Excerpted from "Adobe Angels: Ghosts of Las Cruces & Southern Mexico" by Antonio R. Garcez, published by Red Rabbit Press.

My experience with a ghost took place in this home, only two years ago. I was lying down on my bed one day, when I was awakened by the strange sense of a "presence" of someone else in the room.

I looked at the foot of my bed, and I saw a tall man covered in a long, white cloth. A soft white, glowing light emanated from him. He seemed to be bathed in this light. He just stood there, without saying a word. When I said, "Who are you?" he didn't answer. Once again, I said, "Who are you? Do you want to talk to me?" Again, he did not answer. Then I asked him, "Oh, I know who you are; you're Jesus aren't you?"

Again, no answer. So, I got quiet. He just stood there, when I said, "Please answer me, who are you?" Then he spoke. But, his words did not come from his mouth. The words seemed to come from his energy, if you can understand what this would be like. In other words, the sound of speaking came from his light.

He said, "I want you to do a favor for me. I know that you pray a lot, and I want you to complete a task for me:" I answered, "Oh, yes, of course; what is it?" He said, "I want you to give a message to each of your children. Will you do this for me?"

I asked, "What kind of message? What do you want me to say?" He answered, "When you get a visit from the first son to visit you, I want you to explain that you have a message to tell him. When this is done, I will give you the words to speak. I cannot tell you what these words are until that time." As soon as this spirit finished speaking his words to me, he disappeared.

Well, the next day, my oldest son Johnny and his wife, came to visit me. He must have noticed something was on my mind because he asked me, "Mother, is something bothering you?" I told him I had something to tell him and asked him to have a seat.

We sat facing each other. I described the strange but beautiful visitor, and the odd task I was told to complete. We became silent at that moment and bowed our heads. After a few minutes, my son slowly raised his head and said with amazement, "Mother, I just received the message, but I was told to keep it to myself." My son never told me the specifics of his message, and I respected his decision to keep it secret. Only he knows what the message was.

A few weeks later, I was asleep in my bedroom when suddenly I was awakened by a loud noise. I opened my eyes, got out of bed, and walked to the kitchen. I walked all around the house. I didn't see anything, so I went back to bed.

The next night, I was again in bed, when suddenly a sweet smell of flowers surrounded me in the room. I was so surprised by this scent, I turned on the bedroom light and just sat on the bed enjoying it.

After a few minutes, my phone rang. It was my best friend, Vidie Morgan. Vidie called me to say that she just had a dream about me. She said in her dream, I was in my bedroom, and an angel was watching over me. It was a beautiful dream, and the angel was covered in a bright light. It was so peaceful. Then she said in this dream, there was an abundance of flowers that had an overpowering, beautiful scent. When the angel waved his hands, this caused the beautiful perfume to get stronger. Because of the strong scent, it caused my friend to awaken from her dream. Her dream made such an impression, she knew she had to immediately phone and describe it to me. We spent the next several minutes comparing our experiences and describing our joy.

I believe that I was visited by an angel. I know I am safe and protected by this beautiful visitor. As long as I live, I will never be afraid of anything again. To this day, I always pray with all my heart. Although I don't pray as often as I would like, when I do, I put my heart in my words. I don't light candles, or kneel down, I just sit on the side of my bed and open my heart. That's all.