The first challenge I faced, I turned 11 years old. It was when my niece who was 5 years old at the time. She was killed by her own mother and the mother's boyfriend. After that happened, I felt depressed, I had no one to talk to. Then I continued talking to God again, praying helped me to get through day by day. Even as 11 years old, we are able to have feeling of depression and anxiety. It does not only affect adults. The second challenge I faced, I was 16 years old. My favorite grandpa passed away and it was during the time I was in basketball. I had really bad toxic coaches that would scream in my face. Remembering that I felt really bad for myself because I choose basketball over my grandpa. While he was in the hospital dying, I was trying to prove to my coaches that I was enough for them. In the end, I wasn't enough for them and my favorite person that I cared so much about passed away. But I kept praying that my life would get better and that it was just another obstacle that I would have to get passed. The third and final challenged I faced, I was 17 years old. A year later after my grandpa died and I slowly getting better, my two childhood best friends died. Elsie died of suicide and Ray died of being stabbed in the middle of the street. Elsie died in October 2022 and Ray died in March 2023. They were only 5 months apart, I remember feeling numb and lost, I didn't think what I wanted to do with my future. I thought since they were gone, all of these people left me in this world. I had nothing. Even though they are my best friends, they are family to me. They were the people that I went to when I needed help emotionally and mentally. But in the end, I am still here. In high school I graduated with a 3.99, straight A's, joined extracurricular activities, joined clubs, and being a part of a Lakota dub project for the Marvel Avengers movie. I did all of those and keeping myself in one piece by praying almost every day and staying in touch with God as much as I could. These experiences shaped my life, by showing that I am capable of keep going toward the future. All of these experiences I had experience though out my preteen years. Showed me That I am enough, and I am able to get through whatever hardship that gets thrown toward me.

The time I had used faith to overcome a challenge and challenges. It started when I was 5 years old, and I grew up in a Christian household. I had to face sexual assault/rape when I was 5 years old, it was my cousin that I thought was a brother to me and my protector. I didn't know who to go to and I never told anyone until I was 11 years old. So, throughout that gap year I asked my aunt to take me to church with her. No one knew and I remember thinking that this holy spirit would protect me and be there for me. The second challenge I faced, I turned 11 years old. It was when my niece who was 5 years old at the time. She was killed by her own mother and the mother's boyfriend. After that happened, I felt depressed, I had no one to talk to. Then I continued talking to God again, praying helped me to get through day by day. Even as 11 years old, we are able to have feeling of depression and anxiety. It does not only affect adults. The third challenge I faced, I was 16 years old. My favorite grandpa passed away and it was during the time I was in basketball. I had really bad toxic coaches that would scream in my face. Remembering that I felt really bad for myself because I choose basketball over my grandpa. While he was in the hospital dying, I was trying to prove to my coaches that I was enough for them. In the end, I wasn't enough for them and my favorite person that I cared so much about passed away. But I kept praying that my life would get better and that it was just another obstacle that I would have to get passed. The fourth and final challenged I faced, I was 17 years old. A year later after my grandpa died and I slowly getting better, my two childhood best friends died. Elsie died of suicide and Ray died of being stabbed in the middle of the street. Elsie died in October 2022 and Ray died in March 2023. They were only 5 months apart, I remember feeling numb and lost, I didn't think what I wanted to do with my future. I thought since they were gone, all of these people left me in this world. I had nothing. But in the end, I am still here. In high school I graduated with a 3.99, straight A's, joined extracurricular activities, joined clubs, and being a part of a Lakota dub project for the Marvel Avengers movie. I did all of those and keeping myself in one piece by praying almost every day and staying in touch with God as much as I could.