Broward (North Lauderdale) and Miami-Dade (Kendall) Florida Extension Sites

It was the most difficult, desperate life anyone could imagine.

At various times, Amor Sierra was homeless, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and constantly carrying the scars of a childhood marred by repeated physical and sexual abuse.

“I was someone who attempted to commit suicide on numerous occasions,” Amor says. “I was an atheist for about nine years, and then Jesus came back into my life and radically changed me forever.”

In the years since that recommitment of faith, Amor has worked to serve Christ, making Him known in some of society’s darkest corners.

“I’m finding myself now on a platform, speaking to kids and speaking to abused women,” Amor says. “I’m speaking to so many people.”

In addition, Amor lists among her top priorities a ministry to women who are victims of human trafficking. She is an active member of nearly a dozen anti-trafficking organizations in South Florida.

Amor arranges to remove or cover up tattoos trafficking victims received involuntarily – tattoos meant to mark them as property. She owns and operates Miami Tattoo Company on South Beach. Her studio also helps cutting survivors, breast cancer survivors and former gang members. “Most of what I do is in the aftercare, once the victim has been rescued,” Amor says.

Before opening the studio in 2013, Amor quit a lucrative job to perform this volunteer work. She overcame her difficult background and lack of formal education to emerge a leader in that corporate world, building a professional career that led to a six-figure annual salary.

“Every time I would meet other managers in conference,” Amor recalls, “the first question was always, ‘Where’d you go to school?’”

The questions, although innocent, gnawed at Amor’s insecurities.

“I lived with a big chip on my shoulder,” Amor says. “I didn’t think I was smart enough to go to college. I didn’t think I could do anything like that.”

When Amor met TIU director of operations Patricia (Pat) Colangelo at an anti-trafficking event, it was time to confront all of that doubt.

Pat urged Amor to bolster her ministry work with a Christian ministries degree. Amor recognized the wisdom in that advice, but the thought became frightening.

“All the demons kept coming back: ‘oh you’re not smart enough, you can’t do this,’” Amor recalls thinking to herself in the days before her first TIU class. “I said, ‘Pat, I’m going to drop out.’ And she said, ‘I need you to come in.’ Pat talked me off the ledge.”

Self-doubt is an enemy of adults who return to the classroom after many years to obtain a degree. Amor says she is glad she did not quit before the start of that first class.

“I’m so happy,” Amor says. “I’m learning so much. I just feel so good, and I know that I’m going to be able to use the degree to help people.”

After dropping out of high school many years ago, Amor has a new appreciation for education.

“I don’t want to just know the bible from reading it, I want to know how to talk to people about it,” Amor says. “I want to use everything I’m learning at Trinity on a much broader and greater scale.

Most TIU-Florida students have to balance work, classes and study time.

Robert Amaya balances student responsibilities with the need to arrive on movie sets with his lines learned.

Robert has appeared in 11 motion pictures, is writing a book, and expects to direct his first feature film within the near future, all while finishing a TIU undergraduate degree in Christian ministries.

There’s more: pastors and youth leaders who see him in films such as Courageous invite him to their pulpits.

“God has really given me a platform to not only do film, but also to be able to speak,” Robert says, “and so I do travel quite a bit to preach the gospel.”

As he took on those speaking engagements, Robert realized he needed more knowledge of scripture. He wanted to build credibility in those settings – to be more than simply a guy his audience had seen in a movie.

After finishing his bachelor’s degree, Robert wants to continue with graduate work and divinity school: “To be able to get an education from a wonderful school like Trinity is amazing!”

One of Robert’s best-known comedy scenes came in Courageous, where his character pretended to be a psychotic street gang member in the back of a police car. The officers wanted him to intimidate an unruly suspect they were taking to jail.

“My character provides the comic relief in that film,” Robert says. “It’s all about fatherhood and how we need to step up as dads.”

Robert does not covet the fame and fortune of better-known movie actors. Instead, he looks at the results of his work and derives satisfaction.

“Nobody goes up to Tom Cruise and says, ‘Man, Mission Impossible really changed my life,’” Robert says. “I hear things like ‘we saw Courageous, and my dad came back home.’”

Robert admits it takes understanding faculty members at times to help navigate his obligations.

“I have to travel. I’m always going on sets, and what I have found is that they say, ‘we’re working with you. We’re going to help you get through this,’” Robert says of the TIU-Florida faculty.

He adds that in return, the faculty also expect him to meet high standards in his classes.

“Anything that matters is going to require work and dedication,” Robert says. “The hardest thing to do is to start it. Take that step of bravery and move forward and say, ‘Yes, I’m going to go ahead and do it.’”

Although Robert has ambitious educational goals, he also loves devoting time to the movie business and the people who work in it. He says many are in need of a friendly listener, and he uses down time on the set to start conversations with them about life and eternity.

“People may eat their lunch and go back to their trailers to relax,” Robert says, “but I’ll eat my lunch and then I’ll go hang out with the cooks, because I want to know what’s going on and I want to know more about them.

“It is such a ripe field for mission work.”