Hilda's home

In September 2021, Hilda's downstair neighbors found that the leak of their home got worse. The worker discovered that one old pipe in Hilda's guest bedroom eroded and the water went downstairs. The 'repair' work started, but unfortunately, it went terribly wrong.

What happened was really unfortunate - both the kitchen and guest bedroom in Hilda's home were destroyed for no good reasons- Hilda didn't know what the 'repair' company was going to do, and the management company authorized the 'repair' company (it turned out to be a demolition company) to do what they did. Nobody monitored the work carefully. Hilda's kitchen countertop, sink, cabinet, wall, and part of the guest bedroom wall were demolished unnecessarily. Hilda, who loves to cook every day, didn't have a functioning kitchen from November 2021 to January 2022 until a temporary sink was put in. It has been a case of mishandling, lack of response, and elderly negligence by her home owner association (HOA), management company and maybe even the whole community who live there in that complex. 

I went back home in Taiwan in the end of July 2021 and came back to Tucson in early October. I started to ask Hilda about walking together again, because Hilda has been my walking companion since COVID started in 2020. However, Hilda's answer was that her mind was so much on his home and couldn't go back to walk with me yet. I asked her quite a few times, and her answers stayed the same. Later, I stopped by Hilda's home for some errands, I couldn't enter the door from the kitchen because the refrigerator was blocking the doorway. The guest bedroom was also totally blocked. Not long after that, the kitchen was destroyed and until now (Summer 2022), the kitchen is not back yet. Because of this bad home situation, Hilda had not been able to go back to walk until May 2022. Even more, Hilda has not gone back to some of her daily routines since this incident occurred. This home situation has taken a serious toll on her!

If you talked to Hilda before her birthday this year, you would hear what happened to her home. This warm and caring lady was full of worries and distress because of this uncertain house situation. She has talked with different people and there are all kinds of suggestions - lawyer, KGUN 9, fix it herself first vs. demanding HOA to act as soon as possible, but the worst of all, nobody acted. She told me several times that it feels like a dead end, and she is so disappointed in her community that it may not be a good place for her to live in anymore. I feel so sorry that I didn't do more for Hilda. However, we continued to pray for her home situation and talked more about it in the recent weeks.

In April 2022, Hilda decided to put everything aside and took a vacation in a beautiful ocean area in Mexico to celebrate her 80th birthday with her family. We were so grateful that many of us got to celebrate her birthday with her. I was so happy when I got the texts from Hilda to ask me whether I wanted to walk in the morning before her trip to Mexico! It made my day! I knew that God has been working to take away Hilda's burden in her heart and He will complete the work to bless her with this situation. To me, Hilda has always been a godly woman and in this hard situation, she has shown me more patience and trust in God. I felt so wordless when she told me about these 'dead ends', but I was so thankful that one day she told me that "I want to tell you the good news" - it was the call with Steve. She got more and more ideas about what to do since then. The best part was that we got together and prayed. 

It's May 2022, Hilda realized that God has given her the best and she needs to wait on Him! We still don't see how everything will unfold but we are so thankful that Steve has been a great help in this recent movement. Hilda told me that she knows God is with her all the time and she will trust God for what He has for her. Selfishly, I still hope that Hilda will be in my neighborhood as long as she can, but I know that it is really up to God. For now, I am going to cherish the time of walking with Hilda in the neighborhood as much as we can. We will continue to ask God to intervene and take control of this bad situation for Hilda. We know that everything is in God's hand!

Summer to November 2022

What is God's plan in all of these, no help from the HOME association? 

Honestly, it is a bit disappointing, but we still trust God, hopefully wholeheartedly, despite all the challenges involved. The progress in the house restoration has been rather slow since May this year, but the most disappointing part was the response from Hilda's own Home Association. It is supposed to be her HOME association, isn't it?