| So I just got back from my vacation in La Isla Del Encanto. I had lots of fun and took lots of beautiful pictures of the sunny skies and rich blue beach water. But overall the best part of the trip I would have to say was none of the above. It wasn't the food (which by the way was DELICIOUS), the sunny weather, the beach or anything else in that physical and material sense, rather it was something more, something God granted that I will cherish and be thankful for forever.
My grandfather's past is a very mysterious one filled with doubts, hurt and past mistakes. When he was a young teenager he fled from his home of San Sebastian, PR for reasons that were crucial for his well being and survival--reasons I care to keep to myself for my family's sake. In any case he left without any family members to guide him out, he was on his own and he was headed to a new life. He met my grandmother years later in Catano, PR around Bayamon and they fell in love and got married (mind you I am leaving out petty details, of course relationships don't just jump to marriage so quickly...lol). So anyway he raised my three eldest uncles in Puerto Rico and then moved to the Bronx with my grandmother and my three eldest uncles and later had my mother (whom was the only girl and middle child) and three more boys. All those years went by and my grandfather didn't once look back to returning to his hometown of San Sebastian......
Just a few days ago my family and I went to investigate the case of my grandfather's past. We all said are own prayers with growing faith asking the Lord that we could be able to find even the smallest details of my grandfather's past so that we would be able to gain closure from the emotional episode since my grandfather's passing just a short few years ago. So we went to San Sebastian via Maunabo....so basically we went from one extreme of the Island to the other which took a good 3 hours more or less in the car, but all for the sake of discovering harbored past remanants of my grandfather's legacy.....
Let me tell you God is so GOOD and FAITHFUL, I have so many living testimonies of that, but this was an especially HUGE one for both me and my family, specifically my mother since this deals with her father's past. Anyway the first day we went to San Sebastian was Monday and we didn't find out much information that could be of great use to us, we did however find out that there was a barrio called "Aibonito Guerrero" in which all Guerrero's from the Island originated from, including my grandfather and his family. Anyway we met a man named Don Pedro Guerrero also known as Peliche and he helped us find a woman named Pura Rivera Guerrero who would be able to help us find our descendants. We went to her house up in the mountaintops and found that no one was home....one door closed, but not to worry God would open a huge one just a few short days later.
We returned to San Sebastian, sacrificing our old plan to go to the rainforest in El Yunque....we had some unfinished business to deal with and God had some unfinished promises He desired to complete. That day was Wednesday and we set out to the Plaza of the town of San Sebastian and went to the Catholic Church located there to investigate whether or not my grandfather was baptized in the catholic church (since we knew before he converted to being a pentecostal he was catholic). God opened a huge door there we were able to get the baptism certificate, thanks to a wonderful lady at the pariochal office who went out of her way to help us. In that baptism certificate was all the information we could ever need to find out about my grandfather's family.
There were tons of names. First the names of his parents. His actual birthdate (which was so much different from what we thought it was), his grandparents names on both sides of his family and his god parents as well as the priest who baptized him on the given date. With this informaton we returned to the barrio of Aibonito Guerrero and met up with Don Pedro (who has a stunning resemblence to my grandfather...it's just too amazing for words). Anyway he led us to a few houses, and then finally the third house we were able to find a family member--my mother's cousin (her mother Maria Guerrero was my grandfather's sister).
After spending time with her and her husband...she gave us a few names and numbers of more family members and let us know that there were two uncles left over, meaning my grandfather still had brothers alive---how crazy is that?? My grandfather died when he was 88 and he still has brothers hanging around...it was a blessing. So we left her house and headed to her brother Maro's house and he was nice enough to take us to my great uncle's house Marcelo. Marcelo is one of the two brothers of my grandfather that are left in existence. When we got there it was an emotional undertaking....that man my great uncle Marcelo of 80 years looked exactly like my grandfather and my eldest uncle (who passed on in '95 from AIDs). It was just incredible, not to mention he had the silly demeanor of my grandfather in him it was so refreshing....it was like talking with my grandfather all over again that I kept having to remind myself that he was gone......
To God be the glory for all this because we prayed with faith and he heard our cry and supplied our need. Not to mention my grandfather has another brother living in Union City, NJ which is not at all far from my home...hopefully we will see him later tonight or sometime soon and dig deeper into my family's past and legacies....thanks to God it's all possible now!  | 
