The Light of Literacy

Thanks to tutoring from a member of his ward, Eduardo also learned to write. "Before," he says, "I couldn't even sign my name."

With the light of literacy, Eduardo came to understand the truthfulness of his grandfather's words.

"We are here on earth so we can progress a little more each day," he says. By learning to read and write, he adds, he is showing his children and grandchildren that it is never too late to learn, improve, and become what God wants us to become. "Because I can read, I learn something new every day," he says.

Today Brother Contreras can read anything he wants to read, including the newspapers he once sold as an illiterate child. The scriptures remain his favorite books, especially the Book of Mormon. He has read it cover to cover eight times.

"For me the Book of Mormon was the door," he says, still grateful for how literacy and the gospel have changed his life. "The Book of Mormon was everything to me. It is everything to me. I feel the Spirit every time I open it to read."