Hilda began her service in 1994 at the Downtown Birmingham Sav-A-Life location on 14th Street S. Her “boss” was Bob Foust (yes, all those years ago). Later, she volunteered at Sav-A-Life Vestavia, and now with us here at Sav-A-Life Shelby in Pelham, AL.
Jean Goebel, one of the founders of Sav-A-Life, says Hilda was a perfect fit for the ministry because she “likes people and likes to talk”, not to mention her genuine love and walk with the Lord.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Hilda moved to the US with her parents when she was young. She says, “I was a good girl then and did what I was suppose too but did not have that heart knowledge of Jesus”. Wales Goebel led Hilda to Christ in 1973. One night at church, her husband went up to accept Jesus as his personal Savior. Her young daughter ran up too, so Hilda quickly ran up to catch her, thinking that she had only ran after her father. Then, when her sweet little 3 year old raise her hand to accept Jesus, she knew that she was to accept Jesus too. That is when she was saved and prayed the prayer of salvation.
Hilda attended the University of Montevallo, then called the Women’s College, and today lives in Mountain Brook. She is widowed but was married for 53 years. She has three daughters, seven grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Hilda’s life scripture that defines her walk is from Isaiah 64:6 (KJV): “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Hilda recently returned from Puerto Rico after the devastating hurricane Maria that left power, water, food and shelters destroyed. She and her daughter took several water filters to the small island to help those stricken with dirty water in an area where little hope of fresh water would not be possible for a year.
Continue to pray for the Puerto Rico as they continue to regain their lives.
