Here is the program for our Talent Show yesterday.
I read this story.
El Salvador
In 2001, a massive earthquake shook the town where I was born. I lived in Utah at the time. The destruction shown on the news, kept me awake at night thinking of all those people who had lost everything. I called my family, and friends in government to ask if there was anything I could do and that is when I was appointed to the post of Honorary Consul of El Salvador in the State of Utah. I took many calls from Salvadorans who needed help but one phone call that surprised was from an American woman who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I said: “Hello, Veronica speaking” “Hi Veronica, are you the honorary Consul of El Salvador?” “Yes” I answered. --She proceeded to tell me: I need help for my son Eddy who is in jail with a co-worker and their boss. I know he is innocent of whatever he is being accused of doing.” “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?
She explained: “I don’t know exactly other than my son and two others were arrested at the San Salvador airport last Saturday as they attempted to leave the country with a man who needed to come back to the U.S. My son’s boss owns a bail bond company in Las Vegas, and they were not aware of anything wrong that they were doing. Eddy does not know Spanish. He doesn’t understand what they are saying.” I interrupted her and said: ``You mean to tell me that your son does not know why he has been arrested for? “That is right!” she replied. “Let me call some people to find out more about this case. I will call you right back.” The next thing I did was to call my mother and sister.
Both knew and confirmed that indeed the American young men known as bondsmen were in serious trouble, according to their lawyer they were charged with pretending to be FBI agents to abduct a Salvadoran citizen who had jumped bail and needed to come back to the U.S. to stand trial for a serious crime he committed in Las Vegas. My mother commented, “I couldn’t believe why they thought they could take someone back to the U.S. without a passport. The newspapers are spreading rumors of them being charged with kidnapping, but they don’t look like the type. I think they are innocent.” My sister had called our cousin who happened to be the President of El Salvador at the time. He explained that in those cases it’s up to the judge and their lawyer. He told her, “I hope they got a good lawyer.” When I knew, this case would be in the hands of a judge and a lawyer I felt compelled to see for myself who was handling this case, so I booked the next flight to El Salvador.
The first thing I did when I arrived was to see where the bondsmen were being held. When I came in to visit their cell, all three were sitting on the floor. They were inside a small room with no light coming in other than a small opening at the top of the ceiling. That was the only source of light. No bed, or anything but the dirty hard floor probably infested with cockroaches. The image I have of that filthy jail cell facility in San Salvador was more like a dungeon than a cell. It was a gruesome site. The look on their faces of pure anguish when I came to see them is something that haunted me for days.
They were told by U.S. Embassy officials that they would probably be in prison for at least six years and a high security prison is a lot worse than a city jail. A prison in the U.S. is more like a resort compared to those in El Salvador. I spoke with their lawyer over the phone who explained, “There was a misunderstanding. They were not pretending to be FBI Agents and were not kidnapping anyone either.”
I went to the courthouse. I needed to talk to the Judge who was handling this case. I showed her secretary my Honorary Consul credential and said:” May I speak to the judge, please?” The secretary looked at me puzzled of who I was and probably thought I was someone important, so she had me go in to see the judge as soon as she had a break.
I went inside her chambers and remembered watching those TV shows where people say Your Honor, in Spanish is “Su Señoria” so that is exactly what I did. In Spanish I said the following “Your Honor, I wasn’t sent by anyone, I came on my own, I am not a lawyer or getting paid to do this but I am a mother and as a mother I would hate to lose a child when I know he is innocent so I can assure you that those young men are very naïve and found themselves in this precarious situation without knowing what they were doing.” She looked at me and nodded as if she approved. I said:” They need to be on house arrest until they are sentenced.” She answered: “But the danger of doing that is risking the chance that they could escape.” “No, they won’t!” I said firmly. “You need to completely be at ease that they will comply with all of what it’s demanded of them until their sentencing. I will make sure of that. Take my word. I promise”
The break was over; her secretary came in to let her know that she needed to get back on a court case, but I felt I had connected with her. In my view, I knew I had touched her heart as a mother and she was probably going to support my plea, thanks to my title as the Honorary Consul. You see, every letter I received had “Honorable” written before my name, I loved that! Out of any titles I have received, Honorable is my favorite.
I don’t know how I got the nerve to do this, but I remember going to a seminar where the instructor said: “At times you are going to be asked to do hard things, and your mind tells you, you can’t because you feel insecure, or inadequate, or incapable, but you need to stop that thinking and act by pretending you are in a movie set and you are playing your part.” She said loudly: “All you need to do is to play the role with confidence and act your part… In life, confidence is the only thing you need to fake!”
I went to talk to the people at the American Embassy in hopes they would believe me. While I was waiting to see the Consul General, I noticed the local newspapers had their faces splattered on the front cover. I thought that there was no way they would get a fair trial if the papers were spreading awful rumors of their character. The Consul General said in a sarcastic tone, “our hands are tied, they committed serious crimes and they need to wait their sentencing.” I told him, “I thought you were innocent until proven guilty.” The Consul General clearly did not believe they were innocent.
Next, I decided to talk to the largest newspaper editor as well. I said to him: “What you are doing is wrong, spreading rumors just to sell the paper. When they are free because they will be found innocent, I hope you dedicate as much space in your paper to clear their names.” “Why are you so sure about their character and innocence?” he asked “because they are returned missionaries. These young men left the comfort of their homes, family and friends to serve their God. Many are faced with a difficult language in extremely harsh living conditions not to mention that as a missionary, you are verbally and sometimes even physically attacked but they go anyway because they are committed disciples of Jesus Christ and want to serve Him like what you read in the Bible of what the Apostles did. These young men and women have promised to live an honest lifestyle with high standards to be able to serve a mission. I am not implying that they are perfect or that some people could lie but for the most part they are known to be trustworthy. I believe their story to be true. They are not criminals!” I exclaimed!
The following day, I went back home. I had done all I could and the only thing left to do was to pray. Two months later, I received the good news. The case was dropped and were finally free to go home. This happened two days before Christmas. That was a miracle. The reason why they were released from jail was because of so many people praying for them and it also helped that I wore my Honorary Consul hat and spoke face to face with a judge which I believe made all the difference. One quote I lived by during this time was from President Thomas S. Monson, who said:
“To live greatly, we must develop the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility.”
Here is what I’ve learned.
You may not have the experience, but you will know what to do when the time comes. Having confidence is what is needed in those cases. Trust the Holy Spirit to guide you. You can do more than you think you can. And lastly, when you are in a foreign country, please don’t do anything dumb to get arrested. Know their laws or you might end up in jail. The laws of the land apply to you as they do to anyone else. Do not think that because you are a foreigner you are exempt. I rest my case!
The end.
