A Letter To God

• Letter to God

  A story written by G.L. Fuentes which depicts the firm faith of a poor and simple-minded farmer named Lencho in God
• Lencho


  • He was a poor yet dedicated farmer
  • He was hoping for a decent harvest
  • A hail storm destroyed all of his crops and harvest
  • He had a strong faith in God
  • He was a learned man who knew how to read and write
  • He had a straightforward nature
• Lencho's actions


  1. Drafted a letter to God

  2. Addressed his financial concerns to God

  3. Requested God to send him 100 pesos

  4. Placed a stamp on the letter and dropped it into the mailbox
• Postman's reaction

  Laughed after reading the letter
• Postmaster's reaction


  • Read the letter and laughed out loud
  • Moved by the farmer's unquestionable faith in God
  • Decided to help Lencho out
• Postmaster's actions


  1. Asked all post office employees to contribute some money as charity

  2. Gave a part of his own salary

  3. Put the money in an envelope and addressed it to the poor farmer
• The money collected was a little less than what Lencho had requested from God
• Lencho's actions


  1. Went to the post office to check if there was a letter for him

  2. Opened the envelope to count the money

  3. Became angry when he saw only 70 pesos instead of the 100 he had requested

  4. Wrote another letter to God complaining about the missing 30 pesos

  5. Dropped the letter into the letterbox
• Lencho thought the post office employees had stolen the remaining 30 pesos from the envelope
• Lencho requested God not to send the money through the mail because he thought the post office employees were a bunch of crooks
• They say faith can move mountains. But what should we put our faith in? This is the question this story delicately poses.
• Lencho


  A farmer who writes a letter to God when his crops are ruined, asking for a hundred pesos
• One of the cheapest ways to send money to someone is through the post office.
• The house - the only one in the entire valley - sat on the crest of a low hill.
• From this height one could see the river and the field of ripe corn dotted with the flowers that always promised a good harvest.
• The only thing the earth needed was a downpour or at least a shower.
• Throughout the morning Lencho — who knew his fields intimately — had done nothing else but see the sky towards the north-east.
• It was during the meal that, just as Lencho had predicted, big drops of rain began to fall.
• In the north-east huge mountains of clouds could be seen approaching.
• The air was fresh and sweet.
• Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall.
• The field was white, as if covered with salt. Not a leaf remained on the trees. The corn was totally destroyed. The flowers were gone from the plants.
• In the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope: help from God.
• Lencho was an ox of a man, working like an animal in the fields, but still he knew how to write.
• The following Sunday, at daybreak, he began to write a letter which he himself would carry to town and place in the mail.
• It was nothing less than a letter to God.
• At the post office, he placed a stamp on the letter and dropped it into the mailbox.
• One of the employees, who was a postman and also helped at the post office, went to his boss laughing heartily and showed him the letter to God.
• The postmaster — a fat, amiable fellow — also broke out laughing, but almost immediately he turned serious and, tapping the letter on his desk, commented, "What faith! I wish I had the faith of the man who wrote this letter. Starting up a correspondence with God!"
• So, in order not to shake the writer's faith in God, the postmaster came up with an idea: answer the letter.
• It was impossible for him to gather together the hundred pesos, so he was able to send the farmer only a little more than half.
• He put the money in an envelope addressed to Lencho and with it a letter containing only a single word as a signature: God.
• Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money; such was his confidence — but he became angry when he counted the money.
• Immediately, Lencho went up to the window to ask for paper and ink. On the public writing-table, he started to write, with much wrinkling of his brow, caused by the effort he had to make to express his ideas.
• The letter said: "God: Of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest, since I need it very much. But don't send it to me through the mail because the post office employees are a bunch of crooks. Lencho."
• Given up hope


  Stopped believing that this good thing would happen
• Hope


  Wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible)
• Hope


  Showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person: a way of being polite
• Metaphor


  A comparison between two things that are not literally alike, but have something in common
• Metaphors in the story


  • Cloud - Huge mountains (comparing the mass or 'hugeness' of clouds to mountains)
  • Raindrops - Hailstones (comparing the rapid spread and impact of raindrops to an epidemic)
  • Locusts - An epidemic (comparing the rapid spread and destruction of locusts to a disease epidemic)
  • An ox of a man (comparing a man's physical strength and size to an ox)