It was in the 2010’s. The TV program, “The Apprentice”, had great ratings but I didn’t particularly like Donald Trump firing people.

At that time I was a Dissertation Advisor at Nova Southeastern University, guiding international students on how to do academic research to write their dissertations needed to obtain their Doctorates in Education. That year we, the advisors, were to attend our annual conference with the students at Fort Lauderdale, FL.

We were to stay at the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles not very far from the conference venue.

I arrived at the hotel around 2:00 p.m. after visiting the office of United Bible Societies in Miami where my friends there gave me a brand new big letter Bible in Spanish.

We were supposed to be ready by 4:00 p.m. to take a university bus to the place of the conference. I was given a room on the second floor.

After I hung up my clothes and prepared my laptop for the meetings with my students, I checked the room. I noticed that the door of my balcony facing Collins Avenue was opened and tried to lock it. But I couldn’t because the lock was damaged. So I called reception and told them about the problem.

In less than 3 minutes a nice older man with a tool box came. He greeted me with a head movement and a smile and went directly to the door and started fixing it. I noticed that he looked Hispanic and asked him if he spoke Spanish. He happily said “Si, señora”. We engaged in conversation while he continued to replace the lock. I asked him how long he had been in the country and he said 3 years and 2 at the hotel.

Then he proceeded to tell me that he had come to escape the Cuban regime after his wife died 4 years ago. He was an accountant in Cuba and his boss had also died. He had come on a boat that left him, and 17 other people, on a beach near Key West. They found their way to Miami and some people in Little Havana gave them lodging.

Immediately he asked for asylum at the Immigration Office in Miami and started trying to find work while his immigration papers were in process. However he didn’t speak English and he was 49 years old when he left Cuba.

Employers were not hiring him.

To make some money he did small handyman jobs and, little by little, he was able to put together a nice tool box. Then, the pastor at the Little Havana Church he attended, suggested to apply for work at different hotels. Since he was quite handy with his tools he thought that was possible and started looking, praying, and going to every hotel in and near Miami carrying his tool box. Sadly, his lack of English and his age, again, seemed to be the main obstacles.

Then he decided to search farther north and tried the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles. When he was at the office talking with the manager, who had called a Spanish speaking employee to translate, Donald Trump stepped into the office.

He greeted them shaking hands, and then he asked about this man that was being interviewed for a job. The translator explained the situation and said that because of his age and being a non English speaker he has been rejected on many places.

Trump asked what was the position he was applying for and they told him: maintenance. Then Trump addressed him and asked, through the translator, “How good are you with tools?” He showed him his well organized tool box. Trump looked inside, patted him on the back and said: “You are hired”, and turning to the manager said “give him the opportunity of his life”. He feel to his knees right there and thanked the Lord.

After he finished his story, I asked if he had a Bible in Spanish and he said he didn’t. I gave him the brand new Bible in Spanish that I had received when I visited my friends at the United Bible Society office in Miami.

He was really happy and thanked me with tears in his eyes.

We prayed together before I took the bus to my conference, and I changed my opinion abut Trump!