Last Friday Bruce was going to Paradox CO to a bull sale with my dad. He has been before with him but Roy was here and stayed later then planned and for some reason Bruce just said he wasn't up to going - which was fine just kind of weird. Well our ward is in charge of cleaning the church right now - we didn't sign up but it's always good to go help so Bruce took the 3 youngest to go clean. I had been running and I saw there were no cars there. I had gotten back and was down at the high school talking to Pam and I told him they must have done it a different time because there weren't any cars there. He went to the church anyway to go check things out. When he got to the church there was a man by the door. He immediately came up to Bruce and told him his name was Nelson and he was from El Salvador, he was illegal, and he was trying to get to CA to the rest of his family - he just wanted a ride to the Valley.
Bruce automatically felt sorry for this guy. He went down to the high school and told me about him and wondered what I would think about him bringing him to our house. He called White Mountain Lines to see when they would be making a run to the Valley and they said not till Monday morning. Bruce thought if we couldn't find another ride he could do on that Monday. We got him some breakfast and Bruce took it back to the church to see if he wanted to come to our house and work for the day so we could see what we could do for him. He was more then willing to come here and work all day for us. Bruce did ask him if he had a gun and he said no that he could search his pack but Bruce took his word for it and brought him home. I was surprised he was cleaner then I thought he would be. He was clean shaven and his head was shaved. He worked outside all day with Bruce - it was great because there have been piles of boards around and a few things that I have wanted something done with from our addition and Bruce has been too busy to take care of them. Well this Saturday all those disappeared. We asked some people if they knew of anybody going to Mesa and nobody did. We brought him in the house and had him take a shower and we washed clothes. He at dinner with us. Baum's had a wedding reception that night that we went to. We had to take Nelson with us because we couldn't leave him home. We gave him a Spanish Book of Mormon before so he sat on the couch and read his B of M while we were in the reception. Bruce talked to Ed and he said he had a son that would take him back Sunday at 4:00. He was thrilled with that. He was willing to stay at the church all day while Bruce was at meetings and church waiting for his ride. That was part of the deal is Bruce wasn't leaving his side. Saturday night we got him all settled in the shed to sleep. We felt kind of bad not letting him in our house but we couldn't do that with a complete stranger. He was thrilled to sleep in the shed. We had a foam pad in there and some blankets and a little heater. The night before he slept by the dumpster at the church with a sheet over him. So this was great to him. We told him good night and I made sure every door and window was locked that night tight. Although we figured if he was going to do anything to us he already would have. We found out from him that this was his 4 time trying to get to the states. Him and his family were in CA all legal and he went to Salt Lake to work and they took him back to El Salvador and wasn't supposed to but then he couldn't get back across. He tried 2 other times and both times he had gotten caught and had to spend 3 years in prison because of it. Because of this he hadn't seen his family for 8 years. This time he crossed at Wilcox and walked at night - eventually made it to Globe. He walked for 20 nights straight - the whole time it was dark. He couldn't walk in the day light because they would find him. He was hoping to go from Globe to the Valley but whoever gave him a ride told him he would be better off going to Heber and up to get away from the border a little so they dropped him off at the church.
Well we had this ride all set for him. He was a happy man and went to bed. Sunday morning he was on his phone to his brother - we told him to come in to eat breakfast and his brother was going to meet him in the Valley but then just told him it would be better if it were Flagstaff. I guess the border crossings are better that route. Did we know of anybody going to Flag. We told him no that not many people go from here to Flag. Well we got to thinking and remembered Roy was in Joe City and was going to Phoenix at noon on Sunday through Flagstaff. Bruce called him and he said he would take him. Bruce didn't have time to run him to JC because he had Bishopric meeting he had to be to so he asked Scott if he would run him there real quick. So we fed him breakfast and packed a lunch for him and Scott came to pick him up. We wanted a picture with him so we didn't forget about him. We learned a few things from Nelson that day. We learned how valuable family is, how to be a hard worker and how blessed we are to live in the United States. Nelson wanted Bruce's phone number so he could call him when he got with his family. Roy dropped him off at Little America in Flag and text Bruce and told him - he is one happy man! His brother was supposed to be there in a few hours to pick him up and he would take him to be with his mom and kids. Well Sunday at 4 we were getting out of church and I looked out the window thinking about him waiting for the boys to finish emptying the garbage and noticed 2 police officers driving through the church parking lot. I don't think they were there for Nelson - Dustin said he said 1 had a car pulled over but either way if Nelson's 1st plans would have gone through that is the exact time he would have been getting in with his ride. He is terrified of cops because they don't want him to take him back across the border. He would have freaked out and probably wondered if we had part of that so I was glad he was very well on his way to Flag. He called Bruce Monday night after we were already in bed so Bruce called him back Tuesday morning. For some reason his brother didn't show up in Flagstaff. He was pretty bummed. Bruce couldn't understand what he was saying why he didn't show up. He was on a Grey Hound already in CA just on it going to where ever his family was. He was very anti Grey Hounds because they catch so many illegals on those. He couldn't do that or hitch hike because he would get caught. So he was either that desperate or he thought he was far enough away from the border. Tuesday evening Bruce got a call from him and he was with his mom. He said his mom wanted to talk to Bruce but she can't speak English so she couldn't talk to him. We were thrilled that he made it back with his family. Some wondered about us helping somebody illegal - No we don't like illegals here but he is one of Heavenly Father's Children just like us and how do you not help somebody that needs it so bad that is just wanted to be with his family! I am not sure why Bruce took hold of this guy but he felt from the beginning he was harmless. He didn't smoke or have any drugs or anything. He was just a good guy that needed help. There were many tender mercies that happened through that couple of days that we know it was meant to be!
1 comment:
What an amazing story! Thank you for sharing this!! You guys are an awesome family for doing this for Nelson.
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