Revisiting 'A Letter to God'

Retell 'A Letter to God' in the right order and judge Lencho's actions.

Remember the story. Lencho is a farmer. He lives with his wife and children in a lonely house in a valley. His corn field is dry and needs rain. He says rain is coming, and it comes. The family is happy.

Then the hail. The rain turns heavy, and a hailstorm destroys all the corn. Lencho is desperate, but he still believes God will help. He writes to God for a hundred pesos: enough to sow the field again and live until the next crop. He writes 'To God' on the envelope and posts it.

The post office. The postman and the postmaster laugh at the letter, then they are surprised by his faith. The postmaster collects about 70 pesos from his colleagues and sends them, signed 'God'.

The irony. Lencho counts the money: only seventy. God cannot make a mistake, he thinks, so the post-office people must have taken thirty pesos. He writes again and calls them 'a bunch of crooks'. He blames the very people who helped him. That is the irony.

Putting a jumbled story in order. Follow time and cause. Ask: what must happen before this? The field is dry before the rain; the rain comes before the hail; a letter is written before it is posted. Then read your order once from start to end: it should flow like a story.

Your view. When the book asks what you think of Lencho, take one side and give one reason from the story. Example: 'He is simple, not ungrateful: he could not imagine that people, not God, had sent the money.'

Order a story by time and cause; give one reason for every opinion.

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