House Guest

For the months of April & May we had the pleasure of hosting my father-in-love Roberto(or Papa as I call him) in our home. He is such a joy to have around. In all the years of knowing him I have NEVER seen him upset, mad or even say a mean thing about anybody. That is why I struggle with feeling stressed out when he is here and a little left out (the language barrier mainly). We are always so sad when he leaves because we never know if we will see him again, he is 76 and not in the best of health. That is why this visit I had to make sure that he was presented with a clear plan of salvation, the Lord had really laid this matter on my heart.
Well God being God presented the perfect opportunity to witness to him, it was the night we have 3 tornadoes touch down with in 15 miles of our home.
Papa said to me, "That if it's your time to go then thats God's plan for you."
I told him that is exactly right, but are you ready for eternity whether that be Heaven or Hell? He stated that he knew for sure that he was on his way to Heaven because he had prayed and asked the Lord to forgive him of his sins. Now let me stop and say that my in-loves are catholic and most catholics add in unnecessary things for salvation, so I had to dig further with Papa.
I asked him about praying to Mary, asking the priest for forgiveness, having to take communion and all the additional things that many catholics believe are necessary to make it to Heaven. His response was that He trusted only in the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross and that alone as his only hope of Heaven. HALLELUJAH!!!! My heart is still so overjoyed to know that if I never see my father-in-love again on this earth that I will see him again in Heaven.

Papa flew home a week ago and our house still feels a little empty without him. We were able to send a suitcase loaded with gifts and candy to all the family but the most precious cargo (besides Papa) was a DVD for Mama of my husband, my brother-in-love Mario, other extended family members and me. My mother-in-love has not seen my husband in 17 yrs , Mario in 9 yrs and has never meet me. This is the only thing that she requested that we send her, of course I made sure that she got what she wanted. It was only 15 mins long but it was all from the heart. She was thrilled and sad all at the same time, she watched it 4 times before letting anybody else watch it with her and of course she cried and cried and cried but was so happy to see her sons healthy and happy. I will hopefully get to meet her next time because she will be come over with Papa, I can't wait.