—By Father DavidDFO 111713/2/81

1. WELL, PTL! TYL! THIS IS THE EARLY MORNING OF THE 13th OF FEBRUARY 1981 & I had a dream early this morning sometime that I've been trying to remember & keep in mind. It was so early in the morning I didn't want to wake Maria up, but I couldn't find a tape recorder. But anyhow, PTL! TYJ! Help me, Lord, to remember it now. I've tried & tried, I've kept going over it & over it so I'd be sure & remember it 'cause it's hard sometimes when I go back to sleep & sometimes I forget.

2. I REALLY MEMORISED THAT NAME SO I'D BE SURE TO NOT FORGET IT like I did once before when I had a specific name & forgot it. I thought I'd never forget it, but I did. Buy anyhow, I guess the name of the city is the name of the dream, & it's Miraflores‚ Spanish of course, or it could be Portuguese. (Yawns) Excuse me, I'm not quite awake yet. It's right now seven o'clock in the morning & I've been thinking about this dream for the last hour or two. Miraflores. I know I've heard the name before someplace, haven't you? (Maria: It sounds very familiar.)

3. MARIA & WERE ON A TRAIN, a very nice train‚ with just our clothes on our backs that we usually wear when we go out & one suitcase & that's all I could remember, just one small suitcase. It might have been one small suitcase apiece, but I remember we had just these two small suitcases like we weren't prepared to stay very long—either that or we left in a hurry.

4. MY IMPRESSION WAS THAT WE HAD LEFT IN A HURRY & just grabbed what we could & I remember we didn't even have much cash except our travellers cheques & we were going to have to try to cash a travellers cheque. But we were discussing the situation & evidently we had made at least enough plans to have called ahead to either book a hotel or we knew what hotel we were going to.

5. BECAUSE AS WE CAME IN TO THE CITY, I WAS SO ASTONISHED—absolutely astounded by its size & modernity & its business—it was just absolutely abuzz with activity! And I thought, "For this time of year that's amazing! I mean, the Summer season hasn't even begun yet!" Apparently I thought the Summer season would have been their season there for some reason & I said, "Here it is Wintertime & this place is absolutely agog with people & activity & everything!"

6. WE HAD BEEN RIDING ALONG ON THE TRAIN & the funniest thing just came back to me now, there was this Jewish couple sitting behind me. They were discussing business & properties, real estate & she was talking to him, reprimanding him for not buying some property. Then she said, "Well, now did you pay for that other one? 250,000?"—My impression was that they were talking about dollars, $250‚000. (Maria: But they were speaking in Spanish?)

7. NO, THESE TWO JEWS WERE TALKING IN ENGLISH. … They were talking in English, in fact it sounded like American Jews. (Maria: How did you know it was Winter?) Definitely. I don't know how I knew it was Winter, how to you know it's anything in a dream?

8. WELL, I KNOW WHY ONE THING IT WAS WINTER, BECAUSE I WAS COLD & I thought I had forgotten my sweater, but you said, no‚ that it was in the luggage or somewhere. Somehow or another I couldn't get it till I got to the hotel room or something & I was really kind of feeling the cold. I guess I was cold 'cause I woke up cold. So that's one way you know it's Winter when it's cold! (Maria giggles.)

9. AND THEY WERE DISCUSSING BUSINESS & PROPERTY & mentioning big figures of big money & stuff like they were real estate people & they were buying up some property or something. Then she said‚ "Did you pay that 250,000 I told you to pay?" etc., & I thought, "Boy, this really must be some place when they're selling places like that for that kind of money," etc. I mean, that's pretty expensive property!—1/4 of a million!

10. AS WE WERE COMING INTO THE CITY‚ THE TRAIN WAS WINDING ALONG THE COAST. We were definitely going North, the land was on our right & the sea was on our left. As we began to come into the suburbs of the city I was astounded at the size of it! It was a big city. You could see quite a few old buildings—typical little old Spanish town buildings‚ several buildings-but everything was being modernised. It looked like there were more new modern buildings!—Like high-rise apartments.

11. IT MOSTLY LOOKED LIKE HOTELS & APARTMENTS & A TYPICAL RESORT CITY. But there were a few old buildings like an old cathedral, an old city hall & things like that, you know, sort of typical, I'd say, of some of those big Spanish resort towns down on Costa Del Sol or Costa Brava or some place like that. But it was really really big & it was some place I'd never been before, I'd never seen before & never dreamed it was so big!

12. I MEAN, IT WAS A BIG CITY, NOT JUST A LITTLE VILLAGE. A typical resort town, all these big apartments & tall apartment houses & was very sunny. Even though it was cold it was very sunny & colourful, the awnings & umbrellas‚ you know, very pretty, & lots of trees & flowers & very beautiful, so that I was just astonished at how big it was & how busy it was.

13. SO I TOLD YOU THAT I WANTED TO GET OFF THE TRAIN & WALK AROUND A BIT. I wanted to walk down along the coast & explore a little bit & see what it was like, what it was all about. And you said, "OK" but you'd go on with the luggage to the hotel. (Maria: Really!) And let me walk down the shore, which is very unlike you. (Maria: Well, I wouldn't do that!)

14. BUT NEVERTHELESS I WAS INSISTENT & I JUST INSISTED THAT I WANTED TO EXPLORE THIS ASTOUNDING NEW BIG RESORT CITY. (Maria: Honey, I'd never let you go off by yourself!) I know you wouldn't, well it was a dream, Honey, & you said we had to go take the luggage to the hotel, but I wanted to get off the train & look around. So we finally did compromise & you took the luggage to the hotel & I walked around.

15. SO I GOT OFF & I WALKED DOWN THE SHORELINE & I WAS AMAZED THAT THE STORES WERE ALL OPEN & BUSY. It was like they were real real busy & open but there wasn't an awful lot of people there yet, like they were getting ready for the Season. It was like it was a little bit early but they were all opening up & getting ready for the Season & store keepers' shops were open & they were all buzzing around getting their stock in order & everything.

16. I REMEMBER THERE WAS THIS ONE BIG HUGE MAGAZINE STORE with just stacks & stacks of shelves of stacks of magazines & there were so many I thought, "For goodness sake, maybe they have used magazines here or something," & I walked in & I talked to the lady in Spanish, "Are these new magazines? Revistas Nuevas? Or are they usados? Are they used magazines?"—& she kind of smiled a little coldly like it was almost an insult.

17. SHE SAID, "THEY'RE NEW, BUT I HAVE A COUPLE OF USED ONES AT HOME I CAN LET YOU HAVE," like she was really trying to be snotty, you know. And I said, "Oh no, thank you‚ I was just curious." And I said, "You had so many of them." And she was busy with somebody or was stacking her magazines & everything. So I walked on along the shore & around the sort of points & beaches & marvelling at all these big beautiful new buildings & some of the old ones too.

18. I BEGAN TO GET A LITTLE TIRED & I THOUGHT I'D TAKE A TAXI but I didn't seem to have much money & I think I was going to have to cash a traveler's cheque. So I walked into this big agency‚ it looked like a travel agency, & my goodness, there were so may windows & clerks, it was almost like a bank‚ I was just amazed!

19. I WAS DEBATING ABOUT GETTING A TRAVELER'S CHEQUE CASHED because I knew I'd have to show my passport & my name & I was a little worried about that. I didn't know whether they'd recognise it or not. But I think I finally did go ahead & get a check cashed & that's the second time, by the way, I've had to do that in my dreams. So I'd better be sure to have some traveler's cheques along & some identification in case I have to spend some money in my dreams! Anyway, in case it happens. (Maria: Just don't leave me after this.)

20. SO I WENT OUT & LOOKED AROUND FOR A TAXI, & there was quite a big taxi garage right there where they had a lot of taxis. I walked where there were a couple of guys there, three guys I think, & they looked like Tenerifans. I thought‚ "Boy, those guys sure look familiar, those taxis look like Tenerife taxis, I wonder if this could be Spain! Have some of those guys come up here for the Season that used to be down there?"

21. THEY LOOKED AT ME A LITTLE FAMILIAR TOO LIKE THEY MIGHT HAVE RECOGNISED ME & I thought, "Oh‚ I'd better watch out. I'd better not be recognised here." (Maria: But you didn't really know where it was even in your dream?) No, no I didn't, but I was wondering if it was Spain because of the looks of the taxi drivers & because of the looks of the buildings & everything & they spoke Spanish & it was Miraflores. That was definitely just as clear as anything.

22. HOW I KNEW THAT THAT WAS MIRAFLORES & I DON'T KNOW‚ BUT IT JUST SAID MIRAFLORES!—I mean‚ nothing even said Miraflores, it was just Miraflores! Now, how are you going to explain that? I don't know how I knew that! Miraflores. That means, "Look at the flowers."—And there were lots of flowers, just beautiful! It was still cold like it was just the opening of the Season or hadn't quite opened yet, but everybody was getting ready for it. So I got in the taxi & told him to go to the hotel. I was dying to find my sweater because I was cold.—And that's the last I remember.

23. THAT WAS IT, THE DREAM OF MIRAFLORES! (Maria: Interesting.) It was just as clear & vivid like those dreams are sometimes when they are supposed to have significance or meaning, & I woke up right away afterwards & was thinking about it, trying to remember all of it, but that was it! You & I were on the nice train going North along the coast.

24. OH!—ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE TOWN!—IT WAS FULL OF JEWS!—It was as Jewish as Miami Beach…!

25. THE LADY RUNNING THE MAGAZINE SHOP WAS … politely business-like, a little bit miffed when I had asked her if they were used. She was trying to be sarcastic when she said, "But I have a couple at home you could have." Ha ha ha! And I was cold & I thought I recognised the taxi drivers & I was afraid they'd recognised me.

26. I HAD TO CASH A TRAVELER'S CHEQUE & I THOUGHT I'D BETTER MAKE IT A SMALL ONE so they won't make a big stir about it & they won't have to be inspecting my passport too long. Because I got quite tired of walking & then I decided I'd better get a taxi & get to the hotel. (Maria: Honey, I'd never leave you like that & you'd never leave me either.) I know! Maybe it was just for convenience in the dream, because I couldn't have gotten out & walked around like that with heavy suitcases. I just really was dying to see the town!

27. MIRAFLORES! NOW WE HAVE TO LOOK UP & SEE IF THERE'S SUCH A TOWN ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. I can swear I've heard that name before. (Maria: It sounds very familiar to me too.) So praise the Lord. God bless you. Maybe some day we're going to go to a place called Miraflores. (Maria: It sounds nicer than some of the other places.) Yes. Ha!

28. MAYBE THE LORD'S SUGGESTING AN ALTERNATIVE since we don't very much like the place you've been talking about. We haven't been too keen on going to the place that He's given us several drams about‚ but maybe this is an alternative that He's suggesting: If we don't like the other, well maybe we come here.

29. BUT IT HAD ITS DANGERS TOO: I was worrying [that] somebody would recognise me. I'll admit it was nice to be able to speak the language. It was very new & I was wondering why I hadn't heard about it before, such a big busy resort, & it occurred to me that maybe it was so new that that's why it wasn't very well-known yet or maybe not even on the map yet as a good-sized resort city. Like it was so new & just being built that it hadn't even become known yet very well. …

30. AND SO THAT'S THE WAY IT HAPPENED, THAT'S ALL I KNOW, PTL! I don't know how I knew the name of the town, I can't remember your saying it or anybody else saying it or my saying it or a voice saying it or whatever, but all I know is I just knew it was Miraflores, Miraflores. I can remember going over that with my tongue because I like to kind of roll those Rs: Mirrraflorres, Mirrrraflorrrres. Miraflores. I can remember saying it over & over to myself like that, Miraflores.

31. (MARIA: IT'S FUNNY, IT ISN'T EVEN IN OUR ATLAS.) Well, you might have to have a pretty good atlas or pretty good size map or something. I'd like to see a map of Spain or Argentina or some place like that. (Maria: Should we?) Yes, let's see. I know I've heard the name of that town before. I know I've heard that name before somewhere. (Maria: It sounds familiar to me too.) So PTL. There it is anyhow, Miraflores. Praise God!

32. NOW IT'S FOR GOD TO KNOW & US TO FIND OUT! At least He gave us that much of a clue, I think He really likes to keep us guessing, because then that really tries your faith! It shows you have faith in Him to believe, even if you never heard of such a thing or such a place before. (Maria: Especially when it's not in the atlas.) You've got to trust Him that it's true.

33. THAT'S THE WAY IT IS WITH DREAMS: Even if it sounds impossible or sounds ridiculous or sounds outlandish & completely incomprehensible, you have to trust the Lord that the dream is from Him & that since He gave it to you, it must have some meaning or there must be some such place or it must be possible or something. That's the way it works.

34. FAITH WORKS THAT WAY, & THAT'S THE WAY THE LORD EXPECTS YOU TO TRUST HIM. He expects you to just believe it & take Him at His Word & then try to find out where it is or what it is or how to do it or something. So now we're looking for Miraflores. Praise the Lord! God bless you all!—Do you know where it is?

35. (LATER: WELL, LEAVE IT TO FAITHY'S DEAR JUAN! He wrote & told us it's a swanky suburb of Lima, Peru, & full of new buildings and Jews!—Ha!—& right on the coast with beautiful beaches!—& their tourist season is Summertime! How about that!—Ha!—& here on our front cover of this Letter is an actual photo of it that he sent us!

36. (ISN'T GOD AMAZING! Can't He do the most marvellous things!—Give me a dream trip to a town that really exists but I've never seen before & shows me exactly what it looks like, who lives there & what its tourist season is! PTL! His wonders never cease! Hal! TYJ!—And even gave me the name of it! Miraflores! PTL! GBY! Hope we get to see it someday!

37. (DO YOU WANT TO TRAVEL? Do you want to take a trip? Just dream away with the Lord! He can take you anywhere!—& not only in your dreams!—But really if you want to go & its His will!—Just ask Him to make your dreams come true! If you delight yourself in Him, He'll give you the desires of you heart! (Ps.37:4.) Dream away to your dreamland!—TONIGHT! Hal! PTL! GBY!)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family