The story, ' A Letter To God ' is written by G.L. Fuentes. This is a story of a hardworking farmer Lencho, who is expecting a good harvest this year if it rains. The most awaited rain came but it did not stop as a shower of blessings but instead turned into a hailstorm which resulted in the ruining of Lencho's crops and field. Being deeply hurt, he has no other way to fulfill his family's needs then to to hope for help from God. Apart from being a hardworking farmer Lencho also had a firm faith in God. With this firm faith and determination he writes a letter to God asking God for a hundred pesos so he could sow his field again. He posts this letter and in the adress he wrote - ' to God '. When the postman reads the letter, he has a hearty laugh and shows the letter to the postmaster. The postmaster decides to help Lencho in order not to shake his faith in God. So the postmaster gives some part of his salary and asks for help from his employees and eventually was able to collect only seventy pesos. So he sends this money to Lencho through another letter signed as God. Lencho receives the letter and is momentarily happy. As he unfolds the letter he realises that there were only seventy pesos when Lencho asked for a hundred pesos from God. He thinks, God can't deceive him, it is the work of post office employees. He writes another letter to God asking Him not to send the remaining 30 pesos by mail as post office employees are a 'bunch of crooks'. The lesson shows three things. It shows Lencho's firm faith in God. His faith is rewarded though the helpers are human beings. Secondly, it shows the utter innocence of the farmer, Lencho. Thirdly, the lesson gives a message that sometimes even your generosity is not recognised. You may not get any credit for your generosity and kindness. But on the other hand, you may be misunderstood as a 'bunch of crooks'.
Main Points of the Story:-
1. Lencho was a farmer.
2. His house was the only house in the valley and on the top of a hill.
3. Lencho's fields needed a rain for a good harvest.
4. He looked expectantly at the sky and it did rain at last.
5. The drops of rain was like the coins for him.
6. But his happiness was short lived as very
large hailstones began to fall after the rain.
7. The hailstones destroyed all the leaves on the trees, plants and flowers.
8. There would be no crop that year.
9. There was a single hope: help from God.
10. On the following Sunday, he wrote a letter to God.
11. He needed a hundred pesos to sow his fields again and to live until the new crop came.
12. He wrote 'To God' on the envelope and put the letter into the mailbox.
13. The postman laughed heartily and took it to the postmaster.
14. The postmaster laughed too but soon he became serious.
15. He decided to reply the letter and help Lencho.
16. He collected seventy pesos only from his employees and himself contributed a part of his salary.
17. He put the money in an envelope and posted it to Lencho.
18. Lencho had an unbroken faith in God and he was not surprised when he received the money.
19. His happiness was turned into anger as there were thirty pesos short of the money.
20. Lencho could never believe that God could
ever deceive him.
21. So, he wrote another letter to God reminding Him that he received only 70 pesos sent by Him.
22. He asked God not to send the rest of 30 pesos through the mail as the post office employees were a 'bunch of crooks'.
Character Sketch:-
1. Lencho: Lencho was a man of limited means and earned his living by farming his fields. He had an unshaken faith in God. He believed that God always helps the people with a clear conscience. Therefore, when he lost all hopes and he and his family were on the verge of starvation, he looked towards God for help. His deep faith in God even impressed the postmaster who decided to help him.
He was educated enough to write a letter. He shows his innocence by trying to have a correspondence with God directly.
While he had an unshaken faith in God, he mistrusted easily the motives of men. He could never know and nor did he ever try to know who had sent him those seventy pesos to help him.
2. Postmaster: The postmaster has all that is good in human thinking and behaviour. He has thorough understanding of a sharp, sympathetic and sensitive mind. He knows how the mind of a God-fearing rustic like Lencho works. He doesn't want to break the deep faith of Lencho in God. First, he laughed at the man who wanted to have a direct correspondence with God. After reading the letter, he was deeply moved and impressed by Lencho's faith in God. He knew that merely goodwill was not sufficient. The farmer needed financial help. So he collected a sum of 70 pesos from his employees. He also contributed a part of his salary and sent the money to Lencho.
3. The Post Office Employees: The post-office employees make every effort to help Lencho. They believed that only an innocent and foolish farmer can write a letter to God. They were considerate and full of compassion. They wondered at the faith of the man who wrote that leer. But they contributed something for an 'act of charity'. They couldn't collect the hundred pesos but sent only seventy pesos to Lencho. Only a single word was written as a signature: "God".
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