Henrietta sat at the coffee shop counter when someone tapped her on the shoulder. “May I kindly have fifty cents to buy coffee and some toast?” she asked in Spanish.
“I turned to see a short, heavyset, most unattractive woman before me. Her face was scarred badly, and she appeared to have lost most of her teeth,” related Aunt Henrietta.
The woman, who introduced herself as Uva (which means grape in Spanish), explained that she had come by bus to the United States after some American tourists contracted her in Mexico asking her to be a housekeeper and nanny. They had even provided her with a one-way ticket to their home city. When she arrived and called her would-be employers, however, they told her they had changed their minds and wouldn't need her after all. As a consequence, Uva had been begging for food and sleeping in the ladies room of the bus station for over a month and had no idea what to do, since she didn't speak English and knew no one in that city.
I was appalled and asked Aunt Henrietta what had finally happened to Uva, and she replied that as far as she knew Uva was still living at the bus station. I felt an immediate need to find this woman and asked my aunt to take me to the station right away to see if she was still there. When we arrived, I saw Uva and immediately ran to her, hugged her, and told her she was coming home with me. Uva gratefully accepted and was both elated and relieved.
Aunt Henrietta worried that now I had another mouth to feed, but I told her that so far God had provided and would now provide for Uva too. Truthfully, the only thing that I was concerned about at that time was bringing Uva home with me.
She proved to be a ray of sunshine. Uva was always happy and loved to sing and dance. The children loved her and she them. She was so grateful for those things most of us take for granted or don't even notice in life like clean air after a rainstorm or a bird's early morning song. She treated every chore, even scrubbing the toilets, with a smile. She would often dance with the broom and treat it as if it were the handsomest of partners. My children and I laughed at her silly antics and waited anxiously to see what she would do next.
One morning she said to me, “I have been gathering bottles all week and have enough of the deposit money for you to take the bus into town and get a job.” I was startled by this declaration and objected, “But Uva I don't have any type of training and why would anybody hire me?” But she quickly replied, “Oh, you'll be hired because you're pretty. Now put on your best suit and let me fix your hair. When you get into town, get off in front of that huge drugstore (Walgreens). Turn around and follow that little side street behind the pharmacy. Soon you will see a ‘Help Wanted’ sign in a little shop, and that is where you will work.”
Although surprised, I followed Uva's instructions precisely and sure enough found the sign in the window of a flower shop. I told the woman inside that I was there for the position. I was honest about my lack of experience, and she dismissed me right away. But before I left, a cheerful man with bright red hair stepped out of the back room and asked, “What have we here, Dixie?” Dixie told him she had interviewed me for the job but found me lacking and would not hire me.
“But I'm the manager, Dixie,” he argued, “and I say she's hired.” “But why?” asked Dixie. “Because she's pretty,” replied my new employer.
My new job enabled us to move closer to town and into a nicer home. For a time all was improved until I came home one day and found Uva crying. “I have been told it's time to leave you,” she cried. I asked, “Who said it's time?” But Uva would just shake her head and not answer the question.
I had saved a little out of each paycheck for Uva, who had refused payment for her babysitting and help during those months that she was with us. I offered the money to her, but she flatly refused it until I told her it was important to me that she take it.
The next day on our way to the Greyhound bus station to drop Uva off, she asked Aunt Henrietta to stop the car and drop her off a few blocks before the station. I got out of the car to give her a hug, and then Uva hurried around a building and into a back alley. She had been with me and my family for about six months, and I couldn't bear to let her go so I decided to follow closely behind. But when I turned into the same alley, I saw a quick flash of Uva's skirt and then nothing. I was faced with nothing, but the entirety of an empty alley, which although short, was nevertheless too far for anyone to just vanish from sight. Uva was nowhere to be found. I walked all the way to the bus station, but there was no sign of her. I even waited at the station, but she never showed up.
Uva would often say in Spanish, “Where I lived was a palace compared to this old house, but I'd rather be here than in my palace because I get to share it with all of you whom I love so much.” I had set out to rescue a stranger in dire need and that stranger had instead rescued me.
In retrospect, whenever those of us who knew Uva remembered her, we all agreed that there was something very special and glowing about her. She brightened a room simply by entering it, and we felt so much love and happiness just by being in her presence. She had uniqueness about her that was beyond special and mysterious. But then again, angels always do.
 | My Miraculous Mission from God |
Sunni Welles
Arizona
Spiritual Medium
Author of Glimpses of Heaven from the Angels Who Live There Radio Host—Ask the Angels on Blog Talk Radio
I don't have a college degree of any kind. I do not have a degree in theology or counseling, nor am I a student of metaphysics. I am, and have been, an actor since childhood, then later a dancer and singer of jazz. Intermixed with, desperately at times, trying to make a living in show business, I have been a waitress, bartender, gift shop salesclerk, car salesperson, office supplies sales manager, and a representative salesperson for a line of jewelry, make-up, and health products. I have sold encyclopedias door to door. I have been a telemarketing manager for large companies and small. I have been a cosmetologist, a masseuse, and more—if you can imagine.
But besides the difficult times in my life, there have been good times too, especially the several years I was blessed to perform and sing solo at the Debbie Reynolds Hotel in Las Vegas. I worked with some truly talented performers at Debbie's hotel, and I really loved that period of my life. I loved my friends, especially Debbie, and I believe that we all became like extended family to each other, which added an extra dimension to my life as an entertainer. This heaven was not to last, however. Debbie was having insurmountable difficulties with the hotel, and we realized that our little family was going to be broken apart.
There were some who held on there, in the last days, who felt such sheer sadness that it was palpable. I cried most nights because, after almost three years, this most wonderful dream was coming to an end. I was going through unmistakable anxiety about the separation that was fast approaching.
One night I was alone at home in my bedroom. It was about eight o'clock. I was on my bed praying to God to please help Debbie with whatever she needed so that this little show business family would not have to be disbanded and that I would still have a place to feel at home and feel loved. I also prayed that if it was indeed in God's plan that all this would come to an end, I hoped he would allow me to continue to entertain and to sing or at the very least that he might provide a day job that would give me enough income to pay my bills. I did not make a lot of money, and everything that I did make went to keeping a roof over my head or for something necessary for my career in show business. These needs were not molehills to
