The Lord has had His hand on Sylvia's life from the beginning.Among many miracles in her life, these three changed the whole course of her life.
Sylvia's family escaped the Armenian Genocide in early 1900s and managed to settle in Thessalonica,
Greece. Sylvia was born there and had a good education in her early years. During World War II, Sylvia worked at a local hospital which was overrun with war casualties. There she met a German three star General who was suffering from malaria. Noting her good work, he gave her his card and said, "If you ever need anything, get in touch with me." As the war began to wind down, the Germans shut down the hospital and ordered all the workers to be shipped out to Germany. No one was allowed to take any of their family with them. Sylvia remembered the General's card. In fear she contacted him and he gave her a letter and arranged
for the whole family to go to Germany. This was the first miracle.
The general's car which was going to take them with great secrecy to the railway station to join the others was late and they missed the train. They were distraught. They had to take the next train. After a long journey the train stopped unexpectedly. There was a long delay of several days. During the delay they found out that there had been an air raid further up the line. The first train that they should have taken had been bombed and no one survived. That was the second miracle.
In Germany, they worked in a local factory.
Food was in scarce supply for everyone. Once in a while, they would receive a care package from a group of Armenians in America.
At the end of the war, many refugees in Europe were sent to various countries. Sylvia and her family were sent to America. After two weeks, they disembarked in New Orleans. All the immigrants were told to take certain buses for their final destination. Sylvia's family was told to take the Fresno bus. On the bus, they were told that they were not on the list for that bus and they had to take the Los Angeles bus. In Los Angeles, they were taken to an Armenian
church. The pastor of the church greeted them and said, "I know you! Come with me." He pointed to a photograph on his desk. It was the photo of Sylvia and her family. It turned out that this was the church which had sent them care packages when they were in Germany working at the factory. It was the same pastor to whom Sylvia had written and to whom she had sent the photographs of her family. This was the third miracle!
"All things work together for good to them that love God, and to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
Source: AMAA