Seven-year-old Teresa had a great plan: she and her 11-year-old brother would run away to Africa to become martyrs and thereby go straight to Heaven to be saints. But alas The two were not long on their journey when their uncle spotted them and sent them straight back home. As she grew older, Teresa began to love beautiful clothes, jewelry and frivolous novels. She knew many nuns at school, but she did not want to become one, to leave her family and give up nice things. But soon Teresa realized that becoming a nun was exactly what she should do. She told herself: "It can't be worse than Purgatory; it'll end someday, and surely I'll go straight to Heaven for having made such a sacrifice." The decision was very hard, but she made it, and soon she was surprised to find herself happier as a nun than she had ever been in her whole life Teresa had many adventures as a nun, though some of her adventures were spiritual ones. As the years went by, the whole country heard of Teresa, as she opened up monastery after monastery of nuns and friars in Spain to serve God by prayer and sacrifice. Teresa told them not to serve God with long faces; she said, "God deliver me from gloomy saints " She reminded the nuns that someday God would repay them well for all their little sufferings. After Teresa had lived a long life, God took her to Heaven to receive her own marvelous reward. From there she continues to help people serve God with cheerfulness and joy.