Groping through the darkness of drunkenness and ignorance, Tina searches for hope and peace.

"You ask about this picture all the time, Tina!" Mom exclaimed as Tina pointed to the drawing of the Man on the cross. "I don't know why they did it to Him. His name is Jesus. Now stop asking!" Mom turned back to rinsing the clothes. "Besides, you ought not to have the book outdoors."

Somberly, but still staring at the picture, Tine retraced her steps. The Man had to be in a lot of pain! Those were huge nails. She counted again, "One, two, three, four, five." Five places dropped blood—from His outstretched hands, from His feet, and from His side. He had died there on the cross. But why? For sin? What did that mean? And what did it have to do with her?

Raised in an Old Colony Mennonite setting in Mexico, Tina faced many adversities, storms that threatened her quest for truth. Illiteracy. Abuse. Mockery. Drunkenness. Doubt. Tragedy. Would she ever find the One who holds the answers and stills the storms?

Contents

• [maps]
• Introduction
• Author's Note
• Preface
• 1. The Dust Storm
• 2. Bottles and Bread
• 3. Going to Thursday
• 4. Noodles and Nails
• 5. Just Another Stupid Harms
• 6. Arandas Horror
• 7. "Make Cheese or Else—"
• 8. Camerón Grande
• 9. Bloody Feet
• 10. The Ranch at El Tule
• 11. "What Is Hell?"
• 12. Back to Campo 17
• 13. Relatives and Religion
• 14. Cuauhtémoc? Why?
• 15. Who Can Go to Heaven?
• 16. The Altenheim
• 17. That Young Man
• 18. La Quinta
• 19. Gossip and Guilt
• 20. Can I Pray?
• 21. The Price of Sin
• 22. The White Cupboard
• 23. Baptism and Verlobung
• 24. Death for Real
• 25. Noela—Our Angel
• 26. Sweet Eva
• 27. Sinners and Searching
• 28. The Black Night
• 29. The Purple Dress
• 30. The Plattdeutsch Bible
• 31. God, Help Us!
• 32. In the Hands of the King
• 33. Lonely in Nebraska
• 34. Another Storm
• 35. Two Mothers
• 36. Which Church?
• 37. Isaac's Wheelchair
• Acknowledgements