(Translated from the Spanish)

Hello!  My name is Enselmo Enrique' Penez.  I live in El Paso, Texas, now; I am trying to make enough in the way of money to bring my family to live with me in the United States of America.

The economy back home in Mexico is extremely bad.  Many people cannot find decent work; if they do, it isn't enough to live on, so many of my compadres go to El Norte, to America, to find better jobs there.  Such as was my case.  I had to go to America to find a job.  Right now, I am working for a farmer; I pick beans for a living.  I work six days a week, from sunup until sundown.  If it rains, I don't work.  It's that simple.

I miss my family very much.  It makes me very sad to think that mi esposa, my beloved Maria Magdalina, is back home, with the children: our sons Tomas (11), Tonio (9), and Enrique' (6), as well as our daughters Miracle (4) and Patricia Elena (2), they remain with their mama.  I also have mi madre y padre Enselmo, Sr., and Carmen.  They are in Mexico, too.

I wish with all my heart that they could be with me, but right now it is impossible.  I make just enough to pay the bills; what is left is very little, but I faithfully send it to them, where they put it in a jar to save for when they can come to live with me.  I don't make very good money; if I do, people try to cheat me out of it and call me nasty names, which makes me feel bad.

They think I am nothing but a dumb Mexican who has no business being here when all I am doing is trying to help mi familia back home.  I am not doing anything dishonest.  I am doing what I think is best for my family.

I am trying to learn English, but English is muy deficil.  Very hard to learn.  Very confusing.  I feel more comfortable talking in my native Spanish.  At work, I talk in Spanish; when I go to the store or anywhere else, I talk in Spanish, and the non-Spanish people, they tell me to go back to Mexico or other things which are worse.  Sometimes it makes me cry when they act like this.

I feel very proud to be able to provide for my family, but I would feel a lot better if they could be here in America with me.  I am trying my best to get them here; then we will work on getting our American citizenship papers and become legal citizens.  Until then, I have my Mexican visa, which allows me to stay and work here in America.

to be continued.