Monday, October 22, 2007
I am over at Karen and Oscar’s house, on a wonderful summer day, along with Peter and Larissa. We just finished eating lunch outside on the picnic table, and afterwards as we were cleaning up and Peter and Jason were at the table helping the boys with their homework, I remarked to Karen that her kitchen was so full of life (i.e. loud and busy).
Yesterday was also a beautiful day, and a group of young people from the church decided it would be fun to walk to a big hill called Cerro Lambaré and eat a picnic lunch at the top. As we were starting around the last bend, the three Paraguayan boys and my brother decided to be adventurous and make their way straight up through the bushes instead of by the road. One offered to carry my heavy backpack with all the pop in it, but I like practicing carrying heavy backpacks in case I go backpacking in the mountains someday, so I politely declined. A few minutes later as Emi, Larissa, Jason and I continued on, immersed in conversation, we were interrupted by a yelling guy, pointing a gun at us and demanding to hand over our cell phones. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a cell phone to satisfy him but I don’t think he believed us. The episode seemed to take a very long time, with me throwing my back pack on the ground and not knowing what else to do, but it probably took less that 3 minutes, finishing with a spiteful comment directed at Jason that ¨here in Paraguay we don’t like Yankees.¨ I ran the rest of the way to the top of the hill to tell the boys, and also found there a group of guys with motorbikes who took us on a search for the culprit, but we never found him. The police also came after awhile, but were completely ambivalent to the situation, probably knowing that this happens all the time and that the chance we would find the thief or get anything back was almost hopeless.
In the end we lost a pack back full of picnic items such as pop, cheese, sandwich meat, and ketchup, as well as Larissa’s little sister’s camera that she got for her birthday (sorry Lindsay, we’ll get you a new one), her driver’s license and credit card, and some money. Oh yes, and my house keys, so we had to saw off the lock on our house. I also lost what little trust I might have had in the Paraguayan police, and a little bit of dignity by being robbed by some little drunk kid with what was almost certainly not a real pistol, and who probably wouldn’t even be able to appreciate most of the things he stole that meant so much to us. Thankfully, I have not lost my desire to be in Paraguay, nor my freedom to be able to walk down the street without fear. There could be many regrets, things that could have been done to prevent the situation, but in the end we need to try to take the good out of the situation and learn from it, just like Auntie Annette told Larissa. I feel like yesterday was a time of bonding that we will never forget, and in the end we were able to talk about the good things we learned, and even laugh at it. Pastor Pedro came and helped us all afternoon to fill out a report at the police station, and bought us all empanadas. Haha, I forgot to write that Oscar and Karen were travelling that weekend, the first time that they had left the boys for whom I felt responsible, so that added just a little bit to the stressfulness of the situation. Anyways, I have been reminded of how important people and lives are in comparison to our possessions. I received a reminder that we need to be careful and stick together, but also that we have to trust that God is taking care of us no matter what. I was scared that Larissa’s mom was going to want her to go home or that my mom wouldn’t want us to travel anymore, but I guess our mothers are wise enough to know that no matter where one is, simply to live is to be taking a risk. Confidence in God and freedom in his promises of protection are better than fear, and living a full life is better than existing in a false security.
Yesterday was also a beautiful day, and a group of young people from the church decided it would be fun to walk to a big hill called Cerro Lambaré and eat a picnic lunch at the top. As we were starting around the last bend, the three Paraguayan boys and my brother decided to be adventurous and make their way straight up through the bushes instead of by the road. One offered to carry my heavy backpack with all the pop in it, but I like practicing carrying heavy backpacks in case I go backpacking in the mountains someday, so I politely declined. A few minutes later as Emi, Larissa, Jason and I continued on, immersed in conversation, we were interrupted by a yelling guy, pointing a gun at us and demanding to hand over our cell phones. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a cell phone to satisfy him but I don’t think he believed us. The episode seemed to take a very long time, with me throwing my back pack on the ground and not knowing what else to do, but it probably took less that 3 minutes, finishing with a spiteful comment directed at Jason that ¨here in Paraguay we don’t like Yankees.¨ I ran the rest of the way to the top of the hill to tell the boys, and also found there a group of guys with motorbikes who took us on a search for the culprit, but we never found him. The police also came after awhile, but were completely ambivalent to the situation, probably knowing that this happens all the time and that the chance we would find the thief or get anything back was almost hopeless.
In the end we lost a pack back full of picnic items such as pop, cheese, sandwich meat, and ketchup, as well as Larissa’s little sister’s camera that she got for her birthday (sorry Lindsay, we’ll get you a new one), her driver’s license and credit card, and some money. Oh yes, and my house keys, so we had to saw off the lock on our house. I also lost what little trust I might have had in the Paraguayan police, and a little bit of dignity by being robbed by some little drunk kid with what was almost certainly not a real pistol, and who probably wouldn’t even be able to appreciate most of the things he stole that meant so much to us. Thankfully, I have not lost my desire to be in Paraguay, nor my freedom to be able to walk down the street without fear. There could be many regrets, things that could have been done to prevent the situation, but in the end we need to try to take the good out of the situation and learn from it, just like Auntie Annette told Larissa. I feel like yesterday was a time of bonding that we will never forget, and in the end we were able to talk about the good things we learned, and even laugh at it. Pastor Pedro came and helped us all afternoon to fill out a report at the police station, and bought us all empanadas. Haha, I forgot to write that Oscar and Karen were travelling that weekend, the first time that they had left the boys for whom I felt responsible, so that added just a little bit to the stressfulness of the situation. Anyways, I have been reminded of how important people and lives are in comparison to our possessions. I received a reminder that we need to be careful and stick together, but also that we have to trust that God is taking care of us no matter what. I was scared that Larissa’s mom was going to want her to go home or that my mom wouldn’t want us to travel anymore, but I guess our mothers are wise enough to know that no matter where one is, simply to live is to be taking a risk. Confidence in God and freedom in his promises of protection are better than fear, and living a full life is better than existing in a false security.
# posted by Ellen @ 6:08 PM 
