PIWWD #4

People I Wish Weren't Dead
Segment #4

Sterling "David" Willard Stewart

today my grandfather is being dug up from his grave where he has laid for more than thirty years in his heart country, El Salvador. his cemetary is being turned into a parking lot, and so my family has had to find a new place for his memorial. crowds of people have shown up for the event to honor him and his family, and i sit here listening to it all via the internet radio at Radio Verdad, catching a few words every once in a while as they speak about the greatness of my grandfather and his family in words i do not understand.

i can hear them talking about my mother...about what she was like when she was five and six years old, and i can hear them laughing. i wish so much i knew what they were saying. i can hear my uncle sam's voice now, speaking powerfully and dramatically.

my grandfather is a celebrity there. he had such few years, but before he died, he pioneered the Word to El Salvador, and built with his own hands the Bible School that remains and thrives there today. many times throughout my life, my family would happen upon people who had gone to school at that same Bible School who were pastoring in places around the United States and El Salvador. i remember one man, when he discovered my mother was the daughter of the beloved Hermano David, said with a look of awe and respect on his face, "I did not know your father, but I know his ministry."

my mom is singing on the radio now. it's beautiful...singing to her daddy...i wish i could save it and post it here... good job, momma... i can hear her crying...

my grandfather loved this country...and this country still loves my grandfather. i find myself a little overwhelmed by it...a little inspired...a little in awe. i'm amazed that i feel something like love, and strongly, for this man that didn't even exist in the same span of time as i have.

i wish i had known him.