When Father Fernando Ayala came from El Salvador at the age of 16 to live with his mother in Chelsea, he said he was excited to enjoy the riches of the country and get things he couldn’t get in El Salvador.
However, in El Salvador he had been struck by the idea of becoming a priest and had seriously considered it as a young teen. That, he said, was something that he said he thought would disappear when he arrived in America.
In fact, he was excited to “get stuff,” he told the Boston Pilot.
The plan was for him to come to Chelsea and help his mother financially, send money back to family in El Salvador, and hopefully put some money in his own pocket.