Editorial note: The names of the mother and two children in this story have been changed to protect vulnerable people. No other details have been altered.
By Rev. Sue Ostrom
Linda lives in a mobile home court in Vancouver, WA. In the spring of 2025, her friend Shane brought over his friend Jesus to talk about safety steps he could take as an undocumented immigrant. As the three of them chatted in Linda’s small front yard, she saw a woman and her four children walking past.
“I did not know them,” Linda said, “but I knew something was wrong. So, I went over to the woman and asked, ‘Are you ok?’”
The woman replied, “My husband was arrested.” Linda told her to wait while she went inside to get some information she had gathered from LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens.) While she was inside, Jesus told the woman, in Spanish, “You can trust her. She’s one of the good ones.”
Linda learned that Sofia’s husband had been arrested by ICE as he dropped their sons off at school that morning. The boys, Adam and David, had seen their dad handcuffed and led away.
From that chance encounter, Linda has developed a deep friendship with this family. The good news is that the father was ultimately released. The children still live with the trauma and fear of watching their father taken away in handcuffs. When school started again in the fall of 2025, they worried about how to safely get boys to school.
A village has formed around this family. White neighbors take Adam and David to school. One neighbor, Katherine, lives close to David’s school. Because he is younger, he gets out earlier than Adam, so he now goes directly to her house after school. Linda picks up David from Katherine’s house and then picks up Adam from his school. Other parents step in when Katherine is unavailable.
Linda gives art lessons to David, and the boys stay with her when needed. One day, she took them for a walk in a wooded park and realized they had never been out in a forest before. They were thrilled.
Linda has outlived her entire family. From being total strangers, she has now become so close to Sofia and her children that Linda is gaining a new family. You might even say that Jesus brought them together.
Rev. Sue Ostrom is an Elder in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference. She serves as pastor at Mill Plain United Methodist Church in Vancouver, Washington.
