Little did I know that a simple trip to the Everett Municipal Court would be the spark for an ongoing friendship. I met Alondra in the Family Support Center where our conversations had centered on the details of the horrendously complicated legal actions related to a car accident. A simple car accident had been compounded by a police officer’s misinterpretation of the situation due to a language barrier. Navigating the “systems” can be terrifying for many whose first, even second, language is different from the majority. Alondra's first language is Amuzgo (an indigenous language of Guerrero). There are few Amuzgo-speakers in the Skagit Valley—Alondra is the only one we know.
As we drove back from court in Everett, each with a coffee in hand to keep us awake after an early morning, tears started pouring down Alondra’s face. She revealed that she was in an abusive relationship. 'What do I do, Betania?' she cried. The abuse had become intolerable, exasperating her to the point of suicidal ideation. Although she was living near Tierra Nueva, her partner prohibited her from coming to services and she was only able to pop into the Family Support Center while he was at work. (This situation has further developed but for now I will focus on the car accident case).
My coworker Amy and I have walked with Alondra through numerous court sessions, telephone calls, and hours of battling over the details of what became an over-a-year-long car accident case. As the court battles continued, Alondra’s license was suspended and she was stuck with a $51,000 fine, it felt increasingly hopeless and over our heads. We began praying for miracles.
A couple of months ago, we met with a very experienced well-known lawyer who offered to make a pro-bono phone call (he doesn't do pro-bono so this in itself was a miracle) to the Dept of Licensing to see about her suspended license. He told us that she has two options: 1). pay $6500+ to DOL and hope the car insurance company doesn't re-suspend her license; 2). pay a lawyer $5,000-10,000 to take it to Superior Court, and hope that her current $51,000 charge is lessened (through establishing liability—tricky). As you can imagine, neither of these sounded inviting, so we began praying for a THIRD option.
Can we ask for the fine to be radically reduced?
Through a prayer-led series of events, Amy presented our request to a car insurance agent referred to her by a friend. In a few words: ‘It’s either lower the fine or get nothing.’ To our amazement, he agreed to lower the fine from $51,000 to $5,000, a miracle indeed! He wanted $2500 up front, and the rest in payments. Unfortunately, Alondra was unable to sell a car of hers to pay for this because it had expired tabs. She could not get new tabs with an expired license.
Amy approached the car insurance company again. How low would they go? She explained our case, praying and blessing the agent under her breath. The agent agreed to $500 down instead! We helped Alondra from our FSC fund and a week later we had a letter stating she could get her license back. God is good! We and Alondra see this as a direct miracle from God. Signs like this confirm to her (and me!) that God loves her, and God is for her. Woo hoo!
This story is an example of the numerous layers and challenges
we face as we accompany our friends on the margins.
To my delight, all these troubles have deepened my friendship with Alondra
—she even frequently drops off homemade Oaxacan food!
we face as we accompany our friends on the margins.
To my delight, all these troubles have deepened my friendship with Alondra
—she even frequently drops off homemade Oaxacan food!
