Teresa lives in a village near the school with her common-law husband, Ernan. She suffered from diabetes and had major complications that forced her to go to the hospital at the end of 2019. Teresa’s daughter, Salome, sat by her side as the doctors didn’t give her any hope. They pronounced her dead at 5:00 AM on a Wednesday. Her daughter called her father to give him the news. 

Ernan frantically made his way to the hospital. Sorrowfully, the family said their final goodbyes as the hospital staff took Teresa’s body to the morgue. 

In mourning, Salome went to her aunt’s house to rest. As she drifted off to sleep, her mother appeared to her in a dream. Teresa was wearing a long white gown in the dream, as she called to Salome, saying “I am here.” Salome suddenly woke up, looking for her mother. She screamed for her aunt and told her that her mother was there. She soon realized it must have been a dream. 

The next morning Salome went to breakfast with her father before they were to pick up her mother’s body at the morgue. Salome explained the dream she had about her mother in the white dress.

Ernan began to recount his experience the first night without his wife. He was staying in a motel by the hospital. When he arrived in his room after leaving the hospital, he collapsed to his knees, weeping that he would never again see his wife. He laid across the bed, sobbing, and covered up with the white dress he brought for his wife to wear for her funeral. As morning drew near, he awoke shivering because he was so cold. The dress he had covered up with was gone. He looked around the room to see if it had fallen on the floor, but it was not there. When he turned around, he found the dress...mysteriously, it had been neatly folded and placed on top of the pillow next to where he slept. He was puzzled by this, but had to leave to meet his daughter for breakfast. 

After their conversation, they went back to the hospital for Teresa’s body at noon on Friday. When they arrived, the doctor reported some shocking news! 

Standing around her seemingly lifeless body, the doctor called her by name, “Mrs. Teresa.” To her family’s amazement, she opened her eyes! She moved her head, but could not speak.

In that joy-filled moment, Ernan proclaimed to his children, “Your mom has come back to us!”

They got her back home and she finally had enough strength to tell them what happened during the 2 ½ days that she was dead. 

She remembers traveling to heaven, almost like a bird, she recalled. When she arrived, she was greeted by her sister-in-law in a beautiful pink floral dress. 

She saw a bright window, and a bearded man asked her where she was going. When she told him she was going with her sister-in-law, he told her she needed to come with him, then she could leave. The bearded man took her by the hand and asked her name. She answered, “My name is Theresa.” She quickly realized this bearded man was the Lord. The subject of her “husband” came up in conversation and the Lord reminded her that Ernan was not her husband...she had not yet married him. He told Theresa she needed to marry Ernan, since they lived together and had children. 

He then led her to different rooms. The first room was full of flames and fire and she was afraid and hid behind the Lord. Before they arrived in the next room, she could hear people screaming, “Lord, forgive me!” She saw alcoholics who couldn’t get the bottle to their mouths, no satisfaction, just wailing. They moved on to the third room and she saw people jumping into fire. The fourth room, they saw adulterers and thieves. 

From there, they went down a road. He told Teresa she must choose a road, but she could not stay for now. He took her to one more room and gave her a white dress. He told her those were the clothes she would wear when she returns.

Then, the devil appeared in the form of a black cat with horns. He shouted at the Lord, insisting that Teresa must come with him! The Lord told him, “Go away! She is mine. That is why she is with me.” The devil turned around and left. 

Teresa told the Lord she was scared. He assured her not to be scared, and that she was going back home. As the Lord told her that, she woke up to the doctor telling her she had been dead for two and a half days. The nurse asked her what she dreamed and Teresa told her everything!

Many Shuar people came to her in the hospital, inquiring about what the Lord told her regarding “common-law” living and not marrying their spouse. It’s also customary among the Shuar people for two women to be married to one man. They felt conviction after hearing what the Lord spoke to Teresa. She has already been a witness to the Shuar people. 

Ernan felt convicted too, and asked the pastor to marry them after Teresa got home from the hospital. Teresa also urged her children to stop living in sin and get right with the Lord.