Friends

Almost everyone has heard the story by now of how Canadian, Brenda Martin, spent almost two hellish years in a Mexican prison and how the Canadian officials hemmed and hawed about assisting in her release. Almost everyone has also heard of her friend, Debra Tielman, who moved Heaven and Earth to get her friend back home. Has any one really considered the heroic lengths that Debra went to help the friend she hadn't talked to in 15 years and whom she hadn't seen in 32 years? Would any of us have gone to those lengths. Or would we merely have shaken our heads and said "That's terrible. I wish I could help." and then gone on with our own lives? I believe that God put Debra in Brenda's life "for such a time as this."

Brenda Martin is quoted as saying about Debra:

"She has been a godsend," Martin said Monday. "She has been as steadfast and true as any friend you could ever ask for. She gave me hope that I would get out of prison when I had nothing to believe in."

"I think what I have is conviction," Tieleman said. "I believe in what I am telling the public and I try to tell them in a straightforward way so they will understand."

Apparently, as the story goes, Debra looked at her fingernails one day and thought of her old friend, Brenda.

"Red fingernail polish has always reminded me of Brenda Martin, because when we were girls, I was a nail-biter and Brenda had gorgeous nails that she always painted red."

"I didn't know if Brenda was still married or what her last name would be, so I Googled her mom's last name and found one of your stories," Martin said.

She was talking about a newspaper story about how Brenda was in prison in Mexico accused of money laundering for her former employer's pyramid scheme.

The two girls met in grade nine when Debra's family moved to Trenton Ontario. Debra moved to Kitchener-Waterloo a few years later, Brenda followed and the two teens shared an apartment. They drifted apart over the years and lost touch.

Debra is now 52 years old, has two daughters and one grandson and owns her own business. But she put all of that on hold to come to the aid of her friend and run the campaign to free Brenda Martin.

When she realized Martin had been found guilty, she shouted, "This is justice in Mexico?" and rushed, crying, from the courtroom.
"I was devastated," Tieleman said. "I wanted it to be over for Brenda, but have to admit I also wanted it to be over for me. I wanted my life back."

On Thursday, Tieleman stood in the cold, driving rain at the Kitchener airport hoping for a glimpse of her friend as she stepped off a Canadair jet.
The government had pulled off what Tieleman called the fastest prisoner transfer in Canadian history.

"I have learned about what ordinary Canadians can make happen. We are pretty laid back, but when we have convictions, we are an incredible force to be reckoned with."

John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.