A Letter to God: Faith and Hope

A Letter to God

• The story explores the question of where one should place their faith.
• The story delicately poses the question of what we should put our faith in.

Lencho's Situation

• Lencho is a farmer whose crops are ruined.
• Lencho writes a letter to God asking for a hundred pesos.
• The story prompts the reader to consider whether Lencho's letter reaches God and if God sends him the money.

The Money order activity

• At the post office, find the counter marked 'Money Order'
• Buy a Money Order form by paying 50 paise to the person behind the counter.
• Fill in the appropriate boxes in the form, preferably in BLOCK letters.
• Pay the counter clerk the amount of money to be sent along with the charges.
• Take back the MO acknowledgement counterfoil for your record.

Setting and Initial Hope

• Lencho's house is the only one in the entire valley, located on the crest of a low hill.
• From his house, one can see the river and the field of ripe corn, promising a good harvest.
• The earth only needed a downpour or at least a shower, and Lencho spent the morning watching the sky towards the north-east.
• Lencho expresses hope for rain to his wife who is preparing supper.

From Rain to Hail

• As Lencho predicted, big drops of rain began to fall.
• He goes out to enjoy the rain and expresses that the raindrops are like new coins, with the big drops being ten cent pieces and the little ones fives.
• Initially, Lencho is satisfied, regarding the field of ripe corn draped in a curtain of rain.
• Suddenly, a strong wind begins to blow, and large hailstones start to fall along with the rain.
• The hailstones resembled new silver coins, leading the boys to run out and collect them.

Devastation and Despair

• The man exclaims that the situation is getting bad and hopes it passes quickly.
• The hail rained for an hour on the house, garden, hillside, and the entire valley, leaving the field white as if covered with salt.
• The corn was totally destroyed, with not a leaf remaining on the trees and the flowers gone from the plants.
• Lencho's soul was filled with sadness, and he tells his sons that a plague of locusts would have left more than this.
• He laments that all their work was for nothing and they will go hungry this year.

A Single Hope

• In the hearts of those in the solitary house, there was a single hope, help from God.
• They console each other, remembering that no one dies of hunger.
• Throughout the night, Lencho thought only of the help of God, believing that God's eyes see everything, even what is deep in one's conscience.
• Despite working like an animal in the fields, Lencho knew how to write, and the following Sunday, he began to write a letter to God.

Lencho's Letter

• Lencho writes to God, explaining that his family will go hungry if God doesn't help.
• He states that he needs a hundred pesos in order to sow his field again and to live until the crop comes, because of the hailstorm.
• He addresses the envelope "To God," places a stamp on the letter, and drops it into the mailbox.

The Postmaster's Reaction

• An employee at the post office, who is a postman, laughs heartily and shows the letter to God to his boss.
• The postmaster, a fat, amiable, and pleasant fellow, also initially laughs but turns serious, impressed by the man's faith.
• The postmaster wishes he had the same faith as the man who wrote the letter and started a correspondence with God.

The Postmaster's Plan

• In order not to shake the writer's faith in God, the postmaster decides to answer the letter.
• Realizing it requires more than goodwill, ink, and paper, he asks for money from his employees, gives part of his salary, and encourages friends to contribute as an act of charity.
• Unable to gather the full hundred pesos, he manages to send the farmer a little more than half the amount.
• He puts the money in an envelope addressed to Lencho with a letter containing only a single word as a signature: God

Lencho's Reaction to the Money

• Lencho comes to the post office the following Sunday, earlier than usual, to ask if there was a letter for him.
• The postman hands him the letter, while the postmaster watches from his office, experiencing the contentment of having performed a good deed.
• Lencho shows no surprise upon seeing the money, but becomes angry after counting it.
• He is confident that God could not have made a mistake or denied him what he had requested.
• Lencho immediately asks for paper and ink to write another letter.

Lencho's Second Letter

• After expressing his ideas with much effort, Lencho buys a stamp, licks it, and affixes it to the envelope with a blow of his fist.
• The postmaster opens the letter and reads that Lencho is requesting the rest of the money, as only seventy pesos reached him.
• He asks God not to send it through the mail, because the post office employees are a bunch of crooks.