Just as we were beginning a service in Selma, Alabama on Sunday, August 19, we received a call from Pastor Bernardo of our Oaxaca City church, informing us that Pastor Desi had suffered a stroke and was in a coma. He never regained consciousness and on Monday, after being told by doctors that there was nothing more that could be done, his family took him back to San Gabriel to be surrounded by family and friends in his final hours.
On Tuesday morning Steve began the long trek from Alabama to San Gabriel. This included a drive from Pell City to Birmingham, flights from Birmingham to Atlanta to Mexico City to Oaxaca City, a bus trip from Oaxaca City to San Gabriel and a moto-taxi to the home where Pastor Desi was being cared for. Torrential rains from a hurricane had caused mud and rock slides along the rustic road to San Gabriel, leaving only a narrow path for the bus to get through.
Family and friends gather around Pastor Desi. His son, Elias, is on the left and Saltillo Pastor Dolores and Sylvia are on the right.
Conference President Refugio led in several services over the hours and days that people were gathered in the home.
Pastor Desi in his final hours.
What a privilege it was for Steve to be with our people during this difficult time. Below is the email he was able to send me from an internet cafe:
Hey babe. I´m here in San Gabriel. Desi is still alive but still in a coma. Everyone is so thankful that I came and have been so kind. There is a constant stream of people coming and going as they pay their last respects. The doctor says that he will go any time but that evidently he is waiting for something. It seems as though he can hear and understand some things. He raised his arm to brush away a fly that was on his face but his eyes never open and there is no real response other than that. Cuco and Bernardo (and family) are here now but no other board members yet.
I made it safely here but the roads are worse than ever. There were 12-15 bad landslides and dozens more smaller ones. It took 7 1/2 hours to get here because of the roads. In some places half of the road is simply gone because of all the water. In other places we had to stop and move big rocks out of the road that had fallen down the mountainside. It was sorta spooky because while we were removing the rocks that had just fallen, you could hear other smaller ones falling right then. Every stream and river was boiling and it continues to rain. Hopefully it will stop soon. We passed two places where they were having demonstration marches but the road was not actually blocked.
Just as you enter San Gabriel you pass a soccer field on the left with covered bleachers. Now the whole roof system is just a twisted mass of steel and tin roofing thanks to the hurricaine. There is other minor damage to many houses and many have been damaged by the landslides. I have not seen the church yet to see the damage there.
There are a number of teens waiting to use this computer so I will get off for now. I might try later to communicate with you for a while but if not, I´ll talk with you tomorrow night from Oaxaca. I am going to work on compiling a file of pictures that I have taken of Desi and download it onto a flashdrive so they can show it at the funeral for the church people to use. I love you so much and will see you soon. I´ll talk to you later.
Steve
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