Theives in the Night

Who would have thought? Well, I suppose I should have guessed, but I just assumed nobody would try. I was wrong.

Less than a month ago, Kurt & I got a call at 12:00am. Half asleep, I walked to the phone to find out that it was Toni calling to say that Jason & Josh needed Kurt to meet them downstairs. They were headed to the land because someone was stealing our rebar. I woke up Kurt with the news, and he quickly dressed & ran down to the car. As I stood by the door, I prayed that everyone would stay safe. I'm not sure anyone knew exactly what to expect. Especially the guys as they drove out to the land.

When the arrived at the land, they were told that it was a group of 3 or 4 guys. They came onto the property and threw rocks at the house threatening harm if the family came out. Then, the proceeded to steal over $1,000 of barb wire. Nobody is exactly sure how they were able to do it so quickly & walk away. There was not a lot anyone could do that night, but it started a long process of trying to apprehend the criminals, & even more work for our team.

Freedom decided it was in the best interest of Pica Pica & his family to put up an 8ft fence around the house & our storage building. So, not only did those robbers cost us the $1,000 in stolen product, but the amount it cost to put up the new fence. Jason also had to make several trips to the police station to report the incident, to get them to talk to suspects, and to keep the process moving forward. We don't really expect to see anyone prosecuted, but we didn't want people to think it would be easy to steal from us. In all, it was a lot of extra work & time, but I'm glad everyone stayed safe through the whole ordeal. I realize that it's for the best that everything is more secure out there.

Trouble in Paradise

Last week ended with a bang.

On Friday, during preschool, some Americans in another area stole several children on their way home from school. Of course, we didn't know anything about it, but the parents in Campiña & Cabeza de Toro heard the news before their kids came home. Many of the parents were scared for their children. They were worried that somehow (although I'm not exactly sure why) it was their child that got kidnapped.

The Simos family took the brunt of the frustration when they dropped the kids off at the end of the day. At both Campiña & Cabeza, there was a large group of parents waiting to make sure that their child got off the bus. It was quite the scene! The parents started talking about how they wouldn't be sending their children to school on Monday. "It's too dangerous," said one.

You could tell by the way they were talking that their minds were being filled with "what ifs." However, this fear lead to great conversations. We were able to share with all the parents about the importance of putting your confidence in God. We stressed that you can't stop living or doing good things because you're afraid of what might happen. Kennedy, our bus driver, also reminded the group of parents that dangerous things can happen while their children are at home, as well.

It was an interesting time of sharing & hearing the concerns of the parents. I was reminded that they do care, even if many times it doesn't appear so. God was in control of the entire situation, from beginning to end.