“We Needed to Have Faith”

There was nothing unusual about that calm Sunday in 2005. Victor Manuel Torres; his wife, Yamileth Monge; their teenage daughters, Sofia, Korina, and Monica; and their 11-year-old son, Erick, had just returned from a morning at church. Also in their home was a young girl, Elizabeth, whom the Torreses were watching that weekend. They were enjoying a quiet, rainy afternoon at their home in the mountains of Costa Rica. As the day went on, however, the rain intensified. In the late afternoon, Victor noticed that the nearby river was flowing higher than usual. The waters started to get close to his house, and he calmly alerted his family. He and Erick placed blankets around the doors to keep water from seeping in.

To the family’s surprise, a nearby landslide caused the water levels to immediately surge more than five feet (1.5 meters), and water came crashing through the windows. Victor urged his family to run to the higher ground behind the house. His daughters ran to safety, but Yamileth, Elizabeth, and Erick could not escape the home. Yamileth and Elizabeth went into the bedroom and climbed onto a bed that was now floating. Little Elizabeth comforted Yamileth: “Don’t cry. Remember that our God loves us.” They felt the need to pray.

After Victor saw that his three daughters were safely outside, he fought through turbulent waters to get back into the house to locate Yamileth, Elizabeth, and Erick. Meanwhile, the girls prayed and sang hymns. “We asked Heavenly Father to cause the water to start going down,” said Sofia. “We knew we needed to have faith.” As they opened their eyes, they saw the water start to recede.

Victor found Erick standing on a pile of rubble and took him to a safe place in the kitchen. He worked around the debris and pushed large pieces of furniture away from the kitchen door to keep it open. Night was approaching, and Victor had not yet reached his wife and Elizabeth. He made a torch out of materials he found. The light attracted surrounding neighbors, who helped Victor move the large objects that were blocking the bedroom door. They found Yamileth and Elizabeth alive and healthy. The reunited family then left their flooded and damaged home to spend the night with a relative.

The next morning, the Torres family found that their home was damaged beyond repair. Everything inside the home was lost or destroyed. However, they remained grateful that their lives had been miraculously saved. Through the generosity of other Church members, they found a new place to live and were supplied with furniture, food, and clothing. Reflecting on this traumatic event, Yamileth said, “After our experience, we know this for sure. Heavenly Father knows us. He answers our prayers.”