From Paradise Lost to Paradise Gained: From Abandonment to Hope

By Joyce Etrata Wachsmuth

Sometime in our lives we are faced with difficulties that are beyond our control. This is a story of two individuals who were resilient in facing these challenges and who relied on God for their strength and hope. This memoir is about my mom and dad who lived in Hawaii. My mom was taken from her home and raised in an orphanage in Hilo, Hawaii. My dad was told by his dad, “I disown you”.
Brokenness and pain are part of the normal Christian life. Suffering and Joy can be friends! Jesus knew that the suffering he would go through on the cross was for our joy in living in freedom from the penalties of sin.
The stories of my mom and dad are part of the Big God Story. They have influenced the lives of future generations!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664237742

Joyce Etrata Wachsmuth

Joyce was born in Ookala, Hawaii.  She graduated from Pacific University in education and speech therapy.  She is married to Doug Wachsmuth for over fifty years and has three married children and eight grandchildren.  She has been on staff at Greater Portland Bible Church for over 30 years.  She has served in children and women’s ministry.  Presently, she is associate pastor over assimilation and the 55plus community.  She is a retreat and conference speaker.

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-3773-5 (sc)

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021912588

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/30/2021

To my

beloved mom and dad

To my husband, Douglas Alan Wachsmuth

To our children and grandchildren:

Ted and Stephanie Wachsmuthh (Caleb and Chloe)

Keoni and Michelle Wachsmuth (Kai, Hana, and Kaleo)

Beth and Jon Teran (Malia, JD [Joseph Douglas] Kiana)

To my sisters:

Evelyn Gomera

Rita Taylor

Carole Brown

Mona Estell

To my brothers:

Sidney Etrata (deceased February 17, 2003)

Dale Etrata

CONTENTS

Introduction

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1. Mildred Fernandez

2. Here Comes the Judge!

3. Life in the Orphanage

4. I have no mother!

5. You’re my mother!

6. A Disturbing Pause in the Story

7. Abandoned Again

8. Life in Ookala Influenced My Life Today

9. Her Story Affects My Story

10. My Daddy

11. I Disown You

12. Legacy of My Mom and Dad

13. My Spiritual Journey Became Our Spiritual Journey

14. The Chain Was Broken

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Appendix

INTRODUCTION

F OR MANY, HAWAII IS A PICTURE OF PARADISE WITH PALM trees and beautiful beaches … a place to just lay in the sun and get a tan. My mom grew up in Hawaii, but her life did not begin with those beautiful images. She was abandoned when she was three; she was taken away from her home, placed in a foster home for a few days, and then went before a judge and was sent to the Salvation Army Home for Girls in Hilo, Hawaii. That experience left a mark on her life—wounds that were hard to erase and many times not visible to others. She began with paradise lost.

My dad, Bonifacio Soriano Etrata (Bonciong), nicknamed Bonzo, grew up in the Philippines. When he was a teenager, he came to Hawaii with his father, Claro Etrata. The two worked on a sugarcane plantation in the 1930s; many Filipinos did that. Initially, they were hired on contract by the Hawaiian government’s Board of Immigration. When Hawaii became the territory of the United States in 1900, plantation owners there hired men from the Philippines under Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association contracts.

The story was that Claro was a gambler who came to Hawaii to earn enough to pay off his debts. When it was time for my dad to go back to the Philippines with him, my dad refused to go, so his father said, I disown you! His father abandoned him. My dad never spoke to or saw his father again.

Though my parents had been abandoned, paradise lost ultimately became paradise gained for them. They were resilient. Their stories affected my life, and writing their stories gave me an opportunity to see them as God’s story and for His glory. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3 NIV).

I started writing my mom’s story many years ago so my children and grandchildren and future generations would know her story. I tried to write her story while she was alive because I wanted her