I am the wife of a wonderful man, Jose. At the age of 7 Jose was
thrown out to live on the streets by his step father. His mother
has just passed away and with no one to care for him he resorted to
living on the streets and finding work just to survive. At the age
of 13 he was adopted by a missionary couple. This couple, whom he
now calls mom and dad, found Jose performing the work of a grown
man when they arrived in Brazil. It just so happened he had managed
to find work helping to build a church in a small village. This was
the same village his parents went to! Jose was eventually adopted
-- at the age of 13 -- and brought to the U.S. to start a new life.
I noticed when I met Jose that something in him was very sad. I
learned that when he was thrown out at the age of 7 he left behind
younger siblings. One of these children, his sister Tereza, he was
very close to. He had neither spoken with nor seen Tereza since he
left. After about a year of searching, a lot of luck, and the grace
of God, I was able to find his sister Tereza. (That process is a
story in itself) I was overjoyed the day I called him and gave him
a phone number in Brazil and asked that he call the number. He was
elated when his sister answered! He is so grateful that he can
speak with her. My wish is for him to be able to visit her in
Brazil. Nothing fancy—just a chance to fill the
hole in his heart. Both my husband and I work full time and are
very blessed but this is one of those expenses that we will
probably never get around to realizing. If anyone can help I will
be eternally grateful.
