenses Embajadores en Cristo). It was the best three days of my life with God.
May 14 2008 through May 28 2008…I leave base to go on Recruiter’s Assistance in McAllen, TX to visit my dad because he has heart issues so I have to be by his side. I had a bad time with my dad. He completely sold me out…he never treated me like his son over there, just like a loser from the streets. I’d do so much to make my dad happy but he’d tell me things like act right, don’t say this, don’t do this…andwhen I crack a joke, he’d never laugh, he’d understand but won’t laugh and tell me I’m stupid. Meeting Mariah’s (my dad’s g/f) family are a bunch of stuck ups…think they are better than everyone in the world, saying my life is a waste of a valuable life and I’ll be a nobody for the rest of my life. I try to talk to these people and they ignore me like i was a bum in the streets asking for change. It felt like they threw the middle finger at me everytime they’d see me. Be ashamed of themselves to have me hang out with my dad. I’m so glad that I left Texas, never want to go back, unless Eddy came with me to TX.
Now…well let see what mysteries God has set for me…MI VIDA ERES TU SENOR!!!!!! Ayudame a vencer estos demonios que esta en mi vida!!! Contigo, todo es possible!!!!!
