Getting warm....

hello everybody.
we got a little glimpse of the summer texas weather this weekend. it was back up in the high 80s yesterday. it was nice. i miss sweating profusely.
this week was so amazing. the torres family, remedios, luis, florencia, and their kids have just been a constant light in our lives these past couple of weeks. they are so inspiring and sweet and humble and grateful and amazing. yesterday was the one year anniversary of when remedios lost his legs in the accident. they expounded on the story of it for us. remedios and luis (father in law and son in law) worked together at a granite field in hebronville, texas. the family had left everything behind in mexico to come to the united states, six years earlier. they worked their way up from having absolutely nothing, to having a nice home and enough to get by. then one day at work, remdios was moving some of the big granite stones with the tractor. something went wrong with the electrics of it all and it jerked the whole tractor, which in turn bumped a large, 15-20,000 pound stone right onto remedios' legs. luis saw the whole thing, was probably about ten feet away from him when it happened. florencia, (luis' wife, remedios' daughter) had just had their 4th baby a few days before. they rushed to the hospital, remedios was life flighted to mcallen. when he woke up he asked the nurse if she could elevate his feet because they were in pain. the nurse burst into tears and told him that he didn't have legs any more. remedios just put his hand over his heart and didn't say anything. the job that they were working at fired luis and remedios and to this day are not helping them financially with the results of the accident, although they are going through a legal process and trying to get money from it. they had to leave all of their things in hebronville and move here to mcallen to be closer to the hospital. they live in the humblest little home you can imagine with mice and cockroaches and not enough chairs for everyone in the family to sit and eat dinner together.
we told the ward mission leader about their lack of chairs, and directly after that, without us knowing, he and his wife went and bought them chairs and delivered them to their house. when we went over for appointment that night they had new folding chairs and they were so grateful. that's when they told us their whole story. they were so grateful to find people that cared about them and gave them chairs. florencia and luis were thanking us and then remedios said, "no, it's a blessing from god." he is the most cheerful and faithful man i have ever met. everything is a blessing to him and he's just so grateful to be alive. they are so excited for the friendships and they things they are learning at church and for the blessing they can have to be a family forever and follow jesus christ together.
last night i was just reflecting and thinking about them and had the deepest feeling of gratitude i have ever felt. i am so humbled to know them and i know that heavenly father has not put me here to help them, but has put me here so that i can learn from them. i have never loved a family like i have loved them before. i am so grateful for the many blessings that i have in my life, and this opportunity that i have for even just a small time in my life to dedicate my life to giving back and helping others.
...i hope that this email finds you all happy and that we can all remember our blessings and remember to reach out to others.
love,
me