Faith

"Had I not found God, I would probably be a good-for-nothing drug-addict, or even worse, dead" says Zoltán Gera. The head of the Hungarian national football team was unable to live normally for years until the day he visited Faith Church and heard of Jesus Christ. It was there that he found God, broke out of poverty and into fame.

As time went on, the pocket-money received from his parents was no longer enough to quench Zoli's thirst for gaming, and he started to steal money from his parents. ... At eleven and twelve years of age he was now a heavy smoker. "We formed a gang. We broke windows just for the fun of it, and some of us smoked" says Zoli, who often smoked on his way to play with football with his team.

The day Zoli fully gave in was when his parents divorced. He was sent to be with his father, who did not even try to keep him under control. Later he was moved back to his mother, but she couldn't control him either. Zoli started to use drugs at the age of thirteen, while smoking and drinking had also become addictions by this time in his life.

"I went to a casino where I met some guys. They asked me why I would not give it (drugs) a try? First, just out of curiosity I watched them do it. I ended up doing it with them" - relates Zoli, adding that at first he felt very sick, but eventually he became a drug-addict. In the meantime he developed a very aggressive nature. He would have been ready to attack his mother if she had tried to stop him. Zoli's brother was the only one in the family who felt responsibile for him, and was not afraid to punish him for his behaviour.

At this time József Garami was coach of PMSC, where Zoli was playing in the youth team. Mr. Garami personally took Zoli to the training sessions, and looked after him as much as he could. When he found out about Zoli's problems at school, he tried to help him by enrolling him into another school.

But Zoli could not be influenced. On several occasions he got into conflicts with police and other authorites. On one occasion Zoli and his gang were planning to break into a casino, but finally decided against taking action. They got on a bus, but as the police had been monitoring them, a police car stopped the bus and Zoli was taken home to his parents. He was involved in things for which - in his own words - he could have easily ended up in jail.