AAS, Child Development
TCCED Specialized Spanish Instructor Certificate

In August of 1998 we joined the St Mary’s family by enrolling my three sons Adrian, James and Isaac Gonzales. A month later when I came to volunteer, our former principal said to me. “Mrs. Gonzales you have been sent by God! Can you stay today?”  Two weeks after, he asked if I wanted to teach 8 ^th grade Spanish. I told him that I had worked with five year olds for over eighteen years but never 8 ^th graders. He proceeded to tell me, " Same thing, just bigger bodies.” With Spanish being my native language, I accepted.  I taught 8 ^th grade Spanish along with Kindergarten for five years, and I have been teaching Spanish to the whole school for over ten years now. I love working with children; their smiles and words give me great joy and keep me young at heart, but my greatest joy is to have the opportunity to work at a place where we can praise God.

To this day, I truly believe I have been sent by God. In the year 1999, our pastor asked us if we wanted to coordinate the Spanish Masses where I served as a lector and as an extraordinary Eucharistic Minister. In the year 2000, I was asked to become a trainer for EIM, that the Diocese of Austin was looking for Spanish speaking persons to facilitate the program. My husband and I have been facilitating the EIM all over the Diocese in English and in Spanish for sixteen years now. I was also fortunate to be among the first people to bring the ACTS Retreats to West and served for four years in that ministry. In 2006, we got involved in the Cursillo Movement with the Hispanic community not only in this parish but at the Diocesan, Regional and National level, where my faith is continuously growing.
I was born and raised in México for twenty years until I moved to Dallas in 1974 where I worked in Child Care and Head Start and went to school part time.