"My name is Guillermo Andrés Pérez Otaola, I was born on April 28, 1989 in the city of Caracas, Venezuela. I have three brothers and one sister, I am the last of the four. My parents have always been dedicated to their family and today they have 10 grandchildren.

I have come to feel the call as a candidate for the priesthood through the experience of God in my life, in various forms, moments and intensity. I could say that it is a personal life story where little by little and in an ordinary way I have been learning to accept and recognize the participation of God who has given me Life, the opportunity to grow in a family that allowed me to receive the Faith as a seed and that with the passage of time has been growing but not because it is due to my work but because ultimately I see that God has wanted it that way and I have been learning little by little to want it that way, between the lights and shadows of life.

It is a gift from God to feel called to the priesthood but it is also important to recognize that this gift is expressed ordinarily through my parents, brothers and sisters and so many people who have accompanied me along the way along with the experience of personal growth, education, faith and professional development, there is still more to say, it has been important personal experience through prayer, sacraments, spiritual direction and ongoing formation in the faith. Thus I have been learning to contemplate the gifts of God, I could say that they are presented to us as a truth that illuminates the reason, which does not go against it, but illuminates it to accept them freely, which provide a joy and peace that no one else can give and are part of our concrete reality of life that develops over time.

Today I continue my formation in Rome at the University of the Holy Cross with the permission of my Bishop, Monsignor Victor Hugo Basabe. The diocese is called San Felipe, it is a Venezuelan diocese that is going through difficult times due to the complicated historical moments that the country has been going through for more than twenty years. It is a diocese that has a small presbyterate although its territorial extension is important and in general, it has low resources. The Venezuelan crisis is a situation that unfortunately is suffered in various forms in society and its degrees of complexity vary but it affects everyone. The Catholic Church in Venezuela is -thank God- an extended reality and in relation to the presbyterate it has about 2,068 priests distributed in the ecclesiastical provinces that comprise 9 archdioceses and 26 dioceses".