By: Lilliana Olazaran
Our story begins with a troubled marriage and two children, ages 20 and 3. My husband and I had decided that living in the city had become to much and maybe moving to the countryside would slow things down a pace or two. We had actually just moved 7 miles out but just far enough that the countryside welcomed us nicely. We purchased a quaint little house that sat on an acre and our neighbors were "a holler away". In the first 2 yrs we did some "remodeling" and set up my husbands business towards the back of the property. What followed the next two years made me question my faith. There were changes that were inexplicable, to the point that my son questioned me-looked for answers from me. Things that i had seen in movies or read in books but never that made me believe that they really happened; like, the bump in the night, the sound of someone dragging something large like a sled across the roof of the house, the constant rearranging of the silverware, the "visitor" in the kitchen, the big black dog amidst my dogs, the cat at the window, the pacing in the dining room and the door that would be open/unlocked every morning. Every night I prayed for the safety of my family and that the activity would stop, but to no avail.
The year that followed became more of a challenge. We noticed that my husband began to change to the point that we could not even breathe. He became verbally/physically abusive, vile, belligerent-someone we didnt recognize. For 5 months he would come home and stir things up, leave and the activity would start. At 3 a.m. the activity was at its highest then at 4am my husband would arrive and the activity would stop. One midnight, about a week after Christmas, we were outside and i was watering the glass and plants while my son was playing with his new camera and we spoke about some things while my 3 yr old played on the porch (it was intolerable in the house). To change the subject, my son suggested we take different pictures of the water cascading for the kodak pic contest. He mustve taken 50 pictures. When we went to develope the pictures, 6 pictures had images-images that made me fear. I spoke to a clergy for the Catholic church and they asked me to present the pictures to them. They looked at the images and all froze with a look of awe. They then told me I had captured St Rafael in those images. I cried. Suddenly the fear, the question of "does GOD hear me", the doubt - all left me and just like that i thought to myself, "am I worthy of God sending me an archangel"? The clery asked me what had transpired to bring forth this outcome. I explained from the day we moved in to this moment. I didnt understand how they knew this was St Rafael. In the pictures taken, the light rays had a green tinge to them. The clergy showed me his facts and compared to my pictures. I felt a great sense of relief, i went home and shared this with my father and son. The activity continued until the day we packed up and left - yes, my husband stayed behind as well. I now lead a much happier life with my dad and children. The pictures stayed with the clergy.