My name is Juan Andres Tapia. I was born in 1974 in Santiago, Chile, and I currently live in Sugar Land, Texas. I am married and have six children, one of whom is in heaven. I work as a cabinet maker, artisan, and craftsman.

I grew up in a Catholic family that was part of the Neocatechumenal Way. Inspired by my parents' faith and the testimonies of the itinerant catechists from the Neocatechumenate in Chile, I developed a strong desire to become a missionary at a very young age.

At the age of twelve, I joined a Neocatechumenal community, where I experienced "the power of the Word of God" and the love of my brothers and sisters. This community supported me during one of the darkest periods of my life, from 1988 to 1994. That initial encounter with suffering led me to meet Jesus Christ as my Savior. By the grace of God, I was an itinerant catechist for the Neocatechumenal Way in Chile from 1995 to 1997. In September 1997, I enrolled in the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Hong Kong, China, where I studied for five years. During this time, the Lord healed my wounds and began to grant me a new life.

During World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada, 2002, the Lord was waiting for me with another turning point in my life: I met my wife, Claudia. We  married in October 2003, and shorthly after, we both felt the called to offer ourselves as a family in mission.

We were in the mission for ten years, spending four years in Newark, New Jersey and six in Guangzhou, China.

I am very grateful to the Lord for the history that he has given me and for all the miracles that I have witnessed in my life. 

Now back in Texas, I work as a custom cabinetmaker and reproduce icons and religious items to provide to Christian families (the domestic church) in our mission to transmit the faith to the next generation.