TESTIMONY OF FAITH
FROM THE MIRE TO THE MIRACULOUS!
A Compelling Story of Three Sisters Text by Editor Leo Aguilera
Sisters Jackie Walls, Rosie Estrada, & Josie Barraza
- PART ONE (Editor’s Note: A decade ago we ran the testimonies of the Hurtado sisters. Their dynamic and sometimes harrowing stories are an inspiration of our Savior’s mighty delivering power. We do an encore presentation of their narratives which will be told in four parts. Read again and be prepared to be fully engaged!)
SWEAT AND TEARS
Omajestic mountains, fertile valleys, and
nce California was a part of Mexico--its
spectacular coastlines were envied by king40 SPRING NEWSVINE 2022 •
doms and nations. But it was the Americans who came, hungry for land and gold, who challenged the Mexicans, fought a war, and won the land over 170 years ago. Americans no longer had to squat on the arable land, but now they could own it, farm it, and leave it to their children. In the great Central Valley of the state and the other fertile valleys of Santa Clara, Salinas, and San Fernando, the early twentieth century found those children selling their farms, and these small farms were disappearing to the businessmen who formed large corporate farms. Farming in California became a huge industry, and they needed pickers to harvest the crops. Once again the Mexicans came back to the land, but this time everything was different. To say that Mexicans faced rough living conditions in the fields is to recognize the demands the farming industry expected of its laborers. The work was usually hot, miserable, and physically exhausting. The crops changed for the picker--from fruit trees to the stoop crops, depending on the season. But it was the stoop crops, sweet potatoes, artichokes, lettuce, cauliflower, that made the picker crawl between the rows, stay on his knees for hours at a time, and bend his back
